Q: Often I have been wary of asking for advice from post office officials because I fear that my question will trigger research into our account and result in additional charges for violations in back issues. Is there a "statue of limitations" on Periodical class violations?

A: According to the Domestic Mail Manual, publishers must keep records for each issue for three years from the issue date.

The only exception is for records in any year in which an USPS-authorized audit bureau conducts a postal verification.

A publisher whose records are verified by an authorized audit bureau is not required to keep source records of requests and subscriptions longer than required by the audit bureau. Therefore, revenue deficiencies could go back three years.

The postal service also recently changed its revenue collection policy. According to the March 2000 issue of Memo to Mailers, the Postal Service will no longer attempt to collect back postage payments after mail is accepted, unless the mailer had prior notification of the problem or if inten tional misconduct is found.

Newspapers that have pending revenue deficiencies should contact postal officials immediately to determine if they are eligible to receive relief under the new policy.