There are always some rules we have to obey in whatever we do. We will try to explain the postal regulations that we have to comply with in doing your mailing. Some of these regulations cover all bulk mail, some only non-profit bulk mail, some only automated bulk mail, some involve forwarding and/or address changes, and still others involve International mail.
Postal
Regulations
Bulk Mail
- There must be at least 200 pieces stateside for 3rd class and 500 pieces for 1st class.
- All pieces must be identical.
- Self-Mailers: (fold & mail; no envelope)
- They must be tabbed closed in at least 2 places.
- Regulations require at least 70# offset paper (we normally use 60# paper which is equal to a 24# bond.)
Non-Profit Bulk Mail
- The name of the organization holding the non-profit mailing authorization (your mission agency) must be on the top line of the return address.
- Several will not affect you, such as no advertising, no solicitation of funds for an organization other than the permit holder.
Automated Bulk Mail
- The bottom 2¾ inches of the envelope must be clear with the exception of the addressee information and possibly the address services endorsement (see next category).
- A postal barcode must be on the front of the envelope (our mailing program places it on the top line of the address block).
- We were the first mailer in Fort Smith to mail automated. The biggest advantage of automated mailing is the speed of delivery. It is not unusual for a letter mailed by us to be delivered in 3 days in places as far away as New York and Washington state.
Forwarding and Address Changes
Unless there is some kind of an endorsement on the mail piece, all undeliverable bulk mail is destroyed. If you mail regularly every 2 or 3 months we expect from 3% to 5% of the addresses to be out of date.
Endorsement Services
Address Services Requested:
Your letter is forwarded to the new address and we receive a hard copy of the address correction at the cost of 92¢ each … but there are some options that we use to cut down on this cost and the time involved in making these changes to your mailing list.
Return Service Requested
Your letter is returned to us at the 1st class rate and we can re-mail it to the new address 1st class.
Location of Endorsement
- Under the return address block with at least ¼ inch between the bottom line of the return address and the endorsement (preferred location).
- Under the permit block….
- between the return address and the permit block.
- directly above the address block.
Options We Use
ACS Code
ACS stands for Address Change Service, and is a series of letters just below the barcode in the address block that allows us to get the address changes electronically. We adjust our charges to you accordingly.
Keyline
This is a series of letters and numbers just below the ACS code that we assign to each individual entry in your mailing list. This allows us to receive the change information from the Post Office on a computer disk which our program reads automatically and makes the changes to your mailing list. This saves us hours of lookup time over the course of a year.
International Mail
Because of security issues we mail all non-US/Canada/Mexico mail in a security envelope with a generic return address. Otherwise, your name and the name of your agency appears in the return address block.
