Good Morning Fellow Stampers -
How is everyone this week? Can you believe we've arrived at Wednesday already? I was doing some thinking, and I had to stop thinking, because it scared me too much -- LOL. How quickly Thanksgiving will be here that is. The weather is bring cold and possible rain mixed with snow today. And my honey is playing Christmas music on the "holiday station" in his car -- really???!!! Sheesh!
I want to spend a little time today talking about mailing -- yes, the good old United States Postal Service. In particular, as regards our beautiful cards that we make, especially those that are "heavier" with all the beautiful layers we like to put on; and those with lumpy embellishments. It seems to be a constant question, "well, how do you mail your cards?" Well, it's not as difficult as you might think. Actually, I have very few issues mailing my cards through the regular mail. Today I'm going to give a few pointers to help you out and hopefully answer this questions.
What we need to know as consumers is that the USPS has distinct criteria for mailing letters or cards. First Class letters that have one or more, what is known as "non-machinable characteristics" (i.e., a pearl, a button, a nobby bow), will cost more to send and will need to pay a non-machinable surcharge. It can be a rather unpleasant surprise to find our lovely card back in our mailbox with the words "additional postage required", or perhaps our recipient on the other end got caught with having to pay money to retrieve their lovely piece of mail. The Postal Service charges extra postage because mail pieces that are rigid, square, or unusually shaped, often jam postal equipment and are difficult to process (i.e., they require "hand cancelling."). This costs the Postal Service time and money, and may also damage your piece of artwork!
First of all, whenever I envelope a card of mine and prepare it for mailing, especially the ones that have pearls or "lumpy" embellishments of some sort to the front of the card, I do a couple things. 1) I always have the "lumpy" side of the card to the back of the envelope (the flap opening side), never the front where you write your address. I do this for a couple of reasons, not the least of which it is easier for the postal service to mark and stamp the front of your envelope if it is as smooth and uniform as possible. 2) I cut a "protective shim" to cover the front of my card before placing it in the envelope. This is really easy to do. You can use any type of heavier cardstock or thin cardboard to do this. My favorite "go to" for this is our "backing" cardboard from our designer series paper packaging. I keep all my cardboards from my DSP packages and have a stack tucked away to reach for easily when I want to mail a card.
I cut a piece that is 5" x 4", which is the perfect size to cover the front of the card and create a protective barrier, without making it too tight to get the card into the envelope. Then I just slide the card with its protective cover into the envelope and it's ready to go. You will note right away how this creates a "barrier" and the pearls or embellishments appear less "intrusive" almost immediately.
When you have sealed up your envelope and you're ready to apply postage and send it, take one more step. Using your Stampin' Trimmer, slide that envelope in the opening on your trimmer arm. Just like in the picture I posted here. If you refer to my little image example above, you can see that envelopes that exceed 1/4" in thickness are going to require more postage. So are odd-shaped envelopes, or envelopes that may be smaller than the standard acceptable sizes. Double-checking the thickness of your envelope will help you determine where you're at with meeting these standards, and how much postage you may need. The gap in the Stampin' Trimmer blade handle is the perfect size to help you with this effort. It's a little bit smaller than 1/4", but you should be able to easily determine if your envelope greatly exceeds the 1/4" requirement or not.
Next it's all about the postage and handling. Our cards are going to take more postage, that's just a fact! You can handle this in one of two ways. You can put two (or more) regular stamps on your envelope, and this is usually enough and will more than cover postage and handling for your special delivery. I would also write "HAND CANCEL PLEASE" in all capital letters at the bottom of the front of your envelope below the address. This is an added precaution that will help tremendously. Or, you can go to the U.S. Post Office and purchase the stamp I showcase here. It is a .71₵ "non-machinable" stamp. This stamp is very specific to "non-machinable" and unusual shaped mail that requires special handling. Let's see what the Post Office has to say about their special stamp --
The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly graces the fifth "non-machinable stamp" for use on irregularly sized envelopes, such as square greeting cards, invitations, or announcements.
The square format of the stamp was developed in partnership with the greeting card industry specifically for over-sized or square envelopes. These envelopes cannot pass through the automated postal processing system and have to be "hand-cancelled." Cards/letters that are an unusual size, rigid, or require hand-cancelling for special reasons, are charged a "non-machinable" surcharge even if they weigh less than 1 ounce.
Greeting card envelopes printed with the silhouette of a butterfly in the upper right corner need additional postage -- or the use of this butterfly stamp (assuming you're still buying a Hallmark card -- LOL). Any "non-machinable" envelope like oddly-shaped or vertical envelopes, as well as lumpy envelopes, rigid envelopes, or mail with clasps, ribbons, or buttons, may and should use this stamp.
And there you go!! If your mailing is especially thick, you could put two of these stamps on to ensure there is enough postage. I would still put the "HAND CANCEL PLEASE" at the bottom front of your envelope as an extra precaution. You know how the Post Office can be -- LOL 😉
Well, that's it for today's Ask Wendy Wednesdays. I hope this helps answer some questions that have been floating around recently. As always, if you have any questions about anything on my blog, don't hesitate to email me -
[email protected]. I'll get back to you as quickly as I can.
I look forward to chatting with you tomorrow, as I begin the first of several changes in my business and my blog. I hope you'll stop in so I can share with you. I'm looking forward to re-invigorating DDS, and your support in doing that means so much to me!
Until Next Time . . .
