How to Print Business Reply Envelopes
According to the United States Postal Service (USPS), "Business Reply Mail uses pre-printed First-Class Mail pieces for which you, not your customer, pay the return postage." Common examples of Business Reply Mail include return postcards in magazines or return envelopes with bills. Business Reply Mail encourages replies because it is free to the customer. Business Reply Mail must be approved by the USPS and use copies of the firm's USPS-created permit.
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Instructions
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Business Reply Mail Permit
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Download PS Form 3615, Mailing Permit Application and Customer Profile, from the USPS website.
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Print the form. As of May 2010, USPS only accepts hard-copy forms.
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Fill out section A. This section asks for general information such as name, company name, address and contact information.
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Take the form to the post office along with the two forms of identification. One ID must include your photo. According to the application, "Social Security cards, credit cards and birth certificates are not acceptable forms of identification." A postal representative will assist you with completing Section B and then assign you a permit number and collect the permit fee, which was $185 as of August 2010.
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Contact your local mailpiece design analyst. This postal employee specializes in the ever-changing rules of mailpiece design and will provide the personalized business reply permit file. There is no additional fee for the creation of permit file. Use the link in the Reference section to locate the analyst nearest you.
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Give the mailpiece design analyst your permit number from the post office, the address your reply mail will be sent to and the size of the envelopes you will use.
Typical business reply envelopes are No. 9 or No. 10 size envelopes, however, others can be used. The minimum envelope size is 3 1/2 by 5 inches and the maximum size is 6 1/8 by 11 1/2 inches.
The analyst will send you the permit as a PDF file.
Printing Envelopes
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Hire a print shop for your envelopes. Don't print the business reply envelopes at home because the quality of many personal desktop printers isn't sufficient.
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Give the printer the permit PDF file, the size of the envelope you wish to order and the number you wish to order. As a general rule, the cost per envelope decreases as the number increases. Typically you will need to order envelopes "by the box," in quantities of 250 or 500. The print shop will create a proof for you to review.
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Approve the proof when it is correct to allow printing to begin.
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Send a copy of the printed envelope to your mailpiece design analyst for final approval, if required. The analyst will check that the permit is printed in the correct location on the envelope and that the black ink is dark enough to be read by postal machines.
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References
- Photo Credit american Mail box and freeway sign image by Ashle Whittle from Fotolia.com
