Splitcoaststampers.com - the world's #1 papercrafting community
You're currently viewing Splitcoaststampers as a GUEST. We pride ourselves on being great hosts, but guests have limited access to some of our incredible artwork, our lively forums and other super cool features of the site! You can join our incredible papercrafting community at NO COST. So what are you waiting for?
I mail cards with buttons all the time. I attach them with glue dots though, not dimensionals (makes them too high). I've never added postage, and never had one come back to me.
Carol
I send cards all the time with raised embellishments and unless they weigh over the 37 cent rate, I have never had a problem with the card being returned or damaged do to the bulkiness.
I think it depends on who handles your card at the post office. I sent out a few RAKS in the last two weeks, all about the same bulk and weight, one came back for extra postage cause it was too thick (?) and needed to be hand sorted versus machine. So I took it back to the PO with extra postage and the lady said no that wasn't true, but it did weigh more than the 37 postage, luckily I had over stamped the second time, so I still had enough postage on it. Crazy huh??
The 11c surcharge most commonly applies to mail that is under 1oz but is not rectangular in shape like square card. It also would apply if you address your letter in the prtrait rather than landscape orientation. It can not be more than 1/16 of an inch thick so it would depend on the buttons and layers of paper.
I know we use a template at work. If the envelope slides through the slot, it is okay. Anyone got a Plaid Maker handy? I wonder if one of those is 1/16".
I have the small plaid maker and it is one eighth of an inch on the thin line part...are you sure it is one sixteenth? I am not sure that just a regular card would fit through that! I have a no layer card in an envelope and it almost touches both sides of the palidmaker slot!
I have the small plaid maker and it is one eighth of an inch on the thin line part...are you sure it is one sixteenth? I am not sure that just a regular card would fit through that! I have a no layer card in an envelope and it almost touches both sides of the palidmaker slot!
Nope, I am sorry. I meant 1/4 of an inch. They put it in decimals and that confused me. I was trying to do the math and then I said it out loud and it dawned on me. :oops: Here is a more general link: http://www.usps.com/send/waystosendm...assletters.htm
Now let me tell you the template at work is a thin, flexible piece of plastic. Here, the item practically has to get stuck for it not to go regular rate.
When I'm not sure about lumpy bumpies on a card, I take it to the post office window and ask the clerk to hand-cancel the stamp. I think it's some of the machinery the envelopes run though that can cause embellishments to get messed up. The only thing I've mailed that never reached the intended recipient was a card that I'd used a couple of metal-rimmed tags on, and because I was in a rush for time I just stuck it in our mailbox so I'm sure it wasn't hand-cancelled.
I had some fat b-day invites once. My postal carrier pulled out this little cardboard guide they have to see if they would fit through. They did but I was surprised at how generous the slot was. I bet it was 1/4 to 3/8 inch.
But I agree, I've sent a groups of a lumpy card and had just one come back. I like that hand cancellation idea though. I will have see if I can get that done!
I checked with our local post office and it was recommended that I clearly mark the envelopes "please hand stamp/cancel" in a prominent location (I usually use the side and bottom - sometimes in a contrasting color ink). As the others noted; unless it is an odd shape or heavier than permissible; there is no additional postage due.
So far since I've been doing this (about a year now) I've had nothing returned and no one indicating they did not receive a card. I send out 10-30 cards typically a month!!!!
I work at the PO and the surcharge is 12 cents since the last rate change (in 2001? 2002? I can't keep track either). I always add the extra, because I've seen what happens when something with a non-paper enclosure accidently gets in the automation, and it's UGLY. If it gets stuck, it also tears up all the mail behind it, creating a huge jam of accordian and shredded mail, and at the worst, breaks down the machine. For some reason, when girls break up with their boyfriends, they like to drop the ring in an envelope and send it back (I work in a college town).
So if you take it in to the PO and ask to have it hand cancelled, do you have to pay the extra .12?
The twelve cents is only if it is non-standard. The hand cancellation keeps it out of the canceller machine, in therory. As the machines use friction to move the mail, the less rubber belts squeezing and pulling on the envelope the better. Also, the canceller can sometime yuck up the envelope with black ink. We have brides often ask that we hand cancel invitations just to avoid all the ink smudges.
Mailing cards with buttons
