LetterStream Blog

Sending Notices to Local Residents via Certified Mail

USPS Certified Mail

We are always fascinated to learn more about how our customers are using certified mail. Most of our large volume certified mail users are sending mail for legal reasons, but the spectrum of legal mailings is quite broad (lien letters, collection letters, class action lawsuits, medical device recalls, parking tickets, gym membership cancellations, etc.).

The other day we even created a certified letter mailing for a new bar in Chicago.

Did you know that (according to Chapter 4-60-130 of the Chicago Municipal Code): “If 50 or more legal voters reside within a distance of 500 feet from the licensed premises, the applicant is required to send written notice to all legal registered voters within 500 feet of the licensed premises. The applicant must send notices via certified mail with a return receipt requested.”

This is found in the Chicago Late Hour Liquor License Application Process.

So if by chance a similar city ordinance applies to you, keep LetterStream in mind. We mailed 100% of the letters the same day the bar owner gave us the go-ahead!

Give Stars – Get Starbucks

Starbucks Gift Card While we’d love to take you out for a cup of coffee and get some feedback on how we’re doing, we realize this might get a little impractical.

However, we have devised a way to buy you a cup of coffee for your feedback. It’s not quite the same as a sit down chat, but please know we will value it as much as a face-to-face meeting. Here’s how it works….

1. Go to your favorite business review site (Google+, Insider Pages, or another of your choice).

2. Give us a 5-star rating (if for whatever reason you can’t give us 5-stars, contact us immediately, and we’ll make it right).

3. Add some glowing comments.

4. Send us a message via our Contact page with a link to your review and your mailing address.

5. We will send you a thank you letter and a $5.00 Starbucks gift card*.

If you ever feel like you aren’t getting stellar service from LetterStream, simply call us and ask to talk to the President. He will always take the time to speak with you and work to improve our service.

*Limited to current customers only, one card per customer. Offer ends Sept. 30, 2013.

Making Express Letters at LetterStream

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If you need to get a mailing out the door quickly, our Express Letter option is about the quickest way to get it done.

Here’s all we need from you:

1. A mailing list saved as a CSV file

Most software allows you to export addresses in CSV format, and MS Excel allows you to save your spreadsheet as a CSV (comma separated values) format.

Check out our YouTube video for assistance:

2. Your document saved as a PDF

There are various ways to create a PDF from an MS Word document. Word 2010 has the option included. You can also use Adobe products or download a free PDF tool at primopdf.com.

See our help video for more information:

When you have these two items, log into (or sign up for) your LetterStream account and choose Express Letter as the job you want to create. You’ll be prompted for your address list and your document (or documents). If you have a logo with your return address built into it, you can even use it for the outside of the envelope.

There are other options as well: EXPRESS-MAILING

the ability to share a proof with others
notification when mailing is complete
the ability to add newsletters, fliers or other documents to the mailing
the ability to add additional promotional wording to the outside of the envelope

See our YouTube video for help with this:

What do we do next?

We print your document in black and white or color print
We print your document on white or color paper
We address a #10 white envelope with your return address and recipient name
We add USPS First-Class postage
We fold your document(s), put them in the envelope, seal and mail them

We guarantee you’ll be pleased with the speed, quality and service you receive from LetterStream, every step of the way.

Still not convinced? Click here for more information about sending Express Letters via LetterStream.

Which Way To The Nearest Blue Mailbox?

USPS Blue Mail Drop Box

Some of you know exactly where your favorite blue drop box resides. But I bet most of you drive past these uniquely shaped blue boxes each day and don’t even notice them.

I came across a CNN.com article that claims there are as many as 160,000 of these blue collection boxes in use around America.

If you are having a hard time finding the nearest blue box to drop your outbound mail in, there are a few apps that can help you out. For Android, check out the USPS Mobile or Mail Box Locator apps. You can also try MailboxMap.com from your computer or smart phone to see where all 160,000 drop boxes are located.

If you are using an iPhone, you can try the USPS Mobile app or the Find Postboxes app.

I like Mailbox Locator because it is simply about finding the nearest drop box, and it uses your phone’s GPS to quickly route you to the nearest one. It also shows you the pick-up days and last pick-up times so you know if you’ve still got time to get your letters in the mail that day.

In case you’re wondering, at LetterStream we don’t place our mail in the blue boxes or in our own mail box. We don’t even drop our mail off at the retail counter of the local post office. Instead, our mail gets trucked to the USPS BMEU (Business Mail Entry Unit), for fast, same-day processing of our mail, even after the post office retail window is closed.

Keep an eye out for those little blue boxes and see how many you can count on your way to work this week; you might be surprised.

Of course, when faced with an urgent mailing, skip the box and contact LetterStream instead!

Reduce Returned Mail with Address Correction by LetterStream

USPS Return Mail

Some LetterStream customers are already realizing the annual savings created by weeding out and/or correcting undeliverable addresses.

If you acquire new mailing lists (member lists, community lists, etc.), especially from non-qualified list providers, it might be worth a little investment to make sure the addresses that you’ve been provided are valid ones.

Using address correction tools to clean up addresses and discover which ones are incorrect could pay for itself with the first mailing. If the list is used over and over, the savings keep accumulating.

Consider a mailing list of 1,200 names. If 5% of the addresses are undeliverable, you would be wasting more than $25 in postage fees alone, not counting time, paper, printing, envelopes, etc. If you mail to the same list each month, that would add up to hundreds of dollars in no time. Another cost to consider is the time and money wasted handling the return mail; collecting bins of returned mail itself, looking up new addresses, resending documents by hand, shred fees for properly destroying returned mail and environmental impacts.

So, here’s an idea… if you acquire a mailing list or simply get a lot of return mail, try running your mailing list through our address correction tools. You can upload any size mailing list directly to our website for cleaning and we will return the results fast; often in less than 10 minutes. We’ll format the addresses to USPS CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) standards, correct City and Street spellings, flag undeliverable addresses, and attempt to assign the correct zip code with zip+4 digits.

If you use our Deluxe Address Cleanup, which includes NCOA (National Change of Address) lookups, we can even tell you if the person filed a change of address card with the Post Office, letting you know exactly when they moved and where they moved to.

Reducing returned mail is good for business, good for the pocketbook, and good for your sanity!

"Green" or Simply "Responsible"?

Green and Responsible Mail

Are we green or just being responsible?

I go back and forth on whether we use the greatly-over-used “green” label on what we do; quite often opting instead to use the term “responsible“. After all, we print and mail, and the word on the street is you can’t be “green” if that’s what you do (I could give you compelling reasons why that isn’t true, but I’ll save that for another day).

My point is that we work extra hard to be responsible with the by-products of our production process. We sort it, weigh it, categorize it, and talk about it; all in an effort to be responsible with our waste. Our efforts to improve in this area have been phenomenal over the years and we are proud of the job we’re doing.

Of our total facility waste, we have found ways to reuse a staggering 46% of all production waste. To be clear, this isn’t recycling, this is actual reuse by others outside of the LetterStream organization. As for recycling, 50% of our waste is being properly recycled, leaving us with only 4% of our waste actually making it to a trash dumpster.

Is that green, or just responsible? Maybe both.

Send Mail Magically With The LetterStream API

LetterStream API Solution

Ever wish for an even faster way to send out USPS First-Class and Certified Mail?

Our website already saves countless hours of tedious work involved with sending mail, but you might be sending so much mail that you need an even faster way.

If so, the LetterStream API might be the solution you need. It allows you to automatically send thousands of pieces of mail instantly through a behind-the-scenes connection to LetterStream computer systems. Most APIs require programmers to implement them, and ours is no different in that regard, but some of our clients have implemented it in just a few days.

Our API is being used by many different types of companies, including software companies, collection agencies, billing companies, etc. and even individuals who need to send a lot of mail quickly. It has access to many of the mailing products available on our website including postcards, first-class letters, invoices, statements, newsletters, checks and certified mail.

You can advertise your partnership with LetterStream or keep it quiet and price the mailings to your customer however you see fit; because with the API your users and customers can send real mail without even knowing about LetterStream.

To learn more, click here to get detailed information about our API, or simply contact us to get started.

Follow @LetterStream On Instagram!

LetterStream photos on Instagram

Hey all you #hashtag #instagrammers!

Over the years we’ve collected a lot of fun #photos of mail and related items, and we thought… why not share them with the world on Instagram?

If you aren’t familiar with Instagram, it’s a great way to share cool photos with friends and family… and the world. You can get the app for iPhone and Android phones alike. If you don’t want to install the app to share your own pictures, you can still use Instagram just with your computer. Go to instagram.com/letterstream to find our pictures, or click on the new Instagram button at the top right of this page.

Anyway, check out @letterstream or #letterstream on your Instagram app, or visit the website above.

When you take a cool picture of a post office box, USPS stamp, mail box, blue collection box, certified mail envelope or any other mail-related item, tag it with @letterstream to let us know!

Baja 500 Update – Class 11 Car #1162 – "PepeAzul"

Wow, time flies (as did PepeAzul, the class 11 VW we sponsored running in the Baja 500); I didn’t have time to get a post out telling you I decided to join Chris, Greg and the rest of the PepeAzul team on their journey to Ensenada Mexico for the 45th running of the Baja 500.

Running the Baja is an amazing experience, especially if you like adventuring outside the US, in a 40+ year old car with a 62 horsepower motor with no windows or A/C, traveling on roads that most people wouldn’t dare travel on even in a 4-wheel drive truck.

Turns out we had a top notch team and were surprised to discover that two of our team members were retired USPS employees, go figure! That meant we were prepared for rain or snow or high water and were determined to get there on time.

The entire event was a rush of excitement from the safety inspection (which was basically a huge parade and photo opportunity for the cars and team) to the race, to retrieving the car which was stuck near the top of a 1500 ft jagged rock hill.

I rode along side Chris from mile marker 95 to 230, bouncing, bumping through 135 miles of the rugged Baja Peninsula.

PepeAzul finally decided he could go no further at mile marker 255, slightly past the half way point.

I’m sure, due to the speed we were traveling, few could make out the LetterStream logo positioned on the hood of Pepe, but we do have operators standing by to pick up all those new customers who were exposed.

How To Send USPS Certified Mail Online

USPS certified mail letters

Have you ever wondered if you can send certified mail online, without having to go to the post office? Well it is possible; but only a few websites exist that can make it happen.

Generally to send certified letters you would need to take your letter to the post office, fill out certified mail forms, apply a certified mail tracking barcode to your letter, and present the finished product to the postal clerk for them to calculate charges and collect payment.

But with LetterStream.com and OnlineCertifiedMail.com, you can completely eliminate the trip to the post office!

Caution: Some companies claim they can do this too, but they often require you to purchase special software, forms or labels. So before signing up for any services for certified mail online, make sure you determine what extra work or purchases might be required of you.

With LetterStream and OnlineCertifiedMail the process is extremely easy. All you need is your document in electronic form (Word, PDF, etc.) and the address you need to send it to. The entire process of creating and sending a certified letter online takes less than 2 minutes.

In addition to saving the time and hassle of going to the local post office, these two sites allow you to track the status of your certified mail online, showing each of the USPS scans of the certified mail barcode and even the signature of the person who signed for the letter. You don’t even have to enter the 20-digit tracking number; you simply click on the letter you need to track. All mailings are neatly saved and organized online.

LetterStream.com has the added bonus of an online search tool that allows you to search by recipient name or mailing name so you can quickly find the information you need. The LetterStream site is much better for mailing large quantities of certified letters as well, as you can upload entire mailing lists in CSV and Excel formats.

So the next time you bemoan the idea of going to the post office and standing in line to send certified mail, take a moment to review these two sites. You’ll be glad you did!