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

LetterStream sponsors Baja
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!

Should You Consider Outsourcing Mailing Projects?

I was working on a proposal this morning for a potential client and found myself pondering the benefits of outsourcing mail room operations and letter shop activities.

For those of you who would like a better printing and mailing solution but are hesitant to enter the world of outsourcing, consider the idea that you are already outsourcing many of your mission critical activities.  Yes, that’s right.  You are already outsourcing a tremendous amount of your business operations.

You are outsourcing the activities of keeping your money safe to your local bank.  You are outsourcing all of your phone conversations to cell and telecom providers.  You are outsourcing your electricity to the power company.  Once you start thinking about it, the only things you don’t outsource are your core competencies… those things that provide uniqueness to your product and a competitive edge to your organization.

Still skeptical?  Check out what other experts say… here’s a good article in Inc Magazine that supports our logic and might shed some additional light.

The question then becomes: Is printing and mailing your competitive advantage?  Is folding and inserting what makes your company unique?

If you’d like to see what it might look like to outsource your printing and mailing activities to an organization as reliable as the local power company and probably more helpful than your banking institution please give us a call and let us show you how our unique and competitive solutions can help you focus more on yours.

Going Out On A Limb

I Love LetterStream Ribbon

We decided to try a different kind of giveaway at our booth at the National CAI Trade Show this year, and to be honest, it could have backfired on us.

This year we took the risk of offering “I Love LetterStream” ribbons to our customers and API partners as they stopped by our booth. We were hoping that a few would attach the ribbon to their trade show attendee badge. But whatever happened, we knew it would be a learning experience.

You see, when you ask someone to wear a ribbon that says they love you, you open yourself up to a whole lot of scrutiny. Would our customers and partners love it or hate it?

We waited patiently as the Expo doors opened and attendees started filing into the aisles. Then the first visitors approached our booth, they looked up to survey our exhibit, they noticed the LetterStream banner, and then we heard these words… “LetterStream!!, We love LetterStream!!” We breathed a sigh of relief and passed out the “I Love LetterStream” ribbons, which were quickly applied to their trade show badges.

Indeed it was a risky move, and one that might have caused us to be accused of excessive boldness. But in the grand scheme of things, it certainly created an honest feedback mechanism. And we discovered what we hoped would be true; that our customers LOVE the LetterStream experience. We passed out slightly over 100 ribbons at the Community Association Institute (CAI) national trade show and the CAI Arizona show.

We work very hard to provide incredible speed, impeccable accuracy and crazy good service; and we are tickled to know that it is appreciated by our customers.

To our customers and API partners that were happy to wear our ribbons, we say “Thank You!”. Thank you for your feedback, your partnership and your appreciation.

For those who aren’t that familiar with LetterStream, check out some of the positive things our customers are saying about us on our testimonials page. And if you have something you want to add, please keep the comments coming!

World’s Longest Receipt?

USPS post office receipt

When we returned from the Post Office the other day, we thought we might have set the world record for the longest receipt. After all, the cash register receipt was 48 feet and 8 inches long! Turns out we were a little short. The longest receipt is well documented online at 57 feet and 6 inches.

Why did we have such a long receipt? Sometimes we print and mail rather unique jobs for our customers, and if that means generating a receipt at the local post office that’s nearly 50 feet long, so be it. In this case we were mailing certified mail flats that necessitated a trip to the post office due to something special we were doing for our client.

If you find yourself pondering how you are going to get your next certified mail project out the door, keep LetterStream in mind. We have a lot of fast, automated processes for mailing certified letters.

And if we don’t already have an automated solution for your complex mailing, you might just be the opportunity we need to get a real world record receipt!

Thanks to the team and our friends at the local post office for making the magic happen when complex mailings arise.

LetterStream Exhibits At The National CAI Trade Show

CAI 40th Anniversary

For the fourth year in row, LetterStream is exhibiting at the National CAI (Community Association Institute) Trade Show.

This year’s event starts tomorrow and is taking place in San Diego, CA, (April 17-20th). It celebrates CAI’s 40th Anniversary as an organization dedicated to building better communities.

Homeowner associations (HOAs), and the management companies that assist them, send a tremendous amount of mail each year in order to keep homeowners informed and up to date. Each homeowner is assessed their homeowner fees via statement, invoice or payment coupon book. In addition, each homeowner is made aware of budgets, annual meetings and election results via letters, email and postcards.

LetterStream assists communities by providing critical online communication tools for homeowner associations and property management companies alike, to make the numerous mailings easier to manage.

Letters, statements, postcards, coupon booklets, violation letters, late payment notices, and certified mail are but a few of the types of mailings that LetterStream offers to HOAs. The LetterStream website has a solution for each of these different types of mailings, and is feature-rich, giving you control of your mailings.

If you are attending the National CAI trade show, stop by our booth (#805) to learn how we make mailings easy.

Happy Anniversary CAI!

See LetterStream At The Arizona Chapter CAI Trade Show

cai-az-logo-109x110-v2

Meet with the LetterStream team at the CAI trade show and learn great new ways to create and send mail, including: HOA violation letters, statements, postcards, invoices, collection notices, intent to lien letters, certified mail, annual meeting notices, newsletters, new homeowner packets and even electronic documents.

LetterStream staff will be available to answer questions about outsourcing your mailing projects and streamlining your outbound mail operations.

New products featured at the show include eDocuments, PRO Postcards and an Android app for creating full color, first-class postcards (see newsletter). Rumor has it that the mysterious Letterman, blog writer extraordinaire, may even be present.

The expo is this Friday, April 12, 2013 from 11:30am to 3:30pm at Rawhide, and will be well attended by property management companies and community managers. Rawhide is located in Chandler, Arizona (5700 West North Loop Rd). To learn more about the Arizona Chapter of CAI, visit their website at www.cai-az.org. To learn more about LetterStream, visit our website at www.LetterStream.com.

How Do You Organize Certified Mail Return Receipts?

certified mail green card

These slippery little green cards have a way of getting lost. For you mailroom folks, you probably know them as a PS Form 3811, but the rest of us simply call them green cards. Obviously “Certified Mail Return Receipt” is a more complete term, but it is probably not the term we use when trying to find the one we lost.

So the big question is, how do you keep track of green cards? They are small and get mixed in with empty envelopes that you put in the trash, they fall out of file folders even while in a filing cabinet, they get piled up waiting for a rainy day for someone else to file. Let’s face it, they are hard to file and they are hard to find. There’s nothing like the attorney calling and saying, “We are headed to court, what happened to the green card?”

Here’s a better way to organize your PS Form 3811 receipts… skip the entire paper process altogether and keep your electronic signatures organized online–always available, always filed correctly, always filed instantly, and best of all, never lost.

Wondering how?

The best way to get your certified mail receipt electronically filed is to create your certified mail online. When you use LetterStream or OnlineCertifiedMail.com to create your certified letter, your PS Form 3811 as well as all of the related USPS tracking scans will be available online for you to access when you need then.

The online process of making real Certified Mail is fast and easy, with no forms to fill out, no envelopes to seal, and no trips to the post office. We take care of all that so you can focus on other pressing issues. Oh, and one more benefit… you won’t need to type in that 20-digit certified mail tracking number–you can look up information about your certified letter by searching on the job name or the recipient’s name.

Stop searching for green cards. Use our online tools and let us organize them for you.

LetterStream Joins ACA International – Visit Us At The Expo This Week!

ACAinternationalLogo


LetterStream‘s ability to send First-Class and Certified Mail with ease, one-at-a-time and in bulk, is attracting the attention of credit departments and collection agencies.

ACA International, the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals, is a not-for-profit trade association for professional businesses and individuals in the credit and collection industry.

By establishing an affiliate membership with ACA, LetterStream will have a greater presence in the collection and credit market and can highlight their unique solutions in the field.

Sending Certified Mail during a collection process can be a time consuming process. However, with LetterStream’s easy-to-use website, Certified Mail can often be created and mailed the same day. In addition, online tracking and signature reporting tools provide easy access to the important documents that prove the mailing followed proper collection practices.

For industry collection software and service bureaus that send large quantities of mail from various departments, LetterStream’s API allows automatic transmitting of letter data directly to LetterStream for printing and mailing. This process makes all the work involved in printing and mailing completely disappear.

Visit LetterStream at the ACA International Spring Forum and Expo in Scottsdale, Arizona this week.

2013 Spring Forum & Expo
March 20-22, 2013
Talking Stick Resort – Scottsdale, Ariz.