Let’s talk about “the R word” today.
No guesses?
Okay, it’s “Remittance.”
What does that even mean? Well, I am a word nerd, so I LOVE words like this, because the name itself gives out lots of clues. The suffix “re” generally means that something is being re-peated, re-turned or re-plied. As for “mit,” that’s a little more obscure, as it is Latin for “send.” However, you can easily think of other words that can quickly guide you to its meaning, such as submit, transmit, omit or permit.
So, remittance means sending something again. Or, in the case of a remittance envelope, sending something back to the original sender within the small envelope that was included in the original mail piece.
At Postalocity, we tend to use the labels “Remittance Envelope” and “Reply Envelope” interchangeably when we are talking about them. And we talk about them a lot! For many of our long-time customers, remittance envelopes are an important part of their regular business operations, and we help them keep those operation costs down by providing several remittance options and several ways of customizing how and when those remittance envelopes are sent.
Today we will be focusing on the different types of remittance envelopes you can send through Postalocity, and the best reasons to use each of them.
First, let’s discuss the unpaid reply envelopes. Postalocity’s default option for this is the Courtesy Reply Envelope.
The Courtesy Reply Envelope simply has YOUR preferred remittance address on it, which can differ from your return address if you prefer. Your recipients will need to add their own postage to send this back to you. You only pay for the cost of the envelope.
We also have two other unpaid reply envelope options, however these are very rarely used and require prior planning and customization, so please contact Customer Support if you would like to know more.
Now, let’s talk about the prepaid reply envelopes!
First up, we have the ever-popular Business Reply Envelope.
You’ve seen this one more times than you can count, but do you know how it works? We do! Here’s a quick rundown:
If you regularly send a massive amount of remittance envelopes with your mailings, but you don’t usually get very many returned to you, then Business Reply is a great option for you! This envelope not only increases your response rate by eliminating the need for added postage, but you also benefit by only paying the postage for the envelopes that get returned.
But you do need to do some legwork at the beginning to start sending Business Reply Envelopes. You must contact your local post office (or the post office in the same zip code as the remittance address) and apply for a business reply account with the USPS. Depending on your overall return volume, you may need to pay a yearly fee. More information here: https://pe.usps.com/MailpieceDesign/Index?ViewName=BRMPermitNumber
If you already have a Business Reply account set up with the USPS and would like to start including Business Reply envelopes with your Postalocity mailings, just contact us with the permit number and/or your authorized envelope design so we can confirm its validity, and we can quickly set up a custom job setting for you that includes your unique Business Reply Envelope.
But maybe Business Reply is not your speed. If you want to send a prepaid return envelope in a hurry, or don’t want the hassle of filling out extra paperwork, you will definitely be interested in the Self Addressed Stamped Envelope, or SASE for short.
The SASE is great for lower volume mailings that already have a high return rate. Do you want to provide your customers with the assurance that you are looking out for their best interest? The SASE is a very tangible way of doing this. It also feels more personal than a Business Reply Envelope, as each stamp must be carefully affixed, and you pay for the postage on all of the stamps when you approve the job in Postalocity.
You must pay close attention to your volume, however. Postalocity can easily fit 100 SASEs per day into our production schedule. However, if you want SASEs included in larger jobs closer to 500 or more pieces, you should contact us one or two days in advance so that we can ensure that we have enough stamps in stock.
Here’s some extra trivia for you:
Presort mailers like Postalocity need to order giant rolls of priced (not Forever) stamps directly from the USPS for these larger mailings. If you’ve ever tried to use a regular stamp after a postage price increase, you know how it feels to search through the paper drawer looking for that spare 1¢ stamp that is suddenly very important.
Ready to commit to the SASE for your next mailing? Just call or email us and let us know. This envelope also needs a custom job setting, but it only takes a few minutes to get it set up on your job.
If you’ve made it this far into the blog post, THANK YOU! And I hope you’ve learned enough information to help you make the best decision for your next reply mailing.
Before you go, I have a BONUS tip for you! Did you know that Postalocity allows you to customize which of your outgoing letters/statements get remittance envelopes?
If you have customers who already pay by draft or by credit card, why would you want to send them a remittance they don’t need? That’s EXACTLY what our developers were thinking when they included the “remittance target” setting that allows you to customize which pieces get a reply envelope and which pieces don’t. If that sounds like a fantastic idea to you, let us know and we’ll evaluate the best way to set this up in your job to help save you even more money!
——–
Like what we’re writing or want to see what else we can offer you? Check the links below!
Postalocity Blog – https://www.postalocity.com/news-blog/
Our Mailing Services – https://www.postalocity.com/types-of-mail/
CONTACT US – https://www.postalocity.com/contact-us/
Published MAY 10TH, 2021
Written By
