USPS Flat Rate Envelope
USPS Flat Rate Envelope: What Is It? What Are Its Benefits? And Why Do You Need It?
Sending postal mail communications for your business can be nerve-racking at times. And if you are reading this, you have probably already had this experience in your business life. So much effort goes into sending simple mail.
You need to calculate the postage for which you need to consider the mail’s weight, the distance it has to travel, and more. What if we told you that there is a way you can bypass all these lengthy processes? And the way we are talking about here is the USPS Flat Rate Envelope.
What is a Flat Rate Envelope?
As you can guess from the name, a Flat Rate Envelope enables you to send postal mail at a fixed rate regardless of its destination. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? But sending postal mail for your business through a flat rate is not as easy as it sounds.
Using a USPS Flat Rate Envelope doesn’t mean that you can send a letter of any size to any location. Even for flat-rate services, there are limitations or scope of work within which it can operate. The flat rate postal services from USPS come in all shapes and sizes.
And we mean this both figuratively and literally. USPS uses different flat rate services or envelopes that can serve every business’s needs, including yours. For example, your company can use a Flat Rate Envelope for sending business mailers domestically or internationally.
However, the flat-rate service you use to send domestic and international mailers is not the same. In other words, the flat rate can vary based on your mail requirements or scope of work.
Is a Flat Rate Envelope Available For All USPS Mail Services?
As you know, USPS offers numerous service options that let you send postal mail of all sizes, shapes, and distances. You have USPS mailing options like Media Mail, First Class Mail, Priority Mail, and Priority Mail Express. Here’s the thing – USPS Flat Rate Envelope is only available for Priority mailings.
In other words, you can get a Flat Rate Envelope for your First Class or Media Mail. In case you are not familiar with the Priority Mail service, it is a fast mailing service offering shipping in 1 to 3 business days.
You can send envelopes or packages that weigh up to 70 lbs using a Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope. The flat-rate service or envelope lets you conveniently streamline your postal mail communication.
But how can the flat-rate service streamline postal mail communication and benefit your business? Don’t worry. We will explain all of that in a moment.
Benefits Of Using a USPS Flat Rate Envelope
There are several benefits of using a flat rate postal mail service for your business organization. It is likely that you already know a couple of these benefits. Nonetheless, we discuss some of the significant benefits of using the USPS Flat Rate Envelope for your business organization.
Weight/Distance Independent Pricing
Perhaps, the most convincing benefit of using Flat Rate Envelopes for businesses is its weight/distance independent pricing. The flat-rate pricing saves you the trouble of weighing your mailers and calculating the shipping fee every time you send a mail.
Using a Flat Rate Envelope can be especially beneficial when sending bulk mail. It lets you send your bulk mail without worrying about the weight of the mailer or the distance it has to travel. As a result, you simplify the entire mailing process and make it much more convenient.
Free Shipping Supplies
Another great thing about the Priority Mail Flate Rate Envelope is that USPS offers free shipping supplies. No, it does not mean that sending flat-rate postal mail is free. It only means that you don’t have to pay for the physical packaging of the mailer.
It is also worth remembering that a box for mailing your package can be as high as $1 per box. Hence, you can imagine the vast savings your company can get by using a Flat Rate Envelope for your bulk mail.
Know Your Business Expenses
Sometimes, the shipping cost you get from the shipping calculator, and the actual shipping cost tend to be different. If you regularly run direct mail campaigns for your business, you would have already come across this situation.
There is no confusion about the postage costs when using a USPS Flat Rate Envelope for marketing or communication mailers. You don’t even have to use the shipping calculator. All you need is the count of mailers you intend to send, and you can quickly calculate the shipping charge for sending them.
Priority Delivery
As we already explained, the Flat Rate Envelope is only available for USPS’s Priority Mail service. But what does this mean for your business? USPS’s Priority Mail Service comes with unique features and advantages. And the primary benefit of Priority Mail is faster delivery time.
Usually, USPS delivers its Priority Mail in two to three business days. And that’s just the start! Priority delivery also entitles your mailers to special handling from the USPS. It means your mailers are sorted quicker and minimizes the chances of damage to your mail.
Zero Surcharges
Many people assume that the USPS Flat Rate Envelope comes with several surcharges to compensate for the price difference. However, this is not true. Unlike what some of you might think, there are no surcharges applicable for Flat Rate Envelopes.
USPS does not add any hidden charges such as fuel costs for your Flat Rate Envelope. Even residential and Saturday delivery charges do not apply to USPS’s flat-rate mailing services. Now you can see why it is significantly easy to know your business expenses when using a flat-rate mailing service.
Delivery To More Addresses
USPS is the only postal service provider that can deliver to pretty much any address in the US. Private mail carriers, including giants like UPS and FedEx, do not have access to many mail addresses in the United States.
For example, Post Office Box and government addresses like an Army Post Office are not easily accessible to other mail providers. Hence, your USPS Flat Rate Envelope can reach practically any address in the US. While private postal services like UPS and FedEx can only make such deliveries if they deliver that last mile.
Advanced Security
When it comes to security matters, USPS again takes the lead as compared to other postal mail services. The security features apply to your USPS Flat Rate Envelope and all USPS mailers. Nonetheless, the advanced security USPS offers to your mailers is a point worth noting.
Did you ever notice that the only USPS is authorized to place a postal mail in your mailbox? And unlike many other postal mail carriers, USPS doesn’t simply leave your mail on the porch. USPS always tries to re-deliver its Flat-Rate envelope instead of leaving large packages on the porch like other mailers.
Federal Law Protection
As you know, the United States Postal Service USPS is a federal organization. It means USPS enjoys many protections and privileges as any other Federal organization. Hence, your USPS Flat Rate Envelope also gets protection from US federal law enforcement.
As a result, you can significantly reduce the chance of fraud and theft associated with your business. Therefore, a Flat Rate Envelope is ideal for organizations like financial institutions that often deliver time-sensitive and vital documents like collection letters.
And if you are concerned about the security of your mail, you can use direct mail services like PostGrid. With PostGrid, you get a fully automated direct mail solution. Furthermore, industry-based direct mail solutions like specialized direct mail services for financial institutions.
USPS Flat Rate Envelopes And Its Different Types
At the beginning of this blog, we told you that the USPS Flat Rate Envelope comes in different sizes and shapes. USPS offers envelopes and boxes at flat rates for their Priority Mail service. Did you know that you can get five distinct types of Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelopes from the USPS? Besides this, there are three other types of Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelopes.
Types of Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelopes
The five Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelopes you can use for sending your business communications are as follows.
- Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelopes
- Priority Mail Window Flat Rate Envelopes
- Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Envelopes
- Priority Mail Padded Flat Rate Envelopes
- Priority Mail Legal Flat Rate Envelopes
1. Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope
The Flat Rate Envelope is the best way for business organizations to simplify their Priority Mail shipping for documents. It is a quick, easy, and convenient way for your business organization to send essential documents. The other benefits of using Priority Flat Rate Envelopes include the following.
- USPS Tracking service
- Commercial Pricing
Dimensions
The dimensional measurements of the standard Flat Rate, Priority Mail envelope is as follows.
- Length: 12-1/2″
- Height: 9-1/2″
What Can You Send?
The standard Flat Rate Envelope is best for sending essential documents for your business. It is also ideal for sending passports, passport documents, and manuscripts.
2. Priority Mail Window Flat Rate Envelope
Flat-rate deliveries’ essential features and advantages remain the same for the various types of Flat Rate Packages and Envelopes. They help you simplify the Priority Mail shipping process for your business.
The Priority Mail Window Flat Rate Envelope lets you place pre-addressed documents or large pre-addressed envelopes inside it. In addition to that, the envelope allows you to print mailing labels to ensure easy insertion of your mail.
- USPS Tracking service
- Commercial Pricing
Dimensions
The dimensional measurements of Priority Mail Window Flat Rate Envelopes are as follows.
- Length: 12-1/2″
- Height: 9-1/2″
What Can You Send?
USPS specifically designed a Priority Mail Window Flat Rate Envelope for sending pre-addressed documents and envelopes.
3. Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Envelope
Small Flat Rate Envelopes or Priority Mail Flat Rate Small Envelope is, as the name suggests, ideal for sending small documents. You can also send bigger-sized documents using Small Flat Rate Envelopes as long as you fold up the papers.
The Small Flat Rate Envelope is perfect for sending letters, cards, or small documents. Hence, you can use Small Flat Rate Envelopes for sending most direct mail marketing materials. And since it is a flat-rate Priority Mail service is easy for your business organization to send your bulk mail.
Much like the other Flat Rate Envelopes discussed above; the Small Flat Rate Envelopes also come with additional features like
- USPS Tracking service
- Commercial Pricing
Dimensions
The dimensional measurements of the Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Envelope are as follows.
- Length: 10″
- Height: 6″
What Can You Send?
As we mentioned above, your business can use small documents, including cards and letters. You can also use the Small Flat Rate Envelope to send your customers oversized greeting cards and gift cards.
4. Priority Mail Padded Flat Rate Envelope
Suppose you want to add a layer of extra protection to your mail and minimize physical damage. In that case, you may consider using Padded Flat Rate Envelopes. As you can infer from its name, the Padded Flat Rate Envelope has a lining of bubble padding.
The extra padding layer of the envelope provides additional protection to the content of your mail. If the marketing material you are sending needs better protection from breaks or cracks, you can use this envelope.
The standard feature for Priority Mail services is applicable here too, and it includes
- USPS Tracking service
- Commercial Pricing
Dimensions
The dimensional measurements of the Priority Mail Padded Flat Rate Envelope are as follows.
- Length: 12-1/2″
- Height: 9-1/2″
What Can You Send?
Businesses use Padded Flat Rate Envelopes for sending numerous marketing and communication materials. Some of the most common items companies send using Padded Flat Rate Envelopes are clothing, books, and boxed jewelry.
As you can see, such a package would be ideal for an eCommerce company. Because by using a Padded Flat Rate Envelope, eCommerce companies can enhance the safety of their products. Retail and eCommerce companies can even seek the help of direct mail experts like PostGrid to send their products via Padded Flat Rate Envelopes.
5. Priority Mail Legal Flat Rate Envelope
Again the name should be more than enough for you to guess the use of this USPS Flat Rate Envelope. But, to be clear, let us just spell it out for you – Legal Flat Rate Envelopes are ideal for sending legal-size documents.
It is common to think that Legal Flat Rate Envelopes are solely for legal documents. You could use the legal envelopes for sending non-legal, legal-sized documents. However, there are several other options for sending regular mail.
Furthermore, there is no added advantage to using the Legal Flat Rate Envelope for your mail. The additional benefits you get for your Priority Mail Legal Flat Rate Envelopes are
- USPS Tracking service
- Commercial Pricing
Dimensions
The dimensional measurements of the Priority Mail Legal Flat Rate Envelope are as follows.
- Length: 15″
- Height: 9-1/2″
What Can You Send?
USPS specifically designed Priority Mail Legal Flat Rate Envelope for sending legal-sized documents to your customers and business partners. For example, healthcare organizations like hospitals send medical collection letters to patients.
And if the patient doesn’t respond, the hospital sends them a legal notice. However, to be honest, writing and sending medical collection letters is even more difficult than sending legal messages. Why? Because hospitals usually send collection letters in bulk. Thankfully, you can now significantly simplify this process using a direct mail automation tool like PostGrid.
Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelopes
The five Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelopes you can use to send your business communications are as follows.
- Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelope
- Priority Mail Express Padded Flat Rate Envelope
- Priority Mail Express Legal Flat Rate Envelope
1. Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelope
As you may already know, the Priority Mail Express is the fastest postal mail service from USPS. Hence, the Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelope lets you send mail time-sensitive letters, documents, and merchandise.
The additional features you get with Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelopes are
- Guaranteed next-day and second-day delivery
- Money-back guarantee
- USPS Tracking service
- Commercial Pricing
Dimensions
The dimensional measurements of the Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelope are as follows.
- Length: 12-1/2″
- Height: 9-1/2″
What Can You Send?
The items you can send using a standard Flat-Rate Priority Mail Express Envelope are
- Passports & Passport Applications
- Documents
- Manuscripts
2. Priority Mail Express Padded Flat Rate Envelope
The Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelope has the features as the Priority Mail Padded Flat Rate Envelopes. The significant difference, as you can guess, is their delivery time. In Priority Mail Express, you can expect overnight delivery to most US addresses, 365 days a year. Furthermore, there are no surcharges applicable in this case, including Saturday delivery charges.
The additional features you get with Priority Mail Express Padded Flat Rate Envelopes are
- Guaranteed next-day and second-day delivery
- Money-back guarantee
- USPS Tracking service
- Commercial Pricing
Dimensions
The dimensional measurements of the Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelope are as follows.
- Length: 12-1/2″
- Height: 9-1/2″
What Can You Send?
Any items you can send using the Priority Mail Express Padded Envelope are the same as the Priority Mail Padded Flat Mail. The only difference you will notice is that the Priority Mail Express service is much faster than Priority Mail.
3. Priority Mail Express Legal Flat Rate Envelope
With a Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelope, you get the same features as the Legal Flat Rate Envelopes we discussed for the Priority Mail service. But, here, you get the additional benefits offered by USPS Priority Mail Express service, such as
- Guaranteed next-day and second-day delivery
- Money-back guarantee
- USPS Tracking service
- Commercial Pricing
Dimensions
The dimensional measurements of the Priority Mail Legal Flat Rate Envelope are as follows.
- Length: 15″
- Height: 9-1/2″
What Can You Send?
The Priority Mail Express Legal Flat Rate Envelope is specifically designed for sending legal-sized documents in the shortest possible time.
How Much Is Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope Cost?
| Priority Mail Flat Rate Option | Post Office Rate | Commercial Base Rate |
| Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope | $8.95 | $7.75 |
| Window Flat Rate Envelope | $8.95 | $7.75 |
| Small Flat Rate Envelope | $8.95 | $7.75 |
| Padded Flat Rate Envelope | $9.65 | $8.45 |
| Legal Flat Rate Envelope | $9.25 | $8.05 |
How Much Is Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelope Cost?
| Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Option | Post Office Rate | Commercial Base Rate |
| Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope | $26.95 | $23.50 |
| Padded Flat Rate Envelope | $27.50 | $23.95 |
| Legal Flat Rate Envelope | $27.10 | $23.75 |
Conclusion
If you wish for a more convenient way to send postal mail for your business, you must consider using Flat Rate Envelopes. With the help of the USPS Flat Rate Envelope, your business can ensure an accurate and effective postal mail process.
A flat-rate postal mail service means you don’t have to worry about the distance or weight of your mail. It also means that you can effectively manage and optimize the printing and delivery of your business mail.
However, you can enhance the capability of the USPS Flat Rate Envelope by coupling it with a direct mail automation tool like PostGrid. With direct mail experts like PostGrid, sending mail becomes significantly easier.
Furthermore, you also get to access commercial base pricing for your bulk mail campaigns saving your business a load of money.
Ready to Get Started?
Start transforming and automating your offline communications with PostGrid
The post USPS Flat Rate Envelope appeared first on PostGrid.
source https://www.postgrid.com/priority-mail-flat-rate-envelope/
source https://postgridplatform.tumblr.com/post/687782222790639616
Comments
Post a Comment