Tis the season for sending greeting cards to all of your loved ones! Greetings cards come in all shapes and sizes, so it can be hard to determine the best way to send them or calculate the most accurate cost. With the holiday season causing a rush to the post office (not to mention the USPS holiday shipping cutoffs causing an even bigger rush), it’s important to know the best way to send your greeting cards so that you aren’t stuck waiting in line until the new year. We’ve gathered some of the most commonly sent greeting cards with advice on how to package your card and the service to use so your cards get delivered smoothly.
Card Type Card DimensionIssuesSuggested Service and Cost Christmas CardMeasures 8” long x 5” thick x .25” thick and weighs 2 oz Exceeds the maximum letter height of 6.125"Since it is uniformly thick and slightly flexible, but too large to be sent as a letter, it is considered a large envelope.Additional Cost
The weight and dimensions of your greeting card are a big factor in pricing, but there are a couple of potential charges that might affect the price of your postage, including non-machinable surcharges and “rigid” letter-size pricing.
Non-Machinable Surcharges
Non-machinable surcharges* come from First-Class Mail letters that can’t be processed automatically/can’t go through the standard sorting machine and instead have to be sorted by hand. This can happen when the envelopes are too large, too small, or are mislabeled. Learn more about USPS non-machinable surcharges.
*As of August 2021, USPS’s non-machinable surcharge for First-Class Mail is $0.30.
Rigid Letter-Size Pricing
“Rigid” letter-size pricing is when a greeting card can’t flex at least 1” and is less than the following dimensions:
11-1/2″ x 6-1/8″ x 1/4″ thick
3.5 ounces
If your card or letter meets these conditions, they’ll be charged the standard postage rate, plus a non-machinable surcharge. If greeting cards exceed these dimensions, they will be priced as a “large envelope/flat”. Keep in mind, cards sent as a “large envelope/flat” aren’t subject to the non-machinable surcharge.
Oversized Greeting Cards
Oversized greeting cards can potentially be sent through USPS if they are folded into a smaller size. We recommend folding it gently and sealing it with wafer glue, sealing glue, or tape. Before folding and sealing your card, here are a couple of helpful tips:
Check the adhesive doesn’t interfere with the barcode or mailing address
Measure the letter to see if it falls within the acceptable sizes for folded self-mailers of 4-1/4” x 6” minimum or up to 6-1/8” x 10-1/2” maximum
If you have any additional questions, check out USPS’s limits for letter dimensions.
Closing
Greeting cards are a wonderful way to connect with your friends and family during the holiday season. This means getting those cards to your loved ones without additional surcharges and without avoidable delays is definitely crucial. By knowing the weight and dimensions of your cards and letters in advance, you can save time and potentially money. Being aware of the surcharges that might be applied to your mail will save you from any surprises later on and keep your holidays holly and jolly. Keeping up with greeting card postage costs means you can continue to spread cheer year-round for other holidays and special occasions, making you a card-sending pro in no time!
The following two tabs change content below.
Baillee Perkins is a writer of shipping by day and pop culture by night, so her Google search history is an actual nightmare.
- March 28, 2024
Charging the Correct Postage for First-Class Mail Letter-Size Mailpieces
The May 14, 2007, changes to First-Class Mail® items emphasize the impact of mailpiece shape on postage. Please be aware of the minimums and maximums for First-Class Mail letters, large envelopes (flats), and packages to ensure that the correct postage is charged. Pay close attention to envelopes such as greeting cards marked “Extra Postage Required.”
In most cases, a letter-size mailpiece is classified and priced as a large envelope (flat) if it exceeds 3.5 ounces or 6-1/8" by 11-1/2" by 1/4" thick.
The $0.17 nonmachinable surcharge applies only to First-Class Mail letters (up to 3.5 ounces). It does not apply to postcards eligible for the card rate, large envelopes, or packages.
The following are some common nonmachinable characteristics of First-Class Mail letters (up to 3.5 ounces):
For a complete list of nonmachinable characteristics, see Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) 101.1.0.
Example 1: A customer presents for mailing a uniformly thick, slightly flexible musical greeting card that measures 6–1/2" long x 6-1/2" high x 1/4" thick and weighs 1.5 ounces. It exceeds the maximum letter height of 6-1/8", but it meets the rectangular, uniform thickness, and flexibility criteria for a large envelope, so the mailpiece is classified as a large envelope and pays the 2-ounce rate — $0.97.
Example 2: A customer presents for mailing a uniformly thick, slightly flexible greeting card that measures 5-1/2" long x 5-1/2" high x 1/4" thick and weighs 2 ounces. Although it falls within letter-size standards, it does not meet the aspect ratio criterion (it is square and therefore has an aspect ratio of less than 1.3), so the mailpiece is classified as a nonmachinable letter and pays the 2-ounce rate — $0.58 plus the $0.17 nonmachinable surcharge, for a total of $0.75.
Example 3: A customer presents for mailing a uniformly thick, slightly flexible mailpiece (greeting card/invitation) that measures 6-5/8" long x 5" high x 1/8" thick and weighs 2 ounces. It falls within letter-size standards and meets the aspect ratio criterion, so the mailpiece is classified as a letter and pays the 2-ounce rate — $0.58.
Example 4: A customer presents for mailing an item that measures 11-1/2" long x 6" high, weighs 3 ounces, and contains an odd-shaped item that gives it a nonuniform thickness but does not exceed 1/4" at its thickest point. Although it falls within letter-size standards, it is not uniformly thick, so the mailpiece is classified as a nonmachinable letter and pays the 3-ounce rate — $0.75 plus the $0.17 nonmachinable surcharge, for a total of $0.92.
Example 5: A customer presents for mailing an item that measures 10-3/4" long x 5-3/8" high, weighs 2 ounces, and contains an odd-shaped item that gives it a nonuniform thickness that exceeds 1/4" at its thickest point. It exceeds letter-size thickness standards and does not meet the uniform thickness standards for large envelopes, so the mailpiece is classified as a package and pays the 2-ounce rate — $1.30.
Example 6: A customer presents for mailing a rigid, uniformly thick box that measures 7-5/8" long x 6" high x 1/8" thick and weighs 2 ounces. Although it falls within letter-size standards, it is rigid, so the mailpiece is classified as a nonmachinable letter and pays the 2-ounce rate — $0.58 plus the $0.17 nonmachinable surcharge, for a total of $0.75.
Example 7: A customer presents for mailing an item that is almost the same as the one described in Example 6 — it is a rigid, uniformly thick box that measures 7-5/8" long x 6" high and weighs 2 ounces, but is 1/2" thick. Although its thickness exceeds letter-size standards, it still falls within the standards for large envelopes, but because the mailpiece does not meet the flexibility criteria for a large envelope, it is classified as a package and pays the 2–ounce rate — $1.30.