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Our offices will be closed for Independence Day on Friday, July 4th. All orders in progress will resume production on Monday, July 7th. Thank-you! |
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| About Us | Green Practices | File Preparation | Mailing Services | Print Quality |
| QUESTIONS ABOUT MAILING AND MAILPIECE DESIGN |
| Which products are available for mailing services? |
| What different types of mailing are available, and what is the difference between them? |
| How do I know if my piece can be mailed or not? |
| How should I design the mailing panel of my mailpiece? |
| What size should I make a card that is going to be mailed? |
| Which of GreenerPrinter's papers can I use for cards that will be mailed? |
| What is a "Self-Mailer"? |
| What size should I make a Self-Mailer? |
| Which of GreenerPrinter's papers can I use for self-mailers? |
| How can I reduce my mailing costs? |
| What is included in the mailing cost? |
| What if I'm only mailing some of the prints? |
| How can I confirm that my job has been mailed? |
| Can I download the GreenerPrinter indicia? |
| QUESTIONS ABOUT MAILING LISTS |
| How should my mailing list be formatted, and what file types will you accept? |
| How do I send my mailing list to GreenerPrinter? |
| Can GreenerPrinter combine multiple mailing lists? |
| What does CASS Certified mean? |
| What if my list contains a large number of undeliverable addresses? |
| Can I get my "cleansed" list back? |
| What other special mailing services do you offer? |
| QUESTIONS ABOUT MAILING AND MAILPIECE DESIGN |
| Which products are available for mailing services? |
| Currently our site provides mailing as an option for the following products: Brochures, postcards, booklets, catalogs, and newsletters. If you are trying to mail some other type of product (for instance, an 11x17 sellsheet, with a double gatefold), you can still do it, you just need to start in the "Brochures" section rather than the sellsheet section. If you wish to order and mail greeting cards, chances are you will also want to include envelopes (see our "envelopes" section); when placing your order, please indicate in the "Notes" section at the end of the ordering process that you require envelopes and that you wish to mail the cards (Standard or First Class). A GreenerPrinter customer service representative will contact you with a final price. |
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| What different types of mailing are available, and what is the difference between them? |
| We offer First Class, Standard and Non-profit rates. First Class is basically a bulk rate cheaper than stamps, but with a quicker delivery time than "Standard" Bulk mail, which can take anywhere between a week and 20 days. If your company is a non-profit agency, you may qualify for a special non-profit bulk rate, but you'll need to download, fill-out and return to us this form. |
| If you select "First Class" mailing, the minimum quantity you must mail is 500, otherwise the site will automatically select "stamps". If you select Standard ("Bulk") mailing, the minimum quantity you must mail is 200. |
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| How do I know if my piece can be mailed or not? |
| Just about anything can be mailed, but to take advantage of special bulk rates, a mailpiece needs to conform to certain criteria. Our system won't allow mailing as an option for any piece that falls outside this criteria. The most important guideline is the height to width ratio. In order for a piece to qualify for bulk mail, it must have the following aspect ratio: Length divided by Height = 1.3 - 2.5 (see graphic below) |
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Anything outside this ratio is considered "non-machinable" by the US Post Office and will not qualify for bulk rates. |
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| How should I design the mailing panel of my mailpiece? |
| The mailing panel needs to be formatted in such a way that it conforms to U.S. Postal Service specifications. A good rule of thumb (in addition to the Aspect Ratio listed above) is to leave at least 3.5" of white space on the right-hand side of the mail panel and 5/8" along the bottom. This space is required to accommodate the indicia, the mailing address, any barcodes that will be applied, and any special service requests. Please leave this area white (though a light color is generally acceptable) or your piece will have to be labeled, which incurs extra cost and is generally less attractive than having postal information printed directly on the piece. The U.S. Postal Service website is also a valuable resource for information about how to design mailpieces. |
| You may also refer to the visual aid graphic below (click here to download an EPS file of this template). |
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| What size should I make a card that is going to be mailed? |
| (Note: All dimensions listed are in inches!) Cards that are between 3.5 x 5 and 4.25 x 6 fall under the less expensive "Postcard" rate. Cards at this size are automatically given "First Class" service. Cards that are larger than 4.25 x 6 (on either dimension) but under 6.125 x 11.5 fall into the "Letter" (or "Oversize") category. For these cards you may choose either First Class or a less expensive Standard rate. Cards that are larger than 6.125 x 11.5 (on either dimension) but under 15 x 12 are considered "Flats" and fall into a higher price category. For these cards you may choose either First Class or a less expensive Standard rate. We do not recommend mailing cards that are larger than 15 x 12 |
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| Which of GreenerPrinter's papers can I use for cards that will be mailed? |
| Available choices for cards in the (3.5 x 5 ---> 4.25 x 6) size range are: 105# Reincarnation Matte Book 80# Reincarnation Matte Cover 95# Reincarnation Matte Cover 92.5# Primavera Gloss Cover 111# Primavera Gloss Cover 80# Everest Cover, White 100# Everest Cover, White 80# Gloss Cover 100# Gloss Cover 12pt. C1S Available choices for cards in the (4.26 x 6.01 ---> 6.125 x 11.5) size range are: |
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| What is a "Self-Mailer"? |
| A Self-Mailer is basically anything other than a card that gets mailed without an envelope. This can include: Folded brochures, newsletters, catalogs, business-reply pieces, and more. Most self-mailers will require one or more "wafer-seals" which will automatically be included in the mailing cost shown on the Job Specifications page. |
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| What size should I make a Self-Mailer? |
| The rules for sizes on Self-Mailers are very similar to the rules for cards, though there is no "Postcard" rate. Any self-mailer between 3.5x5 and 6.125x11.5 can be mailed at Standard or First Class rates, but additional postage becomes necessary as the weight of the piece increases. First Class service is available for Self-Mailers up to 13 oz. Standard service for Self-Mailers is the same for any piece under 3.3 oz. Standard service for pieces weighing more than 3.3 oz are calculated based on weight (our system will do this for you). |
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| Which of GreenerPrinter's papers can I use for self-mailers? |
| You can use virtually any of our paper stocks to produce self-mailers. |
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| How can I reduce my mailing costs? |
| In addition to choosing "Standard" service and/or smaller sizes, you can often reduce mailing costs on multi-page items by choosing a lighter grade paper stock. The mailing cost on the Product Description page will update automatically as you enter different specs. |
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| What is included in the mailing cost? |
| Our mailing services include: - Processing your mailing list (removing duplicates, CASS Certification) - Printing our indicia on your job - Printing addresses from the mailing list on your job - Postage costs - Applying wafer seals (if required) - Delivery to post office |
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| What if I'm only mailing some of the prints? |
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You'll notice there is a "Quantity to be mailed" section in the Job Specifications panel. This number will be subtracted from the total print quality and the balance will be shipped to the address (or addresses) you enter in the Shipping section. |
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| How can I confirm that my job has been mailed? |
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We recommend that you drop a few "seed" addresses into your mailing list, including your own, to confirm the timeliness and accuracy of your mailing. |
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| Can I download the GreenerPrinter indicia? |
| Certainly... click here to download the First Class indicia, click here to download the Standard indicia. |
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| QUESTIONS ABOUT MAILING LISTS |
| How should my mailing list be formatted, and what file types will you accept? |
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The mailing list should contain only the information necessary for mailing: - First Name - Last Name - Street Address ("Address 1") - Apartment or Suite number ("Address 2") - City - State - Zip (5-digit or 5-plus-4)
We recommend sending tab-delimited text files (.txt), but we can also accept Excel files (.xls), or comma-delimited text files (.csv). If you are sending a csv file, please remove commas from within any addresses, as this will "shift" everything in the database.
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| How do I send my mailing list to GreenerPrinter? |
| After you've entered your job specifications (Step 2 in the ordering process), you will be taken to the "Upload" section. Use this section to upload both your artwork and your mailing list(s). If your order has already been started, you can add the mailing list to the order by logging on to your account, clicking "Account Details" and selecting the job. Next, click the button that reads "Upload Additional Files." This will take you to a page where you can upload your mailing list. You can also e-mail your mailing list as an attachment to csr@greenerprinter.com. Please include your order number in the subject line. |
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| Can GreenerPrinter combine multiple mailing lists? |
| Yes, we can. We charge an additional $10 per file to "merge" the lists, which will be added to the job total by a GreenerPrinter customer service representative after your job is begun. You can upload additional lists in the "File Upload" section just as you would artwork files. Then, just type a message in the "additional notes" section to indicate that you are sending additional mailing lists. |
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| What does CASS Certified mean? |
| CASS stands for "Coding Accuracy Support System", and was developed to improve accuracy and reduce waste for bulk mail projects. Our CASS Certification software regularly synchronizes with a USPS online database of known addresses. When your list is processed (CASS Certified), the software checks each and every address to confirm that it is a valid, deliverable location. Addresses that are not known are then removed from the list. |
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| What if my list contains a large number of undeliverable addresses? |
| If we notice that there is a large number of invalid addresses in your list (usually 10% or greater), we will contact you and offer (for an additional fee) to attempt to "clean" your list. Often there are minor problems in addresses ("Rd." instead of "Ave.", misspelled city names, etc) that can be easily fixed by the software. |
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| Can I get my "cleansed" list back? |
| Yes, you can, just ask! |
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| What other special mailing services do you offer? |
| Lots! Read on: You can choose to include additional artwork on the mailing panel, such as special offers, logos or other eye-catching illustrations. These can even be printed in a separate color. And, you can take this option a step further by employing powerful variable data and personalization options which allow you to vary the look and content of the mail panel for each individual recipient. For instance, you could: - Include a special graphic for all of the residents of a certain city. You can even include short personalized messages, such as: There's also a brand new feature that will allow you to place messages like the one above onto a "sticky note" that's affixed to the mailpiece! Variable Data Printing within our mailing system introduces almost limitless creative opportunities for you to distinguish your organization's materials from everything else in the mailbox. If you're interested in using any of the options listed above, please contact a GreenerPrinter customer service representative via e-mail or phone 1-866-978-8547 (toll free). |
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