Invites Poll

HobokensFury

So yesterday I went and hand cancelled my invites at the post office and sent them out.  I was so excited I actually posted on FB.  And I got 9 responses asking what the hell is hand cancelling.  So I decided to do an informal poll- what did/ do you plan to do.

HobokensFury

For those that don't know. Hand cancelling the invites means you physically put the postmark over the stamp yourself.  It saves the invites from being run through machines and getting torn up and from those ugly black marks.  It makes the invites arrive looking prettier for lack of a better word. It also insures your invites are treated with a little extra care. There is no extra charge for it. Some post offices do not allow it however.  Out of the 3 in our town only 1 will allow it.  Our post office gave us the stamp and let us do it ourselves on the side.  I looked up a picture so you can see the difference. The left one was run through a machine and the right one was hand cancelled.  I highly recommed it if it's possible.

jml1981

I'm really hoping to get my hand-cancelled if my post office will let me because of looks and because I'm using a wax seal on the pocketfold. I don't want it to get stuck in the machines!

elidellio

I recently heard about this and had to Google it but now I'm really hoping to do it for mine. I haven't called to see if that's feasible but if the post office will do it I want to!

jbrook12

Thanks for explaining that. I had no idea what everyone was talking about.

lisa&sean

They still have to run through the sorters to get to the correct zip codes so it doesn't save them from all machines, but the stamper is definitely the most wear and tear on the envelope, especially if it is an odd size! (I have run them before when I used to work at a Financial Planning firm and we sent out so much mail we had our own machine!)

I didn't hand cancel mine because they were VERY thin already and didn't expect much damage from the machine, but I did hand deliver them to the post office people instead of putting them into the big blue box. I got my own tub that they let me put them in.

KH 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_march-2012-weddings_invites-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:955e4823-0be1-44ef-9ee7-99a63794e103Discussion:3d845fe8-7d68-4014-9a65-3d76066525efPost:b329b0ed-3310-416a-a481-15ceb6b654b3">Re: Invites Poll</a>:
[QUOTE]T<strong>hey still have to run through the sorters to get to the correct zip codes so it doesn't save them from all machines,</strong> but the stamper is definitely the most wear and tear on the envelope, especially if it is an odd size! (I have run them before when I used to work at a Financial Planning firm and we sent out so much mail we had our own machine!) <strong>I didn't hand cancel mine because they were VERY thin already and didn't expect much damage from the machine, but I did hand deliver them to the post office </strong>people instead of putting them into the big blue box. I got my own tub that they let me put them in.
Posted by lisa&sean[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>same here! i didnt go crazy with invites (its where we saved money) we just got regular rectanlgular invites and rsvp cards and the hotel block card-was less then an ounce </div>

Carykay

I wondered what yall were talking about. I need to see of my post office will let me. Who do you talk to?

HobokensFury

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_march-2012-weddings_invites-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:955e4823-0be1-44ef-9ee7-99a63794e103Discussion:3d845fe8-7d68-4014-9a65-3d76066525efPost:6ad72359-4062-44ac-9932-d4d317f6513b">Re: Invites Poll</a>:
[QUOTE]I wondered what yall were talking about. I need to see of my post office will let me. Who do you talk to?
Posted by Carykay[/QUOTE]

I called up a few days before and was told only 1 post office in town (the main one) offers it during non peak hours 10-2 M-F only.  I just walked up to the window and told the woman I needed to hand cancel my invites and she gave me the stamp and told me to stand on the side and do it myself.

faithlady

I'm going to if I can.

femmepink

My mom works at the post office and said that mine will be too thick to be run through the machines and need to be hand-sorted. I'm wondering if this is the same thing? I will have to pay more postage because of the weight and thickness, though.

cmac3504

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_march-2012-weddings_invites-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:955e4823-0be1-44ef-9ee7-99a63794e103Discussion:3d845fe8-7d68-4014-9a65-3d76066525efPost:5fdb760b-4ea8-4621-869c-a4a9728a689a">Re: Invites Poll</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Invites Poll : same here! i<strong> didnt go crazy with invites (its where we saved money) we just got regular rectanlgular invites and rsvp cards and the hotel block card-was less then an ounce 
</strong>Posted by KH 2012[/QUOTE]

Ditto... Don't expect to have a problem.

a+b=u&me

I want to hand cancel mine, now that I know what it is! I am going to call my local post offices, hopefully I can find one to let me do it!!!

brittandjp

I'm not going to lie, I had NO idea what hand cancelling was until this post. I would have loved to have done this, but I sent mine out last week. I do have black envelopes though, so hopefully you won't really be able to see all the black ink anyway.

Aks3131

I had no idea what hand cancelling was either but now I think I might do that instead of just leaving the invites in my mailbox for the mailman to pick up

4n6chick

I didn't know what it was, but honestly I don't know if I'm going to bother.  I have about 100 to mail and I don't know if I care enough to stand there and stamp them myself.  If I have the time and my post office does it, then I might.

For those of you with larger than normal envelopes, what did you do for stamps?  I found out mine are going to cost $1.08 to mail and we're thinking of just putting a forever stamp and a 64¢ wedding stamp on them.  Apparently we could order special made ones online but then they'd end up costing $1.65 for each stamp and I can think of a lot better things to do with that money.

Aks3131

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_march-2012-weddings_invites-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:955e4823-0be1-44ef-9ee7-99a63794e103Discussion:3d845fe8-7d68-4014-9a65-3d76066525efPost:446f6485-d0f0-4d0f-99cd-e75c7a8c4c84">Re: Invites Poll</a>:
[QUOTE]I didn't know what it was, but honestly I don't know if I'm going to bother.  I have about 100 to mail and I don't know if I care enough to stand there and stamp them myself.  If I have the time and my post office does it, then I might. <strong>For those of you with larger than normal envelopes, what did you do for stamps?  I found out mine are going to cost $1.08 to mail and we're thinking of just putting a forever stamp and a 64¢ wedding stamp on them.  Apparently we could order special made ones online but then they'd end up costing $1.65 for each stamp and I can think of a lot better things to do with that money.
</strong>Posted by 4n6chick[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't order special stamps online that will end up costing more. I used the 64<strong>¢</strong> and the forever stamp with the white roses on it. Honestly I don't think guest really care that much about the envelope it ends up getting thrown away anyway. I can't remember what any of the envelopes or stamps looked like for any weddings I've been invited to.

4n6chick

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_march-2012-weddings_invites-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:955e4823-0be1-44ef-9ee7-99a63794e103Discussion:3d845fe8-7d68-4014-9a65-3d76066525efPost:e9b12f2f-ab66-48f2-b43e-96d8a5ae7797">Re: Invites Poll</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Invites Poll : I wouldn't order special stamps online that will end up costing more. I used the 64 ¢ and the forever stamp with the white roses on it. Honestly I don't think guest really care that much about the envelope it ends up getting thrown away anyway. I can't remember what any of the envelopes or stamps looked like for any weddings I've been invited to.
Posted by Aks3131[/QUOTE]

Thanks!  That's exactly my feelings on it.

I'm only concerned right now because I've gotten two different stories from people as to whether the rate will go up - I know that the first class postage will be going up on January 22, so I think that just having the forever stamp on there would be fine.  But one of the postal workers we spoke with wasn't sure and hadn't gotten in the new price list yet.  And I haven't found a thing on the USPS website.