Postage - rigid envelopes f/u

TheSlowskys

I posted a few days about my invites. I went to the PO today.  First they told me it would be 85 cents for the weight, plus another 20 cents for a surcharge for them being rigid (it is thick heavy cardstock invite w/ 3 smaller enclosure cards).  They said they were "non-machinable" and took out a round thing like the size of a paper towel tube and said if the envelope can't bend all the way around that then they are non-machinable.  I would think then a lot of invites or thicker envelopes would be non-machinable then.

So then I asked if they were hand cancelled how much they would cost and he said if they were hand cancelled they don't have to be machined, so they would only be 85 cents.  So why didn't they offer that in the first place and how do they get away with charging an extra 20 cents when it is free to hand cancel?

My dilemma w/ the extra postage is that I have vintage stamps, so to put an extra 20 cents in stamps on is going to add too many stamps to the envelope, and also cost obviously. I dropped one in the mail Wednesday addressed to myself so I will see if it gets to me or is returned to my parents address.  Anyone else have this experience, and were you OK just going the hand cancelled route?

maggieandrey

I would just have them hand-cancel. Our post office told me that when I brought a sample in (pocketfold w/ three enclosures.) What denomination are your stamps in? I would think the weight of extra postage is negligible.

TheSlowskys

I planned on asking for them hand cancelled anyways, but I am just worried they are going to accept them with the 85 cents, then they will get all mangled and returned to me seeking another 20 cents.

Our stamps are all indifferent denominations - I didn't mean to say the added stamp would add to the weight. My concern was that instread of having 3-4 stamps which would give a really nice look, I would have to use 5-6 or so stamps and that would be way to cluttered. And those stamps aren't cheap and I planned to try and sell my left overs to another bride.

LeiselEB

Even if you ask to have them hand cancelled, some places can't guarantee that it actually happens. And if your invitations are THAT rigid, I'd rather pay the extra 20 cents than worry about whether or not they'll get hand cancelled. 

I've seen some people get ALL their invitations returned with a giant hideous stamp on them, because they asked to have them hand cancelled, it turned out the PO couldn't do it, and they were returned for insufficient postage. 

I've seen some cool invitations with vintage stamps or with a high number of low amount stamps - it can look really nice.