Hallmark and U.S.P.S. team up for easy mailing
The U.S. Postal Service and Hallmark have teamed up, introducing Postage Paid Greetings – a line of everyday and seasonal cards that include postage. All customers have to do is buy the card, address it and drop it in a mailbox. No stamp required.
With Postage-Paid Greetings, Hallmark customers won t need to be concerned about changing stamp prices. The postage is covered any time they choose to mail it – even if it s a few months or years down the road.
Card-sending is an important tradition and receiving cards is as meaningful as it ever was. The postal service is working with Hallmark in a way that honors this tradition while providing consumers with added convenience afforded by advanced technology.
The Hallmark Postage-Paid Greetings line includes a unique Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) on each envelope, indicating Hallmark is responsible for the postage. The scan information captured during normal mail processing is used to identify, sort and count the cards. Hallmark pays half the postage to USPS when Postage-Paid Greetings cards are sold and the other half when the customer mails the card.
More than 200 different designs of Postage-Paid Greetings everyday cards will be available at Hallmark distribution centers. Seasonal cards will be available starting this Easter season. Postage-Paid everyday cards can be purchased for $3.99. Seasonal cards will range in price from $2.69 to $3.99.
For more information about purchasing stamps, stamps by mail, postal regulations, a free subscription to USA Philatelic magazine, Post Office events, the location of the nearest postal store or contract unit, or for answers to your specific Postal Service questions, contact USPS at 1-800-275-8777, or visit www.usps.com. To schedule a presentation for your community, club or group on how the Postal Service brings the Post Office to your home or office computer, call 239-573-9638.
Mr. Zip s Tip: Although the price for a First-Class Mail stamp in the U.S. remains the same, prices have increased in other countries.
A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $67 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 29th in the 2010 Fortune 500. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency six consecutive years and the†sixth†Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.