Invitations are out and the POST OFFICE CAN S*CK IT!!

I went to three different post offices to be absolutely sure of the postage I would need. The first one (in Bryant Park) told me $1.00 because it weighed 2 oz ($0.59) and the envelope was oversized (6.5 x 6.5) ($0.41). The second post office (in Queens) told me $1.34. All of the above PLUS an extra $0.34 because it would be considered a parcel since it had to be hand-canceled (non-machinable) due to the rhinestone buckle on my invitation. I decided to go to the Main Post Office in the City and they also confirmed that it would cost $1.34. I was also told that hand cancelling is no longer guaranteed. Some MAY go through a machine. I was lucky enough to have a wonderful clerk help me who PROMISED he would hand them over himself to the person who does the hand cancelling and ask him to be sure each one was hand cancelled. I have my fingers crossed!

Ladies please note that smaller post offices will not hand cancel them there. They send them out to other post offices to be hand-cancelled and again they cannot guarantee the hand cancelling!


Invitations all ready to go (before I found out I needed to add ANOTHER stamp!):

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Posted by mlcvln129

I thought that you can get ANYTHING hand cancelled if you go to the front desk of a post office!!! That's good to know.

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They might do one or two but I had over 100 invitations!

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Posted by MrsList09

Mine had the exact same stamps on them! They were trying to give me the stupid clock ones. I was like ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? NO CLOCKS! Luckily they're out. Congratulations!

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LOL I know. when I had to add the extra postage I see him pulling out all kinds of stamps. I'm like OH NO! I'll pay the extra money I NEED the wedding hearts!!! He must of thought I was a bridezilla for sure!

I mailed out my 200 invitations in groups of 25. I would go once in the morning with 25 and then again in the afternoon with 25 more. It took me a few days, but they all went out and were hand canceled.

Sorry you had to go through such drama!

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Posted by fabulousmady

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Posted by MrsList09

Mine had the exact same stamps on them! They were trying to give me the stupid clock ones. I was like ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? NO CLOCKS! Luckily they're out. Congratulations!

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LOL I know. when I had to add the extra postage I see him pulling out all kinds of stamps. I'm like OH NO! I'll pay the extra money I NEED the wedding hearts!!! He must of thought I was a bridezilla for sure!

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I wanted to find out how much it would and order my stamps on zazzle.com to make sure I got the design I wanted

thats weird, most post offices just give you the stamp and lets you go do it yourself.

The reason one of them told you that it can still go through a machine is bc everything goes through 2 machines. Hand cancelling avoids the first machine but not the 2nd. The first one i think is the one that ruins envelopes though so shouldn't be a problem.

Or did you do it parcel service? I had asked if I needed to hand cancel mine since invites were in a box, and she said no bc boxes dont go through the machines and considered parcel service i think thats what i remember at least so then should be fine if you did it that way.

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Posted by Espo22

thats weird, most post offices just give you the stamp and lets you go do it yourself.

The reason one of them told you that it can still go through a machine is bc everything goes through 2 machines. Hand cancelling avoids the first machine but not the 2nd. The first one i think is the one that ruins envelopes though so shouldn't be a problem.

Or did you do it parcel service? I had asked if I needed to hand cancel mine since invites were in a box, and she said no bc boxes dont go through the machines and considered parcel service i think thats what i remember at least so then should be fine if you did it that way.

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I asked if I could do this and they said they are no longer allowing this (all three post offices gave me the same response). I ended up putting extra postage and sending it as a parcel. I rather be safe than sorry.

What is the whole hand cancelling thing?

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Posted by gporka23

What is the whole hand cancelling thing?

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Hope I can explain, lol
Hand cancelling is when they put a mark with the date over the actual postage with a stamp by hand as opposed to sticking the letter in a machine and having the machine stamp all the postage (so that you can't peel off the postage and try to use it again ).

Invitations (especially if they have rhinestone buckles, monogram tags or anything that makes the envelope a little bulky) can get ripped or ruined if they are put through the post office machine so that is why us brides are obsessed with making sure they post office handles our invitations by hand and not with a machine.

HTH

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Posted by fabulousmady

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Posted by Espo22

thats weird, most post offices just give you the stamp and lets you go do it yourself.

The reason one of them told you that it can still go through a machine is bc everything goes through 2 machines. Hand cancelling avoids the first machine but not the 2nd. The first one i think is the one that ruins envelopes though so shouldn't be a problem.

Or did you do it parcel service? I had asked if I needed to hand cancel mine since invites were in a box, and she said no bc boxes dont go through the machines and considered parcel service i think thats what i remember at least so then should be fine if you did it that way.

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I asked if I could do this and they said they are no longer allowing this (all three post offices gave me the same response). I ended up putting extra postage and sending it as a parcel. I rather be safe than sorry.

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you'll be fine then dont worry, that way i dont think they go through any machine. I know what you mean, i had rhinestone buckles too and was very afraid of this since i heard so many ppl say they received invites in the past with rhinestone buckles and envelope came ripped. I ended up doing boxes JUST for that reason alone bc i didnt want to take any chances.

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by fabulousmady

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Posted by Espo22

thats weird, most post offices just give you the stamp and lets you go do it yourself.

The reason one of them told you that it can still go through a machine is bc everything goes through 2 machines. Hand cancelling avoids the first machine but not the 2nd. The first one i think is the one that ruins envelopes though so shouldn't be a problem.

Or did you do it parcel service? I had asked if I needed to hand cancel mine since invites were in a box, and she said no bc boxes dont go through the machines and considered parcel service i think thats what i remember at least so then should be fine if you did it that way.

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I asked if I could do this and they said they are no longer allowing this (all three post offices gave me the same response). I ended up putting extra postage and sending it as a parcel. I rather be safe than sorry.

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you'll be fine then dont worry, that way i dont think they go through any machine. I know what you mean, i had rhinestone buckles too and was very afraid of this since i heard so many ppl say they received invites in the past with rhinestone buckles and envelope came ripped. I ended up doing boxes JUST for that reason alone bc i didnt want to take any chances.

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Espo - I am not up to this part.. but the invites I am looking at (either making or purchasing) will have a rhinestone buckle... so I thought about using a box. Where did you find the boxes and approx how much did they cost? Also, were they a lot more money to mail as opposed to mailing them in an envelope?