Your corporate mail is important. Business mail can contain anything from time-sensitive client data to billing statements. But though the mail system in the United States is one of the most reliable in the world, there are still things that you could potentially do to get your business mail sent back, wasting valuable days of time. 

Weighing the Envelope Too Early

Postal scales can be quite precise. If you have a postage printer, you should always weigh the envelope when it is ready to go -- no sooner. Something as simple as adding the actual mailing address as a label to the envelope later could tip your envelope into another weight class. When this happens, it's usually up to the discretion of the postal worker as to whether or not they decide to deliver the mail, deliver the mail and collect the difference from the recipient, or simply bounce the mail back.

Forgetting to Update the Postage Meter

Postage meters have to be updated on a regular basis because the postage rates do change. If you haven't updated your postal meter recently, you may be stamping everything with the incorrect amounts. In particular, the mailing rate of a first class envelope tends to change on a yearly basis -- and there are no forever stamps with a postage meter.

Incorrectly Generated Addresses

Most business mail is automatically addressed through a software program. An Excel sheet or Word document may be used to print many envelopes at a time. Someone should always look through the addresses to make sure that they have been formatted and generated correctly. It's fairly easy for a computer program to accidentally leave out zip codes or other essential address components. 

Improperly Printed or Labelled Envelopes

When mail is going out at a rapid pace, it can be very easy for quality control to go down. When labels are in the incorrect location on an envelope or package, it's very possible that the package will simply come back to the return address. Envelopes should always be positioned so that the mailing address is as close to the center of the envelope as possible, with the return address much smaller at to the side. 

Sometimes the easiest thing to do is to acquire prestamped business envelopes for your traditional mailings. These envelopes can be purchased at a low rate in bulk and do not require any weighing or special processes. 

To learn more, contact a print shop like The Print Shop.