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Business reply mail (BRM) is a prepaid return envelope that a company pays for on your behalf. Instead of a stamp it carries a printed permit indicia in the top-right corner, which tells the post office to bill the permit holder when the piece is returned. You fill it out, seal it, and drop it in the mail with no stamp.
A company that expects lots of replies, such as a magazine subscription department or an insurer, applies for a BRM permit at its local post office. It then prints reply envelopes or postcards with the special indicia, a permit number, and its own return address. You receive one with a bill or a catalog, write in your information, and mail it back. When the envelope arrives at the permit holder's post office, the postage and a small per-piece fee are charged to its account. Unreturned envelopes cost it nothing.
| Element | What it is |
|---|---|
| Permit indicia | A printed box in the stamp corner reading "Business Reply Mail" with the permit number and the issuing post office; it replaces the stamp |
| FIM barcode | The Facing Identification Mark, a row of vertical bars along the top edge that lets sorting machines recognize the piece as reply mail |
| Fixed return address | The permit holder's address, pre-printed; you cannot redirect a BRM envelope to a different address |
| Postage-due marking area | Space where the post office notes the postage collected from the permit holder's account |
No, and mixing them up is the classic mistake. A courtesy reply envelope has the company's address pre-printed but no prepaid indicia, so you must add your own stamp or it will not be delivered. A true business reply envelope says "Business Reply Mail" and "Postage will be paid by addressee" on it. If neither appears, it is a courtesy envelope and the postage is on you.
Any business or organization can apply for a BRM permit at a US post office, but it is designed for volume. There is an annual permit fee plus a per-piece charge on each item returned, so it only makes sense if you expect a steady stream of replies. Individuals sending one-off letters should just use a stamp. In Canada, Canada Post offers a similar business reply service, though it is far less common in Canadian mailboxes than BRM is in American ones.
Generally no. A US BRM permit covers mail posted within the United States and returned to a US address. A Canadian customer cannot drop a US business reply envelope into a Canada Post box and expect it to work. For cross-border replies, the standard tool is the International Reply Coupon, a voucher bought at the post office that the recipient exchanges for return postage in their own country.
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