LetterAgent
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Mail birth announcements like heavier, fussier greeting cards: weigh one complete announcement with its envelope, because cardstock and photo cards often push past the standard letter weight and need extra postage. Avoid square envelopes (they trigger a nonmachinable surcharge since sorting machines can't turn them), protect photo cards from bending, and send within a few weeks of the birth.
| Piece | What pushes the postage up | How to handle it |
|---|---|---|
| Flat photo card | Cardstock plus photo paper plus envelope often exceed the standard letter weight | Weigh one fully assembled announcement on a kitchen scale |
| Folded announcement | Thickness and stiffness | Keep it flexible enough to pass through sorting equipment |
| Square envelope | Can't be machine-sorted (see below) | Use a rectangular envelope or budget for the surcharge |
| Announcement with ribbon or tie | Lumpy, non-uniform thickness | Remove the embellishment or mail it as a parcel |
The mechanism is simple: letter postage is priced in weight bands, and a finished announcement (card plus photo plus envelope plus liner) routinely lands in a higher band than a plain letter. Weigh one fully assembled piece rather than guessing. Guessing low means some recipients get a postage-due notice, which is a bad look on a happy occasion, and guessing high on every piece wastes money across a long mailing list.
Nothing aesthetically: they're just hostile to sorting machines. Automated equipment orients each envelope by its long edge; a square envelope has no long edge, so the machine can't tell which way is up. Square pieces get pulled out for hand processing, and both the USPS and Canada Post charge extra for that manual handling: the nonmachinable surcharge. The same surcharge hits rigid pieces, lumpy pieces, and anything with clasps, buttons, or string ties.
Here's the part people miss: an envelope that's merely stiff can trigger the surcharge too. If the card inside makes the envelope rigid enough that it won't flex through the sorting rollers, expect the extra charge even in a perfectly rectangular envelope. And the surcharge applies per piece: on a 60-person mailing list, it multiplies fast, so it's worth deciding about the square envelope before you order the stationery.
Photo cards are the most damage-prone format because they're stiff but thin: they crack instead of bending. Slip a piece of thin cardboard behind the card (a cereal-box panel works fine), or use a rigid photo mailer for the whole batch. Writing "do not bend" on the envelope is a request, not a paid service: it may help with hand-sorted mail and does nothing for machine-sorted mail. For irreplaceable prints, a rigid mailer beats a hopeful note every time.
Also, skip the temptation to mail the announcement without an envelope at all. An unprotected postcard-style announcement goes through the same machines with zero protection, and photo surfaces scuff easily. The envelope is doing real work.
Etiquette gives you a generous window: within the first few weeks is ideal, and anything inside a few months is completely fine. Nobody expects an announcement the week of the birth; new parents have other priorities, and everyone knows it. Send to close family and friends. There's no obligation to announce to everyone who sent a gift, though gift-givers do appreciate receiving one.
Put your return address on the back flap of every envelope. Announcements go to people who may have moved, and a return address means undeliverable ones come back to you instead of vanishing. It's also how you'll learn which addresses in your list need updating.
Honestly, not the way most people picture them. LetterAgent prints and mails letters: 8.5x11 paper, single-sided, in a standard double-window envelope. It doesn't print photo cards or custom stationery, and it doesn't stuff special envelopes. So order the announcements themselves from a stationery printer, then mail them yourself. Where LetterAgent does fit: the thank-you notes afterward are plain letters, and those it handles start to finish: describe the note to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it's printed and mailed.
Ready to mail it? Send your letter with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it is printed and mailed.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
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