Bulk Mail

In order to help you send out bulk mail, Mail Services will need to know—

• Your cost center.
• Your department name.
• The name of the person in charge of the mailing.
• The estimated cost of mailing (ECOM), to ensure that the University’s USPS [United States Postal Service] account has enough funds to cover that cost. Please see the USPS [United States Postal Service] Requirements for First-Class Bulk Mail below for more information on how to estimate this cost.

 

Comparison

	Non-Profit	First Class
Minimum Quantity for Discount Price	200 pieces or 50 lbs	500 pieces
Size and Weight Requirements Used	US Standard Mail	US First-Class Mail
Design Standard Used	Standard Mail Flats
Relative Speed	Slower	Faster
Relative Price	Cheaper	More Expensive

Minimum Quantity

Your mailing must consist of 500 or more addressed pieces. If you’d like to mail some pieces at card prices and some pieces at letter prices, you must mail at least 500 of each.

Indicia

You must have a permit indicia imprint on the envelope.

Endorsements

Addresses on all pieces must be updated within 95 days before mailing through a USPS [United States Postal Service] -approved address update method. The most common method is to add the phrase “Return Service Requested” directly under the return address, which itself should appear in the top left corner of your mail piece. See USPS [United States Postal Service] Quick Service Guide 507: Ancillary Service Endorsements for other options.

Your department will pay the full price of any mail piece that gets returned for an address correction.

Please see USPS [United States Postal Service] Quick Service Guide 230a: Move Update Standard for more information.

Machinable Design

The design of your mail piece, in particular its dimensions and weight, will affect postage. The USPS [United States Postal Service] offers a Business Price Calculator to help you estimate how much these factors will cost. Other factors could change the final cost. For example, a design that is not machinable, that is, one that cannot be run through a post office’s automatic sorting machines, will cost more.

To send at the cost of letters, mail pieces must be rectangular (squares cost more) and fit within the following size limits:

 

Letter Sizes

Dimension	Minimum	Maximum
* The thickness of an index card.
If in doubt, ask your local USPS [United States Postal Service] Mailpiece Design Analyst to measure your mail piece.
Height (perpendicular to address)	3 1/2 inches	6 1/8 inches
Length (parallel to address)	5 inches	11 1/2 inches
Thickness	0.007 inch * [Thickness of an index card. If in doubt, contact your USPS Mailpiece Design Analyst.]	1/4 inch

Many mailers fold sheets of paper to form letter-size pieces or newsletters. Folded pieces, or folded self-mailers, can save time and money because you’re not paying for –nor stuffing– envelopes. Folded self-mailers must be sealed to be machinable. We recommend placing the fold on the bottom (the side below the address) and secure the opening at the top with a piece of tape, a tab or a wafer seal.

For more design guidance, please see:

• USPS [United States Postal Service] Quick Service Guide 201: Physical Standards for Commercial Letters and Postcards.
• USPS [United States Postal Service] Quick Service Guide 201b: Using Tabs, Wafer Seals, and Glue Strips.
• USPS [United States Postal Service] Domestic Mail Manual 201.1.0: Physical Standards for Machinable Letters and Cards.

For even greater savings, ask your USPS [United States Postal Service] District Business Mail Entry Office for the special size requirements of letters sent at automation prices.

ZIP Code

Each piece must include a complete delivery address with correct ZIP code or ZIP+4 code.

Sorting

Mail must be sorted in ZIP code order, from the smallest ZIP code to the largest. One good way to sort your mailing is to separate your pieces into several different mail trays. Mail trays are available on request by contacting Receiving (receiving@utdallas.edu / 972.883.2779).

To increase efficiency of accounting within the Logistics department, Mail Services is no longer going to supply postage for the bulk mail permits. Each department will be responsible for supplying postage for their standard and non-profit bulk mailings. This can be done by requesting a check for postage when planning the bulk mail out. To request a check:

• Log in to Galaxy
• Select eProcurement (AKA [Also Known As] SciQuest)
• Select Request a Check

• Under Vendor choose “US Postal Services”.

  This will give you the preferred fulfillment address “MAIN-BULK MAIL POSTAGE 108”

• When in SciQuest requesting a check, please put “Net0/Rush” in the comments section describing the check request.

  That will help the check get out faster.

You will need to contact Mail Services to obtain the back-up documentation needed for requesting a check.

Some mail houses have their own process set up so you will need to check with them in advance for giving them a check for their bulk mail drop-off point. Please complete the process with enough time for your mailer to post to your account when mailing. Each mail house should give you a total beforehand, so you have enough time to request a check and get it to them.

You can also set up a CAPS [Centralized Account Processing System] account with the post office so that when you go through the check request process, it can be transferred to the USPS [United States Postal Service] account instead of cutting a check. We will still pay for the permit 108 and 346 to stay open at the Richardson main post office, but the department will be responsible for the postage before the mailing can be processed. Alternatively, you can set up your own bulk mail permit and transfer to the CAPS [Centralized Account Processing System] account so that if you want to have extra money in the account, only you would be able to use it.