Invitations Returned to senders FYI

Oh no! I already got mine like that ugh

Thanks for the advice! I would not have thought of that

Oh wow, I didn't know this! We didn't have an issue with any of ours, thank goodness! I wonder if maybe it has to do with font style and size being too similar to the address on the front, or if the stamp is also on the back or in a "weird" place and it reads it wrong. So interesting and what a great share!

Our STD had a clear wrap-around label with our address printed on the back in a calligraphy font I downloaded. I handwrote it on the back of my bridal shower invites on the top middle of the flap. I had it printed on the top of the back flap of our wedding invitations. AND I used stickers with our favorite engagement picture and address on the back of every "thank you" card where a wax seal would go! I must have gotten really lucky because that's been almost everything I've sent out!

Wow! I asked about the stamp thing and how it seems like it should read the side with the stamp, but they said it doesnt matter... you must have gotten lucky!

Some people might get lucky and not have returns, but it is standard practice to have the return address on the upper left of the envelope. This is even more important since the onset of mechanical and electronic screening.

The guidelines have been on the USPS website for years.

I always knew it was the standard to do the upper left and I use that for professional/standard letters, but most of my invites and thank-yous looked WAY too cluttered and I cared a lot about that clean look, return-to-sender be damned.

I like to live dangerously!

...Or maybe a little stupidly. At least that means I'll probably have to buy more stamps to support the slowly dying snail mail business.

This is still such a great post and reminder!! I hear it happen to a lot of people! Also make sure to check and double-check the weight of your invites and get sufficient postage, especially if you do full invitation suites. That's another HUGE cause of returning invitations. Ours were all single sheets of cardstock-type paper, so they were very lightweight.

I put mine on the back and didn't get any returned.

We had our address on the back - all of the invites that we got back had big yellow stickers on the front saying undeliverable - the addresses were correct so we had to make a new envelope and try again. They went through just fine second time. No idea what was up with that.

I've heard of this happening to people, but luckily I didn't have any returned.

I? was concerned about this too after hearing it happen to other people. Everyone on WW told me not to worry and it actually wasn’t a problem. I? think I? just got lucky though because my FIL worked for the post office for 30 years and said this is a definite possibility.

That was the rule at the post office, when we mailed our save the dates in 2012; everything has to be on one side. Everything flat is run through processing machines. Envelopes can get flipped over; you might get it back, if the address is on the back.

I knew this was a risk especially given that I used wraparound labels meaning both addresses are on the same level and more susceptible to this issue. I only got one back due to this issue and post office told me to just throw it right back into a mailbox. And I sent over 100.

Sucks because if the person loading the envelopes were to do so carefully, then this wouldn't happen as they are scanned.

I had no idea! Good FYI...for Holiday cards too! Though I have done return labels on the back for last year's cards with no problem.

Interesting. We just sent out STDs and had our return address on the back. They went all over the country. So far haven't gotten any back

Yep i got several back before because of this.

I did all my stuff like this and didn't have any issues. I did have one rsvp return get lost in the mail as well as a wedding gift get lost (thankfully a check not cash!). Neither have turned up.

Ohh wow thanks for sharing!