Mailing Invitations- Non-machinable?

I plan to request that my invitations be hand canceled. There's no extra charge that I'm aware of, but I do expect the employee to roll his or her eyes.

I've read to ask them to hand stamp them, it looks nicer and won't ruin anything inside.

When I got one weighed to buy stamps they told me they wouldn't go through the machines. The invite has ribbon around it and a raised surface so I guess it might get beat up in the machine?

They aren't really large and the addresses should be easy to read as they are printed. I'm pretty sure it's just it not being really flat

They don't do "Hand Canceled" any more. I believe you can still request that they are not machined but they told me they don't use the term hand canceled any more. I had wax seals on mine. It cost me an extra $.20 per invite because they couldn't be machined.

But you should take one invite into the post office just to see how much it will cost. You don't want to sent them all and then get them back for insufficient postage.

The lady didn't mention an extra charge when I bought the stamps and hand them weighed but said they couldn't go through the machine and to give them to her in the morning and not at the end of the day. I was just curious if anyone else had that experience

I read that square invitations are non-machinable as well. I looked up the price assuming my invites were 2 ounces and it was 86 cents each invite...dumb

When I took mine in, I asked if they could be hand cancelled and the guy at the post office sold me the stamps needed and handed me the hand cancel stamp. With that being said I purposely went on a Saturday morning becasue I knew they wouldn't be that busy. My invitations were square, had a belly band and were a tad on the bulky side but they didn't charge me for the hand cancelling and I was really happy that they weren't messed up by going through the machine.

I've checked with our post office and the Post Master was fine with hand cancelling. He just asked me how many. He said he gets angry when someone tells him 75 and they bring in 400. He said they do it during the day when it's slow. There won't be a charge. Our square invitations will cost $11.12 each for postage.

Carole $11.12 each just for postage!?! Whoa! Those must be super crazy fancy!

Or it is $1.12??

How big are your squares and how much do they weigh?

Technically anything that is "nonmachineable" can be charged a $.20 fee. I really think it depends on each individual post office, though, whether or not they actually charge this. If you are nice to them, they are not a busy post office, and you have fewer than a 100 envelopes, then they probably won't charge. But just know that legally, they can.

Here is what is considered "nonmachineable":

http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/qsg300/Q201.pdf

Sorry- $1.12

The squares are 6.5 x 6.5. I couldn't tell you the weight but they consist of the outer envelope, laser cut pocket fold with belly band, heavy metallic stock, envelopes for rsvp card & directions also in heavy stock.

This happen to me because I had a wax seal around my invitations and it raised a little in the envelopes so I was informed that my invitations were considered a parcel I guess that's the same as non-machineable. Anyway I took it as more money lol. It cost $2.06 to mail each invitation. I did go to the post office with an example and was told a completely different, cheaper, price.

@Barbara- In the post office I went to they charged me the .20 extra cents because mine were square but they didn't charge me extra for the hand cancelling

They wouldn't put mine through the machines because the ribbon I tied was too thick to fit through. It did cost extra. I remember that I elected to put two stamps on because, even though it was more than I HAD to pay, I wanted pretty stamps on my invitations. I had to put on two stamps.

@Barbara - You always have the answer for this kind of stuff :-)

@Carole - Yours must weigh more than 2 ounces or something...hopefully mine is a little cheaper b/c I only have the pocket with the invitation on 1 side, accessory card, and rsvp card