

When you purchase postage for first-class mail you are going to be purchasing the stamps that all of us are familiar with, the kinds of stamps that you stick at the top right-hand corner of an envelope before you drop something in the post. Unlike other USPS offerings, however, the delivery schedule with first-class mail is always a rough estimate and not a guarantee. Sometimes, however, that delivery timeline stretches a little longer – especially when you are sending something a bit further from your home.Ī first-class letter sent across town, for example, is always going to take less time to reach its destination than a letter sent from Boston, Massachusetts to Anchorage, Alaska. Most of the time, though, people are going to either be sending letters to one another via this mail solution, responding to bills, invoices, and the like, or are going to be sending out – or receiving – business mail that doesn’t have to be registered or certified.Īs a general rule, first-class mail has a delivery timeline of between one and three business days from the day that it is postmarked. Parcels via first-class can also be delivered with just a stamp or two attached, as long as the entire parcel doesn’t weigh in at more than 13 ounces itself. The most affordable (and the most commonly taken advantage of) method for sending something through the mail, first-class USPS services give you an opportunity to send pretty much anything and everything through the mail as long as it fits in a standard sized envelope and weighs less than 3.5 ounces. Right out of the gate, it’s important to understand that when you stick a stamp on an envelope and drop it into a mailbox (or drop it off at the post office) you are sending something via first-class mail with the USPS. We cover all of that (and more) in the rest of this quick guide! Is there any way to save money on a book of stamps so that I cut down on my postage costs? How many stamps are you getting in a book and should you pick up a book or two? If you are going to be sending envelopes through the mail you’re going to need to get your hands on a bunch of stamps from the post office.Īnd while you could certainly by stamps individually every time you need to send something through the mail, the overwhelming majority of people decide to buy stamps “in bulk” – purchasing stamp booklets to guarantee that they always have stamps on hand when they need to drop something in the post.īut is this really the smartest move to make?ĭoes it still make sense to find a book of stamps when you know prices of postage are going up in a year or two?
