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Posting can be confusing process in the United Kingdom, especially as the rules have changed in recent times which many people may have not fully understand if they do not post different shaped items often. The aim of this article is to help people posting items like wedding invitations think about the best way to send their invitations. I've been involved in running a wedding stationery business for several years in which time I have learned a lot about posting items both nationally and internationally.
The first thing to say is that if you have a traditional folded card that is not especially thick (less than 5mm when in an envelope) and less than 16.5 cm on the shortest side and 24 cm on the longest then you are probably fine to use a standard 1st or 2nd class stamp as your card will qualify as a standard letter. This means a C5 envelope is about the largest size you can send. These are the envelopes of an A5 card (the same size as an a4 piece of paper folded in half). The only thing to note is that items getting nearer the 5 mm thickness may be marked or deferred when going through the sorting machinery so you may wish to consider one of the options listed later.
We have found properly attached crystals can go through the post without additional protection than the envelope.
When posting larger cards where the thickness is near or more than 5mm or where there is elaborate decoration on the front such as bows, crystals, flowers or other decorations then you will probably want to send them in something that will provide protection to stop the decoration being damaged. The most economic way to do this is to use posting boxes. These provide a hard protection around the invitation. The great thing about posting boxes is you can buy sizes which still count as a letter or large letter. To qualify as a large letter items must be less than 25 cm on the short side and on the 35.3cm longest side with a total thickness under 2.5cm. There is a weight limit of 750 grams; we rarely exceed 250 grams when sending our samples. The price of postage changes by weight, under 100 grams being the cheapest, under 250 gram the next price tier. As at Feb 2011 the price for these was 66p and 96p respectively for 1st class.
Choosing posting boxes, we find by far the most durable to be made single single walled card board. Searching for pricing in proportion or PIP postal boxes can be done through Google. They usually come in a brown card but are not the most aesthetically pleasing; however you can buy posting boxes with a glossy white or colored card finish. They are slightly more flimsy but do the job well and look nice, the one's we use are self-sealing.
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Source by Nathan Gardiner
