Yes. This is a common question ask daily. You can send Certified Mail to a P.O. Box in the United States. USPS Certified Mail letters are addressed and delivered to the PO Box with no changes in mailers process.   In other words you just address the letter using the PO Box instead of the street delivery address.
 
When the USPS letter carrier delivers the letter the process that documents when the letter was received  at the delivery address is a little bit different.  A delivery notification card is placed inside the PO Box instructing the recipient they have a Certified Mail waiting for pick up from the Post Office window clerk.  Because USPS requires someone to sign for each Certified Mail letter the delivery notification card must be presented to the window clerk at the USPS Post Office. Then the recipient is presented the delivery confirmation Signature card and the date and time of the delivery confirmation are electronically captured and recorded by USPS.  This is how the United States Postal Service handles delivery when you send Certified Mail letters to a PO Box.

You can save time and money by sending USPS Certified Mail by using Electronic Return Receipts a part of Certified Mail Envelopes and Send Certified Mail. These envelopes have been approved by USPS and do not use any stickers or forms.  This makes sending USPS Certified Mail with Electronic Return Receipt fast and easy.  The service includes proof of mailing, in-route letter tracking  and final proof of delivery from USPS even when you send a letter to a P.O. Box.  Old fashioned Green Card are expensive, get lost and are hard to manage. You can address your letter then print Certified Mail tracking numbers, bar codes and more all online and skip the trip to the Post Office!  No software to buy, no monthly costs or stickers or forms to fill out.

You can try the service free by signing up for the free trial.  You will still need to add postage ($2.80 + $0.44), but you can save the $2.30 green card fee and see how the Electronic Return Receipt works.  They provide the web based software to address, track and report each mailing. You have access 24/7 and they file all the Electronic Return Receipts for 7 years automatically.  USPS has approved Certified Mail Envelopes so the process is fast and easy to use.  No monthly fees or hidden costs.  All you need to do is add postage.  

• To evaluate this service you can sign up for the free trial below:  Free Trial Sign-Up 
  http://www.certified-mail-envelopes.com/free-trial/
• Follow this link to learn more about the Electronic Return Receipt – ERR.
  http://www.certified-mail-envelopes.com/electronic-return-receipt-for-usps-certified-mail/

Call us to learn more about automating USPS Certified Mail. We have Enterprise Solutions for mail houses and large volume mailers.

Using a USPS Certified Mail article number you can track your letters delivery information online at usps.com for up to 90 days after mailing. The information reported may include messages like “Arrival at Unit’  ‘Notice Left,’ ‘Returned To Sender,’ ‘Refused’ and ‘Delivered.’  Our experience has shown a wide variation of scan activity.  Some letter carriers do a better job of recording the attempted delivery attempts than others.    

USPS Certified Mail article numbers consist of only numbers that begin with a ’70 or 71′ such as 70123456789000000423.  If you mistakenly input a  FEDEX tracking number into USPS it smart enough to spit out an error that you put in an invalid USPS tracking number. If USPS tracking is unable to confirm delivery of the Certified Mail letter USPS will refund the Certified Mail Special Service fee.

All packages entering the mail stream are first scanned by USPS personnel. USPS only provides Special Service tracking service after the labels are printed or shipped from by an approved USPS third-party supplier.  In general most customers report the USPS tracking system needs improvement.  USPS’s Certified Mail article and tracking numbers do not provide in-transit information like there is from UPS or FedEx.

For USPS Certified Mail, proof of mailing and proof of delivery are what most people need. The tracking function only provides information about the actual letters delivery status.  If you use Express Mail or Priority Mail this level of service will provide next day or 2-3 day delivery in the US.  ’In-route’ tracking and delivery confirmation are provided with this level of service.  Remember USPS does not scan each Certified Mail Envelope at every Post Office  like FedEx, UPS or other common carriers.  The USPS letter tracking services are improving slowly across America.  Many users report Certified Mail letter tracking services much different than FedEx or UPS and the data is helpful to tell whether the letter has been delivered.  It is not uncommon for letters and packages to many time display an origin scan then a delivery scan.  Because USPS Certified Mail requires every Certified Mail letter to be signed for, it may take up to 3 weeks sometimes until a change in the tracking/delivery status changes.

If you send the USPS Money Order it is suggested you obtain a tracking confirmation. While en route scans may be provided in the future they are not a feature of Delivery Confirmation service today. 

Delivery confirmation is provided as a part of  Priority Mail and Certified Mail.  If you use Express Mail you will receive a confirmation email with a USPS tracking number. Your postage service includes the Delivery Confirmation and Tracking service fees. Additionally USPS sells Signature Confirmation services that provides a PDF file of the Signature when your item was delivered.

In summary, USPS Certified Mail tracking is improving slowly.  USPS tracking is not available for military APO/FPO deliveries.  If USPS Certified Mail delivery confirmation  is unable to confirm delivery of your letter you are entitled to a refund for the Certified Mail special service because it was not properly administered or recorded. 

Remember USPS tracking is really delivery confirmation and may not show up until the letter  is delivered. The USPS system is primarily used to verify that something is sent or been delivered.

Our Quick Print Kit includes pre-approved USPS Certified Mail Envelopes and processing used by Fortune 500 companies nationwide to automate compliance printing and mailing of complex letters and documents.  Our USPS Certified Mail automation includes proof of mailing, in-route letter tracking, and Electronic Return Receipt and Signatures from the United States Postal Service.  

Certified Mail Envelopes Quick Print Kit is designed for high volume mail houses, letter shops, and printers desiring to process and print USPS Certified Mail or compliance letters that need to be sent by Certified Mail.

Our automated Certified Mail Envelope solution includes all materials including the free use of the software, pre-approved USPS Certified Mail Envelopes, data processing, Electronic Return Receipts, and web based or Enterprise FTP access to process your data in a ’lights out’ enviroment.  Our materials and services have been pre-approved by the United States Postal Service (USPS) and are proven nationwide in the USPS mail and letter stream.  Our Certified Mail Envelopes were designed to help letter shops and commercial mailer gets online quickly and begins processing, printing and mailing compliance letters by USPS Certified Mail. 

Our Quick Print Kit Includes the Following:

• Certified Mail Envelopes with Electronic Return Receipts.  Three size envelopes.  (#10, 6″X9″ and flat sized 9″ X 12″ envelopes).
•  Free use of our web based or ’Lights Out’  Enterprise software to automate processing and reporting client data on demand 24/7 365 days a year.
• A Special Services USPS Bar Code Printing Kit that contains font tools to provide assistance with application integration.

We provide a Windows application that processes data inside your company.  This automation can provide USPS Certified Mail solutions on any machine with Internet access.  You can set-up and manage multiple mailing accounts for automated letter processing and reporting  for each client.  Set-it and forget-it – that’s the beauty of our Certified Mail Enterprise solution. 

Certified Mail Solutions System Processing:
Required USPS Certified Mail article numbers
USPS Certified Mail Electronic activation
Certified Mail letter tracking data
USPS postage statements
Manifest PS-3877
USPS Special Services reports

Our Quick Print Kit also includes a USPS Special Services Bar Code Printing Kit.  This kit contains font tools to provide assistance with application integration.  Automatically format the start, stop and check characters for the barcode fonts. We support multiple versions of the Postnet barcode fonts provided in this kit for various implementations and printers.
 
This includes Intelligent Mail Barcode Fonts – The unique encoding we supply is from  IDAutomation’s Postnet fonts allow printing of Intelligent Mail and Postnet with the same font.  Intelligent Mail is a routing, sorting and tracking barcode type based on the 4-State Barcode and is used for services such as OneCode Confirm & OneCode ACS. This barcode type has been previously referred to as the OneCode Solution, 4-State Customer Barcode, USPS4CB and 4-CB. Planet Barcode Fonts Included – PLANET barcodes are used to track mail.

How It All Works:
Most commercial mailers install our process after the CASS/Pre-Sort process in the data department.  Our Windows application will use the CASS data output and create a CSV data file that includes USPS Certified Mail article numbers and tracking information.  Because each of our clients uses many types of software programs for printing such as Planet Press, Microsoft Word, or other post script print applications and files – we provide a special USPS Special Services Bar Code Printing Kit.  This allows you to format your raw data into USPS Certified Mail bar codes and USPS Special Services barcodes fast and easy.  Generate EAN128 – Code 128 fonts for printing EAN-128 barcodes used with our USPS Certified Mail Envelopes with Electronic Return Receipt and delivery confirmation.

Quick Print Kit – Font Tools:
.NET Framework Assembly DLL (100% managed code)
C++ header file
C# .NET Class Library
Check digit calculator with Visual Basic 6 and FoxPro source code
Crystal Reports Formulas
Crystal Reports UFL (User Function Library)
DLL for Windows®
FileMaker Pro Plug-ins
FoxPro Program Module
LotusScript Functions for Lotus Notes, Domino and Approach
Microsoft® Office Macros and VBA for Word, Excel and Access
Microsoft Reporting Services
Online Font Encoder (used to create bar codes one at a time)
Oracle Reports Libraries and PLL
OpenOffice & StarOffice VB macros
Source Code in Visual Basic, C++, PowerBuilder, FoxPro and JAVA
VB.NET Module

For additional information about our Certified Mail Solutions including our ’Quick Print Kit’ contact Certified Mail Envelopes at 800-406-1792.  Ask for the Quick Print Kit.

When a USPS Certified Mail letter is delivered, proof of delivery is available with Electronic Return Receipt ( ERR). Old fashioned green cards can easily get lost in the mail, are difficult to file and cost $2.30. 

Electronic Return Receipts provides the mailer ‘proof of delivery’ for each USPS Certified letter mailed in the United States.  The U.S. Postal Service began providing electronic proof of Certified Mail letter delivery in 2001.  When a USPS Certified Mail letter is delivered the delivery information  is recorded by USPS as proof of letter delivery and is provided like the old fashioned Green Card.

 What happens to the green card Return Receipt? The old fashioned USPS Green Return Receipt card has been an icon of Certified Mail for many years. This courtesy reply card is used to provide the mailer notification of letter delivered. The little green postcard has been difficult for the mailer and the U.S. Postal Service to easily manage. Mailers have reported missing or lost cards, stuck inside other pieces of mail and were very difficult to organize file and store. 

In July 2001, the U.S. Postal Service began providing electronic proof of Certified Mail letter delivery.  When a Certified Mail letter is delivered by USPS the delivery confirmation for each letter is electronically recorded including a Signature of the person that signs for the letter. The proof of delivery information is electronically stored at the USPS central data tracking center in California, and can be stored electronically by the mailer.

Certified Mail Envelopes includes Electronic Return Receipt ERR plus ‘in-route’ letter delivery tracking information. The information is authored by USPS and is digitally stored then archived in your mailing account for 7 years.  It is easy to search and print the Electronic Return Receipt and in-route delivery scans to show proof of mailing 24/7 from any computer. The report prints to your local printer.

Electronic Return Receipt – ERR (TM) is used by Certified Mail customers nationwide and many mailers are replacing the old traditional Green Card with ERR – Electronic Return Receipt.  The process is more efficient.  It’s ‘green’ and saves both mailers and the U.S. Postal Service time and money. 

The Electronic Return Receipt (Green Card) can be printed as needed to your printer. You can even download the proof of delivery data into an Excel or CSV data file to integrate your mailing and delivery information into your companies data warehouse.

Certified Mail Envelopes are approved by the U.S. Postal Service to send USPS Certified Mail. Each  envelope includes a proof of mailing manifest, in-route letter tracking and final Electronic Return Receipt ERR™ that provides USPS proof of letter delivery confirmation.

No forms or stickers are used in our automation.

Look at the benefits:
 • Eliminates old-fashioned Green Card Return Receipt cost of $2.30
 • Each Certified Mail Envelope includes Electronic Return Receipt ERR™
 • Free web software to address, track and print all USPS forms and reports
 • 7 Year data warehouse to store compliance mailing history at no charge
 • Address letters fast and easy.  Import  CSV or Excel batch files for automated processing
 • Track your letter ‘in-route’ and print USPS delivery confirmations
 • Prints on regular white paper from any printer in your home or office
 • Includes all USPS bar codes and electronic tracking information
 • Skip the trip to the Post Office
 • No forms or labels to fill out by hand
 • No software to buy or install
 • No monthly fees or contracts
 • Now available with pre-paid Certified Mail Postage Stamps

This is How It Works
Log into our website to address your letter or upload an Excel address list.  Our automation prints all the USPS Certified Mail bar codes and tracking information for each letter. We call this the Address Sheet. We also print the paperwork required by USPS for acceptance including the postage statement.

Slide the Address Sheet  into our special Certified Mail Envelope with your letter then add postage (stamps, meter strip or indicia). 

Finally drop the letter into the USPS Mail stream.

How to Track Your Certified Mail
Our automated tracking provides USPS mail manifest reports, ’in-route’  letter tracking and final USPS delivery confirmation. You can print Electronic Return Receipts or USPS Certified Mail Signatures for each letter.  Approved by the U.S. Postal Service  (USPS).

Scalable USPS Certified Mail Automation
Send 1 letter or 100,000 letters as needed.  No forms or peel and stick  labels are used.  Our Certified Mail Envelopes  are USPS approved and include Electronic Return Receipt delivery confirmation authored by the United States Postal Service. 

 You can purchase Certified Mail Envelopes as needed.  Our process can be automated and supports CSV and Excel file processing.  No more forms, or peel and stick labels.  No software to purchase or maintain.  Certified Mail Envelopes with Electronic Return Receipt will save you time and money!

No written forms or labels are used.  Log into our web site  to address and print USPS Certified Mail article numbers and bar codes.  You print your address page on your local printer using plain white paper.  Insert this address page into our special window Certified Mail Envelope.  Just add your letter pages, apply the correct postage and drop it in the mailbox. 

No written forms or labels are used in our patented process.  Each envelope includes “in-route” letter tracking and Electronic Return Receipt – ERR™ to save you money.  We support USPS Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested that provides ERR – Electronic Return Receipt & Signatures returned to you in PDF file format.
 
Save time and money with our certified mail automation.  Outsource your  mailing throught our regional print network to provide same day printing and mail entry of your compliance letters and variable letter data. Our regional printing and mailing service providers are experienced in USPS Certified Mail transactional data processing and mailing requirements. Our certified mail printers can automate USPS Certified Mail including  ‘HIPA’ compliant regulations and high volume business and commercial mailings.

Print Outsourcing USPS Certified Mail

Today’s business economy has many companies looking at outsourcing to keep up with compliance and regulatory mailings. Many companies looking to cut costs and lighten staff work loads turn to Certified Mail Envelopes for solutions. 

Today businesses are out-sourcing many specialized compliance letters and variable print documents to reduce staff and meet compliance deadlines.  Many complicane letters require same day mailing with Proof of Mailing  from the United States Postal Service.  Myrna Brown, President of Certified Mail Envelopes explains how the service works. Documents with variable data are electronically sent to our secure printing data print centers across the US . Each letter is processed for  compliance recording and assigned the USPS Certified Mail article number and  tracking number. The business letters are printed closest to the letters desired destination of delivery then entered into the USPS Mail Stream for same day printing and processing. This expedite letter delivery and may require mailing within a certain State.

USPS Certified Mail is an example of complex mail that requires much administration time to process. Using our companies automated fulfillment processes can improve transactional communications and thousand of important Certified Mail letters can be processed with speed and accuracy daily. Certified Mail Envelopes reports their company provides USPS Certified Mail services nationwide to a network of print partners and fulfillment specialists that can provide full-service printing, intelligent insertion, letter finishing and mailing complex compliance regulatory letters.  Ms. Brown explains “our clients are required to send these important demand letters, product recalls, compliance notifications, and others critical information letters that require same day processing, printing and mailing to meet compliance and regulatory deadlines”. 

Certified Mail Envelopes provides a complete outsourced mailing solution that is automated and includes Electronic Return Receipt that returns proof of mailing and delivery in electronic PDF files saving time and money. The majority of companies send USPS Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested service that includes proof of mailing and final delivery. Each mailing can provide in-route letter tracking to track letter delivery. Call centers have the ability to monitor USPS letter delivery and follow-up with phone calls that have improved collection rates and follow-up. Our service includes USPS data cleansing such as CASS to keep up delivery address changes and NCOA to fast forward letters and expedite letter delivery.  Our automation systems are approved by USPS and generate the reports, tracking bar codes and electronic in-route tracking and proof or mailing and delivery even the Electronic Signature. After the mailing, the mailing data including online letter and delivery tracking is available for call center access or analysis.  The information can also be integrated back into a company’s data warehouse for safe keeping.

Certified Mail Envelopes supplies materials and the Certified Mail automation to a network of print partners and solution providers and  full service letter shop services. Our partners provide  printing, mailing, and address list clean up, letter finishing, folding and intelligent insertion.  IT  file conversions, automated and hand inserting, statement and billing services

With recent changes in the financial economy many companies are looking for print outsourcing for USPS Certified Mail to streamline internal work processes. Outsourcing data for printing has shown no real business standard exists.  Data is processed in almost any format including Microsoft Word, Excel, PDF, CSV, dBase, MySql, Microsoft SQL and even HTML.

Today businesses must work smarter and find improved efficiencies.  Perhaps starting with the USPS Postal Service is a good first step. Looking back at history we could learn a lot reflecting on companies like Western Union that transmitted ‘bits of data’ electronically closest to message delivery area. This is where the message was transcribed and printed.  You would think that doing something this with the speed and efficiencies of the Internet would be no brainer.

To learn more about print outsourcing for USPS Certified Mail and using any of the network Certified Mail print partners, letter shops and business mailers call us toll free at 800-406-1792 for a project estimate and evaluation.  Our automated Certified Mail solutions can help your business  simplify complicated business communications.

The USPS Certified Mail Special Service rates may increase the cost to send Certified Mail to $5.84 in 2011. That’s a $0.30 cent price increase per letter.  USPS Certified Mail letters cost  $5.54 today and the rate is made up from three postage fees. The Certified Mail Special Service fee that costs $2.80 is proposed to jump $0.15 cents per letter to cost $2.95. Second the Return Receipt service is available in two options.  The old fashioned green cards now costs $2.30 each and will increase $0.10 cents to cost $2.40, or the Return Receipt Electronic service can be used in place of the green cards.  This service costs $1.10 today and is proposed to increase $0.05  per letter to $1.15 next year. The third and final postage fee that makes up a Certified Mail letter is USPS First Class postage.  The one OZ rate is currently proposed to increase $0.02 cents from $0.44 cents to $0.46 cents per letter starting January 2011.

USPS Mail Service	Current Cost	Proposed Increase	Proposed 2011 Rate
Certified Mail	$ 2.80	+ $0.15	$ 2.95
Green Card Return Receipt	$ 2.30	+ $0.10	$ 2.40
Return Receipt Electronic (PDF)	$ 1.10	+ $0.05	$ 1.15
First Class Postage	$ 0.44	+ $0.02	$ 0.46
Total Cost using Green Card	$5.54		$5.84
Total Cost using Certified Mail Envelopes with ERR			$4.56

How To Reduce USPS Certified Mail Costs?You can reduce the costs to send USPS Certified Mail by using the Electronic Return Receipt – ERR in place of the old fashioned green card Return Receipt.  The Electronic Return Receipt provides in-route tracking scan information and the final delivery confirmation from USPS when your letter is delivered. This reduces the total cost of each letter from $5.54 to $4.79.  It is a true $0.75 cent savings per letter not to mention the time savings.  The Electronic Return Receipt is included with each Certified Mail Envelope and eliminates any forms or peel and stick lalels.  Just slide your letter into the envelope and log-in online to print the bar coded address sheet.  Its that simple.  No more labels, or forms to fill out.  No more green cards to file or loose.

 Certified Mail Envelope Costs

1.  First-Class Postage $0.44  (this is a letter size envelope, up to 1 oz in weight)
2.  Certified Mail Fee $2.80
3.  Electronic Return Receipt – ERR included with USPS Certified Mail Envelope $1.55

Total Cost per Letter $4.79   (Includes postage and material costs)

You can try the service free by signing up for the free trial.  No credit card is needed. You still need to add postage ($2.80 + $0.44), but you can save the cost of the $2.30 green card return receipt fee.  This free trial allows you to see how the Electronic Return Receipt works.  You get setup with a web based login to address, print address sheets, track and report each mailing. You have access 24/7 and they file and store each Electronic Return Receipts for 7 years automatically.  USPS has approved Certified Mail Envelopes so the process is fast and easy to use.  No monthly fees or hidden costs.  All you need to do is add postage.  

Free Trial Evaluation:  Get 2 Certified Mail Envelopes with Electronic Return Receipt
 Certified Mail Envelopes – Free Trial Sign-Up    http://www.certified-mail-envelopes.com/free-trial/

Follow this link to read more about the Electronic Return Receipt – ERR.
http://www.certified-mail-envelopes.com/electronic-return-receipt-for-usps-certified-mail/

Other 2011 USPS Certified Mail Postal Rate Increases include the After Mailing cost to purchase the Return Receipt Electronic Signature.  This cost is proposed to increase $0.25 to $4.85 per letter.  USPS said the new postal rates must go up to help cover a potential $7 billion loss projected in 2011.  Each additional ounce of weight would also increase from 17 cents to 18 cents.

The USPS must prove “exceptional or extraordinary circumstances” in order for the new Postal Rate Increase in 2011 to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to approve prices above the rate of inflation.  The PRC will approve the request if it finds pricing above CPI to be “reasonable and equitable and necessary.” The country continues to work through the worst recession since the 1930s. Key business customers have been devastated and have withdrawn from using the mail: credit card companies, financial institutions, real estate companies, retailers.

USPS mail volume has plummeted by more than 25.6 billion pieces, or 12.7 percent, in one fiscal year. Total volume stands at 177 billion pieces.  USPS First-Class Mail is the highest revenue contributor to the Postal Service bottom line and also the fastest volume decline.

Mail volume in general has declined at a higher rate than it did following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. More and more Americans are switching to electronic alternatives, further eroding a dwindling customer base. The Postal Service seeks to balance its financial challenges against the needs of its customers through a moderate increase and to gradually increase some prices to improve their financial performance while mitigating the effect on customers.

Experts believe future price increases can be greatly alleviated if the Postal Service was deregulated and became more competitive  or given the tools necessary to be a more flexible, customer-focused: change delivery frequency, restructure the pre-payment of retiree health benefits and expand access to products and services that are more convenient to customers.

Included in this new proposal is stopping delivery of mail service on Saturday.  A significant USPS price increase is under consideration that will impact 2011 USPS Postal Rates & mailing costs including special services mail like USPS Certified Mail. This includes many of the USPS Special Services that include USPS Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested service, USPS Certified Mail Restricted Delivery, and USPS Registerd Mail.  

For many consumers the initial focus or cost of mailing a First Class letter may appear to be increasing $0.02 per letter, however due to many new financial and regulatory requirements in banking, health care and lending the cost of sending compliance letters by USPS Certified Mail in 2011 could be much higher.