If you are interested in getting your invitations hand cancelled in NYC, you are guaranteed to get it done at the main post office (421 8th Ave), across the street from Madision Square Garden. Hand cancelling means that they process the mail by hand so you don't get all those machine marks on your envelope and the invitation is less likely to get damaged. It is free for the first 50 invites and $0.05 for every additional invite. No one will know if you make multiple trips to the post office.
I tried to get it done at my local post office, but they said that they don't do it (but they should). Then I called around and some say they do it but it's not guaranteed if it is really busy. Most NYC offices are packed. So the main post office does it no matter what. I mailed my invitations yesterday and received mine (test) today!
I live in a much smaller town - but our local post office told me they do it for free if they are not busy, and will let me use the stamp (also for free) if they are too busy when I come in. I think that is pretty common, as I've heard it before.
wish i had read this before this past monday when i mailed mine! the post office at 9th street in brooklyn was so rude to me, and I paid $3 to have hand calligraphy done, only to have it messed up by the post office!
thanks for the tip though-hopefully future brides can use it!
I was told by USPS over the phone that, as a rule, the entire postal service no longer hand cancels as of last summer. But they told me I could try to find a local branch that would do it. Both of the branches near me (Philly suburbs) said they would hand cancel. However, they told me that my invitations were still going to be run through the Philadelphia city machines anyway, so I was going to get the bar coding on the envelopes regardless. At that point, I figured I wouldn't put the poor guy at my tiny post office through the trouble of hand cancelling 80 envelopes, and I wasn't going to drive all the way down to the city and search out the branches that would hand cancel so I could avoid the bar code. The invitations arrived okay in the end, but it would have been nice to not have a bar code...
There is a less busy side entrance to the main post office in NYC -- the entrance is on 33rd street between 8th and 9th avenue (closer to 9th ave). There's normally only one window open there, but the people that work there can be really nice, probably because they're not as swamped! I brought my invites there in March and asked if there's any chance they hand cancel. The gentleman working there offered to do them for me himself throughout the day! He totally made my day and was SO nice. :)
If you are interested in getting your invitations hand cancelled in NYC, you are guaranteed to get it done at the main post office (421 8th Ave), across the street from Madision Square Garden. Hand cancelling means that they process the mail by hand so you don't get all those machine marks on your envelope and the invitation is less likely to get damaged. It is free for the first 50 invites and $0.05 for every additional invite. No one will know if you make multiple trips to the post office.
I tried to get it done at my local post office, but they said that they don't do it (but they should). Then I called around and some say they do it but it's not guaranteed if it is really busy. Most NYC offices are packed. So the main post office does it no matter what. I mailed my invitations yesterday and received mine (test) today!
posted by Bride888 5 months agoI live in a much smaller town - but our local post office told me they do it for free if they are not busy, and will let me use the stamp (also for free) if they are too busy when I come in. I think that is pretty common, as I've heard it before.
posted by suzanno 5 months agowish i had read this before this past monday when i mailed mine! the post office at 9th street in brooklyn was so rude to me, and I paid $3 to have hand calligraphy done, only to have it messed up by the post office!
thanks for the tip though-hopefully future brides can use it!
posted by bklyngirl 5 months agoI was told by USPS over the phone that, as a rule, the entire postal service no longer hand cancels as of last summer. But they told me I could try to find a local branch that would do it. Both of the branches near me (Philly suburbs) said they would hand cancel. However, they told me that my invitations were still going to be run through the Philadelphia city machines anyway, so I was going to get the bar coding on the envelopes regardless. At that point, I figured I wouldn't put the poor guy at my tiny post office through the trouble of hand cancelling 80 envelopes, and I wasn't going to drive all the way down to the city and search out the branches that would hand cancel so I could avoid the bar code. The invitations arrived okay in the end, but it would have been nice to not have a bar code...
posted by amjdvm 5 months agoAs of April 2007, no other post office in Manhattan hand-cancelled, except for the Main Office mentioned above by Bride 888.
They didn't charge for the service last year, but we did mail only 50 per batch, so maybe we inadvertently got around the rule!
posted by TracyTorre-Walsh 5 months agoThere is a less busy side entrance to the main post office in NYC -- the entrance is on 33rd street between 8th and 9th avenue (closer to 9th ave). There's normally only one window open there, but the people that work there can be really nice, probably because they're not as swamped! I brought my invites there in March and asked if there's any chance they hand cancel. The gentleman working there offered to do them for me himself throughout the day! He totally made my day and was SO nice. :)
posted by jaycee 5 months ago