Post # 1
Member
118 posts
Blushing bee
Sorry Bees, but I need to vent. Last week I had a major debacle with “wedding stamps”. I have square invitations so I was told I need .66 stamps. I went to the post office to buy the wedding cake stamps. I was told that they are only .65 and that isn’t enough. The postal worker told me to buy the yes I do stamp. So I did. Later that day I found out that there are .66 wedding stamps but she just didn’t have any available. I went to another post office to switch them for the wedding cakes and she told me that it was against regulations to return stamps and that she couldn’t do it. So, I called the post office I originally purchased them from and after explaining what happened the guy told me to bring them back in and they’d refund me so I could go to the other post office to buy them, which I did.
Fast forward to today. I took my beautiful wedding invitations with their cute little wedding cake stamps to the post office to mail them off to their respective recipients and the postal worker who helped me out before looked at me with horror. She said, did anyone ever see these to tell you how much they would be to mail? I said yes, the post office that sold me the wrong stamps. She then informed me that my square invitations that I was under the impression would cost .66 to mail were actually .92 to mail. W! T! F! WTF! WTF!! I said, you’ve got to be kidding me. She said, no, I wish I was but they are a half an inch too big to be .66. WHAT?!?!?! A HALF AN INCH!!!! So, I had to spend even more money on APPLE STAMPS!!! I repeat, APPLE STAMPS!!!
Now, I must tell you that my wonderful mom went out about eight months ago right before we sent out our STD’s and bought a few hundred forever rose stamps for the invitations. We didn’t know then that they would be square invitations and cost more. Well, the lovely postal worker told me that two of those rose stamps would have been enough postage to get these beauties on their way all over the country. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!
The moral of this story to those of you who have not yet bought or mailed your invitations is to make sure you take one completed invitation to the post office to make sure that you use the correct amount of postage for the weight/dimensions of your invitation. Please don’t go through what I went through. I wanted to cry!
Post # 3
Member
920 posts
Busy bee
You must have saw the other thread about the USPS charging recipients the extra 20 cents…
What size are your envelopes? Are they extra bulky? Mine were 6×6 and I used the 66 cent Yes I Do stamps on mine. I’ve never received an invite that cost more than that.
Post # 4
Member
47430 posts
Honey Beekeeper
How frustrating.
Moral of the story, take one of your completed invitations with you when you go to the Post Office so they will know if they are oversized. There are many sies of square envelopes
Or, you can look on their website and find all the information you need. You will still need to get your invitations mailed.
Post # 5
Member
838 posts
Busy bee
I hate to be the bearer of bad news…. but the only person who notices the stamps is you.
Post # 6
Member
118 posts
Blushing bee
@GeorgiaBride5: Yes, I actually saw that post after I posted this. I found it interesting that someone else was having the same issue. My invitations are 6.25×6.25.
@julies1949: I did take the invitation to the post office previously. That’s when I was told that it was .66 because it was square. They didn’t say anything about it being too big. The postal worker today said that because of the dimensions it was now considered a flat.
Post # 7
Member
187 posts
Blushing bee
@smrlovingrl: I feel your pain! I had read that square invites required extra postage so I made sure to design my invitations so they were within the correct size & weight so they could go standard mail. I worked very hard on them & hand addressed each and every one. When I took my finished invite to the post office to get the exact postage needed, I was informed that it was too rigid (there were a couple layers of cardstock and a small button on them) & they would be $2.10 to mail!!! The postal worker offered me the lovely (please note my sarcasm) stamp below for my beautiful color coordinated envelopes. I had to use 2 of these bad boys on each of my invites, sniffling a little each time I stuck one on!
Now that everything is all said and done, the only advice I can give you is try not to sweat the small stuff. I know this is hard to do (trust me, I probably had about 5 panic attacks over these damn stamps!) but the truth is your guests probably won’t think twice about the way the invitation arrived and it will be one of the things you’ll laugh about later on.
Post # 8
Member
6885 posts
Busy Beekeeper
Honestly as long as the invite gets to the intended person no one is going to care what kind of stamp is on it. It sucks that USPS keeps telling you wrong prices, but as to what the stamps are, no one is going to care about the stamp unless they collect stamps themselves.
Post # 9
Member
1311 posts
Bumble bee
I went to postal office (in Canada) and was told that becasue of the gems i have they don’t fit perfectly in the slot and it would cost 1.36 to mail each one.
So I went home, finished addressing them etc… then went to a postal office beside my home to mail them out. The dude said that they fit and it would cost 0.67 cents.
I however didn’t want to take the chance and asked for 1.36. I can’t take the chance to have them be returned as that would cost more in envelopes and my hand would be frustrated addressing them again as I hand written the addresses.
Post # 10
Member
275 posts
Helper bee
This happened to me too. My invites were the regular rectangle shape. I took a completed invite to the PO and had them measure and weigh it. The lady assured me I only needed a regular stamp. I was expecting it to cost more so I was pleased to hear that a standard stamp would cover it. I bought some pretty floral stamps and took them home to start stamping and sealing the envelopes. Two days later I took all the invites back and the new lady who helped me said I needed .20 cents extra on each envelope. I told her the other lady who had helped me told me I only needed a regular stamp. Didn’t matter. The only .20 stamps they had were George Washington’s face! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate GW, but his face did not belong on my envelopes.
My advice, take it to two different postal workers. Their judgement is subjective on what will pass and what wont.
I also realize no one cares about the stamps, but I was annoyed that I did my due dilligence and still got screwed.
Post # 11
Member
831 posts
Busy bee
I don’t blame you – they are ridiculous. I’ve heard so many horror stories about postal employees giving brides the wrong info.
All the info is online, but of course, if an actual postal employee tells you something, shouldn’t you be able to believe it?
I measured/weighed my envelope at home based on the info on the website and bought my postage accordingly. Apparently, this is safer than taking an employee’s word for it when it comes to postage.
Post # 12
Member
3695 posts
Sugar bee
Do any of you have the machine where you can print your own stamps? The PO by my work has one. I haven’t tried for “normal” stamps, but for packages and stuff you can get small stamps for any amount. Seems like you could get a sheet of 100 $2.10 stamps.
Post # 13
Member
7628 posts
Bumble Beekeeper
I would suggest that future brides utilize the tools online (as other PPs have suggested) as well as taking it into the post office. When you use the tool online you can enter the measurements of the envelope instead of an employee just looking at it.