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Office of Research Services

Serving the NIH Community

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Helpful Mail Practices

  1. ​Have personal mail sent to your home not the office
  2. Whenever possible consolidate outgoing mail going to the same address. The cost will be lower for a consolidated package than multiple single-rate pieces
  3. Whenever possible fold and place correspondence that is less than five pages in regular mailing envelopes instead of flat envelopes (9" x 12")
  4. Do not place odd shaped items in envelopes that are not padded
  5. Prior to contracting out large mailings contact the MCSB for assistance in receiving the best service at the best cost.
  6. Before adding barcodes to mail pieces contact the MCSB so that the mail can be tested before it is dispatched to the USPS. This should be done during the design phase for the mail piece.
  7. It is best to capitalize the entire address and avoid using punctuation
  8. Type or print address information directly on envelopes, or apply computer generated labels. This will help eliminate most problems with USPS optical scanning equipment.
  9. Separate inter-office correspondence, international, and domestic mail prior to placing them into the mail stream



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