Sending Certified Mail
Has Never Been Easier!

Streamline Your USPS Certified Mail Process with LetterStream

LetterStream makes sending USPS Certified Mail a breeze. Whether it's a single crucial document or a large batch of hundreds or thousands of letters our online Certified Mail service is tailored to fit your unique needs while saving you time and energy.

Send Certified Mail Now

LetterStream employees gathered around at the Scottsdale location to celebrate the success of the mailhouse services for the quarter.

What is Certified Mail & Who is it For?

Certified Mail offers peace of mind when it comes to the delivery of essential documents. It provides a level of assurance and accountability, backed by the United States Postal Service (USPS), offering proof of mailing and delivery, alongside optional services such as tracking and a Return Receipt or Electronic Return Receipt confirmation. We've taken the concept of Certified Mail and infused it with efficiency, ease, and precision!

Certified Mail is often used by law firms, small businesses, large corporations, homeowner's associations, medical offices, government agencies, and even by individuals. It can be used to send letters that pertain to time-sensitive matters with debt collectors or creditors, health care records, compliance documents, tax returns and other important government documents and communications, legal matters and more.

Sending USPS Certified Mail

Bulk Certified Mail Services

Pre-Compiled Document Integration

Fast, Easy and Convenient

Sending Flexibility - Send One or Many

Certified Mail Pricing

The cost for sending Certified Mail using LetterStream includes:

Certified Mail Fee
Standard First-Class Postage Rate
Printing and Mailing (In Less Than 2 Business Days)
USPS Tracking Number
Certified Mail Return Receipt (We offer an Electronic Return Receipt - signature service) for an additional price

Windowed Certified Letter

starts at
$7.84

Certified Flats

starts at
$9.20

No supplies needed. No trips to the Post Office

Upload your Certified Mailings to your online portal and we handle the rest!

Why LetterStream for Sending Certified Mail?

Our enhanced Certified Mail service transcends the traditional approach. Gone are the days of tedious forms, supply management and time-consuming processes. Using LetterStream makes it as simple as a few clicks. Simply upload your pre-made documents or create a document in your online portal, to expedite your mailing process and enjoy the ability to access your stored letters and addresses at your convenience.

Say goodbye to filing hassles, our system organizes signatures and tracking details seamlessly online. Plus, real-time tracking is at your fingertips, providing you with instant insights into the progress of your sent letters. LetterStream provides an experience around sending USPS Certified Mail that is streamlined, efficient and customized to your needs.

A small stack of certified mail pieces fanned out on a tan background with a certified mail tracking number and certified mail barcode.

Features

Experience the comprehensive features of our Certified Mail solutions, carefully designed to simplify your workflow and save you valuable time!

No Forms
No Supplies Needed
Rapid Turnaround in Minutes
No Filing
Real-Time Tracking at Your Fingertips

Benefits

Discover the seamless advantages you gain when entrusting your Certified Mail needs to LetterStream:

Comprehensive Tracking
Effortless Signature Management
Prompt Mailing Services
Efficiency Leading to Staff Reduction
Seamless organization

A tray of certified letters under a stack of certified mail forms and certified mail return receipt labels.

Certified mail label on certified mail envelopes fanned out in a row.

Easily Track Certified Mail

USPS Certified Mail tracking is easy when you use LetterStream! Our intuitive online platform allows you to stay informed every step of the way.

Monitor the status of your Certified Letter
Watch your Certified Mail progress in real-time
Know when your Certified Mail has been delivered
View the Electronic Return Receipt Signature - add-on service

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I send Certified Mail from home?

Yes you can! That's what LetterStream created decades ago and have been improving and perfecting ever since. You can upload your documents for mailing via USPS Certified Mail on our website (arguably faster than you can find an envelope). We'll save you the time and effort of buying stamps, envelopes, paper and ink and will save you trips to the post office and office supply stores.

Can I send Certified Mail without going to the Post Office?

Absolutely! Some companies promote the idea of sending mail without going to the post office, yet you still are required to do all the work of creating the letter AND you still have to find a way to mail the letter. How do you mail Certified Mail without going to the post office when you created the letter yourself? We still don't know. That's why we do all of the work. We'll print your letter, fold it and put it in and envelope, seal it, add the correct postage and certified mail barcodes... AND take it to the post office for you.

Can Certified Mail be sent to Canada, or other countries?

No. USPS Certified Mail is only able to be sent to mailing addresses within the United States. If you need to have proof of mailing for international addresses (outside the US) you will want to consider USPS Registered Mail.

Does Certified Mail offer Tracking?

Yes! Certified Mail can be tracked online. This is true if you go to the Post Office to mail your letter or if you use LetterStream. The benefit of our tracking is that you don't need to type in that super long tracking number each time you want to track your letters. On the LetterStream website you can tell at a quick glance if your letters have been delivered, and you can simply click on a recipient name to see the tracking details of any piece.

Is Certified Mail the same as Proof of Mailing?

Well, yes and no. Certified Mail is proof of mailing, but there are other ways to get proof of mailing, so technically they are not the same. When you send Certified Mail at the post office, they will give you a Certified Mail Receipt. It is the other half of the Certified Mail barcode slip. This is the proof that the post office provides. They will also give you a cash register receipt showing the Certified Mail tracking number, which might also be used a proof of mailing. The LetterStream service provides you with your order confirmation and online tracking, both of which can represent proof of mailing. Keep in mind when legal issues arise, the only one able to say if something is proof or not is the presiding judge, but for the post part, Certified Mail is in itself Proof of Mailing.

Does Certified Mail prove that someone got the letter?

Proof of Delivery is a component of Certified Mail. Certified Mail without a Return Receipt (RR) add-on or Electronic Return Receipt (ERR) add-on, do prove that you mailed the letter and it does offer tracking to say whether the piece was delivered. It might not prove whether a specific individual at the location got the letter. You can improve the confidence of receipt by purchasing a signature upon delivery through either the RR or the ERR, this does not mean that the intended recipient got the letter but it does show that your letter did everything it could to be placed in the hands of the intended recipient. LetterStream does not offer a traditional RR (sometimes referred to as the green card), but we do offer an the ERR version.

Does Certified Mail get a signature when delivered?

Certified Mail can receive a signature upon delivery - provided you've selected one of the Return Receipt options. The signature requires an additional purchase of a Return Receipt (Green card which gets attached to the back of the letter), or an Electronic Return Receipt (an electronic document showing a picture of the signature which was collected upon delivery).

What is Signature upon Delivery for Certified Mail?

Signature upon delivery can be requested as an add-on purchase to your Certified Mail fees. It is not included with the base Certified Mail fees, so you will need to request it as an extra benefit. If you use the LetterStream website to create your Certified Mail you'll just need to check a box to request (or opt-out of) that feature.

Does Certified Mail work for packages?

Unfortunately, Certified Mail is not available on any letter that weighs more than 13 ounces, nor is it available for packages. The post office may have other options for tracking and proof of mailing for packages, but LetterStream is a service of sending letters. When you create your Certified Mail on our website, we'll inform you if you have too much weight to create a Certified letter and will give you some possible work arounds, like printing your documents on both sides of the sheet of paper.

Is Certified Mail good for marketing purposes?

Some may say so, but we say absolutely not! Keep in mind, we make money when we sell Certified Mail, but it is a horrible product for marketing purposes. First, it costs too much. You can send an entire drip campaign of postcards and letters for the price of a single certified letter. Secondly, Certified Mail is typically avoided by people, especially since Certified Mail is often used when someone is past due on a payment of some sort. Finally, when someone does open your letter after the natural anxieties that Certified Mail causes, they are liable to be angry at you for using Certified Mail to try and cozy up to them. It's not usually cozy.

Are there any add-on services to Certified Mail?

Yes, and it might make since to explain that Certified Mail is actually an add-on product itself. You can only purchase Certified Mail when you've already purchased First-Class mail postage. But back to the question, you can add Return Receipt (RR) or Electronic Return Receipt (ERR). Both are add-ons that allow you to see the signature of the person who accepts the letter at its destination. The Return Receipt is a green postcard that gets attached to the back of your letter when you mail it. At the time of delivery, the mail carrier removes the card and has the recipient sign it. When the mail carrier gets back to the office they drop the green postcard in the mail to be returned to you. The ERR is very similar but the mail carrier collects the signature on a handheld digital device and the signature gets electronically delivered to you.

What Guarantees doe Certified Mail offer?

There aren't any delivery guarantees, and obviously there's no guarantee that the intended recipient saw the contents. But the receipt of purchase does guarantee that you handed the letter over to the post office. There are also no guarantees that your letter will be delivered in a certain period of time, or of getting a refund for undelivered letters.

What is the weight limit for Certified Mail?

Certified Mail is limited to 13 ounces. That's more than 60 pieces of traditional office/copy paper, so most people don't need to worry, but it's a limit all the same. If you are building a job on the LetterStream website, we'll point out if you go over that limit and recommend that you print your documents on both sides of each sheet of paper (duplex/double-sided print). If you still have more than 13 ounces, you might try scaling the font size down on your letter to reduce the number of pages. Another way that works even with hundreds of pages is to break your letter up into a few different letters, each with about 60 pages in it. We recommend this, as there isn't really an equivalent to Certified Mail in any other postal products.

Is the Electronic Return Receipt (ERR) legally binding?

Interestingly, the USPS website used to say that it was, but ultimately, it's a judge who determines if something is legally binding. When the ERR first came out, some judges didn't accept it as carrying the same factual weight as the green card, but that was probably 20 years ago now. These days, most courts recognize ERR as a valid proof of delivery, you should always go with the way that you believe will protect you the most if you believe you'll be in front of a court discussing Certified Mail or proof of delivery.

How much does Certified Mail cost?

Well, this should be an easy question, but it's not. As of July 2024, the price for Certified Mail fees is $4.85 cents, but you can't send a letter for that price. Certified Mail is an add-on service of First-Class mail so you'll need to add another $0.73 for postage (or use one of those old Forever Stamps you have in a drawer). Now you are up to $5.58. Do you want some sort of proof of delivery like an electronic signature of the person who received it? If so, add another $2.62, so our total is now $8.20 cents. Keep in mind these prices go up every 6 months. For every extra ounce you include, the price will go up $.24. The biggest costs are those trips to the office supply store for paper, ink, toner, envelopes and stamps. One trip even at minimum wage and IRS defined mileage reimbursement will easily double or quadruple the cost of a letter. LetterStream currently offers Certified Mail starting at $7.84 and is easily cheaper than any DIY Certified Mail project.

What are the benefits us using LetterStream to send Certified Mail?

Well, we can take this a lot of different directions, but we'll list out a few:

We are experts, we do this every day
We are fast with most letters being sent the same day they are loaded to our website
You'll never need to enter a Certified Mail tracking number again
You can create your job in less time that you can print and fold your letter
No more trips to the post office
Dump that mailing equipment
You can send letters from the beach with only a smart phone
Proof of mailing is always a few clicks away
We keep track of postal regulations so you don't have to
You can invite other colleagues to join your account so they can cover you from the beach while you are out snorkeling.

And there's a lot more where this came from.

Why doesn't the USPS get Certified Mail delivered more quickly?

Certified Mail is not an express or priority delivery option. It is an add-on service to First-Class mail, which means it travels at First-Class speeds. And First-Class mail is being slowed down by the USPS in order to save money and become more profitable. This is a different topic, but we suggest First-Class mail is delivered within 3 - 7 business days. Back to Certified Mail, it's difficult for Certified Mail to get delivered at even First-Class speeds, especially if you've purchased Return Receipt (RR) or Electronic Return Receipt (ERR) because this requires the mail carrier to knock on the recipient's door and try to collect a signature. The mail carrier will try a few times and then place a notification on the recipients door or in their mail box for them to arrange for another delivery time or request that the recipient pick up the letter at the local post office. All of this could mean your Certified Mail with RR could take 7 - 20 days for the delivery to occur.

What is e-Certified Mail?

E-Certified mail is not a product or trademark of the USPS and can be used to describe anything. Some companies claim to offer e-Certified Mail as a way to save up to 36% on the cost of Certified Mail, however it seems that they may be just describing the savings of requesting Electronic Return Receipt (ERR) for your Certified Mail letter instead of the traditional green card or Return Receipt. Make sure you calculate your own savings before purchasing equipment or supplies that are advertised to save you money. LetterStream offers Certified Mail and Certified Mail with ERR, selectable on the fly as you create your mailings.

What is Digital Certified Mail?

Digital Certified Mail is not a product or trademark of the USPS and can be used to describe anything. Some companies offer Digital Certified Mail as a unique way to send Certified Mail, often publishing this as a way to save money on your Certified Mail. To our knowledge there are no discounts on Certified Mail through the post office or any other company. The one possible exception would be to presort your first-class mail, but the discounts would only be on First-Class postage, and not on any of the Certified Mail fees. When companies offer mailing products that cannot be found on the USPS.com website, we suggest you do a little more digging to understand what you are really buying.

What is Certified Mail tracking?

Certified Mail involves applying a large barcode to the face the envelope. This barcode is scanned when the letter is accepted at the post office and every time it travels through USPS sorting equipment. Additionally, the barcode is scanned again by the mail carrier when the certified letter is delivered.

Why does my legal contract specify Certified Mail?

Contract language is carried over from year to year and not aways updated by a legal time. Way back when, you couldn't prove that you notified a person of a contractual change unless you send the request via Certified Mail. So compared to a phone call or a first-class letter or a sticky note, Certified Mail carries some significant proof that communication was performed. Now days email may suffice, or even a FedEx letter, but contracts still often carry that Certified Mail verbiage. It might even be the case the some people want to make the communication process difficult and require Certified Mail just to slow people down. This would be a great time to remind you that sending Certified Mail through LetterStream can be done in 2 minutes and can be done from anywhere with internet access.

What is a USPS PS Form 3811 used for?

The PS Form 3811 is also be called a Certified Mail Return Receipt or the green card. This is the green postcard that gets attached to the back of your certified letter so that upon delivery the recipient can sign the card and the mail carrier can put it in the mail back to you.

What is a USPS PS Form 3800?

The PS Form 3800 is a Certified Mail receipt. Not be confused with all the other Certified Mail receipts like; the cash register receipt, the Return Receipt (RR), and the Electronic Return Receipt (ERR); and don't ask us why they have Receipt in the name of 4 different things. Anyway, the 3800 is a two-part form for sending Certified Mail at the post office. One half is the tracking barcode that gets applied to the address side of your letter. The other half is receipt contains the tracking number and proves you mailed a piece of Certified Mail.

How do I put a barcode on Certified Mail?

While Certified Mail requires a Certified Mail barcode, that need to be picked up at your local post office and applied when you mail your letter. LetterStream generates and prints Certified Mail barcodes automatically when you use our service, and of course, saves you from having to go to the post office.

When is Certified Mail the right solution?

Certified Mail is often an appropriate product for legal or sensitive matters, or anything you might need to prove that you put something in the mail. Most legal contracts have a notification section and many of these mention how notifying others should take place. Check this area of your contract to determine if you should use Certified Mail.

Is there such thing as a Certified Mail postage stamp?

Not currently. The last Certified Mail stamp I saw was produced in 1955 with a 15-cent face value. If you take your certified mail to the post office, they will calculate the correct postage and apply a meter strip for you. If you use LetterStream, we apply a permit and do all the calculating for you in addition to saving you a trip to the post office.

Can I use a postage meter to pay postage on Certified Mail?

The USPS allows postage to be applied to Certified Mail in the form of stamps, postage meters and permit imprint. Just make sure you calculate the amount correctly or the process could get excessively time consuming. We recommend that you skip the postage calculations completely and let LetterStream do all the work for you. Send your Certified Mail in two minutes at LetterStream.com

Can I buy your Certified Mail envelopes?

LetterStream doesn't sell our Certified Mail envelopes because they are a part of our entire proprietary process. Besides, that would go against the idea that we should send your Certified Mail letters so you can do something more impactful with your time.

Sending Certified MailHas Never Been Easier!