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I've been using Please Do Not Bend on my photo envelopes for a while with no problem. Recently however I have received my envelope back scrawled all over it with messages and stampings about how this phrase makes it a package and insistance that I pay an additional .79 cents. Perhaps this is just the ravings of some insane postal worker who has an eye out for my envelope, because when I sent it a second time it was hand scrawled again, this time with a cartoon of smoke as if he is steaming because I'm too stupid to understand. Actually I checked it with my post office, had it weighed and okayed, but still got the same rejection. Well, just thought I'd alert you all to the fact that there might be some lunatic in the postal system who is going to have things his/her way.

Good to know.. though, technically, if you're including a piece of cardboard with your letter of request, it should be sent Package rate. Apparently, one of the rules for sending it "Package" vs "Envelope" is the rigidity of the item you're mailing. If it cannot be bent (thick cardboard inside, for example), then it must be sent Package rate. If it is flexible (like a small stack of papers), then it should be sent at the lower cost Envelope rate.

I think alot of postal companies count things marked "do not bend" (even with no card) as non-machinable, therefore hand sorted and apply a surcharge accordingly.

As with many things it seems they are applied inconsistently!

Al Baggetta wrote:I've been using Please Do Not Bend on my photo envelopes for a while with no problem. Recently however I have received my envelope back scrawled all over it with messages and stampings about how this phrase makes it a package and insistance that I pay an additional .79 cents. Perhaps this is just the ravings of some insane postal worker who has an eye out for my envelope, because when I sent it a second time it was hand scrawled again, this time with a cartoon of smoke as if he is steaming because I'm too stupid to understand. Actually I checked it with my post office, had it weighed and okayed, but still got the same rejection. Well, just thought I'd alert you all to the fact that there might be some lunatic in the postal system who is going to have things his/her way.

US rules are a bit mad with that, and yes the rigidity of the item counts, but you can always factor that in. I haven't looked at it for a while, but it used to be an extra 20cents, not a huge amount. I suspect the amount you're being asked to pay after the fact includes an "admin" fee. As for having stuff drawn on your envelope etc by a staff member, that breaches all sorts of rules, and I suspect a complaint might actually work for you there.

I've never encountered such a thing. I've even written, Please do not bend, on plain white envelopes when I'm sending snapshots to friends and family and never had a problem.

Wordsworth wrote:I've never encountered such a thing. I've even written, Please do not bend, on plain white envelopes when I'm sending snapshots to friends and family and never had a problem.

I don't think "please do not bend" does it if it's blatantly a letter, but if your envelope is more rigid than (for example) a birthday card, then I think that's when then flag it.

I've had that happen to me with 6x9 envelopes. I was charged an extra twenty cents, which isn't a lot, but I had a load of envelopes and JUST enough money, so I had to hold off on sending a few. All I wrote was please do not bend in pen along the bottom. For me, I've learned it's only certain workers who notice/charge me for it.