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Some businesses and organizations provide
envelopes, cards, or labels for their customers to reply.
What Is Reply Mail?
Businesses and organizations that depend on orders and payments by mail have
a vested interest in incoming mail and may want to use tools that encourage
their customers to reply. Reply mail is a method with which you can provide
preaddressed envelopes, postcards, and labels, with or without postage, to
customers for reply purposes.
Benefits of Reply Mail
Customers are provided a quick and easy response tool. For businesses and organizations,
reply mail encourages a response.
Kinds of Reply Mail
The Postal Service offers three kinds of reply mail within the U.S.:
- Business Reply Mail (BRM)
- Metered Reply Mail (MRM)
- Courtesy Reply Mail (CRM)
What Is the Difference?
With BRM, MRM, and CRM, you provide your customer with an envelope or card
that has your return address preprinted on it. Businesses who ask their customers
to submit their payments to locations other than their usual business address
may find this particularly valuable.
With BRM and MRM, businesses pay the postage for their customers.
Customers use the envelope, postcard, or label that is preprinted
with the business address and drop it in a mailbox.
For all BRM services, a business or organization pays postage
and a fee for each piece when it receives the reply mail from
the Postal Service.
With MRM, you apply prepaid metered postage to each piece
for your customer.
Using CRM, a business provides its customer with a preaddressed
envelope and the customer applies postage.
REPLY MAIL ONLINE
The Reply Mail Website walks
customers through the entire process of signing up for and
creating
a Courtesy Reply Mail (CRM) or Business Reply Mail (BRM)
mailpiece. CRM design has a simple one step process since
no permit or fees are involved.
BRM Process Includes:
- Registering with Customer Registration to create
a sign-in for the company
- Applying for a BRM Permit on
the website
- Paying the applicable Permit and accounting fees
on the website
- Obtaining a unique ZIP+4 code
in real time
- Choosing the type of mailpiece—various sizes of cards
or letters
- Downloading a file that contains the mailpiece
design ready for printing either in-house or at a printer
- Setting up an advanced deposit account at the Post Office
if an account doesn’t exist.
The site provides information
on how to make reply mail work better as well as
answers to FAQs.
BUSINESS REPLY
MAIL (BRM)
Business Pays Postage Afterwards
The four types of Business Reply Mail (BRM) allow you to receive First-Class
Mail and Priority Mail back from customers and pay for the postage when the
mail is returned to you. When designing a BRM mailpiece or label, you must
consult with your local Post Office or business mail entry employee. The
mailpiece must conform to a specific format, including a specific ZIP+4 code
assigned by the Post Office. The type of BRM that you choose will depend
on the volume of returns you expect.
Basic BRM
For basic BRM, you fill out an application (Form 3615) and pay an annual $180
permit fee. When you send your mail, you can include preprinted envelopes,
postcards, or labels. You pay the First-Class Mail price for the returned
mailpiece plus a per piece fee for each piece you receive back. For example,
with basic BRM, for each 1-ounce letter returned, you pay $0.42 for First-Class
postage and a $0.72 per piece fee, totaling $1.14 per piece.
High Volume BRM
For high volume BRM, you fill out an application and pay an annual $180 permit
fee and an annual $565 accounting fee. You still pay the First-Class Mail
return postage, but the per piece fee is reduced from $0.72 to $0.08 per
piece. Therefore, with high volume BRM, for each 1-ounce letter you receive
back, you pay $0.42 for postage and a $0.08 per piece fee, totaling $0.50
per piece. You maintain an advance deposit account at the Post Office. High
volume BRM is best if you expect 1122 or more pieces back a year.
Basic Qualified BRM
By making your reply mailpiece automation-compatible, you can receive greater
discounts. You fill out an application and pay an annual $180 permit fee
and an annual $565 accounting fee. Instead of paying the First-Class Mail
prices for the returned mailpiece, you will pay a qualified BRM postage price
of $0.397. Further, the per piece fee is reduced from $0.08 to $0.05 per
piece. Therefore, with basic qualified BRM, for each 1-ounce letter returned,
you
pay $0.397 for the return postage and a $0.05 per piece fee, totaling $0.447
per piece. You maintain an advance deposit account at the Post Office. Basic
qualified BRM is best if you expect 1279 or more pieces returned per year.
High Volume Qualified BRM
High volume qualified BRM is similar to basic qualified BRM in that the reply
mailpiece must be automation-compatible, the return postage is based on qualified
BRM prices, you fill out an application, and you pay an annual $180 permit
fee and an annual $565 accounting fee. You must also pay an $1,855 quarterly
fee, which reduces your per piece fee from $0.05 to $0.006. Therefore, with
high volume BRM, for each 1-ounce letter you receive back you pay $0.397
for the return postage and a $0.006 per piece fee, totaling $0.403 per piece.
You maintain an advance deposit account at the Post Office.
High volume qualified BRM is best if you expect 18,701 or more
pieces returned in a quarter.
METERED
REPLY MAIL (MRM)
Business Prepays Postage
For customers that are sure to respond, Metered Reply Mail (MRM) is a simple
solution. You are not required to fill out any forms or pay any fees. All
you need is a meter. The postage is equal to the First-Class Mail price and
has no per piece fee. A special endorsement is required above the delivery
address.
COURTESY REPLY MAIL (CRM)
Customer Pays Postage
For Courtesy Reply Mail (CRM), your customer affixes postage to a preaddressed
envelope that you enclose in your mailing. No fees are required for CRM.
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