ReplyMailOnLine.com help - How can I print my own Business Reply or Courtesy Reply envelopes/postcards/labels on my laser printer or inkjet printer?

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How can I print my own Business Reply or Courtesy Reply envelopes/postcards/labels on my laser printer or inkjet printer?

If you don't need a large quantity of Business Reply or Courtesy Reply envelopes/postcards/labels, you might be able to save money by using the PDF file that you created at ReplyMailOnLine.com to print your envelopes/postcards/labels yourself, on your own laser printer or inkjet printer, instead of providing the PDF file to a printing company and paying them to print the envelopes/postcards/labels for you. This Web page talks about some of the issues and challenges that you might run into when you are trying to print your envelopes/postcards/labels yourself.

First: you should be aware that it simply is not possible to print Business Reply and Courtesy Reply envelopes/postcards/labels properly on some laser printers and inkjet printers! One reason is that some laser printers and inkjet printers cannot print really close to the edges of the paper. Not being able to print close to the edges of the paper is a major problem if you want to print a Business Reply or Courtesy Reply envelope/postcard/label, because U.S. Postal Service regulations stipulate that the top of the FIM bar code must come all the way to the top edge of the envelope, postcard, or label — or at least very, very close to the top. (The FIM bar code is the bar code near the upper-right corner of the envelope, postcard, or label.)

Another thing that can happen is that the printer might not print all the text and graphics near the right edge.

Other problems can also occur when you are printing your own Business Reply or Courtesy Reply envelopes/postcards/labels. For example, your printer's paper-handling mechanism might not be designed to handle the kinds of envelopes, postcards, or labels that you want to print. (More about this below.)

Now that we've told you about some of the problems that can happen, let's assume that you still want to try printing your own Business Reply or Courtesy Reply envelopes/postcards/labels.

Make sure your printer is designed to handle the media that you plan to use

First, you'll need to make sure that your printer is capable of printing on the envelopes, postcards, or labels that you want to use. For example:

If you want to print #9 envelopes, then you'll need to read the documentation that came with your printer to make sure that its paper-handling mechanism can accept #9 envelopes, to find out which of your printer's input bins or trays you should use to feed the envelopes into the printer, and to find out how to position the envelopes in the input bin or tray.
If you're going to print individual postcards one by one (for example, 5½" x 3½" postcards), you'll need to read the documentation that came with your printer to make sure that its paper-handling mechanism can accept media of that size and shape and to find out which input bin or tray to use. You'll also need to be careful to find out whether your printer's paper-handling mechanism can deal with the card stock that you're using, which is likely to be quite a bit thicker than regular paper.
If you're going to print individual labels one by one, you'll need to investigate the issue mentioned above — that is: can your printer's paper-handling mechanism handle the labels? which input bin/tray should you use? etc. You'll also need to ensure that the label paper that you're using is compatible with your printer.
If you plan to print sheets of postcards or labels instead of printing individual postcards or labels one at a time, you'll need to use illustration software (such as Adobe Illustrator) or page-layout software (such as QuarkXPress) to arrange several copies of the label or postcard on one page. See www.ReplyMailOnLine.com/help_n_up.htm to find out how to do this.

Use ReplyMailOnLine.com's "Free tryout" feature while you're experimenting

Next, we suggest that you use ReplyMailOnLine.com's "Free tryout" feature to create a PDF file containing artwork for a sample envelope/postcard/label (instead of paying $15.00 to create a PDF file) and use the sample PDF file to experiment with while you're working through the various issues described below. That way, you'll have the opportunity to try various procedures and settings without paying any money. This is important because you might find that you'll need try various combinations of choices on the ReplyMailOnLine.com screens before you find the combination of choices that works best for your particular situation. For example, depending on exactly what you're trying accomplish, you might or might not want Printer's Marks on the artwork in your PDF file.

To use ReplyMailOnLine.com's "Free tryout" feature, click the "Free tryout" link at the top of any page on the ReplyMailOnLine.com Web site. After you've worked through all the issues, you can go back to the ReplyMailOnLine.com Web site and pay $15.00 to create the actual artwork that you'll be using.

(Of course, if you have purchased a ReplyMailOnLine.com subscription, there is no reason to use the "Free tryout" feature while you're experimenting, because you can create as many different versions of your mailpiece as you need without spending any extra money.)

Make the required selections in the Printer Setup box

Once you've gotten past these hurdles, you'll need to make sure you know what choices to make in the Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader printer-setup box so that everything works smoothly.

Print your first envelope, postcard, or label

When you think you're ready to print your first envelope, postcard, or label, use Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader to print it. Then examine it carefully to see if everything looks okay.

Show some samples to your U.S. Postal Service Mailpiece Design Analyst

Even if you think that everything looks okay, make sure that you show some printed samples to the U.S. Postal Service Mailpiece Design Analyst that is assigned to your geographical area. A U.S. Postal Service Mailpiece Design Analyst is a person that has received special training from the U.S. Postal Service and is an expert in the U.S. Postal Service's mailpiece-design regulations. He or she will be able to tell you if there are any problems with your printed envelopes/postcards/labels. (Although some problems might be obvious to you when you examine your printed envelopes, postcards, or labels, there could be other problems that are not at all obvious. That's why you must show your envelopes, postcards, or labels to a U.S. Postal Service expert.) This is very important, because if you send out Business Reply or Courtesy Reply envelopes, postcards, or labels that have something wrong with them, your post office might charge you extra money to process them — or worse, you might not receive them at all when they are sent back to you.

Go to http://pe.usps.gov/mpdesign/mpdfr_mda_lookup.htm to find out how to get in touch with the U.S. Postal Service Mailpiece Design Analyst for your geographical area.

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