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Been looking for ways to add something unique to your mail? The USPS recently announced a fun change to their postage permits – the ability to incorporate a color logo, picture, product or graphic into the standard postage indicia. No longer are you limited to that traditional, “everyone uses it”, permit layout. A Picture Permit will provide your mailings with something new and eye-catching that could potentially increase your read rate.

A recent article in AdvertisingAge spoke of the increasing value of mascots in branding – this new offering from the USPS provides a great medium to put those mascots to work!

Available for First-Class or Standard Mail letters and cards mailing with the Full-Service IMb, the process requires a bit of set up:

1) Either working directly with the USPS or with a Mail Service Provider (MSP) – that’s us! – register and complete the Picture Permit application (you’ll need to have your own permit number set up in order to do this step),

2) Design a permit just for your company or even just for a specific campaign,

3) Submit the design to the USPS for approval, and finally

4) Submit 500 hard copy mailpieces for testing and approval (this process will take between 30-45 days).

There is an additional fee ($.01 per mailpiece for First-Class and $.02 per mailpiece for Standard Mail) when using the Picture Permit.

For more details or to get started, visit the Picture Permit home page. And if you’d like help with this process, the Streamworks staff are ready to help as always!