Mail Services

First Class Mail

Presort Service | Presort Guidelines | Separating Mail | Envelope Sealing

Presort Service

The United States Postal Service offers reduced rates for presorted, first-class mail. Virginia Tech mail which meets presort requirements (see Presort Guidelines) is collected every afternoon and delivered directly to the proper USPS distribution point. Presorted mail is less expensive for the university and mail processing is faster as many post office routing and handling procedures are bypassed. UMS currently charges departments $0.352 for letters suitable for presort rates.

Presort Guidelines

The presort vendor uses sorting equipment that reads addresses, compares them to a database for validity, and prints an eleven-digit bar code pinpointing the destination location. In order to assure your address can be machine-read, the following are recommended:

  • Use a printer or typewriter to write the address in block lettering. The best font to use is 10 or 12 point size Courier. The characters must not touch and must not be in italics.
  • The city, state, and zip code should be the last line of the address. The street address should be the next-to-last line. The lines of the address should be evenly spaced.
  • Write the street address, city, and state in capital letters without punctuation.
  • The entire street address should be on a single line including secondary information such as an apartment number at the end. If a street has a North, South, East, or West designation, use standard postal abbreviations.
  • Write the address in the center of the envelope. When using labels, make sure the labels are attached horizontally and not skewed either up or down. Check to see that the address is not partially hidden in an envelope with a transparent window.

Separating Mail

There is no advantage to separating Blacksburg (local) mail from other mail. All first class, international mail, and campus mail should be separated.

Envelope Sealing

UMS can seal your letter-sized envelopes. Although UMS equipment is capable of sealing envelopes with the flaps folded up or down, leaving the flaps up is preferred.

Questions? Comments?

Send questions and comments about mail rates or services to mailservices@vt.edu.