What is Certified Mail and When Should You Use It?

Anytime you’ve stopped by the post office, you’ve got the usual questions. Does this package contain hazardous materials, do you need stamps and are you sending this as a certified letter?

What is certified mail and is it something you need? That depends on why you’re mailing something and the person on the other end of the letter.

If you’re dealing with cases where you need proof or you want to know someone personally took the letter from the mailman, asking for a certified letter is the best way to go. You’ll save yourself the hassle and worry, and feel confident that your mail gets to the proper place.

Learn more about when to use certified mail, and see how it can help you in a variety of situations.

Know About the Various Options When Mailing a Letter

When it comes to mailing a letter, there are different methods to get your mail from point A to point B. Some cost extra or take more time.

The main options you’ll have when mailing something at the post office are:

  • Regular mail
  • Certified mail
  • Registered mail

Which one is best for you that meets your needs? Let’s take a look at regular and registered mail to see how they stack up.

If you don’t mind you mail taking anywhere from five to seven business days and it doesn’t need to get somewhere urgently, regular mail is the way to go. Regular mail is the cheapest way to send something and there’s less fuss than the other methods.

You can just drop a letter in the mailbox or hand it to a clerk and go on your way.

Registered mail is perfect for instances where you’re sending important documents or packages, and you need to make sure there’s a way to track them. The process for registered mail involves paying extra for a barcode that gets affixed on the front of the letter.

When you pay for your registered mail, you’ll get a receipt that allows you to track where your mail has gone to. This enables you to see where it is on the route and can tell you exactly when it arrives.

Registered mail is usually insured for up to $25,000.This is ideal for someone who has a package they want to keep track of, to ensure their customer gets it with no further problems.

If you deal with mailing and contacting people for business purposes or you often send products out to customers, using registered mail helps you stay on top of where everything is. Know that it does take longer for the mail to arrive at its destination since it has to go through a process of getting locked separately away from other mail with the whereabouts getting recorded by postal workers.

What is Certified Mail and Why You Need It

Certified mail is ideal if you want proof that your item reached the sender, but you don’t want it to travel at a slower rate than normal. Certified mail requires a signature upon delivery.

This serves as proof to let you know the mail made it to the intended individual since you can’t track it like you would with registered mail. Some companies might ask you to sign something that is certified, such as an online pharmacy company.

If you’re trying to send someone an important document, such as something legal, like a court document or a lease, you want to know that it reached them safely. This is the perfect instance of when you’d opt for certified mail.

Certified mail generally takes five business days to get to its destination. If you’re wanting proof that it arrived and someone signed for it, this is the best option to choose, since it won’t get as delayed as registered mail tends to.

Although businesses tend to use certified mail, anyone can use it, regardless of the reason why they’re having the item signed for.

Using Certified Mail to Ensure It Reaches the Right Person

With certified mail, be aware that the person you’ve addressed it to isn’t always the one signing for it. This is common in instances where someone in an office signs for mail that was intended for the president or another head person.

Often the mail gets handed over to the person it’s addressed to after it’s sorted. In the cases of people who live in an apartment complex, sometimes the building manager signs for certified mail when the individual isn’t at home.

This is still a helpful method of ensuring mail gets to the right place. As long as you’re aware the person signing for it can be someone else, it’ll get to the rightful owner.

In order to make sure there’s no confusion on the address or the person you’re trying to reach, it helps to make use of Certified Mail Labels. Doing so allows the mail person to easily read the address, and gets used as further protection that the mail is on its way to the right person.

Make sure you leave your return address. That way if there is a problem, the mail can get sent back to you, and you’ll know it didn’t go through to the other party.

Learn More

If you’re wondering what’s considered certified mail and if this is the best way to send something, consider what you’re mailing. A certified letter is best for important matters, like legal documents.

No matter what your reasons are for having something mail, you can feel confident that it’ll get to the right hands when you choose a certified letter over regular mail.

If you run a business and you’re looking for new ideas, you’ll want to check out our post 10 profitable business ideas for introverts. Find out about new ways to make money without getting overwhelmed by too many people at once.

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