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When there's a need for speed, the details matter. Canada Post's mail processing machines move up to 40,000 items per hour, and a small problem can very quickly become a big one.
Just imagine trying to feed an envelope with a lumpy enclosure around a narrow circumference.
Not only is the mail damaged, but it jams the equipment, and mailing after mailing draws to a halt until a technician identifies the culprit.
Mail is "machineable" if it can easily move through our automated processing machines. Here are some of the key features that make this possible:
Let's start with size and weight. Machineable mail falls into two size categories: Standard or Short-and-long and Oversize.
The categories are distinguished by their size and weight ranges. But all machineable items must be rectangular.
How mail is constructed is just as important.
Items must be strong enough to withstand processing without damaging themselves or our sorting machines.
We recommend using paper with a weight of at least 75 (seventy five) grams per square meter for Short and Long envelopes
and 90 ( ninety) grams per square meter for self-mailers and Oversize envelopes.
Standard or Short and Long mail items must be firm, but also flexible. You can test an envelope's firmness by holding it at both ends
it should not sag more that 22 mm in the middle. To test its flexibility, try bending it around a circular surface of 140mm -it should bend easily.
Proper sealing is also important. Items that are not fully sealed may get jammed or torn during processing.
Standard or Short and Long envelopes must be closed and bound by continuous adhesive sealing.
When preparing fold-over self-mailers, ensure that the fold is always at the bottom edge and that the right and left edges are completely sealed, while the top edge is at least spot-sealed.
What you put in an envelope matters too. Coins, glass, and seeds are a few examples of unacceptable enclosures for machineable Standard or Short and Long envelopes.
On the other hand, CDs, plastic cards and flexible magnets are perfectly fine.
Just make sure that all your enclosures are uniform in thickness, and closely fit the size of their envelopes.
To learn more about what makes mail machineable, check out our Machineable Postal Standards, which is posted on the canadapost.ca website.
Remember-when it comes to machineability, the little details can make a big difference. When our machines keep running, your mail keeps moving.