How flexible are the USPSs postcard size guidelines?
It honestly depends on the capriciousness of the staff at each post office that receives a card. The reason for the height guideline is so that the cards can be be sent through electronic sorter — shorter cards may not register, so they’ll be sorted by hand. My office has had BRCs (Business Reply Cards, like the subscription cards in magazines) rejected by the local postmaster because they didn’t match size guidelines, among other things. B) I don’t think a more expensive stamp will push it through, but it’s worth asking. Mail in non-standard sized envelopes is subject to a surcharge ($0.16, IIRC) so it might work. C) I’m pretty sure rejected postcards just get thrown out, rather than returned. Ask your PO.
Update: Just asked the mailman. He was pretty confident that they’d be delivered, and even asked for my name and address to make sure he’d look out for them. He says he sees stuff go through that’s even smaller. We’ve considered the envelopes, but just don’t want to have to deal with it. Our main envelopes are strangely shaped, so we’d likely have to fold whatever return envelopes we get in half to make them fit. If we can at all avoid that option, we’d like to. The post office really just throws mail out if it doesn’t meet their guidelines?
