4.0 Mail piece material properties Paperweight • Envelopes: 70gsm minimum • Postcards: 200gsm minimum with a minimum thickness of 0.25mm thick Material Envelopes must be paper based; you must not use polythene, plastic or transparent items, or aperture envelopes (i.e. windows envelopes without film) Opacity The paper on which the address is printed must be equal to or more than 85% opaque to prevent any character on the reverse side showing through. Absorbency Absorbency value required 15-35gsm of water in one minute Paper Colour The most suitable colours for your mail pieces are white, cream or buff. Other colours are possible so long as they are light or pastel shades and contrast by at least 50% (55% where an address is read through a window) in tone with the address. Use of red or dark colours is not allowed, as it makes it difficult for our machines to read addresses or codes. In order to provide sufficient reflectance from the mail piece material that allows sufficient light to be reflected back, a BR value of a minimum of 35% in the region (600nm) is required. Mail pieces not meeting this requirement will appear as a block of dark grey or even black, making it impossible to identify the address on the mail item. Background Reflectance (BR) and Reflective Difference (RD) In order to provide sufficient contrast between mail piece material and the printed address, the RD between the mail piece background and the PR must be a minimum of 30%. Mail pieces not meeting this requirement will appear as block making it extremely difficult to distinguish the address from the mail piece material. 5.0 Addressing The Address Block The address box is defined as an imaginary rectangular box which surrounds the address and touches the extremities of the text on each side. It may consist of up to 2 elements: 1 Mailer Defined Information (MDI) such as a customer reference code. This is optional and if used must be in the line above the addressee. 2 The Delivery Address must be included and is comprised of the following: Porosity Porosity value less than 700ml/minute
3.2 Inserts
An insert is defined as anything that is inserted or enclosed into a mail piece. Items such as pens, keys, gifts etc that are inserted in mail pieces must not alter the properties of the mail piece. Typically the significant factors affected are stiffness, thickness, and insert movement. For any insert other than paper contents, you must make sure they are fixed in position so they do not move around during processing. You can use glue or self-adhesive tabs to fix any inserts. No metallic items should be contained within the mail piece with the following exceptions:
• Staples maximum size 24mm x 6mm • Paper clips maximum size of 23mm length
3.3 Lateral Movement
The maximum amount of lateral movement of the largest insert within the envelope must not exceed 20mm, see diagrams below:
Where the overall mail piece does not exceed 2mm, the maximum allowable largest insert movement is 30mm.
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