Franking an airmail letter to the USA correctly
Even in the age of the internet and e-mail, conventional mail is indispensable. There are times when you need to send your documents to the United States by airmail. You can find out how to calculate the correct postage in these instructions.
What you need:
- Letter scales
- Centimeter measure
How airmail is defined
- The term "airmail" comes from the history when air transport was still rare and therefore very expensive.
- In the past, letters and parcels were usually transported by ship from Germany to the USA and were often on the way for 6 weeks or more.
- If letters should reach the recipient faster, you could choose the special "airmail" method of transport. These letters were marked with an extra stamp and very high postage had to be paid.
- Since extreme care was taken with the weight of the shipment with airmail, special airmail papers had to be used. The envelope and individual airmail letterheads were made extremely thin. In order to save weight, the inside of the envelope was sometimes also labeled.
- Today there is hardly any distinction between airmail and land post when sending letters. Even if you don't state it, letters to the USA will be shipped by air.
Be it a letter, a parcel or a parcel - the fastest way to ...
Calculate postage for a letter to the USA
The postage depends solely on the weight of the letter. Make sure that you are using normal copy-grade paper for airmail to the United States, not high-quality 120g paper. Write on both sides of the paper and use a light paper envelope instead of hard and heavy cardboard.
- Put the contents of your letter to be sent into a suitable envelope and close it. If necessary, you should seal the letter securely with adhesive tape for the long journey.
- Place the finished letter on the letter scale and note the weight.
- Now take the centimeter ruler and measure the longest and the shortest edge of the letter. The height or You should measure the thickness of the letter.
- If you have a very thin letter with the maximum dimensions of 23.5 x 12.5 x 0.5 cm (length x width x height) and only 20 grams in weight, you only need to post your letter to the USA for 0.75 euros.
- However, if the letter weighs 50 grams, you have to post it at 1.45 euros.
- For larger letters, the postage is calculated according to the size of the letter. Add the width, length and height of the letter. This value may not exceed 90 cm and no side may be longer than 60 cm.
- If your letter weighs up to 500 grams, the postage is 3.45 euros.
- If your letter weighs up to 1000 grams, the postage is 7.00 euros.
- If your letter weighs up to 2000 grams, the postage is 16.90 euros.
If your airmail to the USA weighs more than 2000 grams, the shipment can no longer be sent as a letter, but must be posted as a package at a branch.
Status: December 2011
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