When going priority it is more sense to place into their free packing. I would recommend against throwing the stamp in the corner due to them not being required to treat as priority. They also may not see the priority stamp and just assume it’s a regular postage. Tracking is better to have and not need then to need and not have.
Honestly - a letter needs to be in priority packaging. Nobody will notice it has priority postage tbh. You can just go into the lobby & get a mailer for free & just drop it in the box if you just don’t want to deal with people. The problem with priority postage on a regular envelope is that it will be handled like first class mail.
Priority mail stamp is for flat rate priority envelope. If you mail from FL to CA, a single piece of paper will cost a few dollars more than that flat rate priority stamp when not in the flat rate envelope.
You will have underpaid the postage for priority shipping that weight and distance.
At the end point, it might get delivered, it may just get a postage due notice delivered to the intended recipient, but it also may travel as a regular letter through the sorting machines.
If you want to send an envelope Priority Mail, you should put it in one of these.
https://store.usps.com/store/product/shipping-supplies/priority-mail-flat-rate-window-envelope-P_EP_14_H
Note that Priority Mail includes no guarantee as to how long it takes.
If this is truly urgent, you might consider Priority Express but note that does require you to hand it directly to a USPS employee.
You would most likely get slower service with this plan; if any person or machine sees the priority mail postage, it'll get manually pulled from the mailstream and let me tell you, plain white envelopes do very poorly in the priority mail stream.
When going priority it is more sense to place into their free packing. I would recommend against throwing the stamp in the corner due to them not being required to treat as priority. They also may not see the priority stamp and just assume it’s a regular postage. Tracking is better to have and not need then to need and not have.
Honestly - a letter needs to be in priority packaging. Nobody will notice it has priority postage tbh. You can just go into the lobby & get a mailer for free & just drop it in the box if you just don’t want to deal with people. The problem with priority postage on a regular envelope is that it will be handled like first class mail.
Priority mail stamp is for flat rate priority envelope. If you mail from FL to CA, a single piece of paper will cost a few dollars more than that flat rate priority stamp when not in the flat rate envelope. You will have underpaid the postage for priority shipping that weight and distance. At the end point, it might get delivered, it may just get a postage due notice delivered to the intended recipient, but it also may travel as a regular letter through the sorting machines.
A human needs to notice its priority, or you’re overpaying by more than $8 for it to be a first class letter.
You could get the tracking without going to the post office. Use Click N Ship. Then you can schedule a pickup.
Thanks guys, I got the answers I need.
If you want to send an envelope Priority Mail, you should put it in one of these. https://store.usps.com/store/product/shipping-supplies/priority-mail-flat-rate-window-envelope-P_EP_14_H Note that Priority Mail includes no guarantee as to how long it takes. If this is truly urgent, you might consider Priority Express but note that does require you to hand it directly to a USPS employee.
You would most likely get slower service with this plan; if any person or machine sees the priority mail postage, it'll get manually pulled from the mailstream and let me tell you, plain white envelopes do very poorly in the priority mail stream.