In the past, a letter was sealed by a wax seal. This seal served two purposes of providing a tamper-evident closure for the envelope and identifying the sender. These days, envelopes are available that close with lickable glue or self-sticking glue. The sender identification is provided by return address labels that are stuck in the upper-left corner of the envelope. These address labels can be generic in appearance, or you can purchase custom-printed labels. Custom-printed labels can have a small embellishment for your envelopes, and any small decoration is an advantage.

Most people look forward to the arrival of the daily mail delivery. Even though the mailbox usually holds a dull collection of junk mail or bills, it often contains the treat of a catalog. Occasionally, however, our feelings of anticipation and suspense is rewarded with something personal, such as a greeting card or a travel postcard. We look forward to receiving such a token from a friend or loved one. These tokens of love and remembrance brighten our day more than any email message or instant message could ever do.

The old saying, “To have a friend, be a friend,” can be transformed into a new one that says, “To receive mail, send mail.” But beyond just a message that can be saved in your treasure box, a message can be made more memorable by making it beautiful as well as meaningful. Begin with the message inside. The simplest presentation is a thoughtful hand-written note on simple, unadorned stationery. The next step up is stationery with some decoration or small illustration that expresses the personality of the sender. If the paper is decorated, probably the envelope will be colored, too. The colored envelope stands out from the bills and junk mail as an early indicator of a fun time to come. Even more enjoyable is a greeting card. Even if it’s just a simple thank you card, always, always add a short note to the person. Of course, we’ve all seen greeting cards with an envelope that is more brightly colored than any stationery envelope. These provide a truly festive spot in the mailbox. To return to address labels, now that you have an envelope that stands out for your distinctive personal message, decorate it further with a custom-printed address label.

Before we close the topic of personal mail, let’s look at the address on the front of the envelope. The United States Postal Service has provided guidelines for the mailing address on the envelope. The Service wants you to type the address in all capital letters without any punctuation. The final line of the address should contain the city, state, and ZIP code. The line above this should contain the street address. If there is a suite or apartment number, these should appear on the same line as the street address and not below it. Since it is difficult to read all capital letters in a typeface with serifs, it is better to use a sans-serif typeface such as Arial rather than one with serifs, such as Times New Roman.