Mail tracking for local service businesses

Accountants, law offices, dentists, salons, cleaners, pet groomers - local service businesses still mail invoices, statements, appointment reminders and checks. When a customer says the bill never came, or a payment seems lost, a tracking barcode on the envelope turns guesswork into a date and a location.

Know when invoices go out - and when payments come back

An Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) label gives every envelope its own tracking page. Use it in both directions:

• Outgoing: see the date your invoice entered the mail and when it reached the customer's area.
• Return envelopes: create a label addressed to your own business, put it on the reply envelope you include, and you'll see the customer's payment moving toward you before it reaches your box.

Send a ready-to-print label to a customer

Need a signed form or a check mailed back? Create a label addressed to your office and use Email the label. Your customer gets a PDF to print and stick on an envelope, plus a link to follow it - and any reply comes straight to you.

Everyday uses

• Monthly statements and past-due notices
• Appointment and renewal reminders
• Signed intake forms, contracts or tax documents mailed back by clients
• Refund and deposit checks

What it costs

12¢ per label, bought in packs from 100 labels ($12). Postage stays the same - a regular First-Class stamp. Credits never expire, so a pack lasts as long as you need it to.

What tracking can and can't tell you

• Scans come from USPS automated processing. A piece that skips the machines - hand-sorted, damaged or oversized - may show few or no scans.
• Letters often have no delivery scan. The last processing scan at the destination facility is usually the final event, typically the day before or the morning of delivery.
• Tracking is information, not proof of delivery. For legal notices that need proof, use USPS Certified Mail.
• Labels add tracking only - they don't change your postage or qualify mail for automation discounts.