Posters can be found anywhere from college dorm rooms to home offices. Whether a poster is autographed and special edition or simply a reprint of someone’s favorite movie, they can easily tear or suffer damage in transit. USPS does offer free small and medium poster tubes, but shipping posters also requires understanding how to package them to avoid ripping. Keep posters and your shipping process intact, all while using Stamps.com to help. 

Free USPS Priority Mail^® tubes

USPS currently offers free small and medium poster tubes. Each size can be used with Priority Mail^® or Priority Mail Express^® services and can be ordered from USPS in packs of 10 or 20. These cardboard tubes can be shipped directly to your home and/or business for free. 

These tubes and other supplies can also be ordered through your Stamps.com account. To order free USPS supplies: 

• Select Buy Supplies on your Stamps.com Online dashboard 
• Click on the supplies you need to order 
• Check out using your Stamps.com account info 

That’s it! Your supplies should arrive within 7-10 days of order. To order larger quantities of items, call USPS directly at 1-800-610-8734.

How to track USPS Priority Mail^® tubes

The tracking included with free USPS Priority Mail^® tubes is the same tracking included with other Priority Mail^® packaging and services. Packages can be tracked door-to-door, meaning your customer can track a package from the time of label creation to delivery. 

Tips for mailing posters 

While posters aren’t necessarily fragile items, they’re still delicate and can be bent, ripped, and damaged. The key to preventing posters from being harmed in transit is all in the packaging and customer communication. 

• Wrap your poster in brown Kraft paper to avoid damages 
• Accurately enter dimensions and weights for shipments by measuring and weighting shipments multiple times 
• Tape each end of the tube with packing tape to keep your poster from falling out
• Notify your customers if posters will be wrapped in additional packaging to avoid any accidental cutting or tearing 

Selecting USPS Mailing Tubes In Stamps.com

Stamps.com keeps shipping posters simple. You aren’t required to scroll through multiple package types when shipping tubes. Select “packages” as the mailpiece type. Additionally, you can utilize automation rules to automate your shipping workflow. Create a rule to automatically apply Priority Mail^®, package dimensions, and “package” as the mailpiece type to orders, so your posters are easier to ship. 

Unroll a 30-day free trial to Stamps.com today.

Items like posters, blueprints and important documents etc. will sometimes need to be rolled and packed into a triangular shipping tube.  These are a great option if you need a space-saving mailer that won’t roll around – but how do you add postage to them using Stamps.com?

Selecting USPS Triangular Tubes In Stamps.com
Like traditional tubes, you don’t need to look for a separate mailpiece type called “Tubes” from the drop-down Mail Class/Mailpiece menus.  When mailing triangular tubes, select “Packages” as your mailpiece type.  With Stamps.com, you can ship these at a First Class Package Rate.  As of January 17, 2016, you can create postage for First Class Packages weighing up to 15.999 ounces (13 ounces was the former maximum weight for First Class Packages).

How To Measure Your Triangular Tube
If you need your triangular tube package delivered quickly, you may want to select Priority Mail instead of First Class Package Service.  Since Priority Mail rates are based on zones, for certain zip codes you will have to enter the dimensions of your tube in order to obtain the correct rate.

You’ll have to know the length, width, and height of your triangular tube.

– Length –this is the longest side of your mailpiece.
– Width –this is the base of your triangle.
– Height – if your triangular tube is resting on the ground or a table, how many inches off the ground is it?

Girth:  What It Is and Why It Is Important For Your Triangular Tube
If you regularly ship triangular tubes, we also recommend knowing the girth of your mailpieces.  You can find out the girth by adding the three smaller sides of your triangle, so if each side is 5 inches, the girth will be 15 inches.

Why is knowing girth important?  This is because the USPS uses the total size to determine whether your tube is a Package, Large Package or Oversized Package.  The total size is: Length + Girth.

– Package: Total Size less than or equal to 84″
– Large Package: Total Size greater than 84″ but less than or equal to 108″
– Oversized Package: Total Size greater than 108″ but less than or equal to 130″

Get Free USPS Priority Mail Triangular Tubes
If you’re ready to ship off your blueprints and charts, you can certainly use your own supplies with Stamps.com.  We also offer Priority and Priority Mail Triangular Tubes that you can order for free from us!  These help the USPS identify the mail class you are using for your package.  Just remember that these are not Flat Rate mailpieces.  You would still need to select “Packages” as your mailpiece.

To order free USPS tube packaging, log in to your software and click on “Online Store,” which appears beneath “Buy Supplies.”   Two types of free tubes are available in the section called “Free USPS Supplies.”