envelope printing, print to envelope in mono or colour now

Envelope Printing

We can print on C6 to C4 on a whole range of different paper stocks, dependent on your choice of digital or inkjet printing.

GET A QUOTE

Print to envelope

Whether you need to get envelopes printed to provide a prepaid business reply service (BRE), or as part of a direct mail campaign, our turnaround times can be as little as 2 days for standard envelopes, depending on the quantity.

Our print to envelope technology means we can print on demand from a single envelope to 10,000 or more. Standard envelope sizes are available with windows (to enclose letters folded so that the name and address is visible) and windowless – with and without capacity. They can also be gummed or have peel and seal strips, but if choosing the latter be aware that they will require hand fulfilment, as they cannot be machine sealed.

We can also provide personalisation for whichever envelopes you choose. This goes far beyond simply ensuring that every envelope you send out is personally addressed. We can add tailored copy or even imagery to the outside of your mailers in order to grab attention, improve open rates and increase your return on investment.

All of our envelopes are sourced from FSC® accredited suppliers.

Get envelopes printed in colour

Colour envelope printing can give your marketing campaign a head start by piquing the interest of your audience from its first moment in your hand. From the simplicity of branding envelopes with your logo, setting a professional tone and reinforcing your corporate identity, to printing full colour promotional images to support a specific campaign. We can print 9,000 colour envelopes per hour, using 5 colours and to a print resolution of up to 1600 dpi.

Mono envelope printing

For large print runs that don’t require colour printing or the polished look of laser printed envelopes, we recommend inkjet printing. With run speeds of 30,000 envelopes per hour its much faster and more cost efficient. To minimise your costs further, only print on one side of the envelope.

Choosing the right envelope size

If you find envelope sizes confusing, here’s a useful tip. Simply swap the ‘A’ letter of your finished paper size with the letter ‘C’.

C4 envelopes – fit an A4 sheet. This is the perfect size if you don’t want to fold the enclosed A4 contents, but be aware that this will cost significantly more to post as it falls into the large letter tariff.

C5 envelopes – fit an A5 sheet (or A4 folded in half). C5 envelopes fall into the standard letter mailing tariff.

C6 envelopes – fit an A6 postcards or an A5 sheet folded in half.

DL envelopes – for A4 letters folded into thirds.

An often-overlooked consideration when it comes to envelope fulfilment is the size of the inserted item(s). If the envelope fit is too snug, cost efficient, high speed machine enclosing won’t be possible. Our Buhrs enclosing machines can process up to 10,000 DL, C5 or C4 envelopes an hour (that’s 160,000 a day!), but a margin of 15mm is needed for the machine grips to hold the envelope securely.

If economy is important to you then make sure your designer is aware of the parameters so that the contents fit comfortably, so that whatever you’re enclosing will fit comfortably into a standard size envelope. Don’t worry though, if needed we also offer manual enclosing. It will just take longer!

GET A QUOTE

Frequently Asked Questions

There are no specific legal requirements, however, different postage providers have their own guidelines covering layout, clear zones and spacing. All mailed items must include a return (or ‘undelivered’) address so that Royal Mail can return items that cannot be delivered. The Mailing People can provide envelope templates to support your design, clearly showing all required dimensions and layout guidelines.

Special finishes can be applied to envelopes but can increase cost and lead times significantly.

Yes. Envelopes can be printed on one or both sides, in black or full colour, with or without personalisation. Printing on a single side is the more cost-effective option.

Yes, we can source coloured envelopes in standard sizes in various shades within the same colour palette, e.g. different shades of blue. As these are standard stock items, the choice of size and colour will be limited.

Typically, a 5mm white border around all edges is required. If printing edge to edge is required, these can be sourced from one of our partners and can take up to 3 weeks to be produced using a process of flat sheet conversion.

Once stock, artwork and data have been received, a mailing project – including envelope printing – typically takes around 3-4 working days to produce and despatch, depending on the mailing quantity. However, if bespoke envelopes are required, it can add up to 3 weeks to the overall lead time.

Bespoke envelope sizes can vary, and typically most sizes are available, however, some may be subject to minimum order quantities. Price can range from £50 per 1,000 to £500 per 1,000. By comparison, standard envelope sizes for A6, A5 or A4 start from approx £17 per 1,000.

A minimum clear area of 148mm x 45mm is typically required for printing the address. Additional clear zones are also needed for the postage impression and other requirements. The Mailing People can provide envelope templates to support your design, clearly showing all required dimensions and clear spaces. All mailed items must include a return (or ‘undelivered’) address so that Royal Mail can return any items that cannot be delivered.

All items of mail must have a postage paid impression (PPI) printed in the top right-hand corner of the addressed panel to be posted. This tells Royal Mail who has handled the mail, and the postage speed e.g. First Class, Second Class, Economy.