question: How do large companies send bulk letters?
comment: I worked at a company where I spent one whole week with just printing letters (I had data from excel worksheet), putting them into envelopes and then bringing them to post office. I had to take one colegue with me, because every day, it was like 60 kilograms of envelopes. So it’s mostly repetitive boring work someone has to do for slave-grade paycheck.
passages: The oldest known channel for chain letters is written, or printed, on letters on paper. These might be exchanged hand-to-hand or distributed through the mail. One notorious early example was the "Prosperity Club" or "Send-a-Dime" letter. This letter started in Denver, Colorado in 1935, based on an earlier luck letter. It soon swamped the Denver post office with hundreds of thousands of letters before spilling into St. Louis and other cities.
   Newspapers and magazines that take personal advertisements often provide a reply forwarding service; in this case, the text of the advert will include a unique box number and anyone wishing to reply to the advert sends or delivers their reply to the publisher's address in an envelope bearing that number. The publisher forwards replies in bulk to the advertiser at a given interval, for example each week. 
   BULLET::::6. The local post office dispatches the letters to their delivery personnel who deliver them to the proper addresses.
  
  This process, depending on how far the sender is from the recipient, can take anywhere from a day to 3–4 weeks. International mail is sent via trains and airplanes to other countries.
   Bulk mail is mail that is prepared for bulk mailing, often by presorting, and processing at reduced rates. It is often used in direct marketing and other advertising mail, although it has other uses as well. The senders of these messages sometimes purchase lists of addresses (which are sometimes targeted towards certain demographics) and then send letters advertising their product or service to all recipients. Other times, commercial solicitations are sent by local companies advertising local products, like a restaurant delivery service advertising to their delivery area or a retail store sending their weekly advertising circular to a general area. Bulk mail is also often sent to companies' existing subscriber bases, advertising new products or services.
   BULLET::::3. Sender puts the letter in a postbox.
  
  BULLET::::4. The national postal service of the sender's country (e.g. Royal Mail, UK; USPS, United States; Australia Post in Australia; or Canada Post in Canada) empties the postbox and transports all the contents to the regional sorting office.
  
  BULLET::::5. The sorting office then sorts each letter by address and postcode and delivers the letters destined for a particular area to that area's post office. Letters addressed to a different region are sent to that region's sorting office, to be sorted further.
   Section::::Overview.
   Advertising mail includes advertising circulars, plastic mailers, coupon envelopes (Money Mailer, Valpak), catalogs, CDs, “pre-approved” credit card applications, and other commercial merchandising materials delivered to homes and businesses. It may be addressed to pre-selected individuals, or unaddressed and delivered on a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood basis.
  
  Section::::Postal services.
  
  Postal systems offer lower rates for buyers of bulk mail permits. In order to qualify for these rates, marketers must format and sort the mail in specific ways – which reduces the handling required by the postal service.
   Similar to the House paper system, "Dear Colleague" letters in the Senate are written on official letterhead and address official business, but there is not a central distribution policy. In general, when using the paper system, Senators and chamber officers create their own "Dear Colleague" letters and have them reproduced at the Senate Printing Graphics and Direct Mail Division. Once reproduced, letters are delivered to the Senate Mailroom by the sending office, accompanied by a distribution form or cover letter with specific distribution instructions.
  
  The current distribution numbers for "Dear Colleague" letters in the Senate are
   BULLET::::- Florence Manufacturing Company
  
  BULLET::::- Jensen Mailboxes
  
  BULLET::::- Postal Products Unlimited Inc.
  
  BULLET::::- Salsbury Industries
  
  BULLET::::- Security Manufacturing
  
  STD-4B+
  
  BULLET::::- American Device Manufacturing (Company purchased by Florence Manufacturing; Horizontal units only)
  
  BULLET::::- American Eagle Mailboxes
  
  BULLET::::- Bommer Industries, Inc.
  
  BULLET::::- Florence Manufacturing Company
  
  BULLET::::- Jensen Mailboxes
  
  BULLET::::- Salsbury Industries
  
  BULLET::::- Security Manufacturing
  
  Section::::Controversy.
   From 1982 to 1985, Electronic Computer Originated Mail, known as E-COM was accepted for bulk mailings. Text was transmitted electronically to one of 25 post offices nationwide. The Postal Service would print the mail and put it in special envelopes bearing a blue E-COM logo. Delivery was assured within 2 days.
   According to McMaster, the company had offices in various cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. In February 1844, Spooner advertised rates of "Postage 6 1/4 cents for each half oz. ... Stamps, twenty for a dollar." He further stated, "The Company design also (if sustained by the public) thoroughly to agitate the question, and test the constitutional right of free competition in the business of carrying letters." Stamps could be purchased and then attached to letters which could be sent to any of its offices. From there, agents were dispatched who traveled on railroads and steamboats and carried the letters in handbags. Letters were transferred to messengers in the cities along the routes who then delivered the letters to the addressees.
   BULLET::::- Zeppelin mail is a popular topic for the mail carried on the German Zeppelin airships between 1908 and 1939. Much mail exists because up to 12 tons was carried on each flight. Mail from within Germany and from the several trans-Atlantic flights are extant however mail from the famous Hindenburg disaster are very scarce.
  
  Section::::Possible areas of study.:Subject based studies.
   Letters are often studied as an example of literature, and also in biography in the case of a famous person. A portion of the New Testament of the Bible is composed of the Apostle Paul's epistles to Christian congregations in various parts of the Roman Empire. See below for a list of famous letters.
  
  A style of writing, called "epistolary," tells a fictional story in the form of the correspondence between two or more characters.
  
  A makeshift mail method after stranding on a deserted island is a message in a bottle.
  
  Section::::Modern mail.:Deregulation.
   BULLET::::- Mark Harris's comic novel "Wake Up, Supid" (1959) is made up of letters, telegrams, newspaper clippings and pamphlets, all sent either to or from the protagonist.
  
  BULLET::::- Theodore Sturgeon's short novel "Some of Your Blood" (1961) consists of letters and case-notes relating to the psychiatric treatment of a non-supernatural vampire.
  
  BULLET::::- Saul Bellow's novel "Herzog" (1964) is largely written in letter format. These are both real and imagined letters, written by the protagonist Moses Herzog to family members, friends, and celebrities.
   Some of the most prolific "LOCers" or "letterhacks" include Jerry Bails, T.M. Maple (who published over 3,000 letters), Augie De Blieck, Jr. (who claims to have published over 400 letters), Bill Schelly (now a comic book historian), Peter Sanderson (ditto), and Irene Vartanoff (an omnipresent 1960s letterhack who ended up working behind the scenes for Marvel in the 1970s and 1980s).
   BULLET::::- DoD 4525.7, "Military Postal Service and Related Services", 2 April 1981
  
  BULLET::::- Executive Order 12556, gives Secretary of Defense authority to designate free mail areas
  
  BULLET::::- U.S. Department of State DPO
  
  BULLET::::- Supporting Our Troops USPS Military Mail info
  
  BULLET::::- British Forces Post Office
  
  BULLET::::- The Postal And Courier Service BFPO HISTORY
  
  BULLET::::- Royal Engineers Museum Army Postal Services
  
  BULLET::::- German military mail on Missions Private page
   English merchant Thomas Witherings established mail routes throughout Europe in the 1620s. He drew up a proposition in 1635 for an English mail system based in London in which "portmanteaux" (containing 2 leather bags lined with cotton) could travel to European towns with sealed bags of mail for protection against spies. The system was put into motion and some 26,000 letters mailed safely unopened between London and European towns each week.
   Today there exist many forms of scam letters distributed on the Internet. The mentioned examples above acs as an indication of how these scam letters work and how victims are defrauded.
  
  Section::::Distribution.
  
  Section::::Distribution.:Postal services.
  
  In the past, before the introduction of electronic communications, scam letters were posted by normal postal services, which had been a slow and tedious method of defrauding victims. Although this method tremendously decreased its appearance today, it still occurs that a victim might receive the posted scam letter.
  
  Section::::Distribution.:Fax.
   BULLET::::- Baltimore, #12
  
  BULLET::::- Boston, #13
  
  BULLET::::- Harrisburg, #14
  
  Chartered later in 1852:
  
  BULLET::::- Rochester, #15
  
  BULLET::::- Chicago, #16
  
  BULLET::::- New Orleans, #17
  
  BULLET::::- Detroit, #18
  
  BULLET::::- Elmira, #19
  
  BULLET::::- Nashville, #20
  
  BULLET::::- San Francisco, #21
  
  "The Typographical Journal" records that in May 1892 there were 300 locals.
  
  Section::::Administration.:Office headquarters.
   Section::::Scheduled Air Mails.:Air Mail strike.
   BULLET::::- The Velvet Underground song "The Gift" from the album "White Light/White Heat" has a grisly take on the perils of human mail.
  
  BULLET::::- In the movie "George of the Jungle", George ships himself via UPS back to the jungle from San Francisco.
  
  BULLET::::- In the TV series "Malcolm in The Middle", Reese attempts to ship himself to China, but is instead sent on a bogus journey by his brother, Dewey, without leaving the garage.
   Section::::Shipping career.
   Centralized mail delivery
  
  Centralized mail delivery is a unique form of mail delivery system where a letter carrier provides delivery and collection services to a number of residences from a centrally located installation – whether in a single-family subdivision or multi-family structure. Business customers also receive delivery services from a convenient central location.
  
  Centralized mail delivery equipment can be in the form of any "clustered" type mailbox – including free-standing, pedestal-mounted cluster box unit (CBU), or other cluster mailboxes mounted in a wall, kiosk, or shelter. 
   Click-N-Ship
  
  Click-N-Ship is a service offered by the United States Postal Service that allows customers to create pre-paid Priority Mail shipping labels on ordinary printer paper. The labels include delivery confirmation numbers to track date and time of delivery or attempted delivery. Other than the cost of postage, there is no fee to create labels for Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, Global Priority Mail, or Global Express Mail if the sender uses USPS Flat Rate envelopes or boxes.
   Men of Letters
  
  Men of Letters: The Post Office Heroes who Fought the Great War is a book by Duncan Barrett, co-author of "The Sugar Girls" and "GI Brides" and editor of "The Reluctant Tommy". It was published by AA Publishing on 1 August 2014 and officially launched on 4 August to marked the hundredth anniversary of Britain's declaration of war.
  
  Section::::Content.
  