Greetings Need Special Handling: Color, Clarity and Neatness Count

At the U.S. Postal Service’s busiest time of the year, ironically, all those bright red and green Christmas card envelopes slow the process.

The electronic eye in the stamp-canceling machine sometimes cannot distinguish a stamp placed on a colored envelope, and banishes the letter to the “reject” drawer to be hand-canceled. Such detours can slow delivery of the letter by a day or more.

So if you are slow about getting your season’s greetings in the mail, yet you want them to arrive by Dec. 25, you might consider using white or beige envelopes.

Other pointers that will help move your Christmas cards along:

* Address envelopes with dark ink that contrasts with the envelopes’ color. Green felt tip on green background not only will baffle electronic eyes, but also will strain human eyes.

* Better yet, type the address on the envelope. The Postal Service’s artificial intelligence is not intelligent enough to read handwriting and will send such letters to the more intelligent--but less speedy--human mail-handlers.

* Positioning the stamp neatly in the right-hand corner, rather than willy-nilly wherever it happens to stick, will assure that the stamp-canceler will spot it.

* Over-size, bulky envelopes must be handled by hand from the starting line, so save your 20-page family update with photos for another letter.