Mail Services for Faculty & Staff

You must seal on-campus mail before it is picked up by a Mail Services employee.

Whenever possible, send on-campus mail using interagency envelopes (which are available for purchase at the Rapid Copy Center). If you use a plain white envelope, it must be clearly marked "on-campus" and separated from out-going mail requiring postage.

To ensure your on-campus mail is delivered to the recipient, please address it as follows:

Recipient’s name
Department
Building, Room number

Mail addressed without the recipient’s campus address will be delayed. Use the Faculty & Staff Directory to find any faculty or staff member’s campus address.
 

A large mailing is defined as a bundle of more than 20 pieces of mail.

If you are sending a large mailing to University employees, please sort the mailings in department order.

If you are sending a large mailing to residential students, please bundle the mailings in box number order and sorted them by quad/apartment complex.

To ease this process, we suggest labels be printed in the correct order.

Mail Services can hand deliver time-sensitive items, such as contracts and payroll registers, that are addressed to other state agencies or approved campus locations.

Mail that can be sent through regular on-campus mail should not be tagged for hand delivery.

Hand deliveries are picked up on Tuesdays and Thursdays only during the regular mail pickup. Hand deliveries can also be accommodated if they are dropped off at our mail facility (Catskill B010) by 1 p.m. Tuesday or Thursday.

You must attach a Hand Carry Authorization Form to each item that requires hand delivery.

Requests received after the deadline will be processed on the next hand delivery day. Hand deliveries that must be completed on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, weekends or state holidays must be handled by the department or a commercial courier service.

While First-Class Mail is most common, Mail Services can send your mail via any of the shipping services offered by the U.S. Postal Service.

Mail Services can also arrange for your package to be insured, tracked or placed under any other extra services offered by the U.S. Postal Service.

Unless you affix the proper postage yourself, leave the envelope or package’s upper right corner empty for meter posting. You must include a return address in the upper left corner.

Our metering machines can seal standard envelopes if the flaps are up and placed on in front of the other. The machines will also accept pre-sealed envelopes.

While stuffing envelopes, please be sure that the envelope is not overstuffed and that the contents do not extend outside the envelope. Our metering machines cannot effectively seal envelopes that are improperly prepared.

Flat envelopes cannot be sealed by our machines and must be sealed before mail is picked up.

Envelopes and postcards smaller than 3.5 inches by 5 inches will not be accepted by the U.S. Postal Service. Postcards larger than 4.25 inches by 6 inches will require the same postage as a First-Class letter.

Please also review our sections on Non-profit Standard Mail and Business Reply Mail for additional information.

UPS is contracted by New York State for courier services at reduced rates. You can review UPS’s services online.

Faculty and staff can contact Mail Services at 518-442-3272 or [email protected] to request envelopes, poly bags, boxes and labels.

You must sign and date the shipping document in section 9, then peel the backing off and apply to package.

UPS packages can be picked up by the Mail Services staff member during their normal daily rounds or dropped off at the Mail Services office (Catskill B010) before 3 p.m.

There are also drop boxes for express letters or small packages at the following locations (download campus maps):

• Outside the University Art Museum on the Uptown Campus (5 p.m. pickup)
• Outside the University Administration Building on the Uptown Campus (5:30 p.m. pickup)
• Outside the Dewey Library on the Downtown Campus (5:30 p.m. pickup)
• Outside the C Wing of the Main Laboratory Building on the Health Sciences Campus (5 p.m. pickup)

If you put your package in a drop box, please remove the top copy of the shipping document and send it to Mail Services for invoice reconciliation.

UAlbany students and employees also have access to the UPS CampusShip program, which allows you to purchase and print UPS labels wherever you are. Contact Mail Services’ Senior Manager Miguel Santiago at [email protected] or 518-442-3278 to get started.

You must attach a completed Packaging Tracking Form to any packages to be sent via USPS, UPS or FedEx.

You must attach a completed USPS Chargeback Form to any bundles of outgoing mail that require USPS postage or payment, so your department or grant account can be charged.

Mail is processed faster when combined on fewer slips, so please use one form per account number, regardless of how many pieces of mail or classes of mail are in the bundle.

The desired class of mail and any special requests — such as insured mail, certified mail, express mail or return receipt — must be clearly marked on the form. Download the form for Certified Mail with Return Receipt. 

Forms must be filled out completely and legibly; they must also include a phone number in case questions arise about the mailing. The authorized person in your department should sign the form. Any outgoing mail without a completed form or correct postage will be left behind.

Note: If your mail is being sent to an international location, you must also include a Customs Form.

Mail is processed more quickly if addresses are printed or typed. Use two-letter state abbreviations (such as NY, MA or CT). The city, state and ZIP code should be on one line.

The U.S. Postal Service does not recognize “Attention:” or “ATTN:” lines below the address. Please include this information in the first or second line of the address.

If your recipient uses both a street address and a P.O. Box number in their address, make sure the place where the delivery is to be made is the address immediately above the city, state and ZIP code.

You may wish to use the U.S. Postal Service’s ZIP Code Lookup.

If your mail is addressed to a location outside the United States, the address must be printed or typed in uppercase letters and Arabic numerals.

The address must also include the recipient’s name, house number, street address or box number, city, province, postal code and, on a line by itself, the unabbreviated country name.

The country name must be written in English with uppercase letters.

A package addressed to an international location must have a Customs Form attached. Please contact Mail Services at 518-442-3272 or [email protected] with any questions.

Letters and printed materials, including brochures, that are being mailed to international addresses must be placed in envelopes or in a sealed wrapper.

For recipients who work on our Uptown Campus, please address any mail as follows:

Recipient’s name
Department
Building, Room Number
1400 Washington Ave.
Albany, NY 12222

If you are sending mail via the U.S. Postal Service to a recipient on the Downtown Campus or Health Sciences Campus, please address it as follows:

Recipient’s name
Department
Building, Room Number
1400 Washington Ave.
Albany, NY 12222

If you are sending mail via any other carrier to a recipient on the Downtown Campus or Health Sciences Campus, please address it as follows:

Recipient’s name
Department
Street Address
City, State ZIP Code

Mail handled by any carrier other than the U.S. Postal Service will be delivered directly to the recipient's office on the Downtown Campus or Health Sciences Campus.

Non-profit Standard Mail is not sealed and is subject to postal inspection. A piece of mail may be revied by the postal facility before they accept the mailings to ensure the contents meet the eligibility requirements detailed above.

If the mailings fail inspection, they will be sent either at the regular Standard Mail rate or the First-Class Mail rate.

Please contact Mail Services at 518-442-3272 or [email protected] before printing your mailings to ensure they will meet all requirements.

To qualify for the Non-profit Standard Mail rate, your mailings must fit the following requirements:

• There must be at least 200 pieces of mail in total.

• Each piece of mail must use the same size envelope and contain identical materials to ensure uniform weight.

• Each piece of mail must weigh less than 16 ounces.

• A return address of “University at Albany, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany NY 12222” must appear on the outside of the envelope or in a prominent location on the postcard.

• No personal correspondence, promotional material or advertisements may be included or enclosed.

• All mail must be addressed to domestic addresses.

• The accuracy of all ZIP codes must be certified no more than 95 days before the mailing date.

Note: Mail Services will return any mailings that do not meet the minimum Non-profit Standard Mail requirements to the department.

If you’re sending mail at the Non-profit Standard rate, please contact Mail Services’ Senior Manager Miguel Santiago at [email protected] to ensure your address file is properly updated.

Mailings sent using a permit imprint do not require metering. The Postal Service will deduct the proper postage from the University’s account and notify Mail Services of the total charge.

Mail Services will in turn charge your department or grant account for the mailings.

You must notify Mail Services that you intend to use the permit imprint before the mailings are presented to the U.S. Postal Services because we must verify that sufficient funds are available.

If the funds are not available, the Postal Service will reject the mailing.

If you are planning to send any permit mailing, please send the following information to Mail Services’ Senior Manager Miguel Santiago ([email protected]), who will review the availability of funds to process your mailing:

• Class of mail (First-Class or Non-profit Standard)

• Number of pieces being mailed

• Cost of the mailing (If you are using a vendor, they should be able to provide you with at least an estimate.)

• Account number to charge for the postage

• Anticipated date of mailing

The permit imprint must also be properly formatting on each piece of mail. Please verify with Mail Services before you print any mailings that the correct format has been applied.

Departments are welcome to download one of our UAlbany postcard templates, which can be printed at UAlbany’s Rapid Copy Center or by a local vendor:

• 3.75 inches by 5 inches Postcard Template
• 4 inches by 5 inches Postcard Template

The permit imprint must be properly formatted on each piece of mail. Please verify the formatting with Mail Services before you print any mailings that the correct format has been applied.

Mail Services provides campus departments with mail sorting, envelope stuffing, labeling and sealing for Non-profit Standard Mail and First-Class Mail at a competitive rate.

In most cases, the overall cost for preparing and sending mailings at the Non-profit Standard Mail rate will still be less than the cost of sending it at the First-Class Mail rate.

Large mailings that cannot be handled internally will be sent to a local vendor.

Departments may also elect to send their mailings to a pre-sort vendor. We recommend you contact the vendor to learn about their preparation requirements.

If you elect to work with a vendor directly, you must notify Mail Services of this decision. Please send a copy of the mailing, as well as the departmental or grant account number that will be used to pay for postage, to Mail Services’ Senior Manager Miguel Santiago ([email protected]).

Local vendors may need extra time (up to two weeks) to process your mailings.

Additionally, Standard Mail is assigned a lower priority than First-Class Mail and no delivery date is assigned.

For time sensitive materials, allow at least four to six weeks total for processing.

• It's unexpected or from someone you don’t know.

• It's addressed to someone no longer at the address.

• The address contains misspelled words or incorrect information.

• The postmark city is different from return address city.

• It has no return address or lists a return address you believe is not legitimate.

• It's lopsided, rigid or lumpy, or has bulges, protruding wires, a strange odor or excessive tape.

• It's marked with restrictive endorsements, such as "Personal" or "Confidential."

• It has oily stains, discoloration or a crystallized substance on the outside.

• Do not open the mail. Do not throw it away.

• Handle it with extreme care. Do not shake, bump, sniff or taste it.

• Isolate the mail and, if possible, place it inside a sealed plastic bag.

• Instruct everyone to leave the immediate area.

• Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.

• Call the University Police Department (518-442-3131) or 911.