Letterheads

A letterhead does two jobs, and this product prints both. Most often it is the personalized letter inside a #10 package: the sheet that carries the salutation, the ask, and the signature that make a mailing feel written to one person rather than blasted to a list. The rest of the time it is plain company letterhead: the branded 8.5 × 11 sheet your office runs correspondence, invoices, and notices onto. Same trim, same stocks, same press; what changes is whether the words are variable data we compose per recipient or a static header you fill in later.

The print-sides choice is really a cost-and-purpose choice. A 1/0 black variable-data letter (black toner or ink on the front only) is the standard inside a letter package: it composes fast, runs cheap at volume, and reads like a letter someone typed and signed. Add 1/1 to carry a variable back page, a disclosure, or a reply summary on the reverse. When the letterhead itself is the brand statement (a full-color logo, a photo band, a colored footer), 4/0 puts full color on the front and 4/4 on both sides. Variable black text can also print over a color header, so the sheet looks designed while the body stays personalized.

Both stocks are uncoated, so they handle like correspondence: the surface takes toner and inkjet cleanly, accepts a pen for a countersignature or a handwritten note, and folds crisp with no coating to crack along the score. 70lb Text is the standard letter weight: substantial enough to feel like real stationery, light enough that three or four folded sheets still fit a #10 within postal thickness. 70lb Uncoated has the same matte feel for company letterhead and statements. There is no coating option, by design: a glossy letter feels wrong in the hand and resists a pen.

The whole sheet is laid out around the fold and the envelope. An 8.5 × 11 letter tri-folds into three panels and drops into a #10 exactly, and the recipient address block is positioned so it lands behind the envelope window after folding, which lets the letter address itself and removes a second addressing pass. Variable data drives the parts that change together: the address block, the 'Dear [First Name]' salutation, the ask amount or account figure in the body, and a member or reference ID near the signature. Because those fields are composed from one clean mail file, the name in the window, the name in the greeting, and the record on the reply device all agree.

Letters go through the same steps as our largest mailings. The list is CASS-standardized, deduplicated (NCOA updating is an option), and presorted; the variable letter is composed and imaged with the Intelligent Mail barcode and the address block placed for the window; then the sheet is folded and inserted into a window envelope, so the address that shows through the window is the one printed on the letter. Multipage personalized letters are matched by a computer-controlled inserter that checks the pages match, and letters going into non-window envelopes are matched by hand. We enter the mailing Full-Service so it earns letter automation pricing and feeds USPS tracking as it moves.

• One size: 8.5 × 11 in, the standard letter sheet that tri-folds into a #10 window envelope
• Stocks are 70lb Text and 70lb Uncoated; both uncoated so they take toner, inkjet, and a pen
• Coating is None / Uncoated by design; a letter needs to fold clean and hold a signature, not shine
• Print sides: 1/0 or 1/1 black variable-data letters, or 4/0 and 4/4 full color for branded letterhead
• 1/0 black variable data is the lowest-cost option at volume inside a #10 package; full color is for letterhead that carries the brand
• The recipient address block is placed to show through the #10 window, so the letter addresses itself
• Variable data ties the address, salutation, ask amount, and reply ID to one record per recipient
• Multipage letters are matched by a computer-controlled inserter that checks the pages match; entered Full-Service for automation rates