Why holiday cards come back to the sender

Two common reasons a holiday card comes back to the sender are short postage, for example on a square envelope, and a client who moved more than a year ago. You can prevent most returns by checking postage and addresses before you mail.

Not enough postage

The Postal Service delivers a single short-paid letter if the person it's addressed to pays the difference. If they refuse it, a letter with a return address comes back to the sender marked "Returned for Additional Postage". You can add the missing postage, cross out the reason and mail it again.

Short-paid nonmachinable letters go back to the sender for more postage. A square envelope is nonmachinable because its length divided by its height is less than 1.3. A square card up to 1 ounce costs $0.82 plus the $0.49 nonmachinable surcharge, $1.31 in all at USPS prices as of November 2026, so a single $0.82 stamp is not enough.

The full prices are in our guide on how much it costs to send business holiday cards.

A client who moved

When someone files a change of address, the Postal Service forwards their First-Class Mail for the first 12 months. In months 13 to 18 it returns the mail to the sender with the new address attached. After that, it returns the mail with the reason it couldn't be delivered.

A card that comes back with a new address attached is useful. Update that client's row in your mailing list so next year's card reaches them.

Check the suite or apartment number

The Postal Service requires the unit number on mail to an address that has one. We'd treat a missing one as a reason a card can go astray in a big building, so put it at the end of the street line, as in 500 Main St STE 200.

Before you mail next year

• Weigh one finished card and check its shape before you buy stamps.
• Update the addresses of every card that came back.
• Add suite and apartment numbers to the street lines that are missing them.

Our holiday card list template has columns for each part of the address.

Questions