International mail
This page is regarding mail that originates in the US and is mailed abroad by the USPS. If you have further questions about sending mail internationally, contact us.
General considerations
Mail formats
Postcards and letters created using the individual mail creation endpoints can be sent internationally, Campaigns UI (non-custom formats) and Campaigns API (non-custom formats); see below for format-specific considerations
No checks can be sent (or cashed) abroad
Mailing class
Only USPS First Class Mail is available for international delivery
Expect international mail to take an additional 5-7 business days
Registered Mail is not supported internationally
Certified Mail is not supported internationally
Standard class (Bulk/Marketing Mail), Nonprofit stamps, or First Class Presort are not permitted in international mail and will be returned to sender
Destination address
Lob follows USPS standards for sending international mail
International address data is available in over 240 countries, and the complete list of countries and territories can be found in our global address coverage page
To pass country codes in the API, use the specific two-letter convention identified by the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 convention (e.g., ‘US’ for United States of America, or ‘CA’ for Canada)
Lob follows USPS’s guidance on international service disruptions that affect First Class Mail delivery abroad
Our Print & Mail API will be periodically updated to exclude country-specific mail delivery suspensions. If you attempt to send mail to a suspended destination, you will receive a
422error.We will lift service restrictions in accordance with any USPS-provided guidance.
Temporary service disruptions (due to conditions like wildfires or COVID-19 for example) are subject to change.
Non-Latin/non-standard character support
For the address box:
Name and company will remain as-is within their respective character sets
If our Address Verification can validate and translate the address portion, it will return the address in English
All international mail will not receive CASS processing beyond US borders by default, so be sure to have accurate addresses if sending with your respective character set
For the content of the HTML body:
Must be using a typeface (font) that supports the character set
Must include meta element with utf-8 charset:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>Example:
Return address
US-based return addresses are required on all outbound international mail, regardless of the mail service used
All outbound mail pieces (“
to” address is international) must bear a complete return address in the country of origin (e.g. where you pay postage)Since Lob mail is originated in the US, the return must have a US-based address
Mail tracking
For international mailings originated in the US, tracking events will not appear and tracking data cannot be accessed via the USPS’s website beyond the final scan in the US, "International Exit"
Note: USPS does not appear to scan the majority of their international mail, which means this "International Exit" event is unreliable and thus infrequently surfaced
On rare occasion, international mailings may receive an "In Transit" or "Process for Delivery" scan, indicating that the mail piece has been processed at the entry/origin facility outside of the US
However, because delivery occurs in a foreign country outside the control of the USPS, international mailings do not receive scans beyond that, and cannot be tracked through the mailstream
In short, Lob is unable to provide reliable scans for international mail, especially beyond US borders
Format-specific considerations
Postcards
Per USPS, only 4x6" size postcards can be sent internationally via First Class Mail
Letters
File limit is 6 sheets single-sided or 12 pages double-sided (totaling 6 sheets)
PDFs that surpass the file limit will error
HTML that renders more pages than the file limit will be trimmed
While Registered Mail International service items also cannot be tracked, it does provide delivery status or attempted delivery information which can be obtained through USPS in three ways:
Go to www.usps.com. Select "USPS Tracking." By entering the tracking number shown on the mailing receipt into the lookup field, you can view the delivery status of the article
By calling the USPS Tracking telephone number found at Contact USPS
By bulk electronic file transfer for mailers who provide an electronic manifest to the United States Postal Service
Checks
Checks cannot be sent internationally, and the API will return an error if
address_countryis not the US.
Campaigns UI specific considerations
Start your campaign and choose "Includes International" on the first step. This tells the system you want to follow international mailing rules.
The Campaigns UI will then guide you through the USPS requirements. This ensures your maipiece is properly formatted and is set up for successful delivery.
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