Canadian Businesses Can Use DocuSend to Mail to US Customers

Canadian business owners who work with clients in the US are often looking for ways to make sending business communications more efficient and affordable. There are options on the market, each with its own pros and cons depending on your needs. Usually, services that help speed up the mailing process require monthly contracts. You can also rent a postage meter, which can pay off if you send a large number of invoices. However, you’ll still have to print, fold, stuff envelopes, run them through the meter, and bring them to the USPS.

But what if a small business doesn’t distribute big batches of mail regularly or doesn’t want to deal with the tasks of printing and folding invoices and sealing, stamping, and weighing the envelopes? Sending invoices through regular Canada Post Letter-post is one of the most common options, but delivery to the US can take 4 to 6 business days, according to Canada Post’s published delivery standard. Mail to other international destinations can take up to 7 business days.

Besides, the regular method does not include tracking, and many businesses need to track sensitive financial documents like invoices.

While borders are an essential part of how countries operate, when it comes to sending invoices and receiving payments, you want to make crossing them as easy and efficient as possible.

Fortunately, modern technologies can help you to speed up mailing without monthly contracts, service agreements, renting equipment, or buying software. You can just send your invoices online to a cloud-based print-to-mail service, and they will be sent as domestic mail within the US.

How Long Will Regular Delivery Take?

There is no doubt we have greatly developed logistics between the two countries. Letters and documents don’t need to be examined as thoroughly by Customs as parcels do and should be quickly delivered, but in practice, there are several factors that can add extra time to delivery when you send your mail to the US.

Canada Post passes your mail on to the US Postal System after it crosses the border, and the USPS performs its further delivery as first-class mail. That’s why Canadians can find it difficult to get information on what happened if the mail piece is delayed for too long. Both countries have a huge territory, some parts of which are more remote. Even within Canada, it can take up to four business days to mail documents from one province to another. The longer the distance, the more intermediate stops the delivery route requires, and every distribution facility needs time to sort the arriving mail. Also, there will be more air flights and ground transport.

While we can’t influence the US part of the journey your invoices take, it is a good idea to eliminate the Canadian part to reduce delivery time. Add to this the time you usually spend on preparing your document for mailing: buying postage materials, manual printing, stuffing the envelopes, going to the post office and weighing your documents, and applying postage. The DocuSend automated cloud-based mailroom eliminates all of that.

How Long Will Mailing via DocuSend Take?

If you upload your invoice on June 27, with DocuSend it will enter the US postal system on June 28 or 29, while if you use the Canadian postal system, it can take from a few days up to a week before that happens.

The point is this: There is absolutely no need to give your printed invoice a ride through the border when it can be printed and mailed in the US much quicker and for a lower cost. DocuSend is located in Rochester, New York, and we print and mail the documents of our foreign clients here and mail them to their US customers and business partners within two business days with the regular internal USPS rates as if the mail was sent from a US address.

However, only talking about regular rates would not be accurate: DocuSend does even more and cuts mailing expenses by half, as we buy postage and supplies in bulk. The final price already includes all materials, first-class US postage, labor, tracking your documents up to the final postal facility with our Mail Trail service, and access to your personal portal with archive and all your mailing history for the last six months. And no extra charge for foreign service to mail to the US. All you need is to print your invoices to PDF, upload them to our website www.docusend.biz and pay online. And DocuSend works with any accounting system.

Comparing the Prices

Mailing a one-page invoice to the US via Canada Post will cost you 1.75 CAD. A standard sheet of paper weighs about 4.5 grams (0.159 ounces), while an envelope weighs around 6.75 grams (0.238 ounces). If your mailing weighs more than 30 grams but no more than 50 grams, postage increases to 2.61 CAD. And we haven’t even counted the cost of materials.

DocuSend’s prices start at 1.35 USD for a one-page document, with all the materials included. To add a remittance envelope is only 4 cents, and it is 11 cents for each additional page. Even more, you can cut costs using our two-sided feature, when a document is printed on both sides of the sheet.

There is no extra cost for our Mail Trail tracking service. To know if mail has been delivered, you can see this information in your personal portal, provided free to every user. You can track your documents after they were mailed all the way up to the final postal facility.

DocuSend is a pay-as-you-go service, so you can use it whenever you need it without paying a monthly fee. The program automatically calculates the number of envelopes and pages, and your price updates after you select your desired specifications.

If you spend at most a few minutes uploading invoices to the cloud right from your desktop, they will be distributed to your clients faster, and you can receive payment quicker. So automation is not just convenient; it can significantly help to improve your cash flow.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to mail an invoice from Canada to the US?

Canada Post’s published delivery standard for mail to the US is 4 to 6 business days. With DocuSend, your documents are printed and mailed from the US, usually entering the USPS mail stream within two business days.

Can I track invoices sent from Canada to the US?

Regular Canada Post Letter-post does not include tracking. DocuSend includes its Mail Trail service at no extra charge, allowing you to follow your mail's progress through USPS facilities up to the final postal facility. You can check the information in your personal portal.

Do I need to pay a monthly fee to use DocuSend?

No. DocuSend is a pay-as-you-go service with no monthly fees, contracts, or minimum mailing volumes. You can send invoices whenever you need to, whether that's a few letters a month or a large batch at once.

Do I need special software to send invoices through DocuSend?

No. You can use your existing accounting system to prepare your invoices and save them as PDFs. Then, upload the files to DocuSend's website.

What is included in DocuSend's mailing price?

The price includes document printing, envelopes, US First-Class Mail postage, and mail preparation. It also includes Mail Trail tracking and access to your personal portal, where you can view your mailing history and access your archive for six months. You can check the total price before submitting your order.