Custom printed mailing labels
February 5, 2014 3:20 PM Subscribe
I've discovered the one thing you cannot buy online: printed mailing labels. Or can you?
We’re at the point of assembling our wedding invites and have decided to use printed mailing labels. I’d like to find a website that will let me upload a CSV or other file containing the addresses and send us the labels. However, it doesn’t seem like any place offers such a service. I’ve checked Vistaprint, Shutterfly, Kinkos, Envelops.com, and random Google searches without success.
Anyone have any leads for a site that I can order custom printed mailing labels? Assume no easy access to a printer or friends with stellar handwriting.
We’re at the point of assembling our wedding invites and have decided to use printed mailing labels. I’d like to find a website that will let me upload a CSV or other file containing the addresses and send us the labels. However, it doesn’t seem like any place offers such a service. I’ve checked Vistaprint, Shutterfly, Kinkos, Envelops.com, and random Google searches without success.
Anyone have any leads for a site that I can order custom printed mailing labels? Assume no easy access to a printer or friends with stellar handwriting.
What you really want here is the Microsoft Word label wizard. You should be able to import an Excel spreadsheet to supply all the addresses.
If you don't have access to Microsoft Office, google drive may be able to do something like this.
posted by Sara C. at 3:40 PM on February 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
If you don't have access to Microsoft Office, google drive may be able to do something like this.
posted by Sara C. at 3:40 PM on February 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Houstonian is halfway there.
1. Buy the labels you like at Staples or wherever. There are square ones, rectangle, white, clear, etc.
2. Download the corresponding template in Word and drop in the addresses (you can use mail merge or copy/paste).
3. Save as a PDF or even Word.
4. Have Kinkos or Staples or whatever print shop print them out for you. You could do color or B/W.
The whole thing should take an evening.
posted by mochapickle at 3:41 PM on February 5, 2014
1. Buy the labels you like at Staples or wherever. There are square ones, rectangle, white, clear, etc.
2. Download the corresponding template in Word and drop in the addresses (you can use mail merge or copy/paste).
3. Save as a PDF or even Word.
4. Have Kinkos or Staples or whatever print shop print them out for you. You could do color or B/W.
The whole thing should take an evening.
posted by mochapickle at 3:41 PM on February 5, 2014
If you are thinking of going with Houstonian's Kinko's suggestion, you can either pay them to do the label wizard for you or just rent computer space there and do it yourself. Their computers should have Word and Excel.
posted by Sara C. at 3:41 PM on February 5, 2014
posted by Sara C. at 3:41 PM on February 5, 2014
Response by poster: My primary goal is to find a way to do this online. I'd like to upload a CSV (or whatever) file, pick the labels I want, and get them sent to me.
posted by SeparateAccountForWeddingQuestions at 3:58 PM on February 5, 2014
posted by SeparateAccountForWeddingQuestions at 3:58 PM on February 5, 2014
Would you mind elaborating on what the barrier to just doing this yourself on your home computer is?
Do you not have a printer at home?
Do you not have access to software that will do this?
Do you not want the hassle of going to Office Depot and shopping for labels?
That information will help us advise you what to do.
posted by Sara C. at 4:03 PM on February 5, 2014
Do you not have a printer at home?
Do you not have access to software that will do this?
Do you not want the hassle of going to Office Depot and shopping for labels?
That information will help us advise you what to do.
posted by Sara C. at 4:03 PM on February 5, 2014
Looks like Zazzle will do this. (Never heard of them.)
posted by trip and a half at 4:05 PM on February 5, 2014
posted by trip and a half at 4:05 PM on February 5, 2014
Have you tried just giving a neighborhood print shop a call? This seems like something they could probably do for you, especially if you supplied them with a file.
posted by brainmouse at 4:05 PM on February 5, 2014
posted by brainmouse at 4:05 PM on February 5, 2014
Or heck, someone on taskrabbit or something similar. I bet you could even get them hand-delivered.
posted by brainmouse at 4:06 PM on February 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by brainmouse at 4:06 PM on February 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
[Poking around, I don't think Zazzle will actually do this.]
posted by trip and a half at 4:09 PM on February 5, 2014
posted by trip and a half at 4:09 PM on February 5, 2014
Printrunner does this. I use them for most of my printables, though I've never used their mailing service. I like the quality of their print materials and they are fairly responsive when there are problems.
posted by headspace at 4:11 PM on February 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by headspace at 4:11 PM on February 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Do you not have a printer at home?
Nope. "Assume no easy access to a printer".
Do you not have access to software that will do this?
I do. Creating the mail merge isn't the problem. I don't have the means to print it out.
Do you not want the hassle of going to Office Depot and shopping for labels?
I really don't. This isn't a service normally offered by Staples/Kinkos/etc and I've had nothing but bad experiences the few times I've used such places for services they actually offer.
posted by SeparateAccountForWeddingQuestions at 4:32 PM on February 5, 2014
Nope. "Assume no easy access to a printer".
Do you not have access to software that will do this?
I do. Creating the mail merge isn't the problem. I don't have the means to print it out.
Do you not want the hassle of going to Office Depot and shopping for labels?
I really don't. This isn't a service normally offered by Staples/Kinkos/etc and I've had nothing but bad experiences the few times I've used such places for services they actually offer.
posted by SeparateAccountForWeddingQuestions at 4:32 PM on February 5, 2014
Mod note: Just answer the question being asked folks, if it agitates you too much to do that you are welcome to move on.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:36 PM on February 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:36 PM on February 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
Best answer: This was an option when we ordered invitations from Minted. I'm not sure if it's available as a stand-alone product.
posted by hydrobatidae at 5:11 PM on February 5, 2014
posted by hydrobatidae at 5:11 PM on February 5, 2014
This is such an easy task to do that I would think you could post to the Jobs page, Craigslist, or similar to get it done.
posted by Houstonian at 6:19 PM on February 5, 2014
posted by Houstonian at 6:19 PM on February 5, 2014
We had LCI Paper print our reply envelopes, not our guest addresses, but they do offer that service. Our order was turned around quickly and looked very, very good.
posted by kelseyq at 7:06 PM on February 5, 2014
posted by kelseyq at 7:06 PM on February 5, 2014
This place will do it online for you, but they charge $1.00 an envelope.
posted by misha at 7:10 PM on February 5, 2014
posted by misha at 7:10 PM on February 5, 2014
Bed, Bath and Beyond will also do this. You can have your return address printed, too.
posted by misha at 7:12 PM on February 5, 2014
posted by misha at 7:12 PM on February 5, 2014
I've used local printers that would do this sort of thing. I'm guessing they would be happy to ship labels to someone as well.
Wouldn't have a website specially set up for it though... but you could just handle it by email and satisfy the "buying it online" criteria.
posted by yohko at 7:14 AM on February 6, 2014
Wouldn't have a website specially set up for it though... but you could just handle it by email and satisfy the "buying it online" criteria.
posted by yohko at 7:14 AM on February 6, 2014
Here's a web page that will let you order labels for your mailing list from an MS Excel file.
posted by yohko at 7:21 AM on February 6, 2014
posted by yohko at 7:21 AM on February 6, 2014
Response by poster: Thanks for the answers. We're probably going to switch our invites over to Minted since they offer envelope addressing.
posted by SeparateAccountForWeddingQuestions at 10:52 AM on February 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by SeparateAccountForWeddingQuestions at 10:52 AM on February 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Houstonian at 3:28 PM on February 5, 2014 [1 favorite]