You vowed you wouldn’t be back here again this year, and yet here you are — staring at a stack of holiday cards that all need return addresses. Your wrist cramps at the thought of the hours of repetitive writing ahead of you.  

 You’re about to resign yourself to suffering when it dawns on you — printed return address labels! Of course! You rush to your printer, create a few sheets, and start affixing your address instead of writing it. So much easier! 

 And so much uglier.  

 Let’s face it. Printed return address labels are unattractive. Printed at home, the quality’s lousy, and the text drifts around the label, never quite centering properly. Printed professionally, they still look like afterthoughts, pasted clumsily into place instead of taking the time to make something nice. They save you time at the cost of presentation. They feel like what they are — half measures. 

 Don’t think about using a colored envelope. The white label box will stand out terribly. Clear labels are better, but you can still see that bounding box, and anything stuck between the label and the envelope becomes starkly obvious. Printed return address labels do get the job done, but they’re not going to win any style points.

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THERE’S A BETTER OPTION — HANDWRITTEN CUSTOM RETURN ADDRESS LABELS

Standard peel-and-stick return address labels fail because they take something personal, a handwritten card, and make it feel mass-produced. With hand-addressed envelopes, each one is unique. Printed labels strip that uniqueness away and replace it with a boring similarity. Each card with an identical label, moving in lockstep down a conveyer belt directly into a mail truck. It all feels very clinical. 

 In an effort to save you time, they rob your envelope of its soul. 

 But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can save yourself time without resorting to dull peel-and-stick labels. You can get the benefit of unique, hand-addressed envelopes while still automating the hard work.  

 The answer is Simply Noted. 

 We’ve perfected the science and art of automated handwriting. Our robots wield real ballpoint pens, varying pressure and speed to create realistic ink strokes. The mind driving our smart fonts, a proprietary AI, analyzed a massive amount of handwritten text and learned how to subtly alter letter sizes and shapes for convincing artificial penmanship. 

 Instead of “peel, stick, repeat,” you could have lovingly pen-written return address labels — and they won’t be labels! Our handwriting machines write directly on the envelope like you would — because you’re a human, not a machine, and our machines are getting more human every day. 

 And of course, hand-addressed envelopes are just the wrapping for our expertly-crafted, handwritten cards. In the time it takes to send an email, you could have warm, authentic-looking handwritten cards mailed directly to your recipients.

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HOW TO SET UP HANDWRITTEN CUSTOM RETURN ADDRESS LABELS IN SIMPLY NOTED

We say “labels” but that’s just to help understand what’s going on. Our handwriting robots will pen your recipient’s address, as well as the return, right on the envelope. And setting things up is a breeze! 

 To take advantage of this powerful feature, you’ll choose a card from our wide selection, choose a handwriting font (or have us create a custom font matching your handwriting), upload your recipient’s address (or multiple addresses), and then enter your return address on the next screen. 

 Our system will automatically format your return address, as well as each destination, and pass them to our handwriting machines to pen lovingly onto your envelopes before inserting your handwritten cards, applying real postage stamps, and putting them in the mail. 

 That’s it. If Simply Noted was any easier we would read your mind and automatically pen and mail the cards we know you need to send.  

 We can’t do that...yet.

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WHY PRINTED RETURN ADDRESS LABELS AREN’T WHAT THEY’RE CRACKED UP TO BE

We’ve talked about this a bit, but it’s worth stressing the reasons why printed return address labels can’t compare to automated, handwritten cards and envelopes. 

 For one, they’re costly. If you print them at home, you have to buy label sheets. You might need three or four sheets, but you’ll have to buy the whole box. And home-printed labels use precious printer ink, one of the most expensive liquids on the planet. If you buy them online, you’re paying someone to run expensive commercial printers. Given the format’s unappealing results, these are steep prices to pay. 

 Your results frequently aren’t good. Printed return address labels are brittle, fiddly, and unattractive. It’s common for them to tear when you attempt to peel them from the sheet, forcing you to throw them away or use a damaged label.  

 When applying them, there’s always the chance that they’ll bunch up, crease, get an air bubble, or fold over on themselves. It’s difficult to add them perfectly straight, so they often sit crooked, off-center, or out of alignment. And do we have to mention the hairs, fuzz, and other flotsam that can get stuck, emerging out from the edge of the label like a dirt tentacle?  

 What happens if you move? Unless you want cards returned to your old house, your labels will be no good to you. Any additional return address labels you have lying around from previous mailings would go right into the trash.

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SIMPLY NOTED IS THE BETTER ALTERNATIVE

With Simply Noted, there’s no waste. We handwrite your address labels right on your envelope, on demand. There’s nothing to peel (and rip) or apply (bent, folded, and teeming with dust and fuzz). In fact, you don’t have to do anything at all. Our handwriting machines do all the work, do it affordably, with results that look better than, and just as convincing as doing it yourself. 

 How can it be better? Because our AI-powered smart handwriting fonts and real ballpoint pens create realistic handwriting, like you, but without the chance that it’s crooked, off-center, misspelled, or marred by mistakes. Particularly if you opt for a custom handwriting font matched to yours, Simply Noted handwritten custom return addresses are the best version of your penmanship. 

 So this year, use Simply Noted to send out your company or personal holiday cards, invitations, birthday cards, thank you notes — really all of your handwritten correspondence. It’s the best way to send handwritten mail.

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