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Delivery times will vary depending on product and destination. Domestic delivery times are listed below:

• Letters - 4 to 6 business days
• Postcards - 4 to 6 business days
• Area Mail - 6 to 10 business days
• Checks - 4 to 6 business days

International mailings will take an additional 5 to 7 days.

*Delivery times above are estimates; Lob uses USPS as our primary carrier and USPS experiences delays from time to time. To see the most up-to-date status of your mailing, check the tracking information of your particular mailing through a GET request or on your Dashboard.

Each First Class postcard, letter, and check sent through Lob has a unique IMb barcode that gets scanned by USPS as it travels through the mail stream. You can access this scan event data via our API or Dashboard, or get notifications for them by creating webhooks. Below is a breakdown of each scan event label and description:

• In Transit - The mailpiece is being processed at the entry/origin facility.
• In Local Area - The mailpiece is being processed at the destination facility.
• Processed for Delivery - The mailpiece has been greenlit for delivery at the recipient's nearest postal facility. The mailpiece should reach the mailbox within 1 to 2 business days of this scan event.
• Re-routed - The mailpiece is re-routed due to recipient change of address, address errors, or USPS relabeling of barcode/ID tag area.
• Returned to Sender - The mailpiece is being returned to sender due to barcode, ID tag area, or address errors.

Please note that IMb tracking data cannot be accessed via USPS's website and IMb tracking data not available for the following products:

• Certified & Registered letters (How do I track these?)
• Overnight checks (How do I track these?)
• Area Mail

Lob can mail all over the world. International mailings originate from the US and are mailed via USPS First Class Mail.

If you are looking to originate mail in a different country, please contact us.

Once you send a piece of mail to Lob, it is sent immediately - think of our product like email.

Before you start sending any live mailings, we recommend you first test using your test API key. The test API key is intended to allow you to experience the API without actually having anything printed/mailed.