You're at the post office counter, the clerk slides a green-and-white slip across, and the line is building behind you. That slip is PS Form 3800, the Certified Mail receipt. Fill it out correctly and you leave with a postmarked receipt showing USPS accepted a mailpiece addressed there, on that date. Fill it out wrong and it comes back across the counter.
Here's the whole job in four moves:
- Write the recipient's name and delivery address in the boxed section at the bottom of
the form — exactly as they appear on the envelope.
- Check only the extra services you're paying for. Each checkbox adds a fee. The next
section prices every one.
- Attach the form to the front of the envelope — above the delivery address, to the
right of your return address, barcode visible.
- Hand it to the clerk. They fill in the fees, postmark the form, and tear off your
copy. That postmarked receipt is your proof of mailing. Keep it.
Not standing at a counter? If you came here to print a certified label online — or to skip the form entirely — jump ahead to printing and sending online.
Below is how to fill out a certified mail receipt field by field, with every fee current as of the July 12, 2026 rate change. If you're reading a guide with older numbers, that's why they differ.
What's on Form 3800: every field, mapped#
Certified Mail is an add-on service, not a mail class — the form is how the add-on gets attached, priced, and postmarked. Six things live on it. Three are yours; three belong to USPS.
- Yours — the recipient block. The boxed lines at the bottom: Sent To, *Street and
Apt. No., City, State, ZIP+4*. Copy them from the envelope exactly. If the form and the envelope disagree, you've built a dispute into your own proof.
- Yours — the extra-services checkboxes. The menu in the middle. Check only what you're
buying; the next section prices each box.
- Yours — nothing else. Leave every dollar box blank. Filling them in doesn't speed
anything up — the clerk recalculates anyway.
- The clerk's — the barcode and article number. Preprinted, and printed twice: once on
the strip that travels on your envelope, once on the stub you keep. That number is your tracking number; here's how to track it once the letter is moving.
- The clerk's — the fee and postage boxes. Certified Mail Fee, Postage, *Total
Postage and Fees* — written or meter-printed at acceptance.
- The clerk's — the postmark circle. Postmark Here. In the form's own words: "to
ensure that your Certified Mail receipt is accepted as legal proof of mailing, it should bear a USPS postmark" — so present the piece at a Post Office and the clerk stamps your copy. The instructions also allow a second path if you don't need the postmark: detach the barcoded portion, affix it to the mailpiece, apply appropriate postage, and deposit it. You still get tracking — but an unpostmarked receipt may not be accepted as legal proof of mailing.
The checkboxes: what each one costs and what it buys you#
The middle of Form 3800 is a menu labeled "Extra Services & Fees." This is where a $6.37 letter becomes a $19.82 letter — sometimes because you needed it to, sometimes because a checkbox sounded important. Here's what each one actually buys.
Checkbox | Fee | What you get | Skip it when |
|---|---|---|---|
(none — the form itself) | $5.55 + postage | A postmarked mailing receipt, a tracking number, and a USPS delivery record — USPS keeps the recipient's signature on file | You only need proof you sent it — a Certificate of Mailing (Form 3817) is $2.45 plus postage: no tracking, and USPS keeps no copy |
Return Receipt (hardcopy) | $4.65 | The green card (Form 3811) travels with the letter and comes back to you by mail with the signature and delivery date | You're fine reading the signature on a screen — the electronic version is $1.74 cheaper and you don't wait for a card to return through the mail |
Return Receipt (electronic) | $2.91 | A PDF of the signature and delivery record, emailed to you | Your instructions, contract, or counsel require the mailed Form 3811. Pick one return receipt, not both |
Certified Mail Restricted Delivery | $14.35 (combined — replaces the $5.55) | Delivery is limited to the named addressee or their authorized agent | Your requirement doesn't restrict delivery to the named individual |
Fees effective July 12, 2026, per USPS Notice 123.
What about the last two checkboxes? The form also lists Adult Signature Required and Adult Signature Restricted Delivery ($14.35 combined, in place of the certified fee). Leave them alone: they're commercial options for Priority Mail shippers — the form itself marks both "not available at retail," and only the hardcopy Form 3811 return receipt can be combined with them (DMM 503.1.4.1). At a counter with a First-Class letter, they're not on the menu. Knowing which boxes apply to you is most of filling this form out.
The $14.35 lines are combined fees — don't add them to the $5.55. In USPS's price list, "Certified Mail Restricted Delivery" is a single line that already includes the certified service. Check that box and your extra-services total is $14.35, not $19.90.
Here's what the counter actually costs with a 1 oz letter and a stamp ($0.82 postage):
You're buying | Total | The math |
|---|---|---|
Certified, no return receipt | $6.37 | $0.82 + $5.55 |
Certified + electronic return receipt | $9.28 | $0.82 + $5.55 + $2.91 |
Certified + green card | $11.02 | $0.82 + $5.55 + $4.65 |
Certified Restricted Delivery + green card | $19.82 | $0.82 + $14.35 + $4.65 |
Choosing between the green card and the PDF deserves more than a table row — the electronic vs. physical return receipt comparison covers legal acceptance and lost-card risk. And if you want every combination totaled, what Certified Mail costs runs the full math.
Where the forms go on the envelope#
Form 3800 goes on the address side — above the delivery address and to the right of your return address, with the barcode fully visible and the top-right corner left clear for postage. The perforated stub stays attached until the clerk stamps and returns it.
If you added the green card, Form 3811 has four things to complete before it's attached:
- Box 1 (front): the recipient's name and address — same as the envelope, same as the 3800.
- Box 2 (front): the article number. Peel the tracking strip from the top of Form 3800 and
stick it here (or copy the number by hand).
- Box 3 (front): check Certified Mail as the service type.
- The sender block (back): your own name and address — this is the address the card gets
mailed back to. A green card with an empty sender block is a signature USPS can't return to you.
Then attach the card to the back of a letter-size envelope. On a large envelope or package, it goes on the front, anywhere it won't cover the address or the 3800.
The clerk handles the rest at acceptance: pricing the boxes you checked, stamping the postmark circle, and handing back your stub.
Which form do you actually need? (3817 vs 3800 vs 3811)#
"Certified mail forms" is really three different forms answering three different questions. Match the form to the proof you'll need later — the differences are cheap to get right now and expensive to discover in a dispute.
The proof you need | Form(s) | Counter cost (1 oz letter) | What you can show later |
|---|---|---|---|
I sent it, on this date | Certificate of Mailing (Form 3817) | $2.45 + postage | A postmarked certificate — but no tracking, and USPS keeps no copy |
It was delivered (or delivery was attempted) | Certified Mail (Form 3800) | $6.37 | Postmarked receipt + tracking history + USPS delivery record |
Who signed, and when | Form 3800 + Return Receipt (Form 3811 or electronic) | $9.28 with the PDF | The signature and delivery date, in your hands |
Delivery restricted to the addressee (or their authorized agent) | Form 3800 + Restricted Delivery | $15.17 | Delivery record limited to the addressee or authorized agent |
Two boundaries worth knowing. Certified Mail rides only on First-Class Mail or Priority Mail — it is not available with Priority Mail Express. And an ordinary postmark on an ordinary envelope is not proof of mailing — if the date matters, it needs a form. (If a court filing is what brought you here, note that a Certificate of Service is a legal document, not a USPS product — and some notices require certified mail specifically.)
Can you print Form 3800 or send Certified Mail online?#
Not the green form itself. You can download a specimen of Form 3800 from USPS, but printing it doesn't work — the barcode and article number are preprinted and unique to each physical form, so a home-printed copy has no live tracking number. The forms are free: pick them up at any post office counter, or order packs from the USPS Postal Store.
What you can do is skip the form. Online Certified Mail providers generate the certified barcode electronically — a printed label or cover sheet whose barcode is the certified article number. No form, no counter. When a statute, a contract, or your attorney requires Certified Mail, this is the same service with the paperwork moved online: electronic certified mail explains the mechanics, and how to send certified mail online compares the options.
And if Certified Mail or signature proof isn't actually required — you just need the letter printed, mailed, and trackable without leaving your desk — you don't need a form at all. Postmarkr sends tracked First-Class letters today; certified mail is coming soon. Upload a PDF, we print and mail it, tracking included on every piece — $1.85 for one page, no subscription.
Keep the receipt: what it proves later#
The postmarked stub in your pocket is the half of Certified Mail most people throw away and later wish they hadn't. Here's what your $6.37 bought, and for how long:
- The postmarked receipt is your proof of mailing — USPS accepted this piece, addressed
this way, on this date. It's the one artifact that exists even if the recipient never signs.
- USPS keeps the delivery record, including the signature
— but the reliable way to get a copy in your hands is a return receipt purchased at mailing, not a records request afterward.
- Tracking history for Certified Mail stays available for 2 years. Screenshot or save
the delivery confirmation before it ages out.
- If nobody's home, USPS leaves a notice and holds the piece 15 days; on the 16th day it
starts back to you. A returned, unclaimed certified letter is itself evidence of the delivery attempt.
Staple the stub to your copy of what you mailed, note the tracking number, and file both. When the question is "did you actually send it?" — months later, in writing, from someone's lawyer — that stapled pair is the answer.
Source and verification note#
Fees on this page are the USPS rates effective July 12, 2026, verified 2026-07-17 against USPS Notice 123 (Price List) and the USPS extra services page. Service rules — adult-signature availability, return-receipt combinations, and Certificate of Mailing record retention — are from DMM 503, Extra Services. Form layout and envelope placement reference the current PS Form 3800 and its printed instructions.