Help CenterThe Green Card is the original, paper-based way to receive a signature that serves as Proof of Delivery for a Certified Mail letter. Preparing Certified Mail letters with Green Cards is a slow and laborious process. Plus mailers have to wait for the signed Green Cards to return via the mail stream before they have official confirmation of their Certified Mail being delivered. And then theyneed to file the Green Cards in a way that makes retrieval easy, even years in the future, as the IRS, state and federal courts only accept original Green Cards as proof of delivery, not copies.
The Return Receipt (Electronic), also known as the “RRE”, contains the same information as the Green Card, but in an electronic (PDF) format. It was developed by the USPS to speed up the process of receiving Proof of Delivery and to eliminate problems associated with Green Cards, such as cards getting damaged or torn off as they make their way through the mail stream, offices having file Green Cards for years, and Green Cards getting misplaced after they are filed. The USPS Domestic Mail Manual states that the Return Receipt (Electronic) is the legal equivalent of the PS3811 (Green Card). The IRS, State Tax Authorities and Courts have all welcomed the Return Receipt (Electronic) as the PDF file can be stored and emailed in PDF form, whereas the Green Card must always be submitted in its original form.
Users of SimpleCertifiedMail.com receive the RRE within 24 hours of the piece being delivered. The PDF is automatically posted to their accounts, and users can also elect to receive it via email. The PDF remains in the client’s account for 10 years and can be downloaded at any time.
In summary, the Return Receipt Electronic is one of the best enhancements the USPS has made to the Certified Mail process since the Certified Mail service was launched many decades ago.