Certified mail return receipt: what it records and how to get one

A certified mail return receipt is the record of who signed for your letter and when, sent back to you by USPS. You buy it together with Certified Mail, at the moment you mail the letter. It comes in two forms: a green card that returns by mail (PS Form 3811), or an electronic copy sent by email.

Everything below comes from USPS: section 503 of the Domestic Mail Manual, the USPS help article Return Receipt: The Basics (dated 18 Sep 2026) and Notice 123 for prices. We read them on 13 Nov 2026. Certisent is not affiliated with USPS.

What Certified Mail gives you without a return receipt

Certified Mail on its own already records delivery. The mailing standards say it "provides the sender with a mailing receipt and, upon request, electronic verification that an article was delivered or that a delivery attempt was made," and that "USPS maintains a record of delivery (which includes the recipient's signature)."

So the signature exists either way. USPS has it. The standards then say how you get it: "Customers may obtain a delivery record by purchasing a return receipt at the time of mailing."

	Certified Mail alone	With a return receipt
Mailing receipt with a number (PS Form 3800)	Yes	Yes
Delivery status online or by phone	Yes	Yes
Signature taken at delivery	Yes, kept by USPS	Yes
The signature and delivery date sent to you	No	Yes
The delivery address, if different from the one you wrote	No	Yes

What a return receipt records

The mailing standards describe it as "evidence of delivery (to whom the mail was delivered and date of delivery), and information about the recipient's actual delivery address." The USPS help article lists the contents:

• the date of delivery;
• the signature of the recipient, or of the recipient's agent;
• information about the actual delivery address, if it is different.

It records the handover. It does not record what was inside the envelope, and it does not show that the person named on the envelope is the one who signed. If only one person should sign, that is a different service: see Restricted Delivery further down.

Green card or electronic

USPS lets you choose how the record reaches you: "by mail (Form 3811) or electronically (by email, or by signature extract file format)." The last format is for bulk mailers.

	Green card (PS Form 3811)	Electronic
How it reaches you	By mail, after delivery	By email
USPS fee	$4.65	$2.91
What you write on the envelope	"Return Receipt Requested" above the delivery address and to the right of the return address	Nothing. "No endorsement is required."
What you fill in	Your entries on the card, including the article number	No card
What you can follow	The card has its own barcode and number	The email carries a link to USPS Tracking for the letter
Where it is not offered		APO and FPO addresses, U.S. territories and possessions, freely associated states

Both fees are in Notice 123, price list effective 4 Oct 2026, under "Return Receipt (in conjunction with another extra service)". They are added to the postage and to the Certified Mail fee of $5.55. The cost calculator adds up a full letter.

Which one a court, an agency or a contract accepts is not a postal question. USPS sells both as a return receipt. If a rule you are following names one form, follow the rule, and if you are unsure ask the office that will receive the proof.

How to fill in the green card

The card has a part for you and a part for the person who receives the letter. The mailing standards say the mailer "must complete the mailer's entries on the form, including the article identification number, and attach the form onto the article."

1. The sender's entries on the card: fill in the part marked for the sender, and enter the Certified Mail number from your PS Form 3800 on it.
2. The reverse: the name and address the card should come back to. The standards say this shows "where the receipt is to be sent (this does not have to match the sender's name and return address on the mailpiece)." It must still be the mailer or the mailer's agent.
3. On the envelope: your complete return address. "A complete return address is required on the mailpiece when a return receipt is requested."
4. Attach the card to the back of a small envelope, or to the front of a large one where it does not cover the address, and write "Return Receipt Requested" on the address side.

The card does not change your postage. "The weight of the return receipt is excluded from the weight of the mailpiece to which it is attached when computing postage."

You do not have to go to the counter for it. USPS says that with the correct fees, postage and form affixed, a mailpiece with a return receipt "may be mailed from the home, office, or dropped in a Collection Box receptacle." What you give up that way is a receipt postmarked by a clerk, which our guide to sending certified mail explains.

Tracking the card is not tracking the letter

This catches people. USPS: PS Form 3811 "includes a barcode with a Tracking Number. This Tracking Number is not to track the mailpiece sent by the mailer." Entering it shows where the card is "as it is being mailed to the original mailer who requested this service."

Your letter is followed with the Certified Mail number on PS Form 3800. USPS also notes that a hardcopy return receipt "cannot be viewed online": you wait for the card.

You cannot add one later

USPS: "Mailing an item and then purchasing a Return Receipt is not an option." The old "return receipt after mailing" purchase is gone: "A mailer can no longer purchase a Return Receipt After Mailing, but can request information from the delivery record if the previously purchased Return Receipt did not arrive."

If the signature may matter, decide before the letter leaves your hands.

If the receipt never arrives

A green card that does not come back is not the end of the record. USPS describes three separate routes, each with its own clock.

Situation	What USPS offers	Time limit
You paid for a green card and it did not come	Delivery information from the record, with PS Form 3811-A at any Post Office, station or branch. Bring the receipt showing the fee was paid.	Within 90 days of the date of purchase
Bought at a Post Office; the card did not come or came back incomplete	A refund or a replacement record	After 30 calendar days from mailing, or any time after you know the item was delivered
USPS did not provide the recipient's signature	A refund of the return receipt fee, unless the item was refused, unclaimed or returned to sender	Not less than 30 and not more than 60 days from the date of mailing

For an electronic return receipt that has not arrived "within 3-5 days of your request", USPS suggests checking the delivery status, then your junk folder, and then asking again: enter the tracking number in USPS Tracking, choose "Return Receipt Electronic" under "Available Actions" and give your email address.

The signature may not be a pen stroke from that day

The standards on delivery records say that when a proof of delivery includes a signature, it "may be a signature that was obtained from the recipient at the time of delivery, or, for certain services, an electronic signature that was previously provided by the addressee (or representative) and is maintained on file with the Postal Service."

In plain terms, an organization that receives a lot of accountable mail can have a signature on file with USPS. The record you get back may show that signature.

When only one person should sign: Restricted Delivery

A return receipt tells you who signed. It does not limit who may sign. Certified Mail Restricted Delivery does: it "permits a mailer to direct delivery only to the addressee" or the addressee's agent. One condition applies: "The addressee must be an individual (natural person) specified by name." It does not work for a letter addressed to a company or a department.

In Notice 123 Certified Mail Restricted Delivery is listed at $14.35, as one fee. A return receipt can be added to it.

What it can be combined with

A return receipt is never sold alone for a letter. USPS lists it for First-Class Mail and Priority Mail "if purchased with Certified Mail, Collect on Delivery (COD), Insurance over $500, or Registered Mail."

For mail going abroad there is a different, pink card (PS Form 2865), sold only with international Registered Mail to certain countries. Certified Mail itself is domestic.

The return receipt in a Certisent letter

A Certified Mail letter sent through Certisent comes with the electronic return receipt, included in the price of $14.99. After delivery you get the record that USPS provides, by email and on your tracking page.

What that means for your choice:

• The electronic receipt only. Certisent sends every letter with the electronic return receipt. We do not offer the green card (PS Form 3811); if you need the paper card, the post office counter is the place.
• The electronic receipt is not for every destination. USPS does not offer it for APO and FPO addresses or for U.S. territories and possessions.
• No date promise. We cannot promise a delivery date or a postmark date. If your letter has a deadline, send it early.

This page is general information about a postal service. It is not legal advice.