I did some research before I started mailing stuff out as to how much postage to use when mailing a celebrity. There are a few different options.
You can mail out a letter only, with no return envelope, and hope that the celebrity will mail you an autograph or a picture. This, if you live in the US and are mailing to the US, would just cost you the one stamp. By what I have read, very few stars will send you anything without a return envelope. Most will not send anything if that envelope is not already stamped or paid for. They just don’t want the hassle with all the tons of mail that they get each week. What usually happens is an assistant opens the mail, reads your letter, determines if you are a kook, then either passes on the letter, or pitches it. If you already have a self-addressed stamped envelope with the letter, it is easy for the assistant to get the star to quickly sign and then the assistant can seal your envelope up and drop it in the mail.
You can mail out a large envelope with your own photo for the star to sign. Obviously, you run the risk of never seeing your photo if the star does not sign or the envelope gets conveniently lost in the mail. If you send your own pix, make sure the return envelope has sufficient postage. Nothing will make a celebrity or their assistant madder than getting your envelope returned to them for insufficient postage. You might want to also put a piece of cardboard backing in your mailing so that your picture will be protected from bending on it’s return.
What I do is this. I bought a whole stack of 9×12 manila mailing envelopes. I take the return envelope, put my address on it, put my name also on the return address, and place (3) first-class stamps on it. The reason for my name on the return portion of the envelope is that if by chance the postage is insufficient, it will still get forwarded on to me and I can pay the postage on my end. I then fold the return envelope in half, tuck the letter I have written inside, along with a single index card for the star to sign in the event that they don’t have any pictures. I then place these into the other 9×12 which of course is made out to the celebrity and which has another (4) first-class stamps.
So, final tally = 2 9×12 envelopes, 7 first-class stamps, 1 index card, and your letter requesting an autograph or picture.
That will come in under $3 total per attempt.
Seeing that Leah Remini offers a $4 autograph on her website shows you that it is actually a real reasonable price. Besides, on her site, you can choose the photo you want and you can have her autograph it personally to you with whatever you want her to write.
