7 Legit Ways to Get Free Address Labels

So, you’re after some free address labels? They are one of the oldest internet freebies around, given away as promotional materials for various brands and causes.

I’ll be honest up-front, you aren’t able to just get free, professionally printed labels sent directly to you.

However, if you’re willing to donate to charity, you can end up on freebie thank-you lists that will reward you for your donation.

You get to help out a good cause and you get free address labels in return. Everyone wins.

Here are a few different ways you can get free address labels.

7 Ways to Get Free Address Labels

When it comes to getting free address labels, the only way you can receive some is if an organization or private company has a record of your name and address.

So how can they get your info?

1. Make Donations and Receive Free Address Labels

Plenty of charities give out free address labels throughout the year.

Penn State, for example, has sent us free address labels because we’ve made donations to them in the past and they know our info.

The downside to this is that we never know if or when we’ll get more address labels.

If you’re interested in organizations that give out address labels, here’s a list of the charities I know so far:

Disabled American Veterans

Many people in the marketing and charity worlds credit DAV for being the first to use free address labels as a way to increase donations.

To this day, you can receive mailing labels if you extend a helping hand to our veterans.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

St. Jude’s has been my charity of choice for years now.

I honestly have more free address labels from them than I’ll likely ever use in my lifetime.

I’ve also received post cards and notepads too! Plus, their charity work can’t be beat.

It’s not a guarantee that you’ll receive labels with just one donation.

You can also purchase a set of 144 address labels here for $12 with $4 of each set going directly to the charity and the rest goes to making your labels.

March of Dimes

If you want to support this organization that fights for healthier pregnancies and the overall health of babies, donate through mail.

Make sure to include your filled-out donation form, your donation, and a letter requesting address labels (as well as how you want your name to appear on them).

Regular donors receive free address labels, notepads, cards, and other giveaways as well.

Feed the Children

Fill out the form or donate by mail by downloading and completing this mail-in donation form (PDF).

Send your check or money order payable to “Feeding America” (P.O. Box 96749, Washington, D.C.)

Paralyzed Veterans of America

This charity has been using address labels as direct mail campaign for over 30 years.

Although the organization sold its direct-mail sister company PEP Direct in 2002 and cut back on sending out promo materials, they still send out address labels to donors.

Many charities do not publish that they send out free address labels to donors. Some of the ones that have been known to mail out free address labels include:

• American Heart Association
• American Lung Association
• Animal Humane Society
• Arbor Day Foundation
• Best Friends Animal Society
• Boys Town
• Christian Appalachian Project
• Helen Keller Foundation
• Jacksonville Humane Society
• Joseph’s Indian School
• Moffett Cancer Center
• National Foundation for Cancer Research
• National Wildlife Federation
• Salesian Mission
• Susan G. Komen Foundation
• St. Labre Catholic Schools
• SPCA International
• The American Legion
• The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
• Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)

Note that if you prefer to mail a check instead, the addresses of these organizations are publicly available on their websites.

Just indicate that you’d love to receive promotional items, so you’ll be included once they run a new set of printing.

Also a warning, charities may share their mailing list with each other. As such, you may receive promotional items from organizations you didn’t donate to.

It can be a win-win for you though, especially since some of those items may be address labels as well.

2. Subscribe to Newsletters

Sometimes, companies send out free address labels to people on their mailing lists. Do you make it a habit to register online on the official websites of brands you like?

If so, you might be lucky enough to find a company that uses address-label giveaways to entice people to become real, paying customers.

A good example of this is The Humane Society of the United States. You’d just have to fill out the form and wait up to 10 weeks (or more) for delivery. Only available in the US and limited to one set per household.

3. Request Label Samples from Printing Companies

If you’re looking for free mailing labels, printing companies are the best companies to follow since mailing labels are normally part of the menu of products that printing companies offer.

These companies know this too, so they may sometimes send out free address labels as part of a direct-mail marketing campaign.

Another way they can promote their company is to give out coupon codes for discounted or even free printing services.

You can try to message printing companies for mailing label samples or for coupon codes to apply to printing orders for address labels.

Here are some printing companies that have previously sent free samples or at least heavily discounted coupons to their customers:

• Shutterfly
• Tiny Prints
• Current Labels
• VistaPrint
• Walgreens Photo
• Zazzle

You can just follow them on social media, subscribe to their newsletters, and actively wait for special offers and freebies to be emailed to you.

The advantage of going with printing companies is that you have a greater chance of getting to customize your address labels.

However, if these companies do send free labels, they might send fewer labels than charities would.

4. Order Free Labels from Shipping Companies like UPS or USPS

It sounds logical that shipping companies should also have mailing labels available.

But did you know that you can get them for free?

Some of the shipping companies that offer free address labels are UPS and USPS.

You can also get other shipping supplies for free, such as envelopes, stickers, and boxes.

The only catch is you’d have to send your packages through their company.

5. Use Free Address Label Templates of Craft or Art Blogs

Some of the most modern address label templates you can find online are created by bloggers.

The best part of these templates is that bloggers often give them away without charge.

Usually as a freebie for subscribing to their newsletter.

Examples of these include:

• Classy black and white address label from My Craft Affair

• Adorable peony labels from How Joyful blog

• Patterned address labels by Love. Obsess. Inspire.

• Playful fall-inspired address label templates by How About Orange

6. Create Your Own with Free Address Label Templates

The problem with free address labels is that there is no guarantee of how many pages of mailing labels you’ll receive or when you’ll receive them from a particular organization or company.

When it comes to charities, the amount of money you donate doesn’t even guarantee this.

If you can’t find charities and private companies currently sending out free address labels, but you need a bunch soon, you can always make them yourself.

Here’s how: Visit sites that offer free templates and download them to your own computer.

Here are some options:

Avery | World Label | Laser Ink Jet Labels | Label Planet | Online Labels | Macolabels | Free Personalized Stationery | Pink Ribbon labels and other similar organizations.

The organizations that use address labels as fundraisers and sell them to supporters may also share their designs with those who are interested but cannot spend money.

You do have to do a little editing since you’d have to enter your name and address, as well as position the given design where needed. Here’s how:

• Open the template (using programs like Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, or any of Adobe programs like Adobe PDF, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign).

• Edit the address, or if the labels are blank, enter your own information into the fields.

• Print the labels. Make sure the sheets of blank labels you buy from any office supply store match the template you choose to use. The templates will include the size of the label and the number of labels that can be printed on a single sheet.

• Wait. Once printed, leave the label sheets out for the ink to fully dry. Use the next day.

Of course, you can also design your own address labels digitally and never have to write them manually during the Christmas rush.

7. Create Address Labels on Canva

Give your snail mail a little something extra with Canva’s customizable address labels you can easily personalize and print for all your outgoing parcels.

I am obsessed with Canva.

If you’d like your own address label design, but don’t have graphic design skills, the drag-and-drop platform of Canva makes it easy even for non-techies.

Here’s how to create address labels on Canva:

• Find a label template from the Canva gallery or start from a blank label.

• If you have a logo, monogram, or other graphic elements, add them to the dashboard. If not,  you can choose from readily-available assets within Canva.

• Customize your label template using the drag-and-drop design tools and free media.

Paid Canva gives you access to thousands of media, audio, graphics, font, and so on, but the free version is more than enough to handle an address label job.

• Once the design is ready, you can either export it and print it yourself, or order the sticker labels directly from Canva Print at extra cost.

The Only Way to Get Free Address Labels by Mail

Even in this digital world, receiving handmade greeting cards, invitations, holiday cards, and other snail mail can still feel more personal to most people.

However, writing your return address multiple times can be quite daunting (speaking from experience).

Donating some cash to the charities of your choice hits two birds with one stone – not only will you spread your blessings by helping out in causes you care about, but your mailing label needs will also be taken care of.

I hope this post helped you with your return-mail label needs and guides you on what to do if you need to mail a bunch of letters but can’t find any freebie labels.

And if you’re looking for other freebies similar to this, don’t miss my post about free stickers or free magazines for awesome, up-to-date resources.