How do I send something "certified mail"?

You go to the post office and say, i need something sent certified. I sent it in Texas for about 7 bucks, not really sure about prices anywhere else.

I usually do it from a post office. You just ask to send it “certified mail”. For a regular envelope it costs around $2.65 in Michigan and I also don’t know prices elsewhere.

Post office prices are uniform across the country with the possible exception of Alaska and Hawaii.
A certified letter will be tracked until it reaches it’s recipient. The green card that you attach, it is optional, would be signed by the recipient or someone at that location and is returned to you maybe seven to ten days later.

I use this service to file all of my Federal and State corporate tax returns as it provides proof that an envelope was mailed on the 15th of April and not the 16th as an example.

SRM

If you’re lucky enough to live near a post office that has one of the ATM-like kiosks you can do it yourself, I do it all the time. It’s only an extra $3 or so.

Certified is basic signature delivery mail. The current charge ( as of 1/½011) is $2.80 in addition to postage. To get a legally dated proof of mailing certified receipt you need to mail it from a Post Office or Postal Contract Station. If you had a certified form handy you could just add the required total postage and drop it into a collection box, but you wouldn’t get a dated proof if mailing ( one of the mail reasons to use cerfitied).