EDDM — Every Door Direct Mail
EDDM® printing and mailing: every door on the route, no list, no permit
Every Door Direct Mail on a 6×11 postcard, printed, bundled with facing slips and delivered to the post office for you. No mailing list, no permit, the lowest USPS postage rate, quoted for your city at up to 60% less than the big online printers.
Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) is the USPS program that delivers a mailpiece to every address on a postal carrier route without a mailing list, without individual addresses and without a bulk mail permit. You pick the routes on a map, we print the pieces, bundle them the way the post office requires, attach the facing slips and paperwork, and drop them at the right post office. Postage is a flat EDDM Retail rate set by the USPS, the lowest rate in the mail stream and the same in every city.
It is the cheapest way to saturate a neighborhood, which is why restaurants, dentists, gyms, home services, auto shops, churches and new businesses use it. Because there is no addressing, the piece has to qualify as a USPS flat, and our 6×11 jumbo postcard does: it clears the EDDM length rule, so the same card that mails to a list can go to every door on a route.
How much does EDDM cost?
EDDM has two costs: USPS postage and the printing and bundling. Postage is a flat per-piece EDDM Retail rate set by the Postal Service, published in USPS Notice 123, and it is the same in Phoenix as in Philadelphia; the current figure is in our EDDM guide. Printing and bundling depend on the quantity, the stock and how many post offices the routes fall under, which is why we quote EDDM for the routes and the city rather than from a national table.
There is no list to buy and no permit fee, which is what makes EDDM the lowest-cost way to reach an entire neighborhood. Send the ZIP codes or the routes and the quantity through the quote form and a written quote comes back, usually within a business hour, at up to 60% less than the big online printers charge for the same drop.
What are the EDDM size requirements?
An EDDM piece has to qualify as a USPS "flat": at least one dimension must exceed the letter-size limit, meaning it is longer than 10.5 inches, taller than 6.125 inches, or thicker than 0.25 inches. It can be no larger than 12×15 inches, no thicker than 0.75 inches and no heavier than 3.3 ounces. Our 6×11 postcard qualifies on length, and the USPS size checker inside the EDDM tool confirms it.
The piece also needs the EDDM indicia in the upper right corner (PRSRT STD, ECRWSS, U.S. POSTAGE PAID, EDDM RETAIL) and an address block that reads "Local Postal Customer". Our 6×11 template has both placed correctly, and we check every uploaded design before it prints.
How does EDDM work, start to finish?
You choose carrier routes using the USPS EDDM tool or by telling us a ZIP code, an address and a radius, or the kind of household you want (the tool shows age, income and household size per route). We confirm the count and the quote, print, bundle the pieces in stacks of 50 to 100 with a facing slip on each bundle, complete PS Form 3587 and the postage statement, and deliver the bundles to the post office that serves each route. Carriers then walk the pieces with the regular mail over the following days.
- Pick routes: by ZIP, by radius around your address, or by demographics
- Upload artwork for the 6×11, or have us design it
- Approve the quote, the proof and the route count
- We print, bundle, slip and deliver to the post office
- Carriers deliver to every door on the route within about a week
EDDM Retail vs. EDDM BMEU
EDDM Retail is the no-permit version: 200 to 5,000 pieces per ZIP per day, dropped at the local post office, at the flat retail rate. EDDM BMEU (Business Mail Entry Unit) uses a Marketing Mail permit, removes the daily cap, allows business-only routes and is entered at a mail processing facility. For a mailing over 5,000 pieces in one ZIP, or for a multi-city saturation campaign, we run it through our permit as BMEU EDDM so it drops in one day instead of being metered out over several.
Is EDDM worth it?
EDDM is worth it when most households on a route are potential customers: a pizza place, a dentist, a lawn service, a gym, a car wash, a church, a grand opening. It is a poor fit when your customer is one household in fifty, such as a pool builder or a wealth manager; then a targeted list costs more per piece and far less per real prospect. A good rule: if you would be happy handing your flyer to every single person on the street, EDDM. If not, a list.
Get a quote in minutes
Quote a eddm job for your city
Send the postcard size, the quantity and the city it is going to. Pricing is set for your city and your job, so you get a written quote — printing, mail processing and postage — usually within a business hour, with no obligation.
Answers
EDDM: questions people ask
What is EDDM?
EDDM, or Every Door Direct Mail, is a USPS service that delivers your mailpiece to every address on the carrier routes you select, with no mailing list, no names and no permit. Postage is a flat per-piece retail rate set by the USPS, and the pieces must be flat-size, such as our 6×11 postcard.
How much does EDDM cost?
USPS EDDM Retail postage is a flat per-piece rate that is the same in every city; the current figure is in our EDDM guide. Printing and bundling depend on the quantity and the routes, so we quote each EDDM drop for its city, usually within a business hour, at up to 60% less than the big online printers. There is no list cost and no permit fee.
What sizes qualify for EDDM?
The piece must be a USPS flat: longer than 10.5 inches, taller than 6.125 inches or thicker than 0.25 inches, and no bigger than 12×15 inches or 3.3 ounces. Our 6×11 postcard qualifies on length; the 5×8.25 does not and mails to a list instead.
Do I need a permit for EDDM?
No. EDDM Retail requires no permit and no bulk mail account. You only need a permit for EDDM BMEU, the version used for very large mailings, and in that case you mail under our permit rather than getting your own.
Can I choose which houses get my EDDM mailer?
You choose whole carrier routes, not individual houses. A route is typically 300 to 800 addresses walked by one carrier. You can exclude businesses and pick routes by ZIP code, distance from your location, or the age, income and household size the USPS tool shows for each route.
How long does EDDM take to deliver?
Once the post office accepts the bundles, carriers typically deliver EDDM within three to seven business days. Add our two-day print and bundle time, so plan on roughly ten business days from proof approval to mailboxes.