

This means that some mail pieces commonly used for direct mail marketing - such as 4 x 6, 5 x 7, 5 ½ x 8 ½ or 6 x 9 post cards, trifold brochures or #10 envelopes - don’t qualify for the EDDM program. Parcels exceed the height, width, thickness, weight or flexibility limits for letter or flat mail.īecause of existing postal regulations for processing letter-sized mail, an EDDM mail piece must meet the physical characteristics of flat mail. A 9 x 12 or 10 x 13 envelope are examples of flat mail. The maximum dimension for flat mail is 12 x 15 inches. Some familiar sizes for letter mail are a #10 envelope and post cards measuring 4 x 6, 5 x 7, 5 ½ x 8 ½ or 6 x 9.įlat mail is a mail piece that exceeds the maximum dimension for letter mail in either the height or width. Letter mail has a maximum dimension of 6 1/8 high x 11 ½ wide. Simply stated, mail pieces are classified as letters, flats or parcels.

The USPS has established a classification system for mail based on physical characteristics - height, length, thickness, weight, shape and flexibility. Since this is a very rare condition, it is simpler to consider EDDM for dwellings only or a mix of dwellings and businesses. One limitation of EDDM is that it cannot be used for business-only mailings unless 90% of the addresses in a specific carrier route are businesses and there are at least 200 businesses in the carrier route.
EVERY DOOR DIRECT MAIL USPS CODE
Even though a carrier route or ZIP code may have a mix of dwellings and businesses, it is possible to exclude the businesses from the mailing and send mail only to the dwellings. The mailing can be directed to dwellings only. Note, however, that there are requirements for the wording of the indicia and the simplified address. Because the mail piece does not go through normal mail processing, there are no requirements for the location and size of the mail panel (the area containing the return address, indicia and outbound address). For EDDM, the USPS waives this requirement. Regular presorted mailings require use of a permit to mail at discounted postage rates. By eliminating the time to gather a mail list and address the mail piece, and by using digital equipment for printing the mail piece, a small mailing can be in the hands of prospective customers in just a few days. Most city carrier routes are 400-600 addresses. This saves the cost of acquiring a mail list, the cost of addressing the mail piece, and the cost of maintaining the mail list. There are several benefits to an EDDM mailing, especially for business owners with a very limited marketing budget and very little time to spend on marketing. In recognition, the USPS assigns a very low postage rate to these mailings - as low as 14.5 cents per piece as of December 2012. A mailing with these characteristics is very efficient for the USPS to process because it bypasses postage cancellation, address correction, and mail sorting steps and goes straight to the individual letter carrier. In mailing parlance, an EDDM mailing is a saturation mailing using the simplified address format. Rather, it only has to have a single designation that applies to all the dwellings and businesses, usually Postal Customer. The geographic area is one or more USPS letter carrier routes or one or more entire ZIP codes - basically a specific neighborhood, ZIP code or city.īecause the mail piece goes to every single dwelling and business, the USPS does not require that each piece have its own address. So what is EDDM? It is a mailing sent to every dwelling unit (house, apartment, condominium or mobile home) and business in a specific geographic area. Originally launched in March 2011, it has been steadily growing in popularity as a direct mail tool. Let us introduce the United States Postal Service (USPS) program Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM). If we added that the postage cost for the mailing could be under 15 cents, would we have your attention? If we told you there is an easy way to send direct mail pieces without having to buy a mail list, would you be interested?
