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Every Door Direct Mail™ (EDDM)

The United States Postal Service® (USPS®) introduced a new program in January of this year, called Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM), with the goal of increasing the use of direct mail. This new program, which is growing in popularity, is targeted toward businesses which may not have used direct mail in their marketing efforts previously. The idea of the program is to make the use of direct mail simple and easily accessible, which not only benefits the USPS with additional mail volume, but also helps the mailing industry gain new business.
 

How It Works

Businesses interested in participating in this new program can log on to the EDDM web page on the RIBBS web site. This page includes a description of the program, as well as links to a Fact Sheet, a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document, and a User Guide. The user guide describes the process, which allows businesses to go online to select the areas to which they wish to send their mailpieces. The selections are based on ZIP codes and/or a geographic radius surrounding a specific location. The recipients of the mail pieces will be every residence on the carrier routes in the areas selected. Users also have the ability to refine their selections using a number of criteria. Currently the program is limited to Standard Mail® saturation flat size mail, such as brochures, flyers and catalogs, Periodicals flats, such as magazines and newsletters, Bound Printed Matter flats, such as large catalogs or directories, and irregular parcels, which is well suited to product samples. The postage for this mail is the applicable saturation flats or parcels prices.
 

Who Will Use It

While any business or mailer may take advantage of this new program, it is really designed for businesses new to using the mail to market their products, services, or messages. It is intended for businesses who wish to reach a target market in a smaller, localized area where their businesses are located. Users of the service can target their mailing by zeroing in on specific ZIP codes, geographic radiuses, and further defining the target audience by selecting whether or not to include businesses vs. residences, post office boxes vs. home delivery, rural vs. city delivery and other criteria. There are two "flavors" of EDDM:

  • Retail, which is for Standard Mail flat size mailings of 5,000 pieces or less, weighing 3.3 ounces or less.
  • Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU), which is for all other mailings.

Preparation of USPS Mail

Users of the service will find the web site very intuitive and easy to follow. The site allows users to find a local printer (via a link to the National Postal Forum Mailing Industry Product Guide) to help them in their mail preparation, or the user can do this process on their own. The site provides for the download of the required postal forms and documentation for submission of the mailing. Addressing is done via the "simplified" method, which means no actual names and addresses, but rather the simple notation "Postal Customer", or "Residential Customer" or "PO Box Customer" if applicable. Since the mail is saturation mail, the mailpieces need only be bundled into bundles of 50 pieces each, with a specially designed facing slip (also available on the web site) applied to each bundle.
 

Further information

For more information on EDDM, click on the links above for the individual documents, or log on to http://www.uspseverydoor.com/assets/media/videos/1_EDDM_Todays_Media_World.mp4 to view a short video describing the new program.
 

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