Every Door Direct Mail
If you have any questions about EDDM, ask in the comments and I will try to get you an answer. No obligation, I will just try to help you.
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The postal service is pushing a “not so new” but improved feature called EDDM Every Door Direct Mail.
A simple explanation is that you can mail a “Flat” (determined by size) mail piece, saturating an area to as many full carrier routes as you like (up to 5000 pcs per day) without having specific addresses and without buying a postal permit.
Saturation mail has been around for a long time but they have made it easier to use. This should be a good thing.
*** 10 Observations about EDDM ***
1. The postage price was not reduced for this new program, but the process was made easier for the customer. Is that enough to grab their attention? Time will tell.
2. It is limited to flats. In my opinion if the USPS was serious, they would have opened this to standard mail also.
3. My customers are reluctant to jump on board because of the extra printing costs involved in printing flats.
4. In tough economic times, my customers are looking for the cheapest possible way to mail, period! EDDM is not the cheapest, it is just the easiest.
5. This was a huge blow to the list broker business. Before customers had to purchase a list, now the post office is offering this mailing with no addresses at all.
6. In my opinion the USPS should do national television advertising. Get the word out far and wide. Having their employees try to sell this to small business, is just not efficient.
7. They have limited the number of EDDM (retail) pieces to 5000 per day. That seems counter productive. Wouldn’t it be better to pave the way for customers to bring in as much mail in one day as possible?
8. This program is not open to non-profits. This doesn’t make sense to me. Since they didn’t reduce postage costs, why exclude non-profit?
9. You have to apply for a mailer ID to take advantage of this program. Although it’s not that difficult, it is mandatory.
10. The mail must be presented to the post office serving the area you are mailing to. You can only drop ship if you are using the EDDM BMEU not the EDDM Retail.
If you would like more information, contact us (here).
Have a wonder-filled day,
Donna Flanagin
Random me: I grew up in a house with one bathroom and one telephone.
Where have I heard about this before??????
Oh yeah. Someone who owns her own bulk mail business called me as a result of completing a form on her website. Me. A retail manager from 700 miles away.
Just sat in a local postmaster’s promotional meeting about this, and they indicated that you CANNOT drop ship the pre-bundled flats (and payment) to out-of-area post offices … however in all other DM we have done we routinely will drop ship portions of the mailing to other POs or sorting centers for better pricing.
Thanks Charles I changed the wording a bit in the post. You are correct, you cannot drop ship with the RETAIL EDDM, but you can just drive to each post office and present that cities mail to their clerks. In Retail EDDM the permit is generic so you can go anywhere. Guess there would be no need for a drop ship form because you DO NOT have to present it to any given post office first, you can just drive direct. If it is not within driving distance you may be out of luck.
On the BMEU EDDM with an existing permit you can drop ship. The EDDM site even prints out the drop ship form for you.
Thanks so much for reading and commenting. It is VERY much appreciated.
This is another way for the USPS to rip off the mail list brokers who have over the years provided mailing lists for a nominal fee.
We object to this program as it is taking money out of our business.
We are a Saturation List company and this is how we generate our revenue.
They should stick to delivering the mail.
Frank, thank you for your comment. I do understand your position. The USPS in encroaching on trying to get our bulk mail customers to use their online service too. This obviously has taken away business from our own saturation mailings too. But it is what it is and we need to adjust and continue to give our customers the best service we can.
I would actually like to know of the cheaper ways of mass mailing that you hint towards in this article. I have been using EDDM but if there is a cheaper way to go, I’d like to explore it, whether it’s more difficult or not.
I’ll send you an email shortly. Will probably be too long for a blog comment.
Interesting Blog. I work for a Logistics Company that specializes in Drop Shipping, National Parcel Logistics, Inc. (NPL) http://www.nationalparcel.com
*Did I understand correctly that only the EDDM BMEU program will work for dropshipping?
*Would the EDDM BMEU approved mail require a Postal 8125 form for mail destination entry? For all the mailers out there, please note the website above and check us out. Choose National Parcel Logistics (NPL)for all your Mail Transportation needs.
Eric, excellent! Thanks for taking the time to comment and YES your company could be very useful to some EDDM mailers. I hope that find you.
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EDDM has its pluses and minuses. For business such as pizza places, restaurants and bakeries, this could produce huge profit dollars.The problem is that many small business owners will not spend the dollars to market their business.
I have dealt with many small business owners and surprised how many don’t advertise. They had bad luck in the past with direct mail, but that was because they did not have a clue of what they were doing.
Jerry, you are so right. Eddm is good for many types of businesses but what they mail is critical. Failed direct mail is often the fault of the mail piece and what it conveys. I am a believer in giving an offer. Any type of offer will do, Free WIDGET, $5.00 off $25.00 purchase, % off, coupons, anything.. but give them a reason to keep your direct mail piece. Don’t just tell them you exist and hope the show up. EDDM definately has pluses and minuses and only time till tell if the business community will take a liking. Thank you for your comment, it is very much appreciated.
Do you know much about the timing of an EDDM mailing. If I drop the bundles off at the Post Office today are they in mail boxes tomorrow or within a set timeframe? Can I request delivery on a specific date?
Also is the 5k limit per post office or total. (i.e. Can I send 5000 at Station ABC and another 5000 at Station XYZ on the same day).
They are phasing out the “requested” delivery dates on all mail. Each post office will handle EDDM differently on timing I would imagine. If they are low on mail volumes, you would probably see it next day, but my experience has been within 3 days I would guess. Leave ample time because the post office has the final say on delivery but generally they are very quick to get it out.
If you are willing to drive to the various post offices, I think you can deposit 5000 at each just not more than 5000 at any post office when doing retail EDDM.
Anything else I can help you with?
Two quick questions:
1) What’s the cheapest EDDM printing option you’ve found? All I found was SonicPrint — is there anything cheaper?
2) You said it’s the easiest, not the cheapest option. What’s the cheapest option to get the word out to 10,000 people in a town?
Thanks,
Pete Davis
Pete,
1) I cannot advise you on printing prices. I have no idea. I do know that you can mail a magazine/catalog type mail piece up to 3.3 oz for the same 14.5 cent per piece postage that you will pay for a postcard. So that is a HUGE value if you have something heavier to mail.
2) This question is a little bit trickier to answer. If you use a mail house in your area, you can mail saturation for 14.2 cents per piece postage and you can mail a smaller size mail piece which will save you on the printing costs.
Give me a call if you just want to chat about it, and I can guide you to what might be the best option for you in your area. 219-464-9871 No obligation, just free advise
I am a non-profit organization (I have a permit) and I just want to send 600 (have a targeted mail route in mind) postcards to people around our organization. I have been to the post office twice and have gotten different answers about EDDM. I was going to send a standard 4×6 postcard but found out that I need something bigger so now thinking (9×6.5 that is a flat size right?). But that is more money and now I don’t know if this is the cheapest most effective way. So if I am going to use EDDM do I need to go under retail since I have a non-profit permit or do I just send EDDM using my permit and do I have to fill out paperwork again. Is there a difference in cost between EDDM-retail and non-retail? Please email me any info if there is a cheaper way for me to do this. I really don’t want to sit and address 600 post cards or drive down the street figuring out the addresses around my organization. I would be soo grateful for your insight.
As of right now EDDM does not allow non-profit rates and they are by far lower, so you will want to mail non-profit with your permit, but I will email you.