How to lower your EDDM cost per home without mailing a worse card

Measure cost per home, not order total

The number that matters on an EDDM job is what it costs to reach one mailbox. Divide the printing price by the pieces you get, add the USPS postage per piece, and you have your cost per home.

Printing is the half you control. Under EDDM Retail, USPS charges one per-piece rate for flats up to 3.3 ounces, so the printing choices below are where the savings come from.

Put the current Retail rate into the EDDM cost calculator to see the full figure for your plan. It does the per-piece math for each size and quantity.

Buy the bigger tier and mail it twice

Per-piece printing cost drops sharply as quantity rises. The 4.25″ × 11″ card runs about 14¢ a piece at 2,500 ($349), about 10.4¢ at 5,000 ($519) and about 7.5¢ at 10,000 ($749).

That is not a reason to mail homes you do not want. It is a reason to plan two drops to the same routes and print them together.

A 2,400-home plan mailed twice needs 4,800 cards. One 5,000-card run at $519 prints them at about 10.4¢ each, where two separate 2,500-card runs at $349 each work out to about 14¢.

Pick the smallest size that qualifies

The 4.25″ × 11″ card is the least expensive postcard USPS accepts for EDDM, because its 11″ long side clears the 10.5″ flat rule. At 10,000 it costs about 7.5¢ a piece, against about 8.9¢ for the 6.5″ × 9″ and about 13¢ for the 8.5″ × 11″.

Since the Retail rate is the same for all three, a bigger card only adds printing cost. Go bigger when the message needs the room, not because bigger looks more serious.

All three print on 16pt card with UV coating, so the cheaper size is not a thinner card. Our EDDM postcard sizes guide lays out every size that passes.

Check the Gold package at 5,000

One price quirk is worth knowing. At 5,000 pieces the folded Gold package, an 8.5″ × 11″ vertical bifold, is $499, less than the 6.5″ × 9″ postcard at $579.

The Gold piece prints on 100lb coated text rather than 16pt card, so it handles like a small brochure. In exchange you get four panels instead of two, at about 10¢ a piece.

If your plan lands near 5,000 homes and you have more to say than a postcard holds, compare the two in our EDDM packages guide. At 10,000 the gap closes, with Gold at $899 and the 6.5″ × 9″ card at $889.

Mail only the homes you want

The EDDM Online Tool lets you pick residential deliveries only on each route. That drops the shops and offices on mixed routes along main roads, which you were not trying to reach anyway.

The tool also shows average age, income and household size for each route, drawn from Census data. A senior-focused service can favor routes with an older average age, and a tutoring company can favor routes with larger households.

Fewer wasted pieces lower the total even when the per-piece price stays the same. Our guide to planning your first EDDM mailing walks through the route screen.

Spend on design only where it pays

If you have a logo and a clear offer, a simple layout does the job. Our designers build an EDDM postcard for $69 on the 4.25″ × 11″ size and $89 on the 6.5″ × 9″, and you approve a proof before anything prints.

Keep the print-ready file once it is approved. A second drop with a new offer only needs one panel changed, which is quicker and cheaper than starting over.

Savings that cost you more

Do not trade down to a 5.5″ × 8.5″ card to save a few dollars. It is cheaper to print but fails the EDDM size rule, so USPS will not take it as Every Door Direct Mail at all.

Do not shrink the phone number or crowd the card until the offer gets lost. A cheap card that nobody calls from is the most expensive one you can mail.

Do not skip proofreading to save a day. A wrong digit in the phone number on 10,000 cards cannot be fixed once they are in mailboxes.

Get a cost per home before you order

Call 512-573-1977, 7am to 7pm Eastern, with your ZIP codes and the number of homes. We will price two or three size and quantity options so you can compare the cost per home side by side.

You can place the order on the same call, or online afterward. Either way, a proof comes back to you before the press runs.

Quick answers

What is the cheapest EDDM postcard?

The 4.25″ × 11″ card. It qualifies on its long side, and 2,500 cost $349 on 16pt card with UV coating.

Is it cheaper per piece to print 10,000 at once?

Yes. The 4.25″ × 11″ card drops from about 14¢ a piece at 2,500 to about 7.5¢ at 10,000. Split the run across two or more drops if you do not need every card at once.

Do your prices include USPS postage?

No. Prices cover printing only. Postage is paid to USPS when the bundles go in, and the EDDM cost calculator adds it to the printing for you.