Every-Door-Direct-Mail (EDDM)
Every-Door-Direct-Mail ©
[ USPS' own information about EDDM here and here ]
EDDM advertising mail is sometimes known as 'saturation mail'. The name 'saturation mail' is apt, since it 'floods' a local area with advertisements. It is heavily marketed for us for neighborhood delivery. Say e.g. you run a pizza place and want to inform a whole neighborhood about your pizza special next week, that's when you would use EDDM.
EDDM offerings is further subdivided in "EDDM "(or EDDM-BMEU here), and "EDDM-retail" (here), a good comparison between the two can be found here, and a detailed general description can be found here.
EDDM is recognizable by it's indicia, which is the postmark at the top right of the front side of the envelope. Very often you will see the abbreviation 'ECRWSS' or 'ECRWSH' or 'ECRLOT', either in the indicia or the address label. These stand for:- ECRWSS - Electronic carrier route walk sequence set
- ECRWSH - Enhanced Carrier Route Walk Sequence High-Density
- ECRLOT - Enhanced Carrier Route Line Of Travel.
EDDM mailing require the following:
- Mailings of at least 200, but no more than 5000 pieces, per day, per zip code.
- Mail pieces must fall within the "Flat" or "Large Envelope" processing category
- Minimum height for an EDDM mail piece is 3 1/2 inches.
- Mail pieces must be bendable (not rigid)
- Not exceed 12 inches in height, 15 inches in length, or 3/4 inch in thickness.
- No piece may weigh over 3.3 ounces or be thinner than .007 inches
For small mailers, the EDDM-retail option is a very easy one. All one needs is to sign up for an account and prepare identical mailings. Once you have those, you can use the USPS tool to decide where your material should be delivered (here) and after paying, you just drop it off at the post-office and call it a day. The USPS has really made things very easy.
Fun fact: The ZIP code of the Whitehouse at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, DC is 20500. Now try to find a route for delivery of your EDDM mail so that all the Congress critters receive it..... well, you can't... We wonder why? :)
The other class of Marketing Mail is called "USPS Marketing Mail"