EDDM Drop-Off Checklist: Nail It on the First Trip
The EDDM drop-off checklist for Print Only operators: address block, indicia, bundling, facing slips, PS Form 3587, the right Post Office, and the daily limit.
So the boxes just landed on your porch. Thousands of fresh cards, and now it's on you to get them from your living room floor into every mailbox on your routes. This EDDM drop-off checklist is what I'd walk you through if you called me on the way to the Post Office: what to have ready, how to bundle, which forms to bring, and what the clerk checks.
Here's the thing. None of this is hard. It's just picky. USPS has written rules for your bundles, slips, paperwork, and even which building you walk into, and I link the source for each one. Get them right and it's one trip.
This is for you if you ordered Print Only: the cards ship to your door, and postage, bundling, and the drop are on you. (All Inclusive? Close this tab. We already did it for you.)
50 to 100
Cards per bundle
6 inches
Max bundle height
200 pieces
Minimum per mailing
5,000 pieces
Max per day at one Post Office
1 per bundle
Facing slips needed
$0.26 a piece
EDDM Retail postage
That postage is USPS's EDDM Retail price as of July 12, 2026. Prices change, so check the USPS EDDM page first.
Print Only takes 3 to 4 days to print plus 2 to 3 days to ship. Use that window to get these done:
Your EDDM Retail order. Build it in the EDDM Online Tool with a USPS.com account: routes, drop-off date, and pay online or at the Post Office.
Routes that fit your print run. You buy whole routes, and USPS says to include enough pieces to cover every route you selected. Printed 5,000? Keep your routes a little under 5,000 so you have spares. My EDDM route selection guide covers how to pick them.
Your printed forms. The order confirmation gives you the postage statement, facing slips, and a Retail Post Office Location Listing form. USPS says you must bring them to the drop-off.
Plastic strapping. Not rubber bands.
A scale. The postage statement asks for the weight of one piece.
One sample card, set aside. USPS wants a sample mailpiece with your paperwork.
With Print Only, check the EDDM Retail requirements BEFORE you send the print file, not after. Every piece needs two things in its mailing block. Both, not one or the other.
The address line. Print "Postal Customer." Adding "Local" is optional, and residential-only mailings may use "Residential Customer." Don't get creative. USPS only allows specific wording (DMM 602.3.2).
The EDDM Retail indicia. The printed postage mark that replaces a stamp: PRSRT STD (or PRSRT MKT), ECRWSS, U.S. POSTAGE, PAID, EDDM RETAIL. Per the USPS EDDM page:
It goes above and to the right of the address block.
All caps, at least 4-point type, and bigger than 0.5 by 0.5 inches.
It should fit within 1.625 inches of the right edge and 1.375 inches of the top, with 1/8 inch of space around the top and right.
USPS offers a ready-to-use indicia image for your design.
The 9x12 postcard template shows where this block sits on our layout. The piece itself must be a flat longer than 10.5 inches, or taller than 6.125 inches, or thicker than 0.25 inches, at 3.3 ounces or less (DMM 143). A 9x12 clears on length and height, and a 6x11 community card clears on length.
One more. A 9x12 is a USPS flat, not a postcard, and USPS rules say a card that isn't a USPS postcard must not bear the word "Postcard" (DMM 101.6.2.3). Leave it off.
EDDM bundling is the part that takes an evening. USPS says to separate cards by route using the EDDM tool's delivery counts, then bundle them in stacks of 50 to 100 (DMM 145). Here's how I'd do it:
Pull up one route's delivery count from your order.
Count out that many cards, all facing the same direction, address side up.
Split them into bundles of 50 to 100. A route with 437 doors becomes five bundles of 87 or 88, not four bundles of 100 and a sad little 37.
Lay a facing slip on top of each bundle.
Strap it with at least two plastic bands, crossed so they wrap the length and the width. Tight enough to dent the edges a little. Loose bands aren't allowed.
Box that route's bundles, label the box, and move to the next route.
The height limit is 6 inches. Our 14 pt cards are 0.014 inch thick, so a bundle of 100 is about an inch and a half. You won't come close.
Quick math: 5,000 cards is at least 50 bundles, and more since routes never split evenly. Put on a podcast. Boring but profitable.
A facing slip tells the Post Office which route a bundle belongs to. USPS requires one on top of every bundle, under the straps, with its piece count written on it.
The 5-digit ZIP Code and route number (both required)
The date and the number of pieces in the bundle
The bundle count, numbered "1 of X," where X is the total number of bundles
Any "Do Not Deliver" addresses (people who asked you to stop mailing them)
Your company name and the Post Office of mailing
Here's the gotcha with EDDM facing slips: one per BUNDLE, not one per route. A route split into five bundles needs five slips. Print extras before you start strapping.
Every EDDM Retail mailing needs PS Form 3587, completed and signed by you (DMM 144). The EDDM tool fills in most of it. Check:
Your CRID, Post Office of mailing, and mailing date
Total bundles, pieces per bundle, and the weight of one piece (3.3 ounces max)
The route info on the back: ZIP Code, route number, and piece count per route
Your signature, certifying the mailing meets USPS standards and that you'll pay any shortfall
Paying. Pay online by card and bring your proof of payment receipt, or pay at the Post Office with cash, a card, a meter strip, or a check or money order made out to "US Postal Service" or "Postmaster." At $0.26 a piece as of July 12, 2026, that's $1,300 for 5,000 cards and $650 for 2,500. Every delivery on your routes gets a card, so postage is your total delivery count times 26 cents.
Not necessarily your closest one. USPS says EDDM Retail mail must be entered at the Post Office responsible for delivering those routes (DMM 146), which can be a delivery unit or sorting and delivery center (S&DC), not the lobby you'd expect.
Your Order Summary shows the drop-off location, and the listing form gives each one's address, phone, hours, and piece count. If your routes span more than one Post Office, the tool warns you, and each gets only its own routes' bundles. Our free EDDM route planner shows the drop-off Post Office on every route before you commit, so you can keep it to one trip.
Can't drive there? USPS lets you ship the bundles by Priority Mail, addressed to "Postmaster" at the delivering Post Office. Mark each box "Every Door Direct Mail - Retail" and "Open Immediately," number them "1 of X," and put a USPS Tracking label on each. Box 1 gets an envelope with a sample card, your PS Form 3587, the Postmaster Instruction letter, and a check or money order for the postage if you didn't pay online.
At least 200 pieces per mailing. That's per mailing, not per route.
No more than 5,000 pieces per mailing per day at any one Post Office.
If one Post Office serves several ZIP Codes, the cap is 5,000 per 5-digit ZIP Code per day.
A 9x12 run to 5,000 homes fits in one day. A 10,000-card run in one ZIP Code means two drop days. And per the EDDM User Guide, a pay-at-the-Post-Office order you never drop counts against that ZIP Code's daily limit until you cancel it.
Okay so it's drop day, and this is how to drop off EDDM at the Post Office without a second trip. In the car: every bundle (boxed by route), your signed PS Form 3587, the sample card, your payment receipt or payment method, the listing form, and a dolly. Seriously, bring the dolly.
What the clerk checks. It's printed on the USPS-only part of your 3587. The verification employee certifies the mailing was checked, where required, for price eligibility, proper preparation, and a properly completed postage statement. There are boxes for the weight of one piece, the number of bundles, and any postage figures they adjusted. Then the acceptance section gets signed and date-stamped. So they may weigh a card, count bundles, and read your paperwork. Be friendly, be patient, and keep your receipt.
Timing. USPS doesn't guarantee delivery of Marketing Mail within a specified time, and says it may get deferred handling (DMM 143.2.1). In our experience, cards usually reach homes 3 to 5 business days after the drop. That's experience, not a USPS promise, so never promise an advertiser a date. My postcard mailing calendar shows how to build in a cushion.
Undeliverable cards. EDDM Retail pieces aren't forwarded or returned. USPS throws away anything it can't deliver.
Your advertisers. Tell them the day you dropped and send a photo. Joey finished his first card past his original deadline, still made a profit, and when he dropped his bundles he also dropped small stacks of extra cards at the shops on the card. Touches like that keep advertisers coming back.
Refunds. USPS handles EDDM Retail refunds online or at the Post Office, depending on how you paid and whether you already dropped the mail.
Then get the next one going. When Logan dropped off his March community cards, he was already asking the community which industries to line up next. That's the move.
Full transparency. I sell the version where you never touch a strap. Here's the honest math on a 9x12 run:
$1,309
Print Only, 5,000 cards
$1,300
USPS postage, 5,000 pieces
$2,609
Your total doing it yourself
$2,999
All Inclusive, 5,000 homes
So doing it yourself saves about $390 on a 9x12, and about $160 on a community card ($639 Print Only plus $650 postage, versus $1,449 All Inclusive). You're trading that for a night of bundling and a Post Office run. Plenty of people take that trade. Totally fine.
With All Inclusive 9x12 printing or All Inclusive community card printing, we print, pack, bundle, add the facing slips, pay the postage, and handle the drop at your Post Office, plus tracking, photos of your prints, and extra samples. You just pick routes in the route planner. One drop-off Post Office is included, and each additional one is $25.
I also teach the whole mailing process inside the 9x12 Method community, but you don't need it for a clean drop. This checklist covers it.
USPS requires EDDM Retail bundles of 50 to 100 pieces, no taller than 6 inches. Separate your cards by route first, then split each route into bundles in that range.
Yes. USPS requires a facing slip on top of every bundle, under the straps, with the number of pieces written on it. A route split into five bundles needs five facing slips.
No. EDDM Retail mail goes to the Post Office responsible for delivering your routes, which your EDDM order shows. If you can't get there, USPS lets you ship the bundles to it by Priority Mail.
Up to 5,000 pieces per mailing per day at any one Post Office, or 5,000 per 5-digit ZIP Code if that Post Office serves several. Each mailing also needs at least 200 pieces.
No. USPS doesn't allow rubber bands, twine, string, wire, or metal banding on bundles of flats. Use at least two tight plastic bands, crossed around the length and width.
USPS doesn't guarantee a delivery window for Marketing Mail. In our experience, cards usually land 3 to 5 business days after the drop, but that's not a promise, so leave a cushion.
Look, the first drop feels like a big deal. By the third one, you'll bundle a route in your sleep. Check the list, strap it tight, and go collect those wins.
As always, I'm rooting for you. Peace.
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Mitchell Tebo
