The EDDM indicia, line by line: the exact Retail wording, the size and placement USPS asks for, a free template, and the mistakes that get mail turned away.
That little five-line box on every EDDM card is the smallest thing on the whole piece. It's also the one thing that has to be exactly right, because it's how the Post Office knows your postage is paid. So here's the EDDM indicia the way I'd walk you through it on a call: the exact wording, where it goes, how big it has to be, how to get a clean template, and the mistakes a lot of guides make.
A member asked me about this on one of our group calls. They'd heard the mailers need "a specific thing for USPS to identify." My answer was simple:
It's basically like the stamp, but it just identifies it as an every door direct mailer.
That's the whole job of the indicia. Now let's get it right.
An indicia is the printed marking in the postage area that shows postage is paid. It stands in for a stamp. You don't stick anything on 5,000 cards. You print the indicia as part of the design, pay the postage when you submit the mailing, and every piece carries the proof.
For EDDM Retail (the version you use when you drop the mail off yourself), USPS spells out the exact wording in DMM 144.1.3, Exhibit 1.3. No permit number. No city. No business name. Just five lines.
5
Lines in the Retail indicia
4 point
Minimum type size
Larger than 0.5" x 0.5"
Minimum box size
1/8"
Clear space at top and right
None for Retail
Mailing permit needed
$0.26 per piece
Retail postage (Oct 17, 2026)
That postage price is from USPS Notice 123 as of October 17, 2026. Prices change, so check before you quote one. The full cost picture lives in my EDDM cost breakdown.
Here are the five lines, in order, exactly as they appear on the USPS exhibit and the indicia image USPS offers on its EDDM page:
PRSRT STD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
EDDM RETAIL
What each line means, in plain English:
PRSRT STD. Presorted Standard. "Standard Mail" is the old name for USPS Marketing Mail, the class EDDM belongs to. That's why the old wording is still on there.
ECRWSS. Enhanced Carrier Route, Walk-Sequence Saturation. It tells USPS the piece is paying the saturation carrier-route price (DMM 245.9.1). In other words, every door on the route.
U.S. POSTAGE and PAID. The proof of payment, on two separate lines.
EDDM RETAIL. This tells the clerk it's a Retail drop. USPS files print it as "EDDM Retail" or "EDDM RETAIL," and either way it's the last line.
No permit number, city, or state. That's a permit imprint, which belongs to a different program. USPS says flat out that mailing permit imprints won't be accepted at Retail (EDDM Terms of Use). One popular guide tells you to put a city, state, and permit number in your Retail indicia. Don't.
No "EDDM Business." I've seen this listed as an alternate wording. It's not on the Retail exhibit.
No mailing date. The same five lines go on every card, every month, every ZIP Code. Build it once and reuse it forever.
The indicia never travels alone. Every EDDM Retail piece needs BOTH the indicia and a simplified address line. Not one or the other. Both.
The address line is "Postal Customer." Adding "Local" in front is optional, and USPS's own Retail sheets show "Local Postal Customer." USPS only allows specific wordings. Made-up ones like "Food Buyer" or "Voter" are not permitted (DMM 602.3.2), so "Dear Neighbor" is out too.
Mailing a vertical design or an odd size? My EDDM size requirements post covers how orientation changes where the block goes.
USPS gives you three numbers, all on its EDDM page:
No specific size, but it must be larger than 0.5" x 0.5".
All caps.
At least 4-point type.
That 4-point minimum matters, because at least one well-known printer guide says USPS doesn't publish a minimum point size. It does. It's right there on usps.com.
My practical take, straight from the calls: "Don't mess with the indicia ... Don't make it any smaller unless you really know what you're doing." Shrinking it to squeeze in an extra half inch of ad space is the worst trade in this business. That half inch makes nobody money. A turned-away mailing costs everybody.
The indicia is the one part of the card you never redesign. Change the town, change the month, change your phone number. Leave the indicia alone.
Our free 9x12 postcard template is built in Canva with a mailing block already on it: "Local Postal Customer" plus the indicia. The community card template is on the same page. You swap in your advertisers' ads, change the town and month, and leave the block alone. In our Canva walkthrough for new members I said it plainly: keep that block, "otherwise it can't be used, it can't be shipped."
Whatever template you use, ours included, run it against the placement spec above before you print. It takes two minutes.
USPS offers a ready-made Retail indicia image on its EDDM page. The catch: when we checked in October 2026, that file was a small JPG, about 163 by 122 pixels. Stretch it across a 300 DPI print file and it can come out soft. If you use it, keep it near its natural size and look at a proof before you print 5,000 of anything.
A BMEU permit imprint has to show the Marketing Mail marking, "U.S. Postage Paid," the city and state (or "Mailed from ZIP Code 00000"), and the permit number, and it can't include the mailing date (DMM 604.5.3). BMEU pieces also need ECRWSS, in the address area or in or below the imprint.
Here's a detail almost nobody covers. The USPS Quick Reference sheet (dated 2012, still on usps.com) says "EDDM" must follow "ECRWSS" on the label of BMEU pieces longer than 10.5" and up to 11.5". A 6x11 community card is 11" long, so it lands in that window if it goes out through BMEU. A 9x12 is 12" long, so it doesn't.
If you hire a service that mails through BMEU, it uses its own permit, and the mark on your card has to match it. So ask before you design. I cover what to ask in my guide to EDDM printing and mailing services.
USPS lets you pay for EDDM Retail with metered postage on each piece, or with cash, check, debit, or credit (DMM 144.1.1). Stamps aren't on that list. And whichever way you pay, the EDDM Terms say the approved Retail indicia must be on each mailpiece. Paying is one thing. The mark is another. You need the mark either way.
Most of the rules are above. These three are the ones that bite people:
A permit imprint on a Retail drop. Retail doesn't accept permit imprints. Period.
An indicia with no address line. You need "Postal Customer" (Local optional) too. Both.
The word "Postcard" on a 9x12. In USPS terms a 9x12 is a flat, not a postcard, and USPS rules say a card that doesn't meet postcard standards must not bear the word "Postcard" (DMM 101.6.2.3). Leave it off.
USPS reserves the right to deny a mailer access to EDDM Retail (it's in the Terms), so getting the block right is worth the ten minutes. And the indicia is only half of drop day. Bundles of 50 to 100, a facing slip on every bundle, no rubber bands, and the right paperwork. My EDDM drop-off checklist walks through the whole trip to the Post Office.
Full transparency. If you print with our All Inclusive package, we print, pack, and ship the cards to USPS for EDDM, with postage included. A 9x12 to 5,000 homes is $2,999 All Inclusive, and a 6x11 community card to 2,500 homes is $1,449. Nobody's driving bundles to the Post Office.
You don't need us to do this. Plenty of people print locally, set up the indicia themselves, and drop the mail on their own, and that's totally fine. If you want to see how other operators handle print, design, and drop day, that's a big part of what we talk about inside the 9x12 Method community. You don't need it to get started, but if you're serious, it'll save you time.
Yes, as long as it stays above the USPS minimums. The USPS file is a small JPG, so enlarging it can blur. Rebuilding the five lines as text is cleaner.
Get the block right once, save it in your template, and never think about it again. As always, I'm rooting for you.
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Mitchell Tebo
