EDDM Printing and Mailing Services, Compared

Search for EDDM printing and mailing services and you get a wall of printer product pages, each with a "starting at" price that looks amazing until you notice it doesn't include the postage. That's the trap. Two quotes for the exact same 5,000-home mailing can look $1,300 apart when they're really about the same, because one has postage baked in and the other leaves it for you to pay at the counter.

I run a print and fulfillment service for shared postcards, so full transparency, I have a horse in this race. But I'm going to show you how to compare any EDDM service honestly, including mine, and when you're better off doing the mailing part yourself.

What EDDM printing and mailing services actually do

Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) is the USPS program that delivers one piece to every address on the carrier routes you pick. No mailing list, no names, no addresses. Just routes. (If you're brand new to it, start with how EDDM works and come back.)

Getting an EDDM job from a PDF to mailboxes takes seven jobs, and a "service" can mean a company that does one of them or all of them:

1. Pick the carrier routes (a ZIP Code plus a route number, like C003).
2. Print the cards with the right address block and indicia already on them.
3. Bundle the cards by route, 50 to 100 per bundle, no taller than 6 inches.
4. Put a facing slip on every single bundle.
5. Fill out the postage statement and pay the postage.
6. Get the boxes to the Post Office that delivers those routes.
7. Hand it over and let the carriers do the rest.

A pure printer does step 2 and ships boxes to your house. A full-service EDDM printing and mailing service does steps 2 through 7 and sometimes helps with step 1. Everything in between is a hybrid, and that's where quotes get confusing.

Your three options: DIY, print only, or full service

Here's the quick side-by-side for 5,000 9x12 cards, using our own prices (October 2026) and USPS postage:

	Do it yourself	Print only	Full service
Who prints	Any local or online printer	An EDDM printer, indicia included	The service
Who bundles, slips, and files PS Form 3587	You	You	The service
Who pays USPS postage	You, at the counter	You, at the counter	Built into the price
Who gets it to the Post Office	You	You	The service
Cash cost with our prices	Your print quote + $1,300	$1,309 + $1,300 = $2,609	$2,999
Risk of a counter rejection	On you	On you	On the service

Option 1: Do it all yourself

You print somewhere local or online, then you handle everything else. USPS gives you the tools for free: the EDDM Online Tool for routes, an indicia image you can drop into your design, and facing slips. EDDM Retail needs no mailing permit and no annual fee. You do need a free USPS.com account and a Customer Registration ID (CRID), which goes on the postage statement, PS Form 3587.

This costs the least cash and the most time. It's also where most mistakes happen, because the Post Office can turn your mailing away at the counter if the bundles or paperwork are off.

Option 2: Print only

The printer prints the cards with the EDDM Retail indicia on them and ships the boxes to you. You pay the postage, bundle, slip, and drop. This is what most "EDDM printing" pages are actually selling. It's a real option, and our drop-off checklist walks through the Post Office side so you nail it on the first trip.

Option 3: Full service (print and mail)

The service prints, bundles, slips, pays the postage, and gets the cards to the Post Office. You send a print file and a list of routes. That's it.

Here's the thing. There are two ways a company can mail your EDDM job, and it changes what goes on your card:

• EDDM Retail: the same version you'd use yourself. The card carries the EDDM Retail indicia, and USPS caps it at 5,000 pieces per mailing per day.
• EDDM BMEU: the commercial version. It requires a mailing permit and pays with a permit imprint, so the indicia on your card has to match the mailer's permit. USPS lists a $390 permit imprint application fee plus a $390 annual mailing fee as of July 12, 2026. If your provider mails through BMEU, ask whose permit it is, because that's the indicia that goes on your card.

Neither is wrong. You just need to know which one your provider uses before you design, because the corner of the card has to match.

How to compare EDDM quotes without getting fooled

Okay so, before you compare two EDDM services, put every quote on the same basis: total cost to get the cards into mailboxes.

Postage for EDDM Retail is $0.26 a piece. That's the USPS price set on July 12, 2026, and it's still the price on USPS Notice 123 as of October 13, 2026. It doesn't matter who you print with. If you mail 5,000 pieces, somebody pays USPS about $1,300. So when a quote says "postage not included," add it yourself.

Here's that math with our own price sheet, because those are the numbers I know are real:

So on a 9x12, doing the Post Office side yourself saves about $390, and Print Only prints a little faster (3 to 4 days instead of 4 to 6). On a 6x11 community card, it's $639 Print Only plus $650 in postage, so $1,289, versus $1,449 All Inclusive. About $160.

That's the honest trade. You're paying a few hundred bucks for someone else to bundle, slip, file the paperwork, and ship it to the right Post Office, plus a pack of extra cards for you. When members ask me about this, my answer is the same every time: skip my fulfillment and do it yourself if you want. Totally fine. For a lot of people, that's a no-brainer. For some, it isn't. Both are fine.

You can find cheaper print-only prices out there. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. What you're paying for with full service is the postage and the whole Post Office side handled for you. If you want the full breakdown of postage, permits, and print costs, I put it all in how much EDDM costs.

9 questions to ask any EDDM mailing service

Copy these into an email and send them to every company you're considering. The good ones will answer all nine without blinking.

1. Is postage included in this price? If not, what's the per-piece rate, and as of what date?
2. Do you mail through EDDM Retail or EDDM BMEU? And which indicia goes on my card?
3. Who prepares the postage statement and facing slips? You want the answer to be "we do."
4. Do you take my routes, or pick them for me? And can I see the door count for each route before I pay?
5. How do you price the doors over my print run? Routes almost never add up to exactly 5,000. (Ours: each door over the print quantity is $0.26.)
6. Can you mail to more than one Post Office? If your routes cross two delivery offices, ask what that costs. (Ours: the first Post Office is included, and each additional one is $25.)
7. Do I get a proof before you print?
8. What's the turnaround, and what proof of mailing do I get? Tracking, photos of the printed stack, something.
9. What stock is it printed on? Ours is 14 pt with UV gloss. Thin stock feels cheap in the hand, and your advertisers will notice.

If a mailing service can't tell you whether postage is in the price, that's your answer.

Red flags that should make you walk

Some of these are honest mistakes. Some are signs the company doesn't really do EDDM. Either way, you don't want to find out with your money.

• They quote a "postcard" rate for a 9x12. In USPS terms, a 9x12 is a flat, not a postcard. EDDM Retail requires the piece to be longer than 10.5 inches, taller than 6.125 inches, or thicker than 0.25 inches in at least one dimension. Normal postcards don't qualify. So a 6.5x8 card qualifies (6.5 inches is taller than 6.125), and so does a 6x11. Our EDDM size requirements guide has the full chart.
• They print the word "Postcard" on a flat. USPS rules say a piece that isn't a postcard must not say "Postcard" on it. Leave it off.
• They promise a delivery date. USPS guarantees no delivery window for Marketing Mail, which is the class EDDM belongs to. A service can tell you what it usually sees. It can't promise you a day.
• They ask for a mailing list. EDDM doesn't use addresses. If they want a list, they're selling a different product: targeted, addressed mail.
• They're vague about the indicia or the address line. Every EDDM Retail piece needs a simplified address line ("Postal Customer", or "Residential Customer" for a residential-only mailing, with "Local" optional) AND the EDDM Retail indicia. Both, not one or the other.
• They don't mention size and weight limits. EDDM pieces max out at 15 x 12 x 0.75 inches and 3.3 ounces. And bundles get paper straps, never rubber bands or twine. A real EDDM shop knows this cold.
• They get the minimum wrong. The USPS minimum for EDDM Retail is 200 pieces per mailing, counted across all your routes together. A service can set a higher minimum of its own, but if it blames USPS for a per-route minimum, it doesn't know the rules.

EDDM printing for shared postcards: what's different

If you're mailing for your own business, any decent EDDM service will do. If you're running a shared postcard, where 16 local businesses each buy a slot on one 9x12 card, the job is a little different, and so is what you need from a printer.

You have 16 customers waiting on one mailing. If the print is late or the Post Office rejects a bundle, you're the one fielding 16 phone calls. That's why most operators in our community don't touch boxes at all. Here's how I put it to members on a live call: "as soon as you send me the file, you won't have to take care of anything else."

You might not live in the town you're mailing. Members ask me all the time if they can run a card somewhere they don't live. Yes. Full service ships straight to the Post Office that delivers your routes, so you never have to drive there.

You want extras. A pack of printed cards is the best sales tool you'll ever have for the next card. Our All Inclusive orders include extra samples mailed to you for exactly that reason.

Don't print until the card is paid. Greg, one of our members, set a hard rule: the card goes to the printer only when all 16 slots are paid in full. That's how he holds his $750 slot price. Leland's first card shows where printing lands in real numbers: $7,150 in revenue, and $3,000 of it went to print and postage. That was his biggest single cost, which is exactly why it pays to compare quotes the right way.

Here's the standard 9x12 card math with All Inclusive printing:

And the 6x11 community card: 16 slots at $250 is $4,000, All Inclusive to 2,500 homes is $1,449, and you keep $2,551.

I teach the whole ordering and mailing process inside the 9x12 Method community, but you don't need it to place an order or to use another printer. If you're still figuring out what a shared card even is, read what a co-op mailer is first.

How to order a full-service EDDM mailing (our way)

Since I've been honest about the trade-offs, here's what ordering through 9x12 Method Printing actually looks like. It's the same flow whether you're on card one or card twenty.

1. Pick your routes in the free EDDM route planner. It shows door counts and Census income data for each route, so you can sell the neighborhood, not just the card.
2. Choose your card (9x12 or 6x11 community card), your quantity, and All Inclusive.
3. Upload your print file, or choose to send it later.
4. Review and pay. Your routes, extra doors, and any extra Post Offices are priced live before checkout.
5. Approve your proof. Nothing prints until you do.
6. We print, pack, bundle, slip, pay the postage, and ship to the Post Office. You get photos of the printed stack and a private page that shows where your order stands.

Printing takes 4 to 6 days, plus 2 to 3 days of shipping. After that, delivery is up to USPS.

Community card operators can go straight to community card printing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does USPS print EDDM postcards for you?

No. USPS delivers EDDM mail, but it doesn't print it. You bring printed pieces (or a service ships them to the Post Office). USPS does point you to printers on its EDDM pages, and you can use any printer you want.

How much do EDDM printing and mailing services cost?

It depends on size and quantity, so always compare the total with postage included. For reference, ours is $2,999 for 5,000 9x12 cards All Inclusive, or $1,449 for 2,500 community cards, postage included. EDDM Retail postage on its own is $0.26 a piece as of July 12, 2026.

Is it cheaper to do EDDM yourself?

Yes, by $160 to $390 on our standard runs. On 5,000 9x12 cards, Print Only plus postage comes to $2,609 versus $2,999 All Inclusive. You're trading about $390 for your time bundling, filling out PS Form 3587, and making the Post Office run.

Do I need a permit to use an EDDM mailing service?

Not for EDDM Retail. It needs no permit and won't accept a permit imprint. If your service mails through EDDM BMEU, it uses its own permit, and the indicia on your card has to match it. Ask before you design.

How many EDDM pieces can be mailed in one day?

Through EDDM Retail, up to 5,000 pieces per mailing per day, and the cards go in at the Post Office that delivers your routes. EDDM BMEU has no 5,000-piece daily cap. A 5,000-home 9x12 card fits in one Retail mailing.

How long does an EDDM mailing service take?

Ours is 4 to 6 days of printing plus 2 to 3 days of shipping to the Post Office. Delivery after that is up to USPS, which guarantees no delivery window for Marketing Mail. Plan your advertisers' deadline with a little cushion.

Ask the nine questions and add the postage yourself. As always, I'm rooting for you.