If you've ever opened your mailbox and pulled out a glossy postcard from a local restaurant, auto shop, or chiropractor, there's about a 90 percent chance it came through EDDM. It's the most overlooked marketing tool in Jacksonville — not because it doesn't work, but because people assume direct mail is expensive or outdated. Neither is true.
This guide walks through what EDDM actually is, what it costs, when it's the right move, and how we run it end-to-end for local businesses out of our Marine Boulevard shop.
What EDDM actually is
EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Mail. It's a USPS service that lets you send a mail piece to every address on a specific carrier route — no mailing list required. You pick the route on a USPS map, drop off the bundles at the post office, and the carrier delivers one to every home or business on that route.
The whole point of EDDM is that you don't need addresses. That's huge. Buying a targeted mailing list typically costs $50–150 per thousand records. With EDDM you skip that entirely, and the postage itself is the cheapest of any USPS class — around $0.20 per piece at EDDM Retail rates.
When EDDM is the right choice
EDDM shines when your customers are geographic. That sounds obvious, but it rules out a lot of campaigns. Here's when we recommend EDDM for a Jacksonville business:
- You're a local service business (restaurant, auto shop, HVAC, dentist, landscaper) where customers come from nearby ZIP codes.
- You want saturation — every household in a specific neighborhood sees your piece.
- You have a broad offer that applies to most residents (grand opening, seasonal promo, new menu, limited-time coupon).
- You're running a test for under $1,000 before investing in targeted mail.
When EDDM is the wrong choice: you're B2B-only, your customers are spread across the country, or you need to reach a specific demographic (homeowners over 65, households with income above $100k, etc.). For those, you need a targeted mail list — which we also run, with our Mark Ruby addressing system.
What EDDM actually costs
Three line items: printing, postage, and prep.
- Printing
- $0.08–0.25 per piece depending on size, stock, and quantity
- Postage
- ~$0.204 per piece at EDDM Retail rate (2026)
- Prep & drop-off
- We handle this; included in most quotes under $100
A typical 5,000-piece EDDM drop for a local restaurant runs about $1,400–1,800 all-in. That's print, postage, and us physically dropping the bundles at the Jacksonville post office. For a grand opening or limited-time promo, you're paying about $0.30 per household to show up at their front door.
A well-designed EDDM piece for a restaurant with a clear offer and a deadline typically pulls 0.5–2% response. On 5,000 pieces, that's 25–100 new customers. If your average ticket is $25, even the low end covers the campaign.
EDDM piece sizes and requirements
USPS has specific size rules for EDDM. A piece has to fall into one of a few allowed dimensions or it bumps to a higher postage rate — which defeats the whole point.
- Minimum
- 6.125" × 4.25"
- Maximum
- 15" × 12"
- Common EDDM postcard
- 6.5" × 9" or 6.5" × 11"
- Common EDDM flyer
- 8.5" × 11" folded to 5.5" × 8.5"
The pieces also need a proper USPS indicia printed on them (the "EDDM Retail" notice that replaces a stamp). We handle indicia placement as part of file prep — it's one of the most common reasons a first-time EDDM piece gets rejected at the post office if designed DIY.
How to pick a route
USPS publishes a free tool called EDDM Online that shows every carrier route on a map along with demographic data: number of residential addresses, number of businesses, median household income, median age, and presence of kids. You can pick routes based on any of those filters.
For Jacksonville, that means you can pick (say) every route within 3 miles of your storefront with a median income above $50k and at least 300 residential addresses — and reach only those routes. It's not as surgical as a targeted list, but it's surprisingly effective for most local service businesses.
Most of our clients don't want to learn the USPS tool. Tell us what your offer is, where your customers come from, and a rough budget. We pick the routes, print the pieces, and drop them at the post office. You just sign off on the route list.
Realistic timeline
From approved proof to pieces in mailboxes is typically 10–14 business days for a first-time EDDM campaign. Roughly:
- 1Day 1–2: file prep, route selection, proof approval
- 2Day 3–6: printing and bindery
- 3Day 7–8: bundling for USPS (each route gets a stack with a facing slip)
- 4Day 9: we drop at the Jacksonville post office
- 5Day 10–14: USPS delivers across the selected routes
For repeat campaigns — same artwork, new route selection — we can usually turn it in 5–7 days because the print setup is already done.
Common EDDM mistakes we flag
- No call to action, or a vague one. Give people a specific reason to act and a specific way to act.
- No deadline. An offer without an expiration date gets thrown in the pile of "I'll do that later."
- Trying to say too much. One offer, one hook, one call to action. EDDM isn't a brochure.
- Mailing to the wrong season. Landscapers in January, pools in December — timing matters more than art direction.
- Skipping the design polish. This is the one piece of you that will physically be in someone's hand. It has to look intentional.
Next steps
If you're thinking about running EDDM for a Jacksonville-area business, the fastest path is to tell us what you're promoting and where your customers come from. We'll price out options for different route counts and piece sizes, then run the whole campaign from design through post office drop-off.