Updated August 2026

How to do EDDM yourself, start to finish.

Every Door Direct Mail puts your postcard in every mailbox on the routes you pick. No mailing list, no permit, 26¢ a piece in postage. Here's the whole process, the real costs, and the mistakes that get mailings handed back at the counter.

Step 1: Pick your routes at eddm.usps.com

Search your ZIP and the map shows every mail carrier route around it, with a table for each: how many homes, how many businesses, average household income and age (from Census data), and the postage cost. Click a row to grab the whole route. You can't take half a route. The pros filter for income. The classic rule is to target streets at $100K household income and up.

The rules the tool enforces: at least 200 pieces per ZIP, at most 5,000 pieces per ZIP per day. And if your routes are served by different post offices, you'll be dropping off at more than one.

Step 2: Schedule your drop and print the forms

Pick a drop-off date (up to 30 days out) and choose to pay at the counter. That keeps your date and routes changeable until the last minute. USPS gives you a post office listing (where to bring the mail), a mailing statement (the form the clerk processes), and facing slips, one per bundle. More on those in step 4.

Step 3: Print your mailers to spec

Pieces have to be "flat" size. A 6.25×9 or 6.5×9 postcard is the sweet spot. No stamp: EDDM pieces print the retail indicia (the postage box) right on the card, plus "Local Postal Customer" as the address. Print cost runs 15 to 25¢ a piece for small runs, 8 to 15¢ once you're past 5,000. Full cost math with worked examples: what EDDM costs in 2026.

Step 4: Bundle in stacks of 50 to 100, face slip on top

This is the step that eats the afternoon. Count your mailers into stacks of 50 to 100 (no taller than 6 inches), band each stack, and put a completed facing slip on top: ZIP, carrier route, drop date, pieces in the bundle, and "bundle 3 of 7." A 5,000-piece mailing is about 100 bundles. Plan on 5 to 7 hours if you're writing slips by hand.

Or don't write them by hand: our free face slip generator fills out every slip for a route and does the bundle math. No signup.

Step 5: Drop off and pay

Bring the bundles and forms to the post office named on your listing form. That's the one that serves your routes, not necessarily the one near you. The clerk checks the paperwork against the bundles and takes payment: 26¢ × pieces, as of July 2026. Delivery usually starts within a few days.

The three mistakes that get mailings rejected

Face slip errors. A wrong route number or a piece count that doesn't match the bundle means the clerk hands the whole mailing back.
Bundles over 6 inches. Thick card stock stacks up faster than you'd think. Count by pieces, check by height.
The wrong post office. Read the listing form before you drive. Multi-route mailings often mean two drop-offs.

One more thing the tutorials skip: you can't track it. EDDM mail carries no per-piece tracking. So put a QR code, a unique phone number, or a "mention this card" offer on every piece. It's the only way you'll know the mailing worked.

The short version

Routes on the USPS map, forms print out, mailers printed to spec, bundles of 100 with a slip each, then the right post office at 26¢ a door. Budget a day of work for a first 1,000-piece mailing, roughly $410 to $510 all-in with print.

RouteDrop shrinks that day to minutes. Routes ranked by household income, every form and face slip generated print-ready. Get early access.