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Hey if you guys aren't doing this yet you should be.

Locals Find!

New Member
The USPS has introduced a new program called Every Door Direct Mail Retail. Its a consumer version of Saturation mail. Unlike Regular Saturation mailings you don't need a permit.

Any business owner can do this. Their are some size requirements your mail piece must be at least 6 1/8" h and more than 7" long no more than 11.25" You or your customer will need to registers at smp.usps.gov to get started.

Here is the basic breakdown of how this works and how it benefits your customers. Say you have a restaurant customer who wants to mail to every household in a neighborhood. What EddmR allows you to do is send a flat mail piece like a large postcard to every house on a carrier route of your choice. Without having to put names or addresses. The postage is only $0.142. They are restricted to a minimum of 200 pieces and no more than 5000 a day. They mail them directly from the local post office. You can avoid the Business Mail Entry Units.

You can sell large postcards to your clients to do this for themselves. I sell a 6.125 x 8.5 postcard to my clients. They get pre-printed with the postage indicia and the address indicia pre printed. They can then log onto the smp.usps.gov website and choose their routes to mail too. I take about 30 minutes of my time and train my clients how to use the website and the program. I add this training time into the cost of the postcards. I am averaging a $500 add on sale to 60% of my job tickets selling them 5000 postcards a pop.

If your not taking advantage of this your really missing out on some really easy money for a very little investment in time only.

I am not sure I covered everything but, if anyone has any questions pm me and I will try my best to answer them.
 
J

john1

Guest
I looked into the website and it's confusing to me when it comes down to the PDF forms they ask you to look at.

Am i overlooking something?

So pretty much you get the cards printed from a wholesaler then take them to the post office or what?
 

iSign

New Member
I looked into the website and it's confusing to me when it comes down to the PDF forms they ask you to look at.

Am i overlooking something?

yes,
the line for receiving a mindmeld is in the ultra premium-premium section..

...this is just the line for receiving amazing tips that still require independent thought :rolleyes:
 

Locals Find!

New Member
I looked into the website and it's confusing to me when it comes down to the PDF forms they ask you to look at.

Am i overlooking something?

So pretty much you get the cards printed from a wholesaler then take them to the post office or what?

Get the cards printed from a printer (Trade or otherwise that is your business).

What you do is then mail them as "Flat Mail Pieces" you then get a special rate. You get the rate of .142 each. Versus a standard stamp or even bulk rate which are both higher.

You register to be part of the program on the smp.usps.gov website. You then get issued an ID number for your account. You pick your area you would like to mail to and pick your carrier routes. Then you group up the postcards in packs of 50 and attach the paperwork the system produces and lets your print out. Then you take them down to your regular post office and pay them with check / debit card or prepay on your account with the post office online.

You postcard will then go to every address on the route(s) you have chosen. Its the same thing car dealers have been doing for years to advertise sales. Just on a smaller scale for small business owners who don't need to mail out 500,000 pieces at a time.

If you call your local postmaster they should have someone locally to help you out. They are supposed to have 1 employee whose whole job is to teach people about the program. In my area the USPS Rep held classes for us to learn all about it and will even come to your office/house to teach you.

Edit: If your really stuck and confused call me after 5pm 813-508-7446 and I can walk you through the steps on the site. I do it 3 times a day anyways. No biggie for me to help you ou.
 

PromoGuyTy

New Member
It's a shame, but it doesn't appear that with this mailing method you can mail JUST to businesses...

(looks like you can mail JUST residential...or residential AND businesses... but not JUST businesses)
 
J

john1

Guest
Get the cards printed from a printer (Trade or otherwise that is your business).

What you do is then mail them as "Flat Mail Pieces" you then get a special rate. You get the rate of .142 each. Versus a standard stamp or even bulk rate which are both higher.

You register to be part of the program on the smp.usps.gov website. You then get issued an ID number for your account. You pick your area you would like to mail to and pick your carrier routes. Then you group up the postcards in packs of 50 and attach the paperwork the system produces and lets your print out. Then you take them down to your regular post office and pay them with check / debit card or prepay on your account with the post office online.

You postcard will then go to every address on the route(s) you have chosen. Its the same thing car dealers have been doing for years to advertise sales. Just on a smaller scale for small business owners who don't need to mail out 500,000 pieces at a time.

If you call your local postmaster they should have someone locally to help you out. They are supposed to have 1 employee whose whole job is to teach people about the program. In my area the USPS Rep held classes for us to learn all about it and will even come to your office/house to teach you.

Edit: If your really stuck and confused call me after 5pm 813-508-7446 and I can walk you through the steps on the site. I do it 3 times a day anyways. No biggie for me to help you ou.

Thanks for that little write up.

So you get the cards printed, don't put anything but the return address on them and then download the 4 forms and take that along with how many pieces your mailing to the post office and pay?

Thanks!
 

iSign

New Member
It's a shame, but it doesn't appear that with this mailing method you can mail JUST to businesses...

(looks like you can mail JUST residential...or residential AND businesses... but not JUST businesses)

Yeah, but everybody in business goes home at night... and also if you can select segments of the population by postal routes, aren't there commercial areas where a postal route is largely commercial?
 

Farmboy

New Member
I've been trying to get in touch with someone at my local post office (lines always busy) on and off for about two weeks now to see just what I can send. The weight limit is up to 3 oz and I'd love to do something besides a piece of paper or a card. This can get pricey, so you still have to really target your market. Hitting the city that I'm on the outskirts of would be over 2 grand in postage.
 

Locals Find!

New Member
It's a shame, but it doesn't appear that with this mailing method you can mail JUST to businesses...

(looks like you can mail JUST residential...or residential AND businesses... but not JUST businesses)

You would use regular saturation mailing for hitting just businesses. That you would use a Regular Bulk Mail permit for. That is a few hundred a year investment. I have one of those also. Its not a bad thing to invest in.

Thanks for that little write up.

So you get the cards printed, don't put anything but the return address on them and then download the 4 forms and take that along with how many pieces your mailing to the post office and pay?

Thanks!

You will still need a return address on the postcard. You have to legally identify where it came from and you use the return address to meet that requirement.

I've been trying to get in touch with someone at my local post office (lines always busy) on and off for about two weeks now to see just what I can send. The weight limit is up to 3 oz and I'd love to do something besides a piece of paper or a card. This can get pricey, so you still have to really target your market. Hitting the city that I'm on the outskirts of would be over 2 grand in postage.

You can send envelopes, magazines, folded pieces etc... You just have to meet the size and weight requirements. I just work with postcards because they are less hassle for everyone involved but your not limited to just postcards by any means. Also, each piece must be identical. I think I left that out before. No personal messages inside our outside.
 

signswi

New Member
And try not to annoy your targets. Three of my years as a designer was mostly for direct mail, it's a lot more challenging than it seems.
 

Locals Find!

New Member
Do you have to obtain a mailing list, or does the post office take care of the addressing?

You don't need a mailing list as you will be hitting every household on the carrier routes of your choice. That is why this is a saturation mailing rather than just a bulk mailing. You get the discount because their is no sorting for the post office they hand off the bundles to the drivers and away they go.
 

CES020

New Member
I don't deal in this type of stuff, but Saturday I got a piece of mail that was addressed to :

Local
Postal Customer

Nothing else on it.

Today, I got something from another place, advertising a restaurant, and it's the same way. I imagine this is the type of thing you're talking about. First time we've ever got mail like this, so I'm guessing everyone is slowing figuring out how to use it. The one today is a trifold menu from the restaurant and it's not a crinkle or crease on it. Looks like I took it right out of the box from the printer. Obviously they are handling this stuff different than normal mass mail?
 
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