How EDDM Retail Works, What It Limits and What It Costs
The permit free way to saturate a carrier route, the ceiling that comes with it, the indicia that has to be printed on the piece, and the sizes that qualify.
EDDM Retail is the version of Every Door Direct Mail you can use without a mailing permit: you pick carrier routes, bundle the pieces yourself, and pay postage at the counter of the Post Office that delivers them. It stops at 5,000 pieces per ZIP Code per day, accepts flat-size pieces only, and requires the EDDM Retail indicia and a simplified address block printed on the address side before the job runs. The alternative, EDDM BMEU, removes the daily cap but costs a permit and an annual mailing fee.
Quick answer
No permit, a hard daily ceiling, and a piece that has to be a flat
EDDM Retail trades volume for paperwork. You skip the permit imprint account and the annual mailing fee, and in return you accept 5,000 pieces per ZIP Code per day and a trip to whichever Post Office delivers the routes you selected. The piece itself has to clear one of three flat thresholds, taller than 6.125 inches, longer than 11.5 inches, or thicker than 0.25 inch, and it has to carry the EDDM Retail indicia and a simplified address block in the print file. Cross the daily ceiling or need a piece under those sizes and the mailing belongs at the BMEU instead.
What EDDM Retail Is, and What the Word Retail Is Doing There
Every Door Direct Mail is one product with two doors into it. The word Retail describes the door, not the mail: you present the job at a retail window, the clerk rings up the postage, and you walk out. Nothing about the mail piece changes.
Practically, the sequence is short. You open the USPS EDDM route tool, draw a radius or pick carrier routes off the map, and it tells you how many residential and business addresses sit on each one. You print that many pieces plus a small cushion. You bundle them in groups of 50 to 100 with a facing slip on each bundle showing the route number. You print the postage statement the tool generates, PS Form 3587, the simplified address statement. Then you carry the bundles to the Post Office that delivers those routes and pay.
Payment is the part people find surprising. There is no account, no invoice, no net terms. Cash, check or card at the window, or a card charge if you pay through the online tool ahead of time. That is genuinely all the administration there is, and it is why a first EDDM test costs an afternoon rather than a month of setup. If saturation mailing itself is new, start with our explainer on Every Door Direct Mail and come back here for the retail mechanics.
EDDM Retail Against EDDM BMEU, Where Each One Stops
BMEU stands for Business Mail Entry Unit, the acceptance counter that handles permit mail. Same EDDM product, different door, and the trade is simple: the retail door is free but capped, the BMEU door costs money up front and has no cap.
| Question | EDDM Retail | EDDM BMEU |
|---|---|---|
| Permit needed | None. No permit fee, no annual mailing fee. | Permit imprint account plus the annual mailing fee. |
| Daily volume | 5,000 pieces per ZIP Code per day. | No daily piece cap. |
| Where you present it | The retail counter of the Post Office that delivers the routes. | A business mail entry unit, or a destination unit by arrangement. |
| Indicia on the piece | The EDDM Retail indicia with that office permit number. | Your own permit imprint indicia. |
| How you pay | Cash, check or card at the window, or card online. | Drawn from the permit account balance. |
| Best fit | A local business testing a neighborhood, a few thousand pieces at a time. | Repeat mailers, multi-ZIP drops, anyone past 5,000 in one ZIP Code. |
The honest line is that Retail stops being the cheap option somewhere between the third and fourth mailing. Once you are driving bundles to three delivery units every month, the permit fee buys back the time. Below that, opening a permit for one test mailing is money spent on paperwork. Our guide to submitting an EDDM mailing through either path walks the counter conversation step by step, and how to do an EDDM mailing covers the drop itself.
The Indicia and the Simplified Address, Printed Before the Job Runs
An EDDM piece has no mailing list, so the address side carries two printed blocks instead of a name. Both go into the artwork. Neither can be added with a rubber stamp after the fact, and a piece that arrives at the counter without them goes home with you.
The indicia sits in the upper right of the address side, inside the postage area. For a retail mailing it reads ECRWSS on the first line, EDDM Retail on the second, U.S. Postage Paid on the third, then the city and state of the accepting office and its permit number. That permit number belongs to the Post Office you pay at, not to you, which is exactly why the indicia is specific to a mailing and not a piece of permanent branding.
The simplified address replaces the name and street. It is the ECRWSS endorsement over a line reading Local Postal Customer, or Postal Customer, or Residential Customer depending on the route selection. That is the whole address. It looks wrong the first time you see it on a proof, and it is correct.
- Keep the bottom right of the address side clear for the carrier route barcode area, so no artwork, no border, no background tint runs into it.
- Leave the indicia block on a plain white patch. Printing it over a photograph or a dark field is the fastest way to get a piece pulled at acceptance.
- At least half the address side has to stay available for the address and indicia. Design copy can use the other half, not more.
Our EDDM file setup and size requirements guide has the measured clear zones, and the blank template library gives you a correctly sized layout with the indicia area already reserved.
Choosing a Size That Qualifies, and What It Costs to Print
Eligibility is decided by dimensions before anything else. EDDM moves as USPS Marketing Mail flats, and a flat has to beat one of three thresholds: taller than 6.125 inches, longer than 11.5 inches, or thicker than 0.25 inch. Clear any one and the piece is a flat. Clear none and it is a letter, which cannot go EDDM at all.
This is where a 6 by 11 postcard fails. It is a big card, it feels like a mailer, and it misses every threshold by a fraction. Nudge the short side to 6.5 inches and the same design qualifies. The sizes that work without argument are 6.5 by 9, 6.5 by 12, 8.5 by 11, 9 by 12 and 11 by 17 folded to 8.5 by 11. The outer ceiling is 12 by 15 inches, 0.75 inch thick, and 3.3 ounces per piece.
On print cost, oversized postcards start at $51.62 and are the natural EDDM piece, since the size range is exactly the flat range. Direct mail postcards start at $89.68 and are the addressed alternative when you want a list rather than a whole route. Direct mail brochures start at $238.73 if the offer needs more than two sides. For contrast, standard postcards start at $16.48, and they are cheaper per piece precisely because they are letter-size and therefore never EDDM eligible.
Two costs decide the campaign, and print is the smaller one. Postage per piece is fixed by the saturation flats rate whatever you print, so paying a little more for a 6.5 by 12 that gets read beats saving on a 6.5 by 9 that gets dropped on the hall table. If you want the postage math by tier before you commit to a size, the postcard postage by size and rate tier guide lays it out, and EDDM postcard sizes compares the qualifying formats side by side. Browse the full range in postcard printing.
Wally explains EDDM Retail
Pick the routes, bundle in fifties, pay at the window
Wally draws a circle on the USPS route map, prints one card for every house on the routes inside it, and stacks them in bundles of 50 to 100 with a facing slip on top. No names, no list, just ECRWSS and Local Postal Customer where the address would be. He carries the bundles to the Post Office that delivers those routes and pays at the counter, no permit and no annual fee. He stops at 5,000 pieces per ZIP Code that day, and he checks the card is over 6.125 inches tall before he prints a single one.
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Common Questions
Your EDDM Retail questions, answered
Do I need a mailing permit for EDDM Retail?
No, and that is the reason the retail option exists. A permit imprint account carries a one-time fee plus an annual mailing fee, and it only makes sense once you mail regularly and in volume. With EDDM Retail you register a free USPS business account to use the online route-selection tool, print the postage statement it generates, and hand over cash, a check, or a card at the Post Office counter. Nothing is opened, nothing renews.
How many pieces can I send with EDDM Retail?
Up to 5,000 pieces per ZIP Code per day. The limit is measured per ZIP Code, so a mailing that covers three ZIP Codes can legitimately be 15,000 pieces presented on the same day, provided no single ZIP Code goes over 5,000. If one ZIP Code genuinely needs more than 5,000 in a day, the mailing has to move to the BMEU path instead of being split across two mornings, because splitting one saturation route across days breaks the sequence the carrier works from.
What has to be printed on an EDDM Retail piece?
Two things on the address side. First, the EDDM Retail indicia in the upper right, which reads ECRWSS, then EDDM Retail, then U.S. Postage Paid, then the city and state and the permit number of the Post Office you pay at. Second, the simplified address block, which is the ECRWSS endorsement over a line such as Local Postal Customer. No names, no street addresses, no mailing list. Both need to be in the print file before the job runs.
Can I use a 4 by 6 or 6 by 11 postcard for EDDM?
No. EDDM moves as USPS Marketing Mail flats, and a flat has to be taller than 6.125 inches, longer than 11.5 inches, or thicker than 0.25 inch. A 4 by 6 card is a letter. A 6 by 11 card looks big enough but clears none of the three tests, which is the single most common EDDM rejection we see. Move to 6.5 by 9, 6.5 by 12, 8.5 by 11 or 9 by 12 and the piece qualifies. The outer ceiling is 12 by 15 inches, 0.75 inch thick, and 3.3 ounces.
Where do I actually take the mail?
To the Post Office that delivers the carrier routes you selected, during retail hours, with the bundles made up in groups of 50 to 100 and a facing slip on each one. Not the branch nearest your office, and not a collection box. If you selected routes in three different delivery units, you are making three drops. Mailers who plan a big EDDM push and only discover this the morning of the drop lose a day.
Can I target only businesses with EDDM Retail?
No. EDDM saturates a carrier route, which means every residential address on it. You can choose residential only, or residential plus business, but you cannot choose business only and you cannot skip houses inside a selected route. If the campaign really only wants commercial addresses, EDDM is the wrong tool and a targeted list belongs on addressed direct mail postcards instead.
Does 4OVER4.COM print EDDM Retail ready pieces?
Yes. Oversized postcards start at $51.62 and print in the sizes that clear the flat test, with the indicia and simplified address block set into the layout so the piece is accepted at the counter. Direct mail postcards start at $89.68 when you want the addressed version instead, and direct mail brochures start at $238.73 for a folded self-mailer. Send the artwork with the address side left open for the indicia block and we place it correctly.
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