EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Mail. It is a US Postal Service product that lets a business send mail to every address on a chosen postal route without buying a mailing list and without knowing a single name. For a local business it is often the cheapest way to reach a whole neighbourhood, and most owners have never heard of it.
How it actually works
You choose carrier routes on a map — the actual walking routes postal carriers follow. Each route covers a few hundred households. You print your mailer, bundle it, fill out a form, and drop it at the post office that serves those routes. Every address on the route gets one.
No list, no names, no addresses printed. That is the whole point, and it is why it is cheap.
What it costs
You pay postage per piece plus printing. EDDM Retail postage is a few cents per piece — far below normal first-class mail — and printing depends on size, paper and quantity. For most small businesses the all-in cost lands somewhere in the low tens of cents per household. Check current USPS rates before you budget, because they change.
The useful way to think about it: reaching 5,000 nearby homes for the price of a modest ad budget, with something physical that sits on a kitchen counter.
The size rules matter
EDDM pieces have to fall inside specific dimensions to qualify for the rate. The common sizes are around 6.5 x 9 inches, 8.5 x 11 and 6 x 12. Go outside the allowed range and you lose the EDDM rate entirely, which usually destroys the economics of the whole campaign.
Confirm the current size limits with USPS or your printer before the design starts, not after. I have seen artwork redone from scratch because nobody checked.
The layout has fixed requirements
One side has to carry the postal indicia, the "ECRWSS" endorsement line and a blank address block area. That space is not negotiable and it cannot have your artwork in it. Designing a beautiful double-sided piece and then discovering a third of one side is reserved is a common and expensive surprise.
Any printer who does EDDM regularly has a template. Ask for it before you design.
When EDDM works well
It suits businesses where geography is the main qualifier — restaurants, dentists, salons, lawn care, cleaning, auto repair, real estate, home services. If the answer to "who is your customer" is mostly "people who live nearby", EDDM fits.
When it does not
If your customers are a narrow group scattered across a city, you are paying to reach thousands of people who will never buy. A targeted list or online advertising will do better. EDDM is a blunt instrument, and its value comes from being cheap per household, not precise.
Getting more out of it
Send more than once. A single drop rarely performs. The same routes, three times over a few months, does much better — people need to see you before they need you.
Make it trackable. A unique code, a dedicated phone number, or "bring this in" turns a guess into a measurement. Without it you will never know whether it worked.
Give a deadline. An offer with an expiry date converts far better than an open-ended one.
Do not crowd it. Same rules as any flyer: one offer, big, with one clear action.
I design and prepare EDDM artwork to postal spec regularly, so if you are considering a drop, get the template and the route map first. The design decisions are much easier once you know what the postal rules allow.