What is Every Door Direct Mail?
Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) is a USPS service for sending eligible advertising mail to selected carrier routes. You choose the area to reach instead of building a list of named recipients. USPS offers a Retail option and a Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU) option for larger mailings. See the USPS EDDM overview.
EDDM Planner is a free, independent tool from 9x12tools for planning EDDM Retail campaigns. Explore routes, compare delivery counts, estimate costs, and prepare documents in one workspace. It does not print or deliver your mail, buy postage, or submit an order to USPS.
1. Choose your area and carrier routes
Open the route planner and search a city or ZIP Code. Review the route map alongside residential and business delivery counts, then add the routes that fit your mailing. Select residential delivery or homes and businesses; that choice changes your piece count, budget, and paperwork together.
Compare available income, age, and household summaries to understand an area. These are aggregate figures, not facts about individual recipients or predictions of their response. A route selection covers the selected delivery category on that route; it is not a list of handpicked households.
Plan around the available route counts rather than an exact target number of homes. Review the displayed data date and verify the final routes and quantities with USPS before printing. Read how our route data is maintained.
2. Calculate postage, printing, and other costs
Your estimated mailing cost is postage plus your total print quote and any other costs you enter. Postage is the selected delivery count multiplied by the applicable per-piece rate. The planner shows its configured rate and source; check the current USPS EDDM prices before committing to a mailing.
- Postage
- Based on mailing pieces, not simply the number of routes. Including business deliveries can increase the quantity.
- Printing
- Enter the total quote for your entire print run. Printing is excluded until you enter a cost; get your printer’s quote for the final size, paper, quantity, and finishing.
- Other costs
- Include your own budget for design, preparation, shipping, or other services needed for this mailing.
For a shared advertising postcard, you can also enter the number of advertising spots and the price per spot. The calculator compares revenue with costs and shows the break-even price per spot. These results are arithmetic from your inputs, not a forecast of sales or profit.
3. Save your plan and share the coverage
Exploring routes and calculating estimates do not require an account. Verify your email to save plans and calculator snapshots, download coverage PDFs, publish coverage links, generate mailing paperwork, and keep a mailing history. You can save up to 100 plans. There is no planner subscription or credit card requirement; postage and printing are separate.
Plans are private by default. A published coverage link shows the plan name, selected routes, delivery counts, and available demographic summaries. It excludes your email, mailing address, costs, and spot prices. You can disable a published link. Marketing emails are optional and are not required for access.
4. Check EDDM Retail requirements
USPS generally requires at least 200 pieces or 50 pounds per mailing and permits up to 5,000 pieces per day per five-digit ZIP Code. A limited exception applies when mailing to all addresses in a ZIP with fewer than 200 deliverable addresses. EDDM Retail pieces must qualify as flats and weigh no more than 3.3 ounces. Read the full USPS EDDM Retail eligibility standards and check your design before printing.
The planner checks the daily piece ceiling per ZIP while selecting routes. That check does not establish every aspect of postal eligibility. Confirm the dimensions, thickness, weight, addressing, indicia, and content of the actual printed piece with USPS and your printer.
5. Prepare the paperwork and your drop-off
From your saved plan, create the mailing paperwork and review the quantities, delivery offices, mailing details, and bundle information. Generating a PDF does not pay for postage or reserve a mailing date.
Separate mail by delivery route and prepare bundles of 50–100 pieces, with a completed facing slip on each bundle. Present the mailing to the correct delivery Post Office or destination delivery unit. Consult the USPS mail preparation rules for the current requirements.
Complete payment through USPS and confirm the final acceptance requirements with the delivery office. EDDM Planner does not guarantee postal acceptance, delivery dates, or campaign results.
Official sources and next steps
USPS requirements referenced in this guide were reviewed on September 22, 2026. Use the current USPS instructions for your mailing date.