Welcome to Direct Mailing 101, a tool for beginning or infrequent mailers that will help you harness the power of mail for your business or organization. This web site will walk you through all of the key decision points in making a mailing. It contains glossary terms and tips that give you commonsense advice for making the most of your mailing.
If you are setting up a mailing campaign then please take a minute to read through our basic guide on business mailings. There are several things you can do to ensure a positive campaign. has the equipment to be your printing and mailing house. Let us be your turnkey marketing solution.
We will print, label, and mail your postcards so you don’t have to go to 3 different companies for these services.
DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU ONLY HAVE 3 SECONDS TO MAKE AN IMPACT WITH POSTCARD MAILERS?
If you have any questions, please view our Frequently Asked Questions regarding direct mailing.
Direct Mailing has been a proven success in marketing your company and products. Let us help you Market your company and sit back as the money starts to roll in!
Why Choose to do your direct mailing?
Advance Deposit Account – A debit account into which a mailer deposits funds that are maintained by the USPS and from which postage is later deducted at the time of mailing. (Also called trust account.)
Automation–Compatible Mail – Mail that can be scanned and processed by automated mail processing equipment such as a bar code sorter.
Balloon Rate – A rate charged for Priority Mail and Parcel Post items that weigh less than 15 pounds and measure more than 84 inches but no more than 108 inches in combined length and girth.
Bulk Mail – The term is generally used to describe presorting mail including Presorted First-Class Mail and Standard Mail.
Bulk Mail Center (BMC) – A highly mechanized mail processing plant that distributes Standard Mail in piece and bulk form. (Also see auxiliary service facility.)
Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU) – The area of a postal facility where mailers present bulk, presorted, and permit mail for acceptance. The BMEU includes dedicated platform space, office space, and a staging area on the workroom floor.
Carrier Route Presort Mail – Mail sorted by carrier route to qualify for discount postage rates. The mail requires no primary or secondary distribution. The term is a general descriptor of the available rates for this type of preparation, which includes Enhanced Carrier Route Standard Mail, automation carrier route First–Class Mail, carrier route Periodicals, and carrier route Bound Printed Matter. (Also called Enhanced Carrier Route Standard Mail.)
Destination Entry Discount – A postage discount for depositing mail at specific postal facilities (e.g., delivery unit or bulk mail center) that are closer to the final destination of the mail.
Full Letter Tray – A tray filled at least three–fourths full with faced, upright pieces. Each tray must be physically filled to capacity before the filling of the next tray. A tray with less mail may be prepared only if less–than–full or overflow trays are permitted by the standards for the rate claimed. (Also see less–than–full tray and overflow tray.)
Indicia – Imprinted designation on mail that denotes postage payment (e.g., permit imprint).
Known Office of Publication – The business office of a Periodicals publication that is in the city where the original entry for Periodicals mailing privileges is authorized.
Mailing Permit – Permission to mail at bulk (presorted) rates.
Meter Tape – A piece of adhesive paper that is fed through a postage meter and imprinted with postage. The meter tape is then applied to a mailpiece (usually a large envelope or parcel that is too big to fit through the postage meter).
Nonmachinable Surcharge – A surcharge applied to mailpieces that cannot be sorted on mail processing equipment because of size, shape, content, or address legibility. Such mail must be processed manually.
Oversized Rate – Parcel Post rate for pieces exceeding 108 inches but not more than 130 inches in combined length and girth.
Permit Imprint – Printed indicia, instead of an adhesive postage stamp or meter stamp, that shows postage prepayment by an authorized mailer.
Postage Meter – A device that can print one or more denominations of postage onto a mailpiece or meter tape. It is available for lease only from designated manufacturers.
Presort – The process by which a mailer prepares mail so that it is sorted to the finest extent required by the standards for the rate claimed. Generally, presort is performed sequentially, from the lowest (finest) level to the highest level, to those destinations specified by standard and is completed at each level before the next level is prepared. Not all presort levels are applicable to all mailings.
Presorted First–Class Mailing – A nonautomation rate category for a mailing that consists of at least 500 addressed mailpieces and is sorted and prepared according to USPS standards. This mail does not bear a barcode.
Presorted Mail – A form of mail preparation, required to bypass certain postal operations, in which the mailer groups pieces in a mailing by ZIP Code or by carrier route or carrier walk sequence (or other USPS–recommended separation).
Presorted Rates – A discounted postage rate. In exchange for this lower postage rate, mailers must sort their mail into containers based on the ZIP Code destinations on the mail.
Residual Shape Surcharge – A surcharge applied to Standard Mail pieces that are prepared as parcels or that are not letter size or flat size (e.g., mailing tubes).
Sectional Center Facility (SCF) – A postal facility that serves as the processing and distribution center (P&DC) for post offices in a designated geographic area as defined by the first three digits of the ZIP Codes of those offices. Some SCFs serve more than one 3–digit ZIP Code range.
Single-Piece Rate – The “undiscounted” or “full” postage rate available for individual pieces of Express Mail, First–Class Mail, Priority Mail, and Package Services. Single-piece rates contrast with rates available for presorted mail.
Sort – To separate mail by a scheme or ZIP Code range; to separate and place mail into a carrier case; to distribute mail by piece, package, bundle, sack, or pouch. (Also see primary, secondary, and tertiary.
Sortation – The distribution or separation of mail to route it to its final delivery point. (Also see mail processing.)
Weighted Fee – The fee charged the sender for Standard Mail pieces endorsed “Address Service Requested” or “Forwarding Service Requested” that are returned as undeliverable. The fee equals the single-piece First-Class Mail rate x a factor of 2.472, rounded to the next whole cent.
Zoned Rate – A rate structure for certain Priority Mail, Periodicals (except non advertising portion), and Package Services (Parcel Post and Bound Printed Matter) that is based on weight and distance traveled (or zones crossed).
Flexibility. You can mail anyone your message, at any time, using a variety of formats. Direct mail allows you to send postcards, color brochures, free samples, co-op mailing, and folded pieces. The choice is up to you and your budget.
Targetability. With Direct Mail Marketing & the use of mailing lists, you can narrow down your targeted demographic and choose precisely the audience you want to reach and draft a message that targets their interests and needs.
Convenience. offers a one-stop solution for printing and mailing. Place your order with one company instead of dealing with multiple companies.
Privacy. With Direct Mail, not only can you reach your customers without your competition’s knowledge but you can also allow your customers to see your message without distraction.
Fast Turnaround Time. Your printed products can be mailed 2-5 business days after the printing job has been completed.
No Shipping Charges. You don’t pay to have printed products shipped to you or to your mail house.
List Certification. We will CASS certify your list to ensure that addresses are valid. We also remove duplicate addresses so that you only pay for what we mail. also offers a new cutting edge technology that connects directly to the USPS system to replace any address that has recently been changed or forwarded.
The Internet has brought about colossal changes in the field of marketing. The low cost of delivering messages via banner ads and email seemed to spell the doom of direct mail. It was not meant to be. The fleeting images on a screen, although inexpensive, are still no match for the power of paper in a customer’s hand. In fact, last year was the best year ever for direct mail, capping over a decade of double-digit growth. And NOTHING beats direct mail for its ability to accurately measure effectiveness.
Well designed direct mail asks for a specific, easy to measure, response. That’s why direct mail has been steadily increasing for years. Experienced mailers constantly test different lists, offers, and designs to maximize the return on investment, or ROI. And direct mail is just that… an investment in growing your business or organization.
Last year, over $45 Billion (that’s a pretty big number) was spent on direct mail by advertisers, yielding over $528 billion in sales. Now that’s a really big number! It also proves – Direct Mail Works! Virtually no other advertising medium can demonstrate that kind of proven effectiveness.
As stated above, direct mail is a lot more effective than most any other type of marketing. With a high impact postcard or mail piece, you have a tangible piece that goes directly to your desired potential client. You can choose who sees your ads and create marketing campaigns targeting one certain demographic. You can use direct mailings to:
In exchange for taking a work load away from the post office they reward permit holders and mail houses discounted postage rates. Rather than being charged the standard postage for postcards, direct mailing and presorting charges less because we’re doing the sorting and putting them into trays therefore your postage rates are much less expensive. Depending on how many mail pieces you send directly affects the savings in postage.
Also, by having to hand stamp each mail piece you are not only paying more postage but taking away from other aspects of running your business. How much is your time worth?
Yes. The post office is extremely picky at not only how the job is labeled but also how it is designed. If you do not follow the correct specifications then the job will more than likely bounce or be charged more money for handling and processing fees. Please view our design templates for more information.
Yes! Having standard sizes greatly helps in keeping costs down. When you have odd sizes the cost of the postage greatly increases.
Yes we can! If you want to do your own mailing using your own permit then we can label them for you. If your mail requires presorting then we can print the correct tray numbers onto the postcards and have them shipped directly to you. There is an additional handling and shipping fees if you require the pre sorted mail pieces to arrive in the proper tray. If you are hand stamping the postcard then presorting is not required. Presorting is only required for automated mail.
The process by which a mailer prepares mail so that it is sorted to the finest extent required by the standards for the rate claimed. Generally, presort is performed sequentially, from the lowest (finest) level to the highest level, to those destinations specified by standard and is completed at each level before the next level is prepared. Not all presort levels are applicable to all mailings. In laymen terms; presorting is doing what the post office usually does to separate the mail and sort it using different variables. All mail pieces going to one zip code are sorted separately from ones going to different zip codes.
General design time is 1-3 business days. Estimated printing turnaround is 48 hours (for aqueous coating). Time to label, presort, and mail is 2-5 business days.
You will be faxed a document showing the amount pre sorted and mailed at the end of each mailing campaign.
Imprinted designation on mail that denotes postage payment (e.g., permit imprint).
Yes. The minimum is 500 pieces.
No, you can mail as many pieces as you wish.
We can provide any list you would like to market. Standard lists start at $75 per 1000 records and go up as the data is filtered for different demographics. If you would like to send a list to renters only with gross family income of $25K a year then we can pull that list as well. If you would like a quote for a list please contact us and we will get back to you with the cost for the mailing list.
You can mail how many you would like at each drop (minimum of 500 per drop). We will warehouse your cards for a period of 6 months. After 6 months we will contact you to collect shipping charges to have the remaining sent. After each run, there is a handling and shipping fee if you would like the remaining pieces shipped to you.
If you have any more questions please contact us.
*Information was provided by the U.S. Postal Service. All Rights Reserved.