EDDM
EDDM for Self Storage: Every Door Direct Mail Explained
Saturation mailing covers every address on the postal routes you choose. It is a genuinely useful tool for a storage facility in some situations and the wrong tool in others — here is how to tell which.
EDDM with Fill By Mail
55¢per mailed piece, all in
- Printing
- Mail preparation
- Postage
- Mailing
No targeting data — EDDM goes to every address on the routes you pick. USPS route and quantity requirements apply.
One thing to be clear about: Fill By Mail's no-minimum pricing applies to targeted mail, not to EDDM. USPS sets its own minimum piece count per postal route for EDDM, and no provider can waive it.
Definition
What EDDM actually is
Every Door Direct Mail is a USPS service built around postal geography rather than around people. Mail carriers already walk defined routes; EDDM lets you put an identical piece into every mailbox along the routes you select.
Because there is no recipient selection, the pieces carry no names and no addresses — only a postal indicia. You are buying coverage of streets, not access to households.
For a storage facility that framing is sometimes exactly right. The routes nearest your gate contain, almost by definition, the people most likely to become tenants. Covering them completely is a reasonable strategy, particularly when nobody knows the facility exists yet.
USPS applies its own rules to EDDM: minimum piece counts per route, a daily maximum per ZIP code, and physical size requirements that differ from those for ordinary addressed postcards. These are postal requirements, not vendor policies, so they apply wherever you buy EDDM from.
You select routes
Postal carrier routes near your facility, not individual households.
Every address gets one
No selection within a route. Coverage is the product.
No addressing
Pieces carry a postal indicia rather than a recipient name and address.
USPS sets the rules
Minimum pieces per route, a daily cap per ZIP, and specific size requirements.
Comparison
Targeted direct mail vs EDDM
Precision against coverage. Neither is better in general; they solve different problems.
| Targeted direct mail | EDDM | |
|---|---|---|
| What you choose | Individual addresses matching your criteria | Postal carrier routes |
| Who receives it | Only the households or businesses you selected | Every address on the route |
| Audience data | Yes — that is the point | None; geography is the only filter |
| Smallest useful quantity | As small as the audience genuinely is | Bounded by USPS minimums per route |
| Cost per piece | $1, includes targeting data | 55¢, no targeting data |
| Best for | Specific unit types, mover audiences, business storage | New facility awareness, blanket local coverage |
| Main weakness | Costs more per piece | Most recipients may not fit the offer |
Choosing
Which one fits your situation
Lean toward targeted mail when
- You are filling a specific unit type — RV, boat, vehicle, climate-controlled, business.
- The people who fit your offer are a minority of any given street.
- You want to reach households around a life event, such as a move.
- Your prospect count is small and you would rather mail 60 right people than 2,000 random ones.
- You want to mail continuously in small quantities rather than in one drop.
Lean toward EDDM when
- The facility is new and the goal is simply for the neighborhood to know it exists.
- Your offer applies broadly — general storage rather than a niche unit type.
- You want complete coverage of the streets closest to your gate.
- You have enough volume to clear the USPS per-route minimums comfortably.
- Cost per piece matters more to you than precision.
A note on comparing cost
Saturation mailing usually wins on cost per piece. That is a real advantage and worth taking seriously. But cost per piece is an input, not an outcome — if a campaign is about filling covered RV spaces, reaching 3,000 households at a low rate to find the handful with a boat may cost more per inquiry than reaching 200 selected households at a higher one. Compare the two on estimated cost per move-in where you can.
Status
EDDM inside Fill By Mail
EDDM is planned as an additional targeting method within Fill By Mail — another way to choose who receives a campaign — rather than a separate business line. Carrier route selection around a facility address is the natural fit.
EDDM is 55¢ per mailed piece, all in — printing, mail preparation, postage and mailing. There is no targeting data in that rate, because EDDM has no recipient selection, which is most of why it costs less than targeted mail.
What we will not do is imply that the no-minimum promise applies to it. USPS minimums per route are set by the Postal Service and no provider can remove them.
For now, the part of Fill By Mail that is being built first is targeted mail with audience selection and no quantity minimum.
Questions
EDDM questions
What is EDDM?
EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Mail. It is a USPS service that delivers an identical mailpiece to every address along postal carrier routes you select. You choose routes rather than individual recipients, and the pieces carry no names or addresses.
What is the difference between EDDM and targeted direct mail?
Targeted mail goes to specific addresses you selected using data, and each piece is addressed to that recipient, so you can narrow to the households or businesses that fit your campaign. EDDM goes to every address on a chosen route with no selection inside it. Targeted mail buys precision; EDDM buys coverage.
Is there a minimum for EDDM?
Yes. USPS sets its own minimum piece count per postal route for EDDM, along with a daily maximum per ZIP code. That is a postal requirement rather than a provider policy, so no vendor can waive it. This is why EDDM is not suited to very small quantities, and why the no-minimum part of Fill By Mail applies to targeted mail rather than to EDDM.
Are there size requirements for EDDM pieces?
Yes. USPS requires EDDM mailpieces to meet specific physical dimension requirements, which are different from those for ordinary addressed postcards — an EDDM piece has to be larger than a standard addressed card. A piece that does not meet them will not qualify, so EDDM creative has to be produced to that specification from the start.
Is EDDM cheaper than targeted mail?
Per piece, yes. With Fill By Mail, EDDM is 55¢ per mailed piece and targeted mail is $1 per mailed postcard. The difference is mostly the targeting data, which EDDM does not include. Whether it is cheaper per result is a separate question — a lower cost per piece across an audience that mostly does not fit your campaign is not automatically better value than a higher cost per piece across one that does.
When should a storage facility use EDDM?
EDDM tends to make sense when the audience you want really is everybody nearby — a brand-new facility announcing itself to surrounding neighborhoods, or blanket coverage of the streets immediately around your site. It makes less sense when the campaign is about a specific kind of space, like RV parking or business storage, where most households on a route are irrelevant to the offer.
Does Fill By Mail offer EDDM?
Yes. EDDM is an additional targeting method inside Fill By Mail rather than a separate product, and it is 55¢ per mailed piece, all in — printing, mail preparation, postage and mailing. USPS route and quantity requirements apply.
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Choose your audience. Choose your postcard. Choose your quantity. Then $1 a postcard, with no signup fee and no setup fee.