Postage cost and definition - EDDM, Postcard, and Letter

New USPS rates went into effect January 26, 2014.

A “post card” is defined by the USPS as at least 3 1/2" tall and no more than 4 1/4" tall. The width (length) must be at least 5" but no more than 6". First class postage for these is still a bargain at $.34

Regular first class postage went to $.49 for a standard size letter. With certain weight restrictions, that letter could be up to 6 1/8" tall and 11 1/2" long. You can also mail a postcard up to 6 1/8" tall x 11 1/2" long for the same forever or first class $.49 stamp.

A postcard over 6 1/8" tall and over 11 1/2" long, up to a max 12"x15" is an “oversize letter” and will mail with two first class or forever stamps or any combination of stamps that show $.98 postage. And you can address and mail them one at a time.

And then there is EDDM, described by size as a minimum of 6 1/8" tall OR a minimum of 11 1/5" long.

EDDM postage is only $.175 each but with few exceptions, it also involves a lot of work on your part and typically will require you to mail to every address on a mail carriers route, typically 500 to 700 pieces.

There are lower rates available for first class letters and postcards if you mail automated but that usually requires a mailing list, a mailing permit, and the use of a direct mail house, and the mailing of a minimum of 200 pieces at a time.

Hi Tim how ya been
I really need to figure out this whole postage thing Does it pay off to send out post cards or flyers
I tried once sent 100 postcards out just to see and got no response at all
Just going to have to read up on it some more but any advice you have i am sure is good advice
Business has been real slow since thanksgiving I get a Job here and there I really need to learn how to advertise

100 postcards is an exceedingly small number. most guys who market this way deal in the thousands.

if you have a good piece that will grab attention, you can hope for .5%-1% response rate. so if you mail out 1000, expect 5-10 calls. hopefully you can close 80% of those calls.

if you join the pwra you can get at-cost printing of proven marketing pieces that have already generated tons of work for other guys. you can get 1000 8"x10" cards printed and shipped for less than $200. The price goes way down the more you order (10000 costs $800 or so.)

then you mail them through usps’ eddm system at 17.5 cents per piece. so that would be roughly $375 to print and mail 1000 pieces, or $2550 to mail 10000 pieces.

I was just looking at pwr price. I thought it was more it said 199.00 is that a all the time price or a special price. Also it says free downloads of different things but is that just a template. Thanks

uh, i think you are looking at the membership price. that’s annual. but then you get lot’s of discounts and perks on other stuff. one of the major ones is at-cost printing. compared to what i would pay locally, printing through the pwra benefit will save me half the cost.

when you are a member, you can download any of the dozens of pre-made templates they have, and then order them printed right through the wcra’s website. when you check out, you get the printing discount.

OK. Got it thanks a lot. How about websites. Does one really need high dollar website and the whole seo thing

yes. that’s more important than flyers. by a mile. it doesn’t have to be high-dollar though. you can do a lot of it yourself if you are somewhat proficient with a computer. or maybe you know someone who can put together a site for you for cheap. if you know how, you can put together a decent website that will get you work for a hundred bucks and about 10 hours of your time.

you can learn everything you need to know on youtube. just depends on how motivated you are to learn.

I have done mailings in the past for another business. You cant look at it from the point of view that I sent out 500 postcards and only got 1 response. You also can not look at it from the point of view of a single mailing. Folks do not know who you are, why should they order your product.

Lets say you do nothing, no money invested, nothing gained. 0% return

You do 3 mailings of 1000 post cards, lets say the whole advertising campaign costs $800.00 and you get 5 sales for a total of $1250.00, so you made $450.00, some may say that in not much or not worth it, but you also have 995 other people with your postcard that may order in the future.

At the same time you have recouped your original $800.00 so now you can go out and target another neighborhood.

you really didn’t make 450, out of that 450 you have to pay for labor, gas, materials and every thing else that cost you to do the job.

You didnt make zero either, which is what you would have made if you didn’t advertise. You also recouped your $800 to pay for your next advertising campaign. At the same time you have 1000 people that know about you and may call you in the next few months when they actually need your service. So in the long run, advertising pays for itself and provides a Return on Investment.

The question is do you do nothing and sit and wait for the phone to ring or plant seeds to future calls?

that’s a 1.5 ROI if your good with that, that’s all that matters have at it.

1.5 ROI for the initial mailing, with residual sales in the coming months it climbs higher over the course of the year. What about the folks that throw your post card in a drawer and order from you 6 months from now. You need to look at the lifetime return, not just what you get for sales over the next 30 days.

I’m talking about evaluating a full campaign over the course of many mailings, a 1.5 is a looser. usually a campaign for me consist of at least 5-8 mailing to a customer list, then I will evaluate, towards the end of the year

I agree with you on you can not judge in thirty day or after one mailing.

One thing people seem to forget is, that you just can’t throw money out there advertising. You need to ask people how they found you. Why continue spending money on something that isnt working.

If you have a yellow page ad or an ad in a paper or whatever and you are only getting 6-10 calls a year from it then maybe the customer acquisition costs for one type of advertising may warrant not doing it anymore and spending money on something that is more effective that you know is pulling in paying customers.

Chris I agree every estimate I do goes on a spreadsheet, and the lead source is recorded. SO what is a acceptable ROI for you to keep using a form of marketing???

If you are spending more than you are making on it the it is time to get rid of it and spend that money on something else.

Covering operating expenses is the most important part. If it costs you to pull the truck out of the yard and you can’t recoup that cost then maybe it is time to reevaluate your marketing plan and spend those dollars elsewhere. You also have to look at the marketing plan as whole. You may be willing to accept a lower ROI for one form of advertising because you are making in up on a more effective form.

In my opinion, I think yellow pages are dead, I also know it is expensive so I have no plans of listing in the yellow pages. I know some of the other guys have said that they used to do well with YP but as time passed, it was not worth the investment.

That being said, Web Site and Direct Mail are the most effective that I have experienced when I ran a pool cleaning company.

Chris do you have a web sight for power washing??

We have a designer working on it now as we speak. Should be ready in a few weeks.

wear about do you work in charlotte area??

We will be in the Lake Norman Area. I know you are in Charlotte also.