Dan: Hi there, I'm Dan, your guide to the United States Postal Service’s EDDM service. Today, we're going to look at the EDDM labeling and drop-off process to make sure you know how to deliver your mailers and they get to where they need to go. Don't worry, you will not be putting stamps on every piece of mail, right, Tammeca? 

Tammeca: That's right, Dan.

Dan: Tammeca is a small business owner who uses EDDM to reach new customers all the time. What can you tell us about your business?

Tammeca: Well, I own a small fitness and wellness space located in Harlem. Now, we were the first of our kind in the neighborhood. So we had to use EDDM to make sure our customers knew that we were first here in the community. And now we use it to drive our audience back to us because we have seasonal businesses. So we have to make sure that our audience and our customers know around those peak seasons that we're here and still open.

Dan: Absolutely, and how long have you've been using EDDM?

Tammeca: For about seven years now.

Dan: That sounds amazing. We’ve already looked at how to find an audience and how to create an actual piece of mail. Now we're going to see how to get postage onto your mailpieces. Of course, if you were sending a traditional piece of mail, you would need a stamp. But for EDDM, you'll use an EDDM Retail  indicia, which is really just a postage payment mark that goes where the stamp would normally go. We add it during the design phase, and we have to be a little specific about its size and location. The EDDM website has digital images of the indicia available for download. Once you've got that all you or your graphic designer needs to do is put it in the right place. In fact, here's a link so you can download the EDDM Retail in DC yourself. It's pretty easy, right?

Tammeca: It's so easy that I do it myself after my designer creates the mailers. Then I go onto the website, download the indicia, copy and paste it, and then add it to our mailers before I press print.

Dan: Very straightforward. Just leave an eighth of an inch of space by the top and right of the image. And if you're creating this image yourself, instead of downloading, make sure your font is at least four points and all caps. Once you're done with the design, you're ready to print. Each mailer will be addressed to Postal Customer and they'll go to every house on your selected routes. When we were chatting earlier, you painted a really fun image for me. You told me that you had 1000s of mailers sitting in your living room. Is it a large living room?

Tammeca: Oh, no, it's a New York City apartment, Dan.

Dan: Tight space. Once you've got them printed and labeled, what is the next step for you?

Tammeca: Then from there, I go back to the EDDM website. I choose my selected route based on the ZIP Codes I want to target, download my facing slips, bundle everything into 100 packs add a facing slip to each pack, add a rubber band, bundle them up, take them back to the Post Office, and then drop them off.

Dan: Got it. Very straightforward. The EDDM online tool will tell you where you can drop off your mailer, and you can pay the postage online or when you get to the Post Office. So how exactly do you get these 1000s of mailers from the living room to the Post Office?

Tammeca: I live in New York City, Dan. You know we walk everywhere we go. I ended up using my little blue wagon and pulling them to the Post Office. So the wagon gets them all there.

Dan: It's a wagon now. But when the business expands, you’re going to graduate to a truck and eventually, you know, tractor trailer, right? That's the goal. Let's say your business has several different locations, you know, and you can't just bring a wagon over there, or your online store maybe is open to folks outside your neighborhood. You might need to send your mailers from a ZIP Code or Post Office that isn't near you or the printer. In order to do that, you can use another USPS service, PMOD, which stands for Priority Mail Open and Distribute. To learn more about that navigate to the link below. 

Whichever way you choose, once USPS has your mailer, all you need to do is let it hit the mailing route you selected. Then you can sit back and wait for your customers.  You've been pretty hands-on with this process for a long time, right? What's something that you've learned about labeling in the drop-offs that could help out say an EDDM rookie?

Tammeca: Well, I've had to learn the hard way. Like you really do have to follow the process that's outlined online. So make sure you are downloading each and every form because you'll need them when you go to drop everything off. Just follow the instructions step by step.

Dan: Right. So you’ve got to be precise and organized. But thankfully, the EDDM tool lets you do that.  Thank you so much, Tammeca. It's great to see a business like yours get so much out of EDDM.

m: Thanks, Dan. Hopefully, we're helping other small businesses grow like we did. 

Dan: Oh, absolutely. Well, we have gone through the three major steps of using EDDM: selecting an audience; creating a physical mailpiece; and making sure it gets delivered to your targeted routes. In the next video in this series, we'll talk about how you can track, measure and optimize your results-- something you know all about. Thank you, Tammeca, for being here. 

Tammeca: Thanks, Dan. This has been amazing.

Dan: Yeah, same here. I love hearing your story. See you next time.