Best paper stocks for postcards mailed via USPS EDDM
EDDM postcards have specific size and paper requirements set by USPS. Here's the working guide to picking a stock that survives the mail without breaking your budget.
USPS Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) is one of the cheapest forms of direct marketing left — you skip mailing lists entirely and send a postcard to every household on a route, at saturation postage rates around 20¢ per piece. The catch: the postcard itself has to meet specific size and weight requirements, and the paper stock you choose dramatically affects both the mailing cost and how the piece looks when it arrives.
Most mistakes I see on EDDM jobs come down to picking the wrong paper. Here’s the working guide.
The size requirements first (because they affect stock choice)
EDDM Retail (the version most small businesses use) requires the postcard to be:
- At least 6.125” × 4.25” (the minimum that qualifies as “flats”)
- At most 12” × 15” (the maximum size USPS will deliver as flats)
- At least 0.007 inches thick (about 70lb cover stock minimum)
In practice, three sizes dominate EDDM:
- 6.5” × 9” — the most popular EDDM size. Big enough to make an impression, small enough to be cheap to print
- 6.5” × 11” — taller format, gives you more vertical real estate for headlines and offers
- 6.5” × 12” — maximum standard size; reads almost like a small flyer
Anything smaller than 6.125” × 4.25” gets billed at the higher first-class postcard rate, which kills the whole economics. Don’t go smaller.
The three paper-stock decisions
For EDDM postcards, three things actually matter: weight, coating, and finish.
Weight: 14pt is the right answer almost always
Postcard paper weights are typically offered in three tiers:
- 14pt (~ 100lb cover) — the standard. Substantial in the hand, takes printing well, survives mail handling without bending
- 16pt — slightly heavier and more rigid. Looks slightly more premium. Costs slightly more
- 100lb gloss text — much thinner. Cheaper but feels disposable, more likely to bend in the mailbox
For EDDM, 14pt is the right answer for almost every campaign. 16pt is fine if budget allows, but the perceived difference vs 14pt is small. 100lb gloss text saves you money and signals “junk mail” — the recipient is more likely to throw it away without reading.
The minimum USPS thickness requirement (0.007”) corresponds to about 70lb cover, which is thinner than 100lb gloss text. So technically you could go even thinner, but you’d be sending postcards that arrive bent and visibly disposable. Skip it.
Coating: gloss vs matte vs uncoated
This is where most personal preference shows up:
- Gloss UV-coated — shiny finish, makes color pop, fingerprints show. Most common EDDM finish because it photographs well in the mailbox-vs-recipient moment
- Matte / silk laminated — softer, less shiny, easier to write on with a pen, looks more upscale. Costs slightly more
- Uncoated — no finish at all; paper-textured. Reads as “personal letter” rather than “marketing piece,” which can be a deliberate choice for industries where mass marketing feels wrong (real estate, financial services, anything trying to look like a hand-written note)
Default recommendation: Gloss UV-coated for retail/restaurant/general consumer offers. Matte for higher-end services, real estate, and B2B. Uncoated only when the design is deliberately understated and “anti-marketing.”
One side or both?
For EDDM, the back side is the address side — USPS requires it to follow specific layout rules, including the indicia, return address, and at least 5” × 7” of clear space for the postal sticker. So you don’t have full creative control of the back. That said, the half of the back NOT used for postal markings is prime advertising real estate. Almost every successful EDDM campaign uses both sides.
Order the two-sided print version unless you really only have a single-sided message.
File setup gotchas specific to EDDM
A few things that catch EDDM customers off guard:
- Address-side requirements — the bottom-right portion of the back must include the indicia (postage marking), the return address, and a clear zone for USPS to stamp. Use our EDDM template to lay this out correctly — eyeballing it will get the shipment rejected at the post office
- Bleed is still 0.125” — same rules as any other print piece, even though EDDM-specific layouts can feel like they should be different
- Large text near the trim — some EDDM templates push text closer to the address-side edges than other postcards. Stay inside the safe area regardless of template
- Color saturation differs at distance — EDDM postcards are read from arm’s length when someone pulls the mail. Designs that look great on a screen at 100% can look muddy at viewing distance. Boost contrast and increase headline size beyond what feels “right” on screen
The math of an EDDM campaign
Quick back-of-envelope cost for a small business mailing 5,000 households:
- Postage at EDDM Retail rate — roughly $1,000 (about 20¢ per piece)
- Postcards at 14pt gloss UV, 6.5” × 9”, 5,000 quantity — about $400-500
- Total — around $1,400-1,500 for a saturation mailing to 5,000 homes
That’s roughly 30¢ per impression. Compare that to digital ad costs — a 30¢ CPM in digital marketing buys you 1,000 impressions, but they’re 1-second ad-blocked banner views from anonymous users. The 30¢ per impression EDDM is a physical card in a hand. Different qualitative thing entirely.
Where to start
Our Postcards collection has every EDDM-compatible size with live pricing, plus the dieline templates that include the EDDM address-side layout pre-built. Pick a size, download the template, lay your art down, and submit.
If your campaign is time-sensitive, rush production (ships in 2-3 business days instead of 4-5) is available on every postcard product. The bottleneck is usually USPS taking 1-3 weeks to actually deliver after you drop the piece — so plan your campaign timing around that, not just our turnaround.
