Direct Mail Best Practices – Sizes and Shapes

The creatives are always thinking outside the envelope... And that's great, but sometimes it pays to think inside the envelope - literally.

The US Postal Service has some requirements that if you stick to them, you can save a bundle on postage. The US Postal Explorer and the Domestic Mail Manual have tons of detail on these regulations, but it's tricky to find what you are looking for. Here's my skinny on sizing.

Letters

• Not less than 5 inches long, 3-1/2 inches high, and 0.007-inch thick.
• Not more than 11-1/2 inches long, or more than 6-1/8 inches high, or greater than 1/4-inch thick.
• Must be rectangular, with four square corners and parallel opposite sides. 1 to 3.3 ounces.

Postcards

• To get ½ rates, must be no more than 4-1/4" x 6".
• If going ‘oversize’, recommend 6x9"
• Must be rectangular, with four square corners and parallel opposite sides.

Self-Mailers

• Folded self-mailers must be prepared with the folded edge parallel to the longest dimension and the address of the mail piece - and best if at bottom.

Three Dimensional Packages

• These are boxes, tubes, Fed Ex packs with pens in them - I've even seen coconuts mailed in from Hawaii. These often work best when you are mailing to a very small audience and/or you need to generate a very high response rate - regardless of cost.

Here's a Three-Dimensional Package we ran for eBay Motors. There was a map in one box and we tested it against a magic trick (that made your money 'disappear').