Articles and how-to guides
Practical how-to guides for planning a mailing, and dated updates when USPS standards or prices change. Written by a USPS Full-Service Certified mail service provider, not repackaged from a press release.
Blog
Direct mail, print and USPS →
Shorter, more frequent pieces than the guides below — what is changing in mail and print, and what it means for a campaign.
USPS updates
What changed, and what it means
How-to
Planning a mailing, step by step
Direct Mail Ideas: Campaigns and Examples That Get a Response
Practical direct mail ideas and examples organized by what you are trying to do - win new customers, keep the ones you have, fill an event, or bring people back - plus the creative and interactive techniques that lift response, and the format and offer that fit each.
2026-09-05
Direct Mail Formats: The Main Types and How to Choose
The direct mail formats that actually get mailed - postcards, letters, self-mailers, brochures, catalogs, and dimensional mail - what each one is best for, and the USPS size and preparation rules that decide the postage on each.
2026-09-05
Yard Signs and Door Hangers for Political Campaigns: The 2026 Field Guide
How campaigns use yard signs and door hangers as a coordinated ground game in 2026: sizes, materials, die-cut specs, design rules, distribution strategy, and what they cost from a political print shop in Vista, California.
2026-07-28
Political Mail in 2026: Planning a Winning Campaign Mailing
How to budget, qualify, design, and track a 2026 political mail program: USPS Tag 57 and STID rules, cost per piece benchmarks, in-home timing, and how camera verification and IMb piece tracking give you evidence of what was produced and scan-indicated delivery in the mailstream.
2026-07-28
How to choose between EDDM and a targeted mailing list
EDDM saturates every address on a carrier route with no list. A targeted list reaches chosen people. The right answer depends on geography, piece size, and whether you need to reach specific households.
2026-07-10
How to prepare a mailing list for a bulk mailing
What a clean, mailable list actually needs before it can earn presort or automation prices, and the steps that get a raw file there.
Updated 2026-07-24
Looking for the standard itself?
The mailing guides cover the USPS rules behind these articles: mail classes, piece sizes, tabbing, addressing, EDDM, and drop shipment. Or ask Plavidian™ a question directly.