Articles and how-to guides
How-to guides for planning a mailing, and dated updates when USPS standards or prices change. We write them from the USPS source documents and our own production work as a Full-Service Certified mail service provider.
Blog: direct mail, print and USPS. Shorter, more frequent posts 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 and Campaign Examples That Get a ResponseDirect mail ideas and examples grouped by goal: winning new customers, keeping them, filling events and raising money, plus creative touches that lift response.Updated 2026-09-21
- Direct Mail Formats: The Main Types and How to ChooseDirect mail formats compared: postcards, letters, self-mailers, brochures, catalogs and dimensional mail, when to use each, and the USPS rules that set postage.Updated 2026-09-21
- Yard Signs and Door Hangers for Political Campaigns in 2026Sizes, materials, design rules, distribution and cost for campaign yard signs and door hangers in 2026, from a political print shop in Vista, California.2026-07-28
- Political Mail in 2026: Planning a Winning Campaign MailingHow to plan a 2026 political mail program: Tag 57 and STID rules, cost per piece, in-home timing, disclaimers, piece tracking and optional camera verification.2026-07-28
- How to choose between EDDM and a targeted mailing listEDDM covers every address on the routes you pick, with no list at all. A targeted mailing list reaches only the people you choose, at a higher cost per piece.Updated 2026-09-21
- How to prepare a mailing list for a bulk mailingWhat a mailing list needs before it qualifies for presort or automation prices: the file layout, CASS, Move Update, deduplication and the USPS minimums.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 Expert a question directly.