Order printing online: live pricing, a proof before anything prints, and free design in Plavidian Studio™, no account needed
Plavidian760-666-3130Print and mail production in Vista, California.

Plavidian Workbench™

Mail Date Planner

Production schedule worked backward from your in-home date

Start from the day it lands and find out when your files are due.

Open Mail Date Planner Free. No sign-in needed.
The Mail Date Planner holding a schedule for 25,000 postcards on USPS Marketing Mail drop-shipped to SCF San Diego: an ON TRACK verdict saying the date works on a standard schedule, then the dated rail working backward (print-ready files due, proof approval, printing and finishing, mailing services with list processing included, freight to the destination SCF, entry into the mailstream and the in-home window), each stage naming the source of its number

A real schedule off the live tool: 25,000 postcards drop-shipped to SCF San Diego. Every stage names where its number comes from (our own production and mailing times, truck transit from our freight carrier quotes, or the delivery window after USPS entry), so the artwork deadline can be checked rather than taken on trust.

What it does

Enter the day your mail has to be in homes and the Mail Date Planner builds the whole production and mailing schedule backward from it. It covers design time if you need it, print-ready files and proof approval (the same day), printing and finishing, mailing services with the list processing inside them, the last day the job can enter the USPS, and the typical in-home window for the class and entry point you chose. Weekends and federal holidays are skipped, and the verdict says whether the date fits a standard schedule, is tight, or needs a rush plan.

Why it matters

Transit is the last and usually the smallest leg. On most campaigns it is production that decides the date, and the number that matters to a customer is when their artwork is due.

How to use it

  1. Pick the in-home date
  2. Choose the piece, quantity and mail class
  3. Read the schedule and send it through for a quote
Open Mail Date Planner Create a free account

Free, and no sign-in is needed.

Not sure which rule applies?

Ask Plavidian Expert in plain English and get an answer grounded in the USPS Domestic Mail Manual, or read the standard behind it.

Ask Plavidian Expert Browse the guides

More tools in the Plavidian Workbench™

Mailing List Builder

Pick an area, see who lives there, and what the postage costs.

EDDM Route Builder

Saturation mail by carrier route, with no list to buy.

Print File Check

Upload a print file and see what a press would catch, graded A to F.

Mailing Blueprint™

Plan the whole mailing from the list: postage, drop plan, in-home dates and map.

In-Home Date Estimator

From the entry date to the in-home window.

Piece Size Tool

Letter or flat, before it changes your postage.