Mailing Blueprint™

Mailing list analysis and postage planning

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

The Mailing Blueprint screen in a Plavidian account: a finished run - estimated postage with the +/- 5% planning range, density buckets and presort tiers, list counts, drop-shipment plan, reports and downloads, and the in-area / out-of-area split by county

A real Blueprint run, as the customer sees it: 105,426 flats to Fresno - postage from the USPS Notice 123 table with the +/- 5% planning range, density buckets and presort tiers, list counts, the drop-shipment plan with its freight, and the report and list downloads. Customer names blurred.

What it does

Upload a mailing list and Blueprint standardizes the addresses, sorts the pieces into USPS rate buckets and prices the postage from the Notice 123 table. ZIP, city and state are checked against USPS City State data, each deliverable California address is matched to its ZIP+4 and carrier route, carrier routes in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada are estimated from the map and labeled that way, and the per-route counts set the bucket: Saturation, High Density Plus, High Density, Carrier Route, or Automation 5-digit / 3-digit / Mixed. Addresses in other states are priced at the automation tier their presort earns. Postage is priced for the class and shape you choose, with pallet and workshare discounts applied by DMM rules. The run comes back with a drop-shipment plan priced by the weight of each drop, with transit days, estimated in-home dates, a geocoded map of where the mail goes, a PDF summary report and the cleaned files. Density Optimizer then shows which carrier routes sit just under a USPS density threshold and what filling them does to the postage. When the mailing is real, the same list and settings feed the estimate and the job.

Why it matters

Most postage surprises come from the list, not the artwork. Running the list first tells you what it actually qualifies for, so the budget is built on real numbers.

How to use it

Upload a CSV or Excel list and confirm the column matching
Choose the class (Marketing Mail or First-Class, commercial or nonprofit), the piece (letter, card or flat size) and how to process the list (as-is, dedupe, or household)
Read the qualification, postage, drop-ship plan and map; run Density Optimizer; download the cleaned list, PDF report and audit files; add the list to a job or re-run any time from the Blueprint Log

Use it free One-page overview (PDF)

Included with every free Plavidian account.

Planning tool, production tool

Planned the way production will run it

Blueprint runs the same address standardization, ZIP+4 and carrier-route matching, dedupe / household logic and Notice 123 pricing that production uses. So what it tells you is what the mailing will do: the cleaned list comes back to you (or goes straight onto the job), the drop-shipment plan is the one we would enter, and the postage is the postage we presort to. In Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada, Blueprint estimates carrier routes from the map for planning; the mailing's own presort is made in production. Run it as many times as the list changes; every run stays in your Blueprint Log.

Inside Blueprint: Density Optimizer

Sometimes mailing more pieces costs less

USPS prices carrier-route mail by how many pieces land on each route, so a route holding 118 pieces pays a higher price on all 118 than it would on 125. Almost every list has routes sitting just under a threshold. Density Optimizer runs on a completed Blueprint and finds them: each short route, how many pieces it needs, and what the mailing costs both ways: as submitted, and with those routes filled. You pick the routes; the numbers update as you go. When filling pays, you are adding households in neighborhoods you already chose to mail (for a campaign, more voters in your best precincts), often at little or no net postage cost. When it costs more than it saves, the report says so in red, which is the point of running it before anything prints. Filling needs addresses on those routes, from your held-back names or a targeted list order; Plavidian pulls only the addresses that land where they are needed, merges them and runs a new Blueprint.

Branded for your clients

With a broker or consultant account, you can run Blueprints for your end clients under your own name: the report, the map PDF and the downloads carry your branding, and you can set the drop-shipment amounts you pass through before the report is generated. More for consultants and brokers →

Blueprint Mail Distribution Map: every deliverable address geocoded and drawn as pieces per block group over city boundaries, with ZIP, census place and legislative district overlays

The Mail Distribution Map: pieces per block group over city boundaries; switch on ZIP codes, census places, congressional, state senate and assembly districts. Download as an 8.5 x 11 PDF or HTML.

Density Optimizer on the same run: 19 carrier routes within 10 pieces of the High Density threshold, the postage comparison, and the route list to fill

Density Optimizer on the same run: the routes a few pieces short of High Density, the postage both ways, and the list to fill them from.

What you get from a run

Everything Mailing Blueprint™ does

Address cleanup that mirrors production

Every record is standardized to USPS form, ZIP / city / state are checked against USPS City State data, and deliverable California addresses are matched to ZIP+4 and carrier route; in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada the carrier route is estimated from the map and labeled that way. Non-matches are listed, not silently dropped.

Dedupe or household, your call

Process the list as-is (count every row), remove duplicate addresses, or household it to one piece per address - the same three methods production uses, so the counts you plan on are the counts you mail.

USPS rates by density and presort tier

Pieces are grouped by carrier-route density (Saturation, High Density Plus, High Density, Carrier Route) and automation presort tier (5-digit, 3-digit, Mixed), then priced from the current USPS Notice 123 table for your class and shape. Nonprofit and commercial, letters, cards and flats.

A postage figure you can budget on

A total plus a planning range of +/- 5% that reflects density-mix uncertainty at presort - the rates themselves are never estimated. Final postage is confirmed at USPS acceptance.

Density Optimizer

Lists each carrier route a few pieces short of a USPS density threshold (High Density needs 125), how many pieces it needs, and the postage as submitted and with those routes filled. Tick the routes and the numbers update.

Pallet and workshare discounts by the rules

Flats are palletized the way the plant will do it - Delivery Sort Container and SCF pallet tiers by DMM rules, with the 150 lb per-facility minimum - and the discounts land in the postage. Letters are trayed. No flat rate per pallet, no guess.

Drop-shipment plan priced by weight

Each drop is grouped to its actual USPS entry facility from USPS Mail Direction data. The freight is estimated from what the drop weighs - pieces, trays and sleeves, pallets - on carrier-quoted lanes, with transit days to each facility, so a 3,000 lb drop is priced between the 2,000 and 4,000 lb rates rather than jumping to one of them. Consultant and broker accounts can enter the freight they will pass through before the report is generated.

In-home dates

Estimated delivery windows from the entry method and mail class, so you can choose the drop date against a real window.

See where the mail is going

Every deliverable address is geocoded and drawn on the Mail Distribution Map - pieces per block group, with cities, ZIP codes, census places and congressional / state senate / assembly districts as overlays you can switch on. Plus the in-area / out-of-area split by state and county with share and postage per area, and a one-click download of the in-area-only list.

PDF summary report and downloads

A PDF report of the run for the file or the client, the map as a PDF (8.5 x 11) or HTML, and the cleaned files: standardized list with ZIP+4, duplicate audit, in-area-only and in-state lists.

Cleaned file back, or straight into the job

Download the standardized list to use anywhere, or add it straight to the job. Postage planned in Blueprint is postage presorted on our floor.

Saved, re-runnable, and branded for your clients

Every run lands in your Blueprint Log with its setup; re-run it after the list changes. Broker and consultant accounts can brand a Blueprint for the end client - their name on the report, our engine underneath.

Questions people ask

Is it accurate?

Rates come from the current USPS Notice 123 table for the class and shape you pick - never estimated. What can move is the density mix after full presort, which is why the postage figure carries a +/- 5% planning range.

What is Density Optimizer?

A second pass on a finished Blueprint that finds carrier routes a few pieces short of a USPS density threshold and prices the mailing both ways - as submitted and with those routes filled from your held-back names or a targeted list. It reports whether filling pays; when it does, you reach more households in neighborhoods you already chose, often at little or no net postage cost.

Does it CASS-process or NCOA my list?

Blueprint standardizes and validates addresses and, for planning, matches California addresses to ZIP+4 and carrier route and estimates carrier routes from the map in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada. CASS processing happens when the job is produced, with NCOALink move update when the mailing needs it; Blueprint tells you how much of the list will get there.

What list formats work?

CSV, TXT and Excel. Column matching is detected and you confirm it - name, address, city, state, ZIP in any order or naming.

Is anything sent to USPS?

No. Blueprint is a planning tool inside your Plavidian account; nothing is submitted, no job is created until you ask for one.

How is drop-shipment freight estimated?

From the weight of each drop. Blueprint counts the pieces to each USPS entry facility, palletizes flats by Delivery Sort Container rules (or trays letters), adds the tray, sleeve and pallet weights, and prices the shipped weight on carrier-quoted lanes with transit days - interpolated between quoted weights, not banded. Consultant and broker accounts can replace the figure with the freight they pass through.

Is it really free?

Yes. It is included with every free Plavidian account, along with the other Workbench tools and Plavidian Studio.

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

Data, addresses and postal optimization

Planning a list before it mails: Mailing Blueprint, address checks, list processing, postage optimization, maps and district data.