Step 3: How to select your EDDM printer

Be sure to diligently research your selection.

The following information contains important details to understand and confirm BEFORE you final your EDDM printer selection and design your Gospel Postcard artwork.

You will be seeking a commercial printer who specializes in EDDM postcard printing. Selecting a competitively priced EDDM commercial printer who produces a quality finished product is the objective. They should also be reliable with their stated production and shipping dates. We have posted a few examples for your research and review on our EDDM Printers page to help you get started in your search. We have no affiliate, sales, commission, referral fee, business discount or other relationship with them. We recommend that you explore all your options and select the commercial printing resource that you feel most comfortable with.

Tip! You can enter into the web search engine of your choice the words "EDDM postcard printers" plus "near me" or the name of a city or metro area near you to search for those closest to you. Close is good if you can find one. You can drive in and meet them in person. You can also pickup your printing in person avoiding shipping costs and time. If you can not find a EDDM commercial printer near you, expand your web search out to the national level by not entering the words "near me" or a GEO location. We have not been able to find one near us, as we are in a rural area. In our experience we've had good success with a national EDDM postcard printer.

The commercial printing industry is huge. Small to large commercial printers exist everywhere in the country. Especially in larger metro areas. Some have been in business for many years. They typically specialize in the type of printing they will offer. The printing equipment they use is expensive, requires a commercial building and zoning, regular maintenance along with experienced human labor to operate it. In order to be competitive yet profitable, so as to stay in operation, they have to have achieved a certain "volume" level of continuous production. This equates into recurring customers who value and trust their services.

Tip! This means there should be reviews and testimonials about them on the web that will help you make your decision. When you find one of interest, you can do a web search of their "business name" plus the words "reviews" or "complaints". You can also check their reviews and rating on their Google business listing, Facebook page, and even the BBB or Chamber of Commerce websites. Carefully read over the best of these resources to evaluate the printers weak and strong qualities with their typical customer satisfaction level. Spend more time reading the 1 Star reviews then the 5 star reviews. Determine if these are valid customers with production quality or delivery complaints, if there is a pattern to these complaints, and how does the printer respond to resolve them.

Here is a real life example.

Insight!

One web search result for a national EDDM postcard printer that we researched further showed up on a 3rd party review website with 75% 5 star reviews and the remaining 25% reviews being all 1 star - with nothing in-between. The time period selection was for the past 6 months. It appeared that those complaints had to do with legitimate problems with a customer order that the printer had made no effort to communicate with them about or resolve. There was no reference to those customers problems ever being resolved. This EDDM printer offered a price point well under other competitors, yet those type negative reviews put this printer in the "uncertain" category in our perception. We would have felt more positive about this printer if there were reply's showing they had reached out to resolve the problem.

Their website has a 5 Star rating system for customers to submit reviews. They show a 4.9 rating there. We did not find a way to select or sort those ratings by individual 1 to 5 stars.

EDDM has specific thickness and size requirements for the postcard you will mail. They offer a generous range of options to select from. The cost to EDDM deliver those sizes from small to large is the same. This means that "larger is often better". EDDM postcard printers know this and set up their product sizing to fit within the EDDM requirements. Depending on the paper stock, print process and print equipment they use, the specific finished sizes that each commercial EDDM printer offers may vary. They will funnel your EDDM order through their product selection process.

Tip! Most EDDM printers offer pdf templates for you or your graphic artist to use to be sure that you get their "bleeds" correct. A bleed is the area of the postcard that will be trimmed off, after being printed, to finish the appearance to the final size of the postcard. The purpose of the template is to help you keep your important text and graphics out of the trim off area and safely within the final size. Professional graphic artists are well aware of this print standard. The template dials them into creating your artwork to specifically fit your selected EDDM postcard printers final size using their bleeds.

Tip! You may find that the EDDM printer you select provides graphic artist services in-house or with a recommended vendor. That's typically the best option for you as it puts the "onus" of getting everything correct for their printing process on them or within their normal channels for accomplishing that. You can read more about this subject in Step 4: EDDM Postcards "How to design your EDDM postcard".

Tip! Double check the size postcard that you select from your commercial printer using the USPS EDDM website order tool. You will enter the height, length and thickness to confirm it meets EDDM requirements.

Click on the Image at the top right labeled "Mailpiece Size Checker".

A popup box will open where you can enter your height, length and thickness to confirm the postcard you are printing meets EDDM requirements.

When you have selected the EDDM postcard printer that you will use and that the finished postcard size they provide does meet EDDM requirements, you are now ready to have your artwork created to fit that size EDDM postcard.