First Class Mail vs. Marketing Mail

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First class mail

First class mail includes cards, letters, flyers and small packages up to 13 ounces. First class mail is treated with, well, first class service. It jumps to the front of the line.  Local mail typically gets delivered in one to three days and distant mail in three to five days. If you have an event coming up soon, then this is the way to go.  The mail is forwarded if the recipient has moved and returned if it can't be delivered, at no additional cost. The postage is paid by stamps, metered, or indicia (200+ pieces). The only drawback is cost as other options have lower costs

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First Class Presort mail

This is the same first class mail above with all of the same perks. It does require 500 or more pieces, however. Since we do much of the post office's work before they get it, the postage will be up to 24% less on a per piece basis. Savings can be much greater though. We CASS certify your mailing list to standardize the address. We remove bad addresses and duplicate names.  We NCOA your mailing list; this updates your list with the addressee's current address. We then PAVE sort your list into optimum delivery order. On your mailpiece we print the IMB barcode. This will get you the lowest possible postage and possibly faster delivery.

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Marketing Mail

Commercial Marketing Mail ( aka. standard mail, bulk mail or 3rd class mail) gets up to 2/3 lower postage rates. It's  good for 200+ pieces  or 50 lbs of mail. It requires the the same preprocessing that we do on First class presort mail, but will achieve the same benefits. The mail is not forwarded to someone who has moved, though this is pretty much mitigated by our NCOA processing that fixes the mail before it gets sent out. It's biggest drawback is delivery time. Local letter-size mail will take 2-4 days for delivery while distant mail can take over a week.  It gets back of the line treatment. Don't use it for super critical events that are soon approaching. 

If your birthday party is a week from now, don't use marketing mail.

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Nonprofit mail is the same as marketing mail except that qualified organizations get about half off the regular marketing mail rates.  You need to be authorized by the US Postal Service for these subsidized rates.  You can get the application form here <http://about.usps.com/forms/ps3624.pdf>.

 

Red tag Politcal mail is also marketing mail, but used for political campaigns. The postage rates are the same as regular marketing mail, not discounted. This mail generally gets first class delivery. Letter-size local political mail usually gets there the next day. It get priority treatment.

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EDDM, Every Door Direct Mail, is another type of marketing mail. This requires larger flat size mailpieces but uses a generic Local Postal Customer mailing label. See <EDDM vs. Marketing Mail> for pros and cons.

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