EDDM timelines: when to order so it lands on time
How long an EDDM mailing takes from approved artwork to mailboxes, what USPS does and doesn't promise, and how to count back from an election so your mailer arrives before the ballots do.
The question every first-time mailer asks is "when will it arrive?" The answer is a window of days, counted from the day your artwork is approved. This guide shows where the days go and how to plan around them. For how EDDM compares with list mail and handouts on timing, see Direct Mail 101.
The clock starts at approved artwork
Nothing prints until the artwork is approved, so every timeline here starts on that day. Days spent writing copy, choosing a photo or waiting for a sign-off come before it. Build those into your plan separately.
The days we count are business days. They skip Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays, and an approval on a weekend or holiday counts from the next business day.
What our production calendar shows
For EDDM, printing, bundling, the paperwork, the drop at the post office and the carrier's delivery all run on one calendar, with a target date for the mail to be in mailboxes. When we read that calendar in October 2026:
- an order placed on Tuesday, October 6 had a target in-mailbox date of Friday, October 16
- an order placed on Wednesday, October 7 had a target of Monday, October 19
Both are 7 business days, with Columbus Day (Monday, October 12, a federal holiday) skipped. The calendar gave the same answer for every size we checked, from 6.5" × 8" to 8.5" × 11".
What USPS promises, and what it doesn't
USPS publishes service standards for Marketing Mail, the class EDDM travels in. Since July 1, 2025 the standard for mail that travels end to end is 4 to 7 days, down from the old 3 to 10 (Federal Register, Feb 28, 2025). Mail paying a delivery-unit rate has a 2-day standard, the closest published standard for EDDM Retail, which goes in at the local post office (39 CFR 121.3).
A standard is a target. The same rules say Marketing Mail "may receive deferred handling" and that "The USPS does not guarantee the delivery … within a specified time" (DMM 243.3.1.1).
Why we show a window
Because USPS gives no guaranteed date, we never quote one. We plan EDDM at about 7 business days from approval to mailboxes and add a 2-day cushion, so our window runs 7 to 9 business days. Plan your message so it still works if it lands at the end.
Holidays and weekends
Our timeline skips federal holidays for you, Columbus Day included. USPS counts them too: for mail entered on a Saturday or the day before a holiday, Sundays and holidays don't count as transit days (USPS service standard fact sheet).
If you approve on a Friday afternoon, the first business day is Monday. If you approve the Friday before a Monday holiday, it's Tuesday.
The election math in Florida
For a campaign, the date that matters is the day voters start voting, which in Florida comes well before Election Day.
- Mail ballots go out between the 40th and the 33rd day before a primary or general election (s. 101.62(3)(b), Fla. Stat.). For the November 3, 2026 general election that was September 24 to October 1 (Florida Division of Elections).
- Early voting must start by the 10th day before an election with state or federal races, and counties may start it as early as the 15th (s. 101.657(1)(d), Fla. Stat.). Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade all start on Monday, October 19, 2026 (Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade).
So a mailer meant to persuade should land before the ballots do. A second piece should land before early voting opens. Later pieces reach the people who haven't voted yet. Count back 9 business days from each of those dates, and that is your approval deadline.
Use the timeline on our products page
Our order timeline does this counting for you. Pick your election, or type your own date, and pick the day you expect your artwork to be approved. It shows when EDDM, list mail, postcards and signs arrive, and the latest approval date for each to land before early voting and before Election Day.
A worked example
Say you approved 5,000 of our 6.5" × 9" EDDM postcards on Tuesday, October 6, 2026.
- Cost: $1,395 to print and prepare, plus about $1,300 in postage at 26¢ a piece if your routes hold 5,000 addresses, about $2,695 in all.
- Timing: the production calendar's target was Friday, October 16. Our 7-to-9-day window puts it between Friday, October 16 and Tuesday, October 20.
Early voting in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade opened on Monday, October 19. The early end of that window lands before it and the late end doesn't. To have the whole window land by the Friday before, you would have approved by Friday, October 2. Our EDDM cost guide breaks down the price at other quantities.
Or let us do it
Send us your election and the date you want the mail to land, and we'll tell you the latest day to approve. Or open the timeline and see it yourself. When you're ready, see EDDM pricing.
You might also like
- The Florida campaign mail calendar: ballots, early voting, Election Day, and your order-by math
- What is Every Door Direct Mail?
- What EDDM costs, line by line
- Voter lists in Florida: who can get them, where, what's in them, what they cost
- Which election is my city's? Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade dates explained
- When will it arrive? The order timeline for every election