Neighborhood marketing
Door hangers vs. postcards
Both put your offer in front of every home in a neighborhood. One needs a crew walking door to door; the other rides along with the mail. Here's how they compare — and how to mail flyers to a neighborhood without a mailing list.
Side by side
| Door hangers | Mailed postcards (EDDM) | |
|---|---|---|
| How it gets there | Someone walks every street and hangs each one by hand. | Your mail carrier delivers it with the regular mail. |
| Proof it was delivered | You trust the crew. Skipped streets are hard to spot. | USPS delivers to every address on the routes you pick. |
| Reaches apartments and gated areas | Usually not — locked lobbies and gates stop walkers. | Yes, if the units have mailboxes on the route. |
| Mailing list needed | No. | No — EDDM goes to every mailbox on a route. |
| Rules to follow | Local handbill ordinances, HOA rules, and no-soliciting signs. | USPS size and paperwork rules (we handle them). |
| Lead time | Fast once you have a crew. | About two weeks for printing and the post-office drop. |
| Precision | Can target a single street or block. | Whole postal routes (a route is a few hundred to ~1,000 homes). |
When door hangers win
- One street or subdivision — smaller than a postal route
- The neighbors of a job you just finished
- You need it out this week and already have people
When mailed postcards win
- Thousands of homes, not dozens
- You want proof every home was reached
- Apartments, gated communities, or HOA neighborhoods
- You'd rather not hire, manage, or check a crew
The rule most people don't know: no flyers in mailboxes
It's tempting to tuck a flyer into a mailbox while you're walking a street. Don't — under federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1725) only mail with postage can go in a mailbox, and violations can be fined. Door hangers go on the door. If you want the mailbox, it has to be mailed.
How to mail flyers to a neighborhood
USPS Every Door Direct Mail was built for exactly this. Doing it yourself takes five steps:
- Pick your routes. Each postal carrier route covers a few hundred to about 1,000 homes. The free USPS EDDM tool shows routes on a map; ours also ranks them by how well they fit your business.
- Print at an EDDM size. The piece must be a flat — taller than 6⅛ inches or longer than 11½ inches. See our postcard size guide.
- Add the indicia. A printed postage mark and the line "ECRWSS Local Postal Customer" replace the stamp and address.
- Bundle and fill out the paperwork. Stacks of 50–100 with a facing slip on each, plus the EDDM postage statement.
- Drop it at the post office that serves those routes, with at least 200 pieces.
Or skip all five: we pick the routes that fit your business, print 6.5 × 9 postcards, and handle the bundling, paperwork, and drop for one all-in price. For more on postcards as a marketing channel, see business postcards.
Door hanger and flyer FAQs
Are door hangers a good idea?
They can be, for a small, very specific area — one subdivision, or the streets around a job you just finished. For reaching thousands of homes reliably, they're harder: you need people to walk every street, you can't easily verify coverage, and locked buildings and gated communities are off-limits. Mailing a postcard with Every Door Direct Mail reaches the same homes without a crew.
Is it legal to put door hangers on doors?
In most places, yes — but local ordinances can restrict handbill distribution, HOAs often ban it, and you should respect posted no-soliciting signs. What is never allowed is putting flyers or door hangers inside a mailbox: under federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1725), only mail with postage can go in a mailbox.
Can I put flyers in mailboxes?
No. A mailbox can only hold mail that has postage paid. Putting an unstamped flyer in one is a federal violation and can be fined. To get a flyer into every mailbox legally, mail it through Every Door Direct Mail, which delivers it with postage to every address on the routes you choose.
How do I mail flyers to a neighborhood?
Use USPS Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM). You pick the postal routes that cover the neighborhood, print the piece at an EDDM-eligible size (taller than 6⅛ inches or longer than 11½ inches — for example 6.5 × 9 or 8.5 × 11), bundle it, fill out the paperwork, and drop it at the local post office. No names or addresses are needed. Or have a done-for-you service handle all of it.
How much does it cost to mail flyers to a neighborhood?
With EDDM, postage is a low flat rate per piece, plus printing. Done-for-you services bundle printing, postage, and delivery into one per-piece price that drops as volume grows. Use our free EDDM cost calculator to see the all-in number for your mailbox count.
What are the requirements for Every Door Direct Mail?
The piece must be a flat (taller than 6⅛ inches, longer than 11½ inches, or thicker than ¼ inch, up to 12 × 15 inches) and weigh no more than 3.3 ounces. EDDM Retail needs at least 200 pieces per mailing and allows up to 5,000 per post office per day. Pieces are bundled in stacks of 50–100 with a facing slip on each bundle.
What is a flyer distributor?
A company that hires walkers to hand-deliver flyers or door hangers door to door. You pay for printing plus labor, usually per piece. It works best for small, targeted areas; for larger areas, mail delivery through EDDM is more reliable and doesn't depend on a crew.
Reach every door without a crew
Drop a pin and see which neighborhoods fit your business, who else already mails them, and the all-in price — printing, postage, and delivery included.