Postcards & Mailers

A short offer on a piece meant to travel

A postcard is a short argument: one offer, one image, one reason to respond. Marketers use it for a sale. Franchise groups use it when every shop needs the same promotion. Nonprofits use it for an appeal. Event promoters use it as the invite that has to arrive before the date. Real estate teams use it when a listing has to be seen twice, once in the mailbox and once on a desk. The piece is small on purpose. If the story needs panels and a fold, it is a brochure. If people will hand it out rather than mail it, look at flyers instead.

The travel is the part to decide early. Some buyers want a stack shipped to the office so their own team drops them. Others want each card to carry a different name or a different offer. Those are both print jobs we can quote. Putting the cards into the mail, one by one, is not the same thing as printing them.

Size, coating, and whether every card changes

You pick the finished size. Requests often land on 4 by 6, 5 by 7, 6 by 9, or 6 by 11 inches, because those are familiar mail sizes. None of them is mandatory. Tell us the size you actually want, whether both sides print, and which finish you want: matte, gloss, or a writing surface left uncoated so a note can be added by hand.

Then say whether the run is identical. A stack of the same card is straightforward. A card that changes — name, store, offer, expiration — needs the data and a template with room for those fields. Personalized and short runs sit naturally with digital printing. A long run of one identical card, where color has to hold across cartons, is the sort of job offset printing is used for. Describe the run. The quote names the path.

Print the pieces, then decide how they reach people

Request a quote with the quantity, size, sides, finish, whether the art varies, and the state or ZIP where the printed cartons should ship. We price it, send a proof, and print after you approve. The cartons then ship anywhere in the United States.

If you also want the cards mailed to a list, ask in that same request and wait for a yes before you plan on it. Postage, a mailing list, and a drop date are a separate service from printing. We will tell you plainly whether this order includes that step. Until we do, assume you are receiving the printed pieces, not a completed mailing.

Leave room if the card will be mailed

Art that runs edge to edge is right for the picture side. The other side needs a plan. If the card will be mailed, keep type and photos out of the area that has to stay clear for the recipient block and any indicia. If you are only shipping a stack to your own office, you can use that side for the offer instead — and you should say so, so we do not reserve a panel you never needed.

Send a PDF at the finished size plus bleed. Graphic design and prepress can build the template, place variable fields, and check that nothing important sits in the trim or in a panel you meant to keep clear. Include a sample row of the data if names or offers change, so the proof shows a real card and not an empty box.