The honest breakdown: postage, printing, and design — and what an all-in per-piece price actually looks like. With PostKnock, a 4×6 postcard runs about $1.05 on the Free plan and $0.79 on Pro, printing and postage included.
Start Free — No Credit CardDirect-mail cost is the sum of three things: postage (what USPS charges to deliver), printing (the physical card), and design (getting the artwork made). Add them up and a postcard typically lands somewhere between roughly $0.40 and $1.00+ per piece, all-in — cheaper at high volume and when you do more yourself, more expensive in small runs or through an agency.1 These are labeled estimates, not quotes; your real number depends on size, quantity, postage class, and how much you outsource.
What USPS charges to deliver the card. The single biggest lever — and where mail class matters most.
Paper, ink, and cutting. Per-piece price drops steeply as quantity rises.
A one-time cost if you outsource — or effectively $0 if you use a template editor.
Postage is usually the largest line item, and the mail class you choose changes both the price and how you have to send. The figures below are labeled estimates for postcard-sized mail — always confirm current rates with USPS before you budget.2
| Mail class | Est. postage / piece | Best for | Trade-offs |
|---|---|---|---|
| First-Class (postcard) | ~$0.55–$0.60 est. | Targeted lists where you mail to specific named addresses (e.g. lapsed customers). | Highest per-piece postage, but fastest delivery and forwarding/return on bad addresses. |
| USPS Marketing Mail | ~$0.30–$0.45 est. | Large bulk campaigns where you can hit minimum-quantity and presort rules. | Cheaper per piece, but slower, needs a bulk permit/presort, and undeliverables aren't returned by default. |
| EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) | ~$0.20–$0.25 est. postage | Saturation mailing to every address on chosen carrier routes — no mailing list needed. | Lowest postage, but you can't target individuals; you mail a whole neighborhood. |
Rates shown are rounded estimates for postcard-format mail and vary by size, weight, presort level, and the year's price schedule. EDDM Retail postage is set per piece by USPS for local saturation routes. Treat every figure here as illustrative — not a quote.2
Printing is the physical card — paper stock, ink, and cutting. Two things move the number: size and quantity. A larger card costs more per piece, and per-piece printing drops sharply as you order more.
The standard postcard. Lowest printing cost per piece, qualifies for postcard-rate postage. Est. printing roughly a few cents to ~$0.15+/piece depending on volume.
More room for the offer and a bigger footprint in the mailbox. Higher printing cost per piece than 4×6, and typically a higher postage tier.
The largest standard postcard — hardest to ignore. Highest printing cost per piece of the three, best reserved for high-value offers.
Printing estimates are illustrative and depend heavily on quantity, stock, coating, and vendor. Small runs cost far more per piece than large ones — that's the main reason DIY-from-a-local-printer math rarely beats a platform that prints at scale.
Design is the most variable line. Outsource it and it's a real, one-time charge. Do it yourself in a template editor and it's effectively free.
PostKnock's in-app Design Studio falls in the second column: you start from a template across 50+ industries and customize it — so design isn't a separate invoice line at all.
Instead of stitching together a printer, a postage account, and a designer, PostKnock bundles printing + USPS First-Class postage into one per-piece price, with design done in-app. Here's the whole number for a 4×6 card.
All-in, 4×6 — printing + USPS First-Class postage
All-in, 4×6 — printing + USPS First-Class postage
Per-piece prices are approximate and apply to the 4×6 size; 6×9 and 6×11 cost more per piece. The price already includes printing and USPS First-Class postage — there's no separate postage account or design invoice. See full pricing →
Doing it yourself means assembling and paying for each layer separately — and small-run printing usually erases the savings. A bundled per-piece price collapses the whole stack into one number.
| Cost layer | DIY (printer + postage + designer) | PostKnock |
|---|---|---|
| Printing | Separate printer invoice; high per-piece on small runs | Included in per-piece |
| USPS postage | Your own postage account / permit; you handle presort | First-Class included |
| Design | Freelancer/agency per project, or your own time | In-app Design Studio |
| Tracking | Add it yourself, if at all | QR + UTM built in |
| Phone follow-up | Build a call list by hand | Call Queue (Pro) |
| Minimum / commitment | Print minimums; postage deposits | Free tier, pay per piece |
Comparison reflects the typical DIY workflow; specific DIY costs vary by vendor and volume. PostKnock's per-piece price already folds printing and First-Class postage together.
The price of one card matters less than what the whole campaign brings back. A slightly pricier card that gets a response beats a cheap card that gets thrown out. To weigh cost against likely return, model your own list, offer, and average customer value:
Plug in your list size, per-piece cost, an estimated response rate, and customer value to see whether the math works — with transparent, hedged inputs.
Open the ROI Calculator →Response and ROI vary widely by list quality, offer, and follow-up. Industry studies typically report direct-mail response rates to a house list in the low-to-mid single digits (often cited around 3–6%).3 Treat any number as an estimate, not a promise.
All-in, a 4x6 marketing postcard typically lands somewhere between roughly $0.40 and $1.00+ per piece once you add postage, printing, and design. The exact number depends on size, quantity, postage class, and how much you outsource. With PostKnock, a 4x6 card is about $1.05 on the Free plan and $0.79 on Pro, with printing and USPS First-Class postage included in that price.
First-Class is the fastest and most expensive option and is best for mailing to specific named addresses, like a list of lapsed customers; it also forwards or returns undeliverable mail. USPS Marketing Mail is cheaper per piece but slower, needs a bulk permit and presort, and is meant for large bulk campaigns. EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) has the lowest postage because you saturate whole carrier routes without a mailing list, but you can't target individuals. All postage figures here are estimates; confirm current rates with USPS.
Per piece, EDDM postage is usually the lowest because there's no list and you mail an entire carrier route. But cheaper postage isn't the same as cheaper results: you're paying to reach everyone on the route, including people who'll never buy. A targeted First-Class mailing costs more per piece but reaches people you chose. Use the EDDM Cost Estimator and the ROI Calculator to compare the two for your situation.
Yes, on both printing and usually postage. A 4x6 card is the cheapest to print and qualifies for postcard-rate postage. 6x9 and 6x11 cost more per piece to print and typically fall into a higher postage tier, but they're harder to ignore in the mailbox. PostKnock supports all three sizes in the Design Studio; per-piece prices rise with size.
It depends entirely on whether you outsource it. A freelancer or agency charges a one-time project fee, and revisions and per-size redesigns add up. If you use a template editor instead, design is effectively free. PostKnock's in-app Design Studio lets you start from an industry template and customize the copy, colors, logo, and QR code yourself, so design isn't a separate invoice line.
The per-piece price (about $1.05 on Free, $0.79 on Pro for a 4x6 card) includes printing and USPS First-Class postage. Design is done in the included Design Studio, and QR tracking is built in. You pay from a wallet only for what you send, with no setup fees, minimums, or contracts. Pro adds the Call Queue for phone follow-up and multi-wave playbooks for $99/mo or $799/yr.
With PostKnock, no. The Free plan has no credit card requirement, no minimum order, and no time limit; you only pay the per-piece price for cards you actually send, drawn from your wallet. The only optional recurring cost is the Pro subscription if you want the Call Queue and multi-wave sequences. Doing it yourself, by contrast, often involves print minimums and postage deposits.
Export your contacts as a CSV from whatever system you already use, then upload that CSV to PostKnock; the import wizard auto-maps the name, address, and phone columns. PostKnock does not connect to or sync with third-party software directly. The flow is a one-time CSV export and import, which you can repeat whenever you refresh the list. (EDDM-style saturation mailing doesn't require a list at all.)
Start free, design a card, and watch the all-in number before you send a thing. You only pay when you mail — from $0.79 a card on Pro.
Start Free — No Credit CardSources & notes
1 All-in per-piece cost ranges are rounded estimates combining typical postage, small-to-mid-volume printing, and design. They vary widely by size, quantity, postage class, and vendor — presented as illustrative ranges, not quotes.
2 Postage figures are estimates for postcard-format mail and depend on the current USPS price schedule, size, weight, and presort level. EDDM Retail postage is set per piece by USPS for local saturation routes. Always confirm current rates directly with USPS (usps.com) before budgeting.
3 Direct-mail response-rate ranges are drawn from general industry benchmarks (e.g. ANA / DMA Response Rate Report coverage). Figures are estimates that vary widely by list, offer, and follow-up — presented as a range, not a guarantee.