MARSHALLTOWN, IA — The U.S. Postal Service’s Des Moines-based Hawkeye District is offering free seminars to help small businesses save money on their mailings. It’s part of a “Grow Your Business Day” initiative promoting Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) in Iowa, the Quad Cities and across the nation

Marshalltown Postmaster Sheila Ludwikowski will host a free EDDM seminar on Thurs., June 16 from 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. at the Marshalltown Post Office, located at 309 E Linn Ave.

EDDM service from the U.S. Postal Service allows businesses to send advertising mail to their desired audience without the need to acquire an address list or print specific names and addresses on mailpieces. The business saves the cost of renting a mailing list and does not require a postage permit to mail. That means no annual fee, and customers can bring mail bundles to the Post Office that services the area small businesses want to reach. Letter carriers will deliver the EDDM mailpieces during regular delivery. And the postage is only 14.2 cents per piece.

Nearly any business can take advantage of EDDM’s marketing power. Retailers: Auto dealers, restaurants and pizzerias, pharmacies, clothing stores, furniture dealers, flower shops, coffee shops, and bakeries would benefit. Service-based businesses: Attorneys, health care professionals, dry cleaners, home improvement companies, and real estate firms.

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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. We’re everywhere so you can be anywhere: www.uspseverywhere.com. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $67 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 29th in the 2010 Fortune 500. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency six consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.