Postcards get read because there is nothing to open. No envelope, no decision, no barrier. The message is simply there, face up, in someone's hand. That is the whole advantage, and almost every design rule for postcards follows from protecting it.
Here are the sizes, the real cost per piece at each quantity, the mailing rules that decide your postage, and the handful of design decisions that actually move response rates.
What postcards actually cost per piece
Real pricing for 4 x 6 postcards, UV coated, printed both sides, standard turnaround. Per-piece cost is what matters in direct mail, because you are comparing against postage.
| Quantity | Price | Per piece |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | $22.65 | $0.91 |
| 100 | $43.25 | $0.43 |
| 250 | $77.00 | $0.31 |
| 500 | $105.13 | $0.21 |
| 5,000 | $373.75 | $0.075 |
Prices as of September 2026, 4 x 6, UV, printed both sides. Check the product page for current pricing at your exact size and quantity.
The shape of that ladder is the important part. Print cost per piece falls by more than a factor of ten between 25 and 5,000. At small runs the press setup dominates; at scale you are paying for paper and ink.
Which leads to the decision most people get wrong. At 5,000 pieces your print cost is about 7.5 cents and your postage is several times that. Past a few hundred pieces, postage is your campaign budget and printing is a rounding error. So do not agonise over saving two cents a card. Agonise over the mailing list, because that is where the money actually goes.
We print postcards up to 100,000 in a single run, so the ladder keeps going well past the table above.
Size decides your postage, so pick it first
This is the one technical rule worth knowing before you design anything.
The USPS postcard rate, which is cheaper than a letter, applies only within a specific size band: minimum 3.5 x 5 inches, maximum 4.25 x 6 inches, and within a thickness range. Go one sixteenth of an inch over that maximum and the same piece of card mails at the letter rate instead.
- 4 x 6 sits inside the postcard band and is the standard direct mail size for that reason. If you are mailing, this is almost always the right answer.
- Larger sizes, including 11 x 17, will not get the postcard rate. They are excellent as handouts, in-store pieces, door drops and rack cards. If that is the job, compare against flyers, which give you more area per dollar once you are no longer paying postage.
- Small squares like 2.5 x 2.5 fall below the minimum and cannot be mailed alone at all. They are for packaging inserts and giveaways, where a sticker is often the better packaging piece anyway.
Rates change, so confirm current figures with USPS before committing to a large mailing. The size bands themselves have been stable for years.
Stock and finish
Our postcards run on 14PT card stock, which is 0.014 inches thick. That is the right weight for mail: stiff enough to survive automated sorting without creasing, light enough not to affect postage. If you want the full explanation of what point sizes mean and how they feel in the hand, that is in our card stock guide.
On finish, the choice is genuinely about where the card ends up:
- UV or gloss for anything image-led. Colours stay saturated and the card resists handling. You cannot write on it.
- Matte if anyone needs to write on the card, which includes appointment reminders and anything with a fill-in field. Our writable postcards are built for exactly that.
- Printed both sides is close to mandatory for mail. A blank back is a wasted half of the piece, and it is the side facing up about half the time.
More on this in our finish guide.
If you want the card to feel different
Most campaigns should use a standard coated stock and put the money into the list. But there are cases where the card itself is the message: a high-value service, an invitation, a reactivation piece to lapsed premium customers. Here is what those options cost.
| Option | From | When it is worth it |
|---|---|---|
| High-gloss postcards | $22.60 | The default. Best value in the range and the strongest colour |
| Economy matte | $58.50 | High volume where unit cost is the only thing that matters |
| Kraft paper | $54.97 | Artisan, food, handmade. Uncoated so it takes a pen |
| Silk matte laminated | $88.45 | Soft, premium feel. Laminate survives handling |
| Pearl paper | $136.40 | Events and invitations. Shimmer in the stock itself |
| Metallic foil | $174.95 | Real foil stamping. The most noticed piece in a mailbox |
| Durable postcards | $178.15 | Loyalty and reference cards meant to be kept |
Honest guidance: on a mailing of any real size, the specialty stocks cost more than the postage and will not lift response enough to pay for themselves. Use them for small, high-value, hand-delivered or hand-addressed sends where the recipient count is in the dozens, not the thousands.
The design rules that matter
Postcard design is unusually constrained, which is good news, because it removes most of the ways to get it wrong.
One offer. A postcard has roughly two seconds of attention between the mailbox and the recycling. Two offers halve the clarity of both. Pick the single thing you want someone to do.
The offer goes on the front, large. Not the logo. Nobody has ever responded to a mailer because of a logo. The offer, the reason to care, and enough brand identity to look legitimate.
A deadline. This is the single highest-leverage change on most postcards. "20% off" gets filed. "20% off through October 15" gets acted on or thrown away, and either is better than filed.
One response channel, made obvious. Phone number, QR code or short URL. Pick the one your customer actually uses. A QR code is excellent for a younger audience and useless in a nursing home mailing.
Leave the address area clear. If you are mailing, a block on the address side must stay free of artwork for the address, the indicia and the barcode. Design into that constraint rather than discovering it at the mail house.
Bleed and safety. Background to the bleed line, nothing important within an eighth of an inch of the cut. Full detail in the artwork guide.
Where postcards genuinely outperform
Being honest about this, because postcards are not a universal answer.
They work well for: local service businesses with a defined radius, grand openings and new locations, real estate just-listed and just-sold farming, appointment reminders, seasonal offers with a real deadline, reactivating lapsed customers, and anything where the recipient is geographically qualified.
They work poorly for: complex products needing explanation, anything requiring trust built over time, national campaigns with no geographic logic, and audiences who transact entirely online.
The recurring pattern is that postcards reward geographic relevance and a simple ask. If your offer needs a paragraph to explain, a postcard is the wrong format and no amount of design fixes it.
One alternative worth knowing: if your target is a walkable neighbourhood rather than a mailing list, door hangers from $81.43 never compete with junk mail, because they never go in the mailbox. You trade postage for distribution labour.
Common questions
What size postcard can I mail at the postcard rate?
Between 3.5 x 5 and 4.25 x 6 inches, within the USPS thickness range. 4 x 6 is the standard choice. Anything larger mails at the letter rate or above.
How much do postcards cost to print?
About 43 cents each at 100 pieces, 21 cents at 500, and about 7.5 cents at 5,000, for 4 x 6 printed both sides. Print cost drops sharply with volume while postage does not.
Should postcards be printed on both sides?
Yes, for mail. The card lands face up or face down roughly half the time each, so a blank side wastes half your impressions.
What stock are postcards printed on?
14PT card stock, 0.014 inches thick. Stiff enough for automated mail sorting, light enough not to affect postage.
Matte or gloss for postcards?
Gloss or UV for image-led pieces, which is most of them. Matte only if someone needs to write on the card.
How many postcards should I mail?
Enough that the per-piece print cost has come down and the list is still well targeted, which for most local businesses means several hundred to a few thousand. Below about 100 the per-piece print cost is high enough that hand delivery may be better value.
Do I need to leave space for the address?
Yes, if you are mailing. A defined block on the address side must stay clear for the address, indicia and barcode. Ask before you design if you are unsure how much.
Are premium postcard stocks worth the money?
Rarely on a large mailing, because the stock costs more than the postage and does not lift response proportionally. They earn their place on small, high-value sends of a few dozen pieces where the card itself is meant to signal something.
What is the biggest mistake on postcard campaigns?
A weak list. Design and print quality are worth optimising, but a great card to the wrong thousand people loses to an average card to the right two hundred.
Before you order
Every file gets a free hand check before printing, including a look at whether your address area is genuinely clear if the job is going to mail.
Browse high gloss postcards, matte postcards, or the full postcards and flyers range.