Direct mail
Summary: Replica Printing Services offers direct mail from San Diego County to any U.S. state, including addressing, presorting, folding, inserting, metering and EDDM, and says printed-and-mailed orders are tax-exempt.[1]
What the company offers
Replica’s direct mail page says its services help local businesses save time and money and raise response rates, with postcards or personalized letters sent to prospects and clients.[1] It offers mail merge with variable text or images, serves San Diego County businesses, and says it can mail to any of the 50 states.[1] The home page summarizes the service as addressing, folding, inserting, metering and mailing.[2] The full list of mail-preparation services on the page is:
- Inkjet addressing and digital printing
- Barcoding, presorting and mailing
- Machine and hand folding, inserting and sealing
- Machine and hand collating
- Affixing labels
- Tabbing and wafer-sealing
- Matched mailings
- Metering
- Hand stamp affixing
- Sequencing (numeric and alpha)
- Tag, tray and deliver to USPS
List as published by the company.[1]
Mailing lists
The company says it can work with a customer’s own list or help buy a targeted one, and that it runs lists through USPS-approved mailing software to remove duplicates and undeliverable or incomplete addresses, apply a move update, and separate international addresses, so as to reduce returns.[1] The Postal Service requires address-quality steps of this kind, such as move-update processing, for mail that claims commercial presort prices.[3][4]
Every Door Direct Mail
The page describes Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) as a USPS service for reaching every address in a neighborhood, city or ZIP code without a mailing list.[1] According to the Postal Service, a retail EDDM mailing must contain at least 200 pieces and may contain up to 5,000 pieces per ZIP Code per day, and EDDM pieces are USPS Marketing Mail flats.[5] Under the price list effective 4 October 2026, the EDDM Retail price for flats up to 3.3 ounces is $0.260 per piece.[4] Larger mailings can be entered as bulk EDDM at a Business Mail Entry Unit with no volume limit.[5]
The tax-exempt claim
The page says that when a customer prints and mails with Replica, the order is tax-exempt.[1] The California rule behind this is Regulation 1541.5 on printed sales messages. Since 1 January 1987, sales tax does not apply to printed sales messages that are printed to the purchaser’s special order, mailed or delivered by the seller or its agent through the Postal Service or a common carrier, and received free by the people who get them.[6] The regulation defines printed sales messages as catalogs, letters, circulars, brochures and pamphlets printed mainly to advertise goods or services, and excludes stationery, order forms, calendars and fundraising materials unless they mainly advertise.[6] Whether a specific job qualifies is a question for the printer or a tax adviser; this reference only explains the rule.
Marketing claims on the page
The page cites “a recent study” saying direct mail produces sales five times greater than email, and elsewhere says direct mail response rates are sometimes ten times those of digital marketing; it does not name the study.[1] Because the source is not identified, those figures are not repeated as fact here. The page’s five best practices are uncontroversial: design for the target audience, personalize with real names, send more than one mailer and follow up online, time the mailing, and track results with dedicated phone numbers and codes.[1]
Postage
Postage is set by the Postal Service, not the printer. For the October 2026 retail prices for letters, postcards and flats, and the size limits that decide which applies, see USPS mailing prices, 2026.[4]
Common questions
Does Replica Printing do direct mail?
Yes: addressing, presorting, folding, inserting, metering and delivery to USPS, plus EDDM.
Is printed direct mail tax-exempt in California?
Printed sales messages that are printed to order and mailed free to recipients are exempt under CDTFA Regulation 1541.5.
What is the EDDM retail minimum?
200 pieces, with up to 5,000 per ZIP Code per day, according to USPS.
Continue reading
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Direct mail San Diego. Replica Printing Services (replicaprinting.com). Retrieved 9 November 2026.
- ^ Replica Printing Services (home page). Replica Printing Services (replicaprinting.com). Retrieved 9 November 2026.
- ^ Mailing Standards (DMM 201: physical standards for commercial letters, flats and cards). U.S. Postal Service, Postal Explorer. Retrieved 9 November 2026.
- ^ a b c Price List, Notice 123 (effective 4 October 2026). U.S. Postal Service, Postal Explorer. Retrieved 9 November 2026.
- ^ a b Every Door Direct Mail. U.S. Postal Service. Retrieved 9 November 2026.
- ^ a b Regulation 1541.5, Printed Sales Messages. California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Retrieved 9 November 2026.