Direct mail basics

Mailing lists explained: occupant, named, and targeted

A mailing list is a file of addresses, and there are three kinds worth knowing. Here is what each one is, what vendors charge for it, where the data comes from, and which kind fits which job.

Published Sat, Oct 17, 2026 · Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026

• Mailing lists
• Saturation mail
• Voter lists
• Data sources
• Costs
• USPS rules

A mailing list is the file that tells the printer where each piece goes. If you have never bought one, the choices look endless. They come down to three kinds, and this guide covers each one. For how a list compares with Every Door Direct Mail and handouts, start with Direct Mail 101.

The three kinds

Occupant lists cover every deliverable address in the area you pick. Melissa, one of the large list vendors, describes its saturation list as "otherwise known as an occupant mailing" that lets you "mail to every door in your target area" (Melissa). Click2Mail's list help says a saturation list "is addressed to 'Resident'" and that an occupant list uses a "slug" such as "Occupant" or "Boxholder" in place of a name (Click2Mail).

Consumer lists carry the name tied to each address, and you can narrow them with "selects": household income, age, home value, homeowner or renter, length of residence, and more. Melissa's consumer file covers more than 200 million people and is "updated quarterly", by its own description (Melissa).

Modeled lists start from your own customer file. The vendor looks for records with similar traits and sells you those. Click2Mail calls this a "Lookalike/Cloning List" and says data modeling "takes your current customer file and analyzes it to look for similar characteristics" (Click2Mail).

Do you need names on the piece?

Often you don't. USPS has an official format for mail with no name at all. Its rulebook, the Domestic Mail Manual, lets you address a piece to "Postal Customer", "Occupant", "Householder" or "Resident" at a specific street address (DMM 602.3.3).

There is also a middle option, the one you have seen on your own mail: "Jane Doe or Current Resident". USPS calls it an "exceptional address format" and allows it on most mail. The rule notes that "The word 'Current' is optional" and the order of the words may be reversed (DMM 602.3.4).

Both formats get delivered. A piece with an occupant or "Current Resident" line is "delivered as addressed and is not forwarded" (DMM 602.3.1.3), so it goes to whoever lives at the address today. That is the point: if the Doe family moved, the new household still gets your mailer.

Names matter when the message is personal. A letter to a voter by name, a thank-you to a past customer, or a note to a homeowner about their own house all read better with a name. A postcard announcing a new shop or a candidate's name does fine with "Resident".

What a list costs

Most vendors price lists per thousand records, often written "per M". These are the vendors' own published prices as we read them on October 7, 2026. They change without notice, so check before you order.

Sources: Melissa's saturation, consumer, business and new mover pages; Click2Mail's list page. Melissa adds names to its occupant list for $3 more per thousand. Click2Mail notes that demographic selects raise the price.

Small orders can cost more per record. LeadsPlease prints its whole price table, and its smallest consumer order is 1,000 records for $124.95 (LeadsPlease). Many other vendors, including Data Axle, Experian and USADATA, publish no prices on their sites.

For 5,000 records, the figures above work out to roughly $47.50 to $60 for an occupant list and about $125 to $168 for a consumer list with names.

Where the data comes from

USPS does not sell lists. Its Business Mail 101 page says it "does not keep a database of residential or business customers and does not sell address lists" (USPS). What USPS offers is address checking and change-of-address data, which list cleanup uses.

Commercial lists come from private compilers such as Data Axle, Acxiom, Vericast and Melissa. They build files from sources like public real estate records, other compiled lists and phone directories. Click2Mail, for example, says its consumer file is "rebuilt every two months" from those three sources (Click2Mail).

Some lists come from public records instead. In Florida, voter registration and voting history are "public record under Florida law" (Florida Division of Elections), and anyone may request the file. County elections offices sell it too: Broward charges a $20 flat fee per search (Broward Supervisor of Elections).

Which kind fits which job

• A whole neighborhood. Use an occupant list, or skip the list and use Every Door Direct Mail, which reaches every address on a postal route with no list at all. See what is EDDM.
• Households, not just voters. Use a consumer list with selects, such as homeowners for a mailer about property taxes or a local bond issue.
• More people like your supporters. Use a modeled list built from your own donor or volunteer file.
• Voters. Use the voter file from the state or your county. It comes from the official record, it carries party, precinct and voting history, and a vendor's consumer list cannot match it for a campaign.

A worked example: 5,000 homes

Say you want to reach 5,000 homes in one part of town with a full-color postcard. Here is what that looks like with our prices, three ways.

EDDM postage is the USPS retail rate of 26¢ a piece. List mail postage is billed at the actual USPS rate after presort, usually 29¢–40¢ per piece. Our list mail price covers printing, list cleanup, addressing and presort.

Two things stand out. The list itself is a small part of the bill: even a consumer list with names adds only a few percent to the total. And if you want every home anyway, EDDM costs less, because its postage is lower and there is nothing to address. A list earns its higher cost when it lets you skip homes you don't need, or reach a name you do.

Before any list mails, it needs cleaning: addresses checked, movers updated and duplicates removed. Our guide to mailing list hygiene covers that, and renting vs owning a list explains why most bought lists can be used only once.

Or let us do it

You can buy a list from any of the vendors above and mail it yourself. If you would rather hand it off, send us your city and who you want to reach. For a campaign we can request the official voter list from your county elections office, clean it, and mail it. See voter list mail, or tell us about your mailing.

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