Annual Review of Residential Distribution

Each year, distribution will review every title to ensure all brand standards are met regarding mailing expectations. USPS makes route adjustments, and factors such as income changes and home value modifications are also considered to optimize reach for advertising clients.

If route or home value updates necessitate adjustments, distribution will send a residential overview email outlining any required or recommended changes.

As your publication grows, remember—this is the ideal time to assess whether your tier has changed and to take advantage of potential new perks. Expanding routes increases readership, enhances brand recognition, and strengthens selling power.

Annual Residential Distribution Overview:

Each year, should the situation warrant, the Distribution team will send you an email with your Residential Distribution Overview. This email includes:

A summary of your current routes
Recommended routes to keep
Recommended routes to remove
Recommended routes to add

Recommended mailing route adjustments are based on the latest median home values and median income in your territory.

For New Publishers:

Take the time to familiarize yourself with the areas in your community where you’ll be delivering. This will help you respond confidently and efficiently to questions during sales calls.
If a new neighborhood is developing or an existing neighborhood is undergoing revitalization, check whether it’s included in your distribution area. Our data reflects average home values but may not immediately capture newly emerging areas. For brand-new subdivisions that meet our brand guidelines, USPS typically takes 6–12 months to establish a permanent route before mail delivery information becomes available.
If you notice a specific area that appears to be missing, reach out to your distribution team to schedule a meeting. There are several possible reasons for this, and we’re happy to review them with you.

For Existing Publishers:

As the local expert on your territory, you may have insights into changes in your area that the Distribution team may not be aware of - such as a new neighborhood developing or an existing neighborhood undergoing revitalization, check whether it’s included in your distribution area. Our data reflects average home values but may not immediately capture newly emerging areas. For brand-new subdivisions that meet our brand guidelines, USPS typically takes 6–12 months to establish a permanent route before mail delivery information becomes available.
Compare your current routes with recommended adjustments to see how or why these may have been made. Do not hesitate to ask questions. Quite often we discover that new builds have changed values in existing areas and driven those prices up.
Use the provided lists and lookup tools (such as Melissa Lookup or EDDM) to examine route specifics.

Important Information when Increasing Residential Distribution

Expanding your reach and mailing deeper into your community is a powerful way to grow your impact! The more households you reach, the greater the benefits for your clients, increasing their exposure and potential customer base.
Keep in mind that we already target the highest demographics in your community—million-dollar homes and as many high-end residences as your current tier allows for optimal publication success. As you add more residential routes, the lower end of your home value range will naturally decrease, since we are already reaching the top-tier homes. For example:
- Launch (6,500 residential) – Max: $5.5M | Lowest: $550K
- Gold (7,800 residential) – Max: $5.5M | Lowest: $470K
- Platinum (10,000 residential) – Max: $5.5M | Lowest: $350K
This expansion means you’re covering significantly more territory and reaching a broader audience, including younger homeowners with greater disposable income. The deeper your reach into the community, the more potential readers are exposed to your clients' advertising—making it a powerful selling point for your publication.

Making Distribution Changes (Annual Overview):

Respond to the Distribution Overview email with your questions and include:

Specific routes of concern or interest.
Local factors or changes observed, such as new residential developments, new business developments bringing revitalization, or additional growth coming to your community. shifts in demographics, or changes in business density.
Remember that changes “COMING” will take time to filter into the demographics. This makes them difficult to define.

The Distribution team will review and confirm the changes or notify you of any required adjustments or concerns.

Requesting Early Distribution Changes (Outside of Annual Review):

Publishers may request adjustments before the annual Residential Distribution Overview if necessary. Requests will be reviewed by the Distribution team. Approval is subject to:

Significant changes in territory demographics or home values.

If approved, early changes could incur fees and/or count as the annual route change for that year.

Consider Distribution Tiers and Policy Stipulations:

The total distribution volume is determined by your publication’s distribution tier.

Refer to the 2025 Distribution Policy for full details on each tier.
Changes are locked for one year. If a second adjustment is requested within the same year, it will require approval and will incur a fee for all tiers.