In the Fast-Paced World of Direct Mail Marketing, Timing Is Everything Direct mail moves fast, and timing determines success. Deadlines matter. Your mail must reach its recipients exactly when planned. Otherwise, campaigns lose impact. This is where LTL shipping for...
Why Use SCF Entry for 2025 Holiday Marketing Mail?
Table Of Content
More Articles in Our Collection…
Call Us:
800-201-0026
Holiday Marketing Mail Wins with SCF Destination-Entry
As the 2025 holiday season approaches, the USPS has once again published its recommended mailing and shipping deadlines, reminding every direct mailer how crucial timing, cost, and reliability are during peak season. According to USPS, for mail to arrive reliably before December 25th, retailers and marketers should use services like Ground Advantage and First-Class Mail by December 17, Priority Mail by December 18, Priority Express by December 20, and standard marketing mail no later than December 15.
But there’s another, lesser-known method that many high-volume mailers don’t fully leverage: Use LTL (Less Than Truckload) shipping to enter mail at USPS destination-entry SCF (Sectional Center Facilities) nationwide. Destination entry helps mail arrive earlier, with more certainty, and at lower postage costs. SCF entry is especially effective during election years and holidays, and Direct Logistics helps make the entire process easy as baking cookies!
Seasonal Deadlines Make Destination-Entry Even More Attractive
When USPS declares send-by dates for the holidays, the pressure is on. Miss the deadline, and your mail might arrive after Christmas—or land in slower or more expensive mail service classes to catch up. That’s costly not just in postage, but in lost sales, dissatisfied customers, and tarnished brand reputation.
By sending mail via SCF destination entry (dropping it off closer to its final delivery area), mailers reduce travel time through USPS’s network and speed mail to recipient mailboxes. Instead of shipping everything from a distant facility or via origin entry (which adds time and cost), you ship pallets of qualified, postage-paid, shrink-wrapped marketing mail to SCF facilities that are closest to where the mail is going. This tightens timelines, improves predictability, and helps you meet or beat those USPS holiday deadlines while also reducing postage costs.
What LTL Shipping Adds to the Value Mix
Here are three big reasons why using LTL destination entry is often a smarter bet than relying solely on traditional origin entry or pricier expedited USPS services:
- Faster transit times: When you feed the mail directly into SCFs via LTL trucks, transit through USPS’s network is shortened. That means fewer processing-centers to cross, less chance of delays, less wear-n-tear on mail pieces, and better alignment with USPS’s own holiday shipping schedule recommendations.
- Greater reliability: Because the mail enters downstream closer to the final destination, you avoid many of the bottlenecks that happen in the longer upstream part of USPS’s logistics chain. Late holdups, misrouted sacks, or misshipped pallets have less distance to go—and less room to fail.
- Lower postage + total cost: Although LTL shipping might seem like “extra” cost, the savings in postage and faster, more reliable endpoint delivery provide both savings and assurances that your marketing campaign will not fail due to late delivery.
Holiday Mail and SCF Entry: What You Should Do Now
With USPS’s holiday deadlines in view, here’s a short checklist to make sure your holiday mail arrives in homes on time and cost-efficiently:
TASK |
WHAT TO DO |
|---|---|
| Audit your past timelines | Review transit times from origin entry vs destination entry SCF. Identify zones where you lost time. |
| Calculate all-in cost | Include outbound LTL freight + postage vs origin entry postage + any expedited fees. Compare. |
| Use your DLP tools | Run destination entry quotes via SCF now. Lock in carrier pricing, pick SCF closest to your maildrop. |
| Schedule early | Don’t wait for the last minute. Ship LTL to SCF ahead of USPS “send by” dates (e.g., Dec. 17 for First-Class / Ground Advantage). |
| Pack & prep for USPS rules | Make sure your mailing complies with drop-ship / SCF packaging, labels, and manifest requirements to avoid delays. |
How Direct Logistics Simplifies the Process
Our new Direct Logistics Platform (DLP) helps take the complexity out of freight and postal logistics. With DLP, mailers can:
- Rate LTL shipments instantly
- Submit jobs directly from the platform
- Track pallets from pickup to USPS delivery
- Benefit automatically from destination-entry postage discounts
Best of all, DLP is very user-friendly, requiring virtually no logistics expertise from your team.
A Word to Leadership & Marketing Teams
For marketing or operations leaders: investing in smarter logistics isn’t just operational—it’s strategic. Holiday campaigns are huge revenues opportunites. When marketing mail arrives in-home late, everything suffers: revenues, customer satisfaction, and sometimes reputation. By optimizing shipping pathways—with SCF destination entry via LTL—you gain more control over the in-home performance of your marketing mail. That’s a key differentiator—and at Direct Logistics, our goal is to help your company meet critical mailing deadlines head-on, without giving up margin or reliability.
Call to Action
If you lead a team that depends on seasonal marketing mail, promotions, or any high-volume direct mailings: Let’s talk SCF destination-entry strategies now for your 2025 holiday marketing mail campaigns!
For a short, person-to-person demonstration of our new platform, reach out to us anytime at sales@directlogistics.com. We’ll walk you through the simple process of rating and submitting LTL shipments for mail-as-freight, to best align holiday timing goals with your promotional and postage strategy. Time is of the essence—and making smart logistics decisions now can make all the difference this holiday season. So give us a call and let’s talk turkey… before Turkey Day arrives !!! 800-201-0026
Click here for official USPS 2025 holiday mailing recommendations