FAQ

Q: How do I use your system?

A: Send an e-mail to quickletter@postful.com with a name and mailing address in the subject line. We render, print, and mail it for you. It's as easy as that. For frequent contacts, create a unique e-mail address for them so that you don't even have to enter an address.

Q: How much does it cost?

A: For letters sent to the US, it's 99¢ for the 1st page, 25¢ each additional page. Letters sent outside the US cost $1.49 for the first page, 39¢ each additional page.

Q: Do you mail internationally?

A: We have begun testing international mailings. The list of countries we mail to is limited for the moment but, if there's a country you'd like to send to, contact us and we should be able to add it.

Q: Why do international orders cost more?

A: All letters are produced in the United States at present. That means we have to pay for international air mail which runs about 50¢ more than domestic postage. However, given the rapidly weakening dollar, favorable exchange rates mostly make up for this difference.

Q: How do I pay for orders?

A: You can either add money to your account in advance or after you've sent letters (you'll be sent a message that you need to add money if your balance is insufficient).

Q: Do you support PDF files as attachments?

A: Yes. Just attach a PDF document to an e-mail and we'll mail it on for you. If you send with a blank e-mail, only the PDF will be printed. If you write in the body, we'll include that (a great way to add comments when sending a document).

Q: Do you support Office files as attachments?

A: Yes. We support both Microsoft Office and Open Office formats.

Q: Do you offer the ability to buy a single letter?

A: Yes. You have the flexibility to use us in whatever way best meets your needs.

Q: Do I need to confirm a letter before it goes out?

A: The default is for letters to automatically mail after you send them to our system. There is a minimum two hour delay before they are sent for printing, so you'll always have a chance to proof them. If you prefer, you can change your preferences to require confirmation. In this case, all letters will be held until you explicitly approve them.

Q: How long after I send an e-mail will it be mailed?

A: The maximum turn-around time is 48 hours. Your confirmation message will give you the precise time your letter will be dispatched for printing.

Q: What happens to text put in the subject line?

A: For letters sent to quickletter@postful.com, the subject line must contain the name and address for mailing. For letters sent to a Postful mailbox, the subject line is discarded unless you've elected to use a secret word.

Q: Secret word? Explain it.

A: We call it a secret word to distinguish it from your account password. This is an optional verification system for sending letters. You pick a 'secret word' and unless it's present in the subject line, we don't process the letter. The reason we don't just use your account password is that e-mails are sent in the clear making it important to use a different authentication token for this.

Q: How do you handle spam?

A: Unless the spammer has a Postful account, their message will not be printed and mailed. If you are worried about address spoofing, we offer the ability to add a secret word in the subject line of messages to provide an added confirmation of your identity. If fraud does occur, we have a reporting system in place so that we can respond to it immediately. You won't be charged for fraudulent messages.

Q: What is your policy in terms of the information you collect (e-mail and mailing addresses)?

A: We take your privacy very seriously. Handling your communications is a position of trust and we intend to earn that trust every step of the way. We will never sell or distribute any information which goes through our system (with the normal exceptions for law enforcement (sorry, they have guns)). Check out our privacy policy for all the lawerific details.

Q: What do these status descriptions mean in the orders table?

A:

Preparing for Printing:We've received your e-mail but haven't yet rendered it.
Prepared for Printing: Your letter is rendered. You can view the preview and the price.
Held due to insufficient funds: There isn't enough money in your account to pay for the order. It will be held for 72 hours.
Dispatched for Printing: It's been sent to the printer for production.
Mailed: It's off to the post office.

Q: How do you do it so cheaply?

A: Automation, baby, it's the future. Which means we're the future. When you fiddle with paper and printing, you waste time and time is money. We do it with robots. We do it with scale. And we do it with style. We always leave our customers satisfied.

Infrequently Asked Questions

Q: Why is this web app so simple? Can you answer that?

A: We think clean interfaces are easier to learn and use. More importantly, for Postful, e-mail is the primary interface rather than the web app. We think it's a pretty cool shift. By taking advantage of the interface that most of us know best (our e-mail application), we make our system easy to learn and trivial to integrate with the way you already work.

Q: Are you connected with the Trystero?

A:

Unasked Questions

Q: How can I be more like you?

A: We're asked that way too often. The short answer is that you can't. But you can learn to be happy with yourself. Maybe that's the greatest happiness of all (or at least the most that you can hope for).

Q: At night, the fear that my life is meaningless sometimes comes upon me. Can your service help?

A: Um, well, that's a tough one. Some people find a certain meaning in connecting to others, so maybe you can send letters and that will help. People who can't get e-mail are probably lonely and may well respond gratefully.