Going Postal is the brainchild of Becky and Chris, a team of weirdos living in Austin, Texas. Becky loves letters; Chris loves postcards, and they both love penpals.
Going Postal was created when Becky realized that there were no penpal services out there that could cater to penpal preferences as well as unite people into groups and forge a true community connection. With a few weeks of design and scribbling thoughts, Going Postal was born. Chris designed the logo and provided many ideas and (in)sanity while Becky coded and designed the layout itself (with the help of WordPress and Buddypress). Going Postal seeks above all to provide a community to those who love letters.
We believe first and foremost that the best communication is the most thoughtful. Letter-writing, letter-art, envelopes, postcards, swaps, packages – these are all some of the most important ways to show someone else that we care. In this modern world of technology, many think that we have little reason to support snail mail. However, we are keeping the tradition alive through our pens.
I don’t understand how this site works!
Don’t worry! Here is a handy guide for getting the most out of the site. Here’s what you should start with:
- Register! Registering gives you all sorts of cool benefits, like commenting on blog posts, posting to the forums, having your own profile, messaging members, and our handy penpal service.
- Message a member! There’s nothing more awesome than getting messages from someone. Don’t be shy – find someone who looks cool (you can view everyone’s profile) and ask them to be a penpal!
- If you’re too lazy to do that, you can use our handy Penpal Service. Simply fill out the form as best you can, and you’ll be paired up with penpals! It takes a lot longer than messaging people yourself, though.
- Post to our forums! You can create a new topic (button next to the title that says “New Topic”) or post to some older ones. Feel free to explore the forums and post as much as you want. Don’t be shy!
- Finally, submit to goingpostalteam at gmail dot com a picture of the place where you write your letters, some resource links, or a guest blog post! We at Going Postal are always looking for new content to share with our members, and it all starts with you. See a cool idea for envelope making? Want to show off your awesome new writing desk? Ready to share your cool tutorial on paper making? Send it along and you can be featured on the front page of Going Postal!
FAQ
How does this website work?
Going Postal is managed, written, coded, designed, primarily by me. It works mostly through human power – penpals are paired by hand, content is written by hand, and pictures are taken by hand. So far so good, but with as many members as we have (and we’re constantly growing), things may have to change in the future.
How do you pair penpals?
I first make a list of everyone wanting penpals, how many they want, and their requirements. I then go through the list and match people up. Usually, people request an average of 3-5 penpals at a time, so they don’t get all their penpals at once. I always match people up with other penpal requesters first because they’re more likely to write back. After I make a list of matches, I send messages out to both members, arbitrarily picking who gets to send the first letter and giving the appropriate address. Then it’s all up to them!
My penpal never responded. What do I do?
My suggestion? Message the penpal. Everyone is a user on this site, and when I pair people, I message both people so they know who the other is and can view profiles or message each other. If you’ve sent a letter and haven’t gotten a reply in a couple weeks, go to your penpal’s profile and send them a message that says, “Dude, what gives?” Everyone here is really friendly, so that should be enough to gear people into action. If not, feel free to request a new penpal or message some of the other users on the site. We’ve done a lot of member interviews, and nearly all of them are willing to get a new penpal. Use this as your first resource.
You didn’t listen to my requirements when you paired me up/Why are you taking so long to pair me up?
I always pair people with other requesters because they’re more likely to write back. Sometimes, people make requests I can’t fulfill. Requests like “My penpal must speak Taiwanese” are really hard to fulfill. In this case, I’ll look at your profile, see what languages you speak, and pair you up with someone who speaks the same language you do. Other times, I get, “My penpal must be a girl.” We get a lot of women requesting women, so when all I have is a bunch of guy requesters, I’ll hold off on your penpal pairing until I (inevitably) get some more women. The more requirements you have, the longer it will take, and keep in mind that when you have a lot of requirements, chances are some of them can’t be fulfilled either. The best way to get a great penpal that you want is to have few requirements and simple requirements, like age, sex, or general location.
How do I submit my workspace?
Email it to goingpostalteam at gmail dot com. 
Can I advertise on Going Postal?
Going Postal doesn’t currently advertise. This may change in the future, but only if necessary. I reeeeeally hate advertising on sites, but it’s often a necessary evil. We’ll see.
What about my privacy?
Be careful what you are putting on your profile. Going Postal is not locked down right now. This is next on the agenda of features to add. As a professional web developer, privacy is extremely important to me. Feel free to leave off any profile information you don’t want to share. Never post your address anywhere on the site unless you’re sending it via private message to another user or you’re comfortable with sharing it with the world. See our Privacy Policy for more information about this.
