BTS: launching a snail mail club
Including a full breakdown of costs and profitability
If you’ve somehow missed my near constant notes on the subject, Surprise! I’m starting a mail club, the Mollusk Mail Club, to be precise. (“Say no more. I’m ready to sign up!”) If you’re running in the same internet circles as me, then you know that snail mail clubs are having quite a moment! That is both encouraging and disconcerting. On the one hand, surely this movement is in response to that desire we all seem to be kindling now to move away from the internet into a more physical realm, to hold things in our hands and feel tangibly connected to ourselves, our communities, and the world. On the other hand, how many snail mail clubs can a community of subscription-weary internet denizens support in this economy?
My hope is that this will be a fun way to share my art in physical form, that it will bring like-minded people together, and yes, that I can make a little extra money on the side. Certainly, a snail mail club is not a get-rich-quick (or even slow) scheme, I’ll go over the finances of it all below, but it feels true to myself, and I don’t want a side hustle that makes me sell my soul. I’m looking at you, affiliate marketing. So if you’re interested in learning more about starting a snail mail club or just want to see what I’m putting in mine, keep reading!
How to Start a Snail Mail Club
If you’re anything like me, you may have the idea of snail mail club kicking around in your head for months before you actually commit and take action. So if that’s you, I’m telling you now to just skip that part and get right to it.
Content Creation - the fun kind tho
Once I had finally committed, I got straight into designing the postcard portion of it. This feels like the most obvious starting point, as it is probably the item most commonly found in snail mail clubs. I knew I wanted the whole year to feel cohesive, so I kicked around a few themes and motifs, but ultimately decided to keep it pretty open-ended. Landing on a relatively simple design that I thought would feel encouraging, something you’d want to hang above your desk or drop in the mail to a friend. I’ve decided just now to name this year’s theme Celestial Creation, so you can expect to see more stars, moons, planets, etc in future shipments.
With the postcard finalized, I moved on to sticker design. Another very common staple of the snail club, and I’m a bit of a sticker hoarder, so again, this felt like the obvious next step. I wanted the design to be complementary to the postcard, like you could keep one for yourself and send one to a friend and not feel like you’re missing out. I’ll be honest, as of writing this, I have not fully committed to the sticker design yet. I thought I had, but now I’m toying around with a few options. Please let me know if you have a favorite!
With the main items mostly finalized, I put content creation on hold and started running the numbers. This is two-fold: 1. How much will it cost to create the contents? And 2. How much will it cost to ship out? I’ve used VistaPrint in the past for various postcards and business cards, so I knew I could trust their quality and that their pricing and lead times are reasonable. Ten double-sided matte postcards cost €19.34 (that’s euros) while 50 of the same cost €31.23. So you can see right away this is a numbers game.
Sticker pricing is even more dynamic, with each additional sticker above 10 adjusting the overall cost. For instance, 10 for €12.90, 15 for €16.90, and 25 for €22.90. This is the pricing structure for vinyl die-cut stickers from Pretty Good Stickers, another company I’m familiar with. Let me take a moment to acknowledge that already knowing where you want to source your items from is a huge benefit. I’ve run a sticker shop in a past life, so I’ve already done the work of testing out multiple suppliers for all kinds of items. This is a huge, timely, and costly endeavor that is often overlooked.
There are almost countless other little expenses that need to be calculated and worked into overall costs, such as paper, envelopes, and ink. These will vary based on what other items I decide to include, so I’m kind of sweeping them under the rug for now. Future Sarah can handle those calculations. Oh, and yeah, I’m not adding any sort of time element to these cost calculations. Any good professional artist would tell you to add your time into these calculations, but that’s just not me. What we’re aiming for right now is tangible costs and determining if and when I can break even.
Now for the postage costs! This is further complicated by my living in Portugal, not speaking Portuguese, and the fact that most of my readers are in the USA. If you’re in the US and shipping mostly to the US, you are in a much less confusing (and cheaper) predicament. I’ve been shipping postcards and envelopes to friends and family over the past year, and making note of the costs and delivery times. Generally speaking, I can’t seem to get an envelope to ship for much less than €3, and while postcards ship for just €1.33, they seem to take much longer. Frankly, the whole thing is a bit of a Bermuda Triangle. I’ve had some letters to/from my mom arrive months later. Not exactly a selling point you’d want to tell your prospective audience, but setting realistic expectations is important!
Okay, I’ve rambled on about costs quite a bit now, so let’s just skip to the part where I show you the chart for breaking even.
Shown above in euros are the costs of contents, plus the cost of postage. If you’re thinking that the cost per sub column is a bit wild, keep in mind that’s calculated for minimum orders and not by cost per item. So, for instance, if I receive only one subscription, I still need to buy 10 postcards, 10 stickers, and 50 envelopes. Which is why you notice that just as we’re about to break even after 10 subs, the costs jump up to account for the additional items that need to be ordered, and we’re back deeper in the red. I hope this chart is of interest to some people. I know it’s a pretty deep dive, but I endeavor to be transparent about costs and profitability anytime I ask someone to spend their hard-earned money.
Logistics, i.e., When and What
Another complex portion of the snail mail club ideation is the logistics of it all. When are the shipments going out? How often? What will they include? How do people sign up? etc. etc.
While most snail mail clubs are sent out monthly, I knew that I couldn’t commit myself to that level of content creation and time without burning out. So I decided to offer quarterly shipments: March, June, September, and December. This ultimately lowers the overall costs and allows me more time to enjoy the process.
I also knew I wanted to offer two tiers and the ability to opt in for one-time shipments. I know a lot of people are commitment-adverse and really don’t want another subscription, myself included. The two available tiers are full shipments and postcard only.
Postcard Only : One postcard stamped and mailed directly to you with a little note or poem written on it.
Full Shipment : An envelope containing a postcard print which you can keep for yourself or add a stamp and send to a friend, a personal note from me, a sticker, and at least one other item, which could be collage ephemera, a poem, a zine, or something else entirely.
Each tier can then be purchased either as a one-time shipment for this quarter or a full year of shipments, four in total.
Postcard Only : $6 USD for one-time purchase / $22 USD for a full year
Full Shipment : $9 USD for one-time purchase / $34 USD for a full year
Sign-ups are open now! They will close on February 28th. This allows me to order only the amount of items needed and keep overall costs as low as possible. Shipments will be sent in March and will generally take 2-4 weeks to arrive. No tracking will be available, and international shipments are mercurial, so I ask for patience and understanding. However, if we do determine that an item is lost, I will work with you to resolve the issue, and any questions or concerns can be sent to me directly, s.reassembled@gmail.com.
If you’d like to support my art and writing, you can do so via my Ko-fi account. Thank you for being here, and please consider tagging me if I’ve inspired you to make something or write something. I’d love to see it!
