Why Mail Clubs Are Booming - and What Kids Actually Get From Them

Something quietly lovely is happening in mailboxes. Snail mail clubs, where you pay a small monthly fee and a real letter shows up at your door, are having a moment. If you've noticed more of them in your feed lately (or your kids have started asking whether anything came for them today), you're not imagining it.

This summer, CBC Radio's Day 6 took a close look at the trend. Here's what reporters found, why it matters for families, and what we think makes a mail club truly worth it for kids.

What the reporting found

In "Snail-mail clubs deliver on the desire for physical letters" (Brandie Weikle, CBC Radio, July 26, 2026), reporters spoke with mail club creators, subscribers, and academic researchers. A few details stood out:

• Pinterest data shared with CBC showed searches for "snail mail" were up 169 percent on July 23 compared with a year earlier.
• That fits Pinterest's own trend forecast, which told readers to "expect a letter writing renaissance in 2026."
• CBC reports there are now hundreds of snail mail clubs around the world, in all kinds of styles and themes.

Why now? Richard Lachman, a professor of digital media at Toronto Metropolitan University, told CBC he sees a real hunger for offline experiences. He compared mail clubs to knitting circles, watercolor painting, and scrapbooking: slow, tangible hobbies people are choosing on purpose.

"They are realizing that doomscrolling for four hours in bed makes them feel badly." (Richard Lachman, Toronto Metropolitan University, speaking to CBC Radio)

The kid in the story

Most of the article is about grown-ups, but one family stood out to us. A dad in Edmonton signed his nature-loving nine-year-old son up for a wildlife-themed mail club. He described watching his son open each delivery:

"It's neat to see him open it up and then to actually see what the art cards are. It's just that joy of the unknown." (Steve Stred, a parent, speaking to CBC Radio)

His son has even made a little shelf in his room to display everything he's collected. Any parent who has watched a child sprint to the mailbox knows that feeling. Anticipation is a gift of its own, and it's one that screens rarely give kids, because everything on a screen arrives instantly.

Psychologist Clay Routledge, who studies nostalgia, offered another clue in the same piece. He explained that young people can feel nostalgic for times before they were born, and that his research found this kind of nostalgia can help people manage stress about the present and future. Kids who have never known a world without screens can still fall in love with a stamped envelope.

Receiving is lovely. Writing back is where the growth happens.

Here's where we want to gently add something. Most mail clubs, for adults and kids alike, are built around receiving. That's wonderful. But the research on children and writing suggests the real opportunity is what happens after the envelope is opened.

The National Literacy Trust's 2026 Annual Literacy Survey, based on 125,375 responses from children aged 5 to 18 across 479 UK schools, found that just 28.7% of kids aged 8 to 18 said they enjoyed writing in their free time. Only 11.9% said they wrote something daily in their free time, and since 2010, daily free-time writing has fallen by 15.1 percentage points. Among younger children (5 to 8), 61.7% enjoyed writing, though the report notes that levels "remain well below those seen before 2019." That's UK data, but it's one of the largest long-running surveys of its kind, and it lines up with what many parents see at home.

In other words: enjoyment starts high in little kids and fades as they get older. A monthly letter that asks for a reply is a simple, low-pressure way to keep that early spark alive. We've written before about what handwriting does for the developing brain and about what a handwritten letter does for both the writer and the reader, so we won't repeat it all here. The short version is that the writing is the good part.

What to look for in a mail club for kids

If you're thinking about a mail club for your family, here are a few questions worth asking:

• Does it invite a reply? A club that includes stationery, envelopes, and a reason to write turns a fun delivery into a habit. Think of it as a monthly snail mail kit, not just a surprise.
• Is it addressed to your child? Seeing their own name on an envelope is a big deal for kids. It says this is yours.
• Is there a story to follow? Ongoing characters give kids something to look forward to and something to write about.
• Is it easy for parents? No printing, no hunting for supplies. If it takes a lot of setup, it tends not to happen.
• Is there something to keep? Like the boy in Edmonton with his shelf, kids love a growing collection.

Why we built ours around sending

That last list is basically the brief we gave ourselves when we created the Heartpost Letter Club. Every month, a bundle arrives addressed to your child, with a personal letter from Pip (a newly certified carrier pigeon on his very first mail routes), writing prompts, a new story chapter, a keepsake and collectible card, stickers, and everything they need to write two real letters of their own. It works like a pen pal kit that refills itself every month, so writing back becomes part of the fun instead of a chore.

If your child wants to write even more between deliveries, the Little Letter Box gives them a letter writing kit of their own to use all month long.

A small ritual worth keeping

The mail club boom tells us something hopeful: people of all ages are choosing slower, more tangible ways to connect. For kids, a monthly letter can be the start of something bigger, like a habit of noticing, a love of writing, and a real connection with someone on the other end of the envelope. If your family wants to bring a little of that home, start small. Pick a mail club, find a pen pal, or simply write one letter together this week. The mailbox will do the rest.

With heart,
Sarah
Founder, Heartpost Studio