Send a real letter or postcard by texting it
You can text a recipient's address and a short message to paperplane and get a quote back — reply to confirm and it prints and mails as a real USPS letter (from $1.99) or postcard (from $1.99), with no app to open and no computer required.
Usually the right pick: First-Class letter · $1.99
Some of the moments a letter or postcard actually needs to go out happen away from a desk: a contractor standing at a job site who needs to send a lien notice, a real estate agent who just left a closing and wants a thank-you note in the mail that afternoon, someone remembering a bill needs a paper response while running errands. Opening a laptop, or even a web app, is real friction in that moment. Texting it is not.
The flow matches how you would already text someone a mailing address: start with a `TO:` block naming the recipient (or share a Contact card), add the letter or postcard text, and send. You get a quote back in the same conversation — price, page count, and mail class — and nothing is printed or charged until you reply to confirm. That confirmation step exists specifically so a text sent in a hurry cannot accidentally mail and charge for something.
This is the same order engine as the web composer and the API, not a separate lightweight product: full address verification, the same content screen, and the same USPS classes (First-Class $1.99, Certified $12.99, Certified + electronic Return Receipt $14.99) or piece formats (postcards from $1.99, the folded notecard $5.99) are all reachable by text.
Because a text thread is a plain-language interface rather than a form, keep the recipient's address as unambiguous as you can — a full street address, city, state, and ZIP in one message reduces back-and-forth. If a text ever comes back asking for clarification, that is the same address-verification check every other order goes through, not something special to texting.
Common questions
Does texting a letter cost anything extra?
No — texting is just another way to reach the same order engine as the web composer. You pay the normal per-piece price (First-Class $1.99, Certified $12.99, Certified + Return Receipt $14.99, or a piece format like a postcard from $1.99), nothing more for using text.
Can something get mailed by accident from a text?
No — texting in a recipient and letter content only produces a quote. Nothing prints or charges until you reply with an explicit confirmation, the same two-step pattern the web composer and the API use.
Do I need a special app to do this?
No — it works over ordinary text messaging, the same thread you would use to send anyone else a message. No app install and no account are required to get a quote; you only need a way to pay when you confirm a real (non-sandbox) send.