In the face of rising volume, Tai keeps the touch of personalisation for every subscriber: “I will ask them, when they subscribe, for their birthday, so that during their birthday month, I will include a card that I designed, but I will specifically have their preferred breed [on it]… That’s bringing it to another level of [that] personal feeling, because it’s not just a mass-produced thing.”
The club currently draws more Singapore subscribers than international ones – something Tai says surprised her. To fuel connection, subscribers are asked to share their favourite breed and birthday when they sign up, allowing Tai to send personalised birthday cards featuring their chosen dog.
Ignited by her dream “to draw all the dog [breeds] in the world”, what started as a passion project for Tai has turned into something more personal with the feedback she’s gotten – “I can’t really tell them how much it means to me… it feels really fulfilling because I know I’m coming from a good place.”
THE CHALLENGES OF SNAIL MAIL CLUBS
The return of the analogue has transformed how snail mail is perceived. Commenting on how most snail mail run on untracked postage, Low likens the subscription experience to that of magazines from the 90s, while Kurono compared it to online shopping today, except that it’s not about instant gratification. In a world where most things can be tracked to the minute, that ambiguity appears to be part of the appeal.
But there’s also a double-edged sword in growth. The more subscribers a club gains, the harder it becomes to preserve the intimacy that made it all appealing in the first place. AI-generated snail mail clubs have also begun appearing overseas – in a format built on the fact that a real person made and packed every item. It is a development the local community has been watching closely.
