Letter Writing Club

We have a Letter Writing Club coming up! And, not to bury the lede, we are now charging $40 for this event, a new thing. Everyone will receive a lovely package of surprise snail mail supplies, put together with love and an appreciation for the analogue things in life, along with spending the evening humming about our papers together.

This is a big change in the way we’re running these (previously free) events. We used to charge $10 to register, and you’d get a $10 WP gift card at the door. And now, the scourge of capitalism!

Would it surprise you to know we lose money on these events? It is a tough economy. And running these events for free, losing money each time we run it, isn’t a super sustainable strategy in the long run.

There are lots of expenses: staffing to take down the shop and set up tables, staffing during the event, snacks and drinks, staffing to put away the tables and chairs, and put the shop back together afterwards, processing fees and the cost of the gift card, letter writing supplies and stationery. We used to offer free postage, which was such a lovely thing to be able to do, but an international postage stamp is now $3.65, and we typically send off any number of international letters, along with US and domestic ones.

On a $10 gift card, we only make a couple of dollars when you spend the $10, which doesn’t begin to cover the expenses of running these events. Do people buy other stuff in the shop, more than $10? Yes, sometimes! And sometimes it saves the day for us, which is wonderful, a relief, we live to write letters another day. But our shop is also packed up and tucked away, so it’s hard to browse the things. And because it’s free, people often bring a friend or a spouse, and sometimes they’re not a big analogue person anyways.

So we are tweaking and changing with the times. Innovate or die! And we hope you stick with us. We are dreaming big and small, and mostly considering how this space could be used, and how it could be used in a sustainable way that feels good for the future of our shop and also feels good for those of you walking into our space, and settling down in the chairs, and dreaming with us.

We want to be here for as long as we can, and we also want to keep running these events. It’s all a balance—what isn’t?— and I really hope this all works out. We really love when the space is filled with people and chatter and writing and geeking out over pens. I love it! It’s the best feeling, to know that out of nothing, or out of what was previously a dilapidated, smoke-filled, vacant space, we now have shelves of ink bottles and space for people to come and write letters to each other, or learn calligraphy, or chat about what to buy their cat for Christmas.

It would be a breath of relief to know that we could continue running our Letter Writing Club in a way that’s sustainable, to plan for it, and to grow with it. So we are striding forward, and grateful for every part of this ride.