How does Snail protect my address and my privacy?

You send all mail to our PO Box, and we forward it on to your match. With our (un)patented envelope-inside-an-envelope system, you’ll seal a letter to your match in the inner envelope to protect your address and theirs. It costs an extra stamp, but it’s worth it for your peace of mind. Your match only sees your letter, your first name, and your photo. Snail does not read your mail (other than your intro letter).

When should I exchange personal contact information with my match? 

That’s up to you. We will follow up with you after some time to see whether you took things (off-)offline.

Why is this only in NYC?

We’re based in NYC, and we want to start local with our proof of concept. We want to make sure all of our matches are geographically viable.

You are welcome to write in if you are from elsewhere! This will help us determine where there is demand to support a potential future expansion of our footprint.

What happens if I experience harassment or other inappropriate conduct?

Email us, and we’ll remove the offender from Snail.

Is there any AI presence in the matchmaking process?

A human will make all matches. We do use an open-source, locally-hosted language model to help us parse and code your intro letter. We do not share any identifying details with language models. We are serious about protecting your data. 

We’re not thrilled about the AI revolution / coup and its socioeconomic or environmental implications, but we do use AI in the strictly limited capacity outlined above in order to make our startup social enterprise project economically feasible.

This project was conceived, in part, as a rebuke to the swath of AI-powered dating app startups we are now seeing advertised (Amat@, Arr0ws, etc). It would be hypocritical for us to rely overmuch on the same technology.

How much does this cost? / How do you make money? / What’s the catch?

Snail is a social enterprise (at this stage, more of an experiment than a startup) whose mission is to facilitate offline human connection and creativity. We see this work as an investment. By extension, we also want you to invest.

For the pilot phase, your first match will be free. Additional matches will be $25 each. Each partner must send at least one letter for the match to be considered whole.

Do I have to handwrite my letters?

No. You are encouraged to handwrite because it’s a nice ritual and produces a nice artifact. But anyone with poorly legible handwriting should type and print out their letters. We don’t allow you to email your letters to Forward in order to preserve everyone’s privacy.

What if my letter gets lost in the mail?

USPS has a 97%+ delivery rate. We encourage you to take a photo of your letter to safeguard against this possibility. We will follow up with both partners when we suspect a letter has been lost.

Why is this all through the mail? Why can’t I scan and email stuff?

We like mail. Mail is special. For more, see Walter Benjamin.

If I miss a deadline without explanation, am I perma-banned?

If we don’t hear from you for a while, we will deactivate your account, but you can always request reactivation.