Privacy

Last updated 7 August 2026

This page explains what Postcards By Email collects, why, and how long it is kept. It is short because the service collects very little.

What we collect

• The sender's name as typed. It need not be a real name.
• The sender's email address, so the recipient can see who wrote and, if the sender allows it, reply directly.
• The recipient's email address, so the card can be delivered.
• The message, after web addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers have been automatically removed from it.
• Which card was chosen, and when it was sent and first opened.
• The IP address the card was sent from, and the time, so sending limits can be enforced and misuse can be investigated.

We do not collect names, addresses, phone numbers, payment details, or location. There is no advertising on this site and no advertising or analytics trackers.

Why we keep it

To deliver postcards, to enforce the sending limits, to honour blocks, to investigate reports of abuse, and to respond to a lawful request from law enforcement. Nothing else.

How long we keep it

• Postcards: about thirty days from the day they are delivered, then the message is deleted and the link stops working. A reported card is taken down immediately.
• Cards posted later: a member can choose the day a card goes out, up to a year ahead. Such a card is held until the day it is posted, and then for the usual thirty days after that. Nobody can read it in the meantime, and cancelling it deletes it.
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• Sending records used for limits and abuse investigation: ninety days.
• The blocklist: permanently. An address that has asked never to be mailed again is kept forever, precisely so that the request is never forgotten.

Cookies

One cookie, which remembers the email address you last sent from so the form fills itself in next time. It is signed, contains only that address, and lasts a year. Clearing your cookies removes it. There are no advertising or tracking cookies.

Who else is involved

• Cloudflare hosts the site, stores the card images, and provides the human-verification check that keeps automated abuse out.
• Resend delivers the email.
• Open-Meteo supplies the weather shown on a weather card, looked up once from the place you type. We store that place name and the conditions with the card so it still reports the day it was written.

Both process data on our behalf in order to run the service. We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information to anyone, for any purpose, ever.

Stopping mail from us

Every card we send includes a one-click way to block this site from ever emailing that address again. It is permanent, it applies to every sender, and it needs no account and no explanation. You may also write to us and we will do it for you.

Your choices

You may ask what we hold about an email address, ask for it to be deleted, or ask for a correction, by writing to abuse@postcardsbyemail.com from that address. Depending on where you live you may have rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, the UK or EU General Data Protection Regulation, or similar laws. We will honour any such request we are able to verify.

One exception: we will not remove an address from the blocklist on the request of anyone other than the owner of that address, because doing so would let a blocked sender undo someone else's decision.

Children

This service is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has used the service, write to us and we will delete what we hold.

Security

Everything travels over an encrypted connection and is stored with a reputable provider. No service is perfectly secure, and postcards are not a private or confidential medium. Please do not send anything through this site that would cause harm if it were seen by somebody else.

Changes

If this page changes, the date at the top changes with it.

Contact

Write to abuse@postcardsbyemail.com.