Terms of Service

By creating an account, purchasing a membership, purchasing a one-time letter credit, submitting a letter, or using Kindness By Mail, you agree to these Terms on behalf of yourself and any child participating through your account.

If you do not agree, please do not use the service.

Kindness By Mail is a parent-guided service. A parent or legal guardian must create the account, manage the membership or order, review any child’s letter before it is submitted, review any received letter before giving it to the child, and supervise the child’s participation.

Children may not create accounts, purchase memberships, submit forms, mail letters independently, or communicate with Kindness By Mail without parent or legal guardian involvement.

If you submit information, letters, drawings, or other content on behalf of a child, you confirm that you are the child’s parent or legal guardian, or that you have permission from the child’s parent or legal guardian.

You must be at least 18 years old and legally able to enter into these Terms to create an account, purchase a membership, or purchase a one-time letter credit.

Children may participate only with permission and supervision from their parent or legal guardian.

Kindness By Mail is currently available for U.S. mailing addresses only.

Monthly memberships renew automatically unless cancelled.

You can cancel your membership anytime from your customer account portal or by following the instructions on our Cancel Your Membership page.

When you cancel, your membership will not renew. Any remaining letter credits may be used through the end of your current billing period and expire after that period ends.

Letter credits expire at the end of each billing period, do not roll over, and are not redeemable for cash.

One-time letter credits are valid for 5 years from the purchase date.

Prices, plans, and features may change. If we make a material change to an active membership, we will provide notice when required.

Membership payments are generally non-refundable once charged. Refunds are not issued for partial billing periods.

One-time letter purchases are generally non-refundable once the order has been placed and the letter credit has been issued.

If a submitted letter is held, declined, or returned for correction during review, it does not automatically qualify for a refund. In most cases, the family may correct the issue and send a new or updated letter using the same letter credit.

Letter credits apply to approved outgoing letters. If a letter needs changes before it can be forwarded, you may correct and resend it using the same credit.

If Kindness By Mail needs to cancel your membership, cancel your order, or is unable to provide the service, we may issue a refund or credit depending on the situation.

Refund requests are reviewed case by case unless otherwise required by law.

Families are responsible for postage when mailing letters to Kindness By Mail.

Kindness By Mail is not responsible for mail that is lost, delayed, damaged, misdirected, or not delivered by the postal carrier before it reaches us.

Mail delivery times may vary.

Letters submitted to Kindness By Mail must be appropriate for children and must follow our safety, privacy, and program guidelines.

You may not submit letters, drawings, or other content that includes:

• Unsafe, threatening, sexual, hateful, violent, bullying, or inappropriate content
  
• Requests for secrecy or private communication
  
• Home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, school names, social media handles, or other personal contact details
  
• Attempts to bypass our review process
  
• Attempts to move communication outside Kindness By Mail
  
• Adult-to-child pen pal communication
  
• Impersonation, harassment, scams, or misleading information
  
• Gifts, money, food, toys, bulky items, sharp items, or other items not allowed by our mailing guidelines
  

We may reject, redact, delay, hold, return for correction, or decline to forward any letter or content that does not meet our standards.

Every outgoing letter and incoming reply is reviewed before forwarding. Submitting a letter does not guarantee that it will be forwarded.

We may approve, decline, redact, delay, reroute, return for correction, or hold a letter at our discretion to protect participants and operate the service.

If a letter is held, declined, or needs correction, we may notify you and provide guidance when appropriate. We are not required to provide detailed moderation notes.

Kindness By Mail reviews letters to help protect participants, but no review process is perfect. Parents and legal guardians are responsible for reviewing outgoing letters before submitting them and reviewing incoming letters before giving them to a child.

Families do not choose specific recipients. Letters are matched through Kindness By Mail with another participating child in a similar age range, as close in age as possible based on available matches.

Kindness By Mail does not guarantee that a letter will result in a match, receive a reply, be delivered by a specific date, or create an ongoing pen pal connection.

Replies do not use letter credits, but they are not guaranteed.

If both families agree to continue writing, future letters may continue through the same Kindness By Mail connection.

Use of Kindness By Mail is also governed by our Privacy Policy.

Parents and legal guardians are responsible for providing accurate information and deciding what information they submit through the service.

We do not allow families to exchange home addresses through letters. Letters are routed through Kindness By Mail to help protect participant privacy.

Home addresses, personal contact information, and other identifying details may be removed, blocked, or cause a letter to be held or returned for correction.

Kindness By Mail does not claim ownership of your child’s words, artwork, or other creative content.

By submitting or mailing letters, drawings, or other content to Kindness By Mail, you give us permission to review, scan, copy, process, redact, store, forward, and otherwise handle that content as needed to operate the service, protect participants, provide customer support, maintain safety records, and comply with legal or business requirements.

Physical letters, drawings, and other submitted items may not be returned after they are mailed to us.

If you submit content on behalf of a child, you confirm that you are the child’s parent or legal guardian, or that you have permission from the child’s parent or legal guardian to submit it.

Kindness By Mail is a reviewed mail program, not an open messaging platform.

We do not guarantee:

• A specific recipient
  
• A specific delivery date
  
• A reply
  
• An ongoing pen pal connection
  
• That every submitted letter will be forwarded
  
• That a child will always be matched immediately
  

Mail delivery times, recipient availability, review timing, matching availability, and reply timing may vary.

We may pause, suspend, or close an account if we believe the account has violated these Terms, created a safety concern, abused the service, submitted inappropriate content, attempted to bypass review, or created risk for participants.

If Kindness By Mail needs to cancel a membership or account for safety, misuse, or policy reasons, we may determine whether any refund, credit, or continued access is appropriate based on the situation.

You may cancel your membership anytime.

We may update these Terms from time to time.

When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date and provide notice when required.

These Terms should be read together with our related policies and help pages, including:

• Privacy Policy
  
• Refund Policy
  
• Shipping & Mailing Policy
  
• Letter Guidelines
  
• Cancel Your Membership page
  
• Purchase Options Cancellation Policy