Process
From your spreadsheet to a written page
Eight steps, two of which involve you. The important one is step five: nothing is produced until you have seen a written proof of the actual piece.
The process, step by step
Send the brief
The message you want written, your list as a spreadsheet, and what you are trying to achieve. A paragraph and a CSV is enough to start — you do not need finished copy.
We quote
An exact price rather than an estimate, plus an honest view on length, format and whether the campaign will do what you want. If we think it will not work, we say so at this point rather than after you have paid.
Choose the hand
A handwriting style from our set, or one built from a sample of your own hand. Bigger, rounder hands read as warmer; tighter, more slanted hands read as more formal. It matters more than people expect.
Prepare the data
We de-duplicate the file, validate and format addresses to Australia Post standard, and test every merge field against the extremes in your data rather than the middle. You get a report of what we found and what we fixed.
Proof
A written proof of the actual piece — same pen, same paper, same hand — photographed and sent to you, together with the worst-case merged letters from your file. Nothing goes into production until you approve it.
Write
Each piece is written individually with a ballpoint pen on uncoated stock. Merge fields are written as part of the sentence in the same pass, so there is no visual join. Letterforms and spacing vary piece to piece the way handwriting does.
Check and finish
Pieces are checked for ink consistency and legibility, then folded, inserted and sealed. Anything below standard is rewritten and you are not charged for it.
Send
Either delivered to one address for you to lodge, or lodged with Australia Post on your behalf. For large campaigns we will usually suggest releasing in waves rather than all at once.
What the machine actually does
A writing machine is a plotter with a pen holder instead of a print head. It grips an ordinary ballpoint — the same one you would buy in a newsagent — and moves it across the page along the stroke paths that make up each letter, lifting and lowering it between strokes exactly as a hand does.
Because it is a real pen under real pressure, the ink soaks into the paper fibres and the page has texture: you can feel the writing from the back. That is the physical difference between this and a handwriting font on an inkjet, and it is the difference a recipient registers without consciously noticing it.
The variation is deliberate. Every instance of a letter is drawn slightly differently, the baseline drifts, spacing is uneven, and joins between letters change depending on what came before. A run where every ‘e’ is identical looks wrong the moment two pieces are placed side by side.
A longer explanation of how the machines work and whether the result counts as handwriting.
Process questions
How long does a campaign take?
It depends on volume and what else is in the schedule, so we quote a specific production window with your quote rather than publishing a general promise. We would rather give you a date we can hold than a number that looks good on a web page.
What file format should the list be in?
CSV or XLSX, one row per recipient, with the address split into columns rather than jammed into one. If your export does not look like that, send it anyway — reshaping messy exports is a normal part of the job.
Can we see a proof before committing?
You always get a written proof before production. If you want to see the handwriting before you commit to a quote at all, ask — we would rather you knew what you were buying.
What if some pieces come out badly?
They get rewritten and you are not charged for them. Ink starvation, a skipped stroke or a paper feed problem are our costs, not yours.
Can you write in a language other than English?
Latin-script languages are generally workable. Non-Latin scripts are a different problem and we would need to see a sample before saying yes. Ask us rather than assuming either way.
Keep reading
Examples
Formats, layouts and message structures for handwritten letters, cards and envelopes — with w…
Pricing
Work out an indicative per-piece and total cost for a handwritten campaign. Change quantity, …
How the machines work
Plotters, pen pressure, letterform variation and why a good machine-written page looks nothin…
Is it really handwritten
A straight answer to the question buyers actually ask: what a writing machine does, what it d…
FAQ
73 answers on handwritten letters in Australia: what they cost, how the writing machine works…
Tell us about your campaign
Send us the shape of it — how many, how long, envelopes or not, when you need it — and we will come back with an exact quote.