Research data
PostalForm online mailing data: H1 2026 order patterns
PostalForm analyzed 391 paid, non-scam, positive-price orders placed from January 10 through June 30, 2026. The median document was 2 pages, 99.0% of orders used a PDF upload, and 16.9% selected Certified Mail. This release publishes the underlying aggregate counts, definitions, limitations, and machine-readable data.
Published Jul 20, 2026
Key findings
| Measure | Count | Share or value |
|---|---|---|
| Included paid orders | 391 | 100.0% |
| PDF uploads | 387 | 99.0% |
| Letter mailpieces | 374 | 95.7% |
| Postcard mailpieces | 17 | 4.3% |
| Orders with 1-5 pages | 318 | 81.3% |
| Orders with 11 or more pages | 38 | 9.7% |
| Certified Mail | 66 | 16.9% |
| Electronic return receipt | 13 | 3.3% |
| Color printing | 74 | 18.9% |
| Double-sided printing | 257 | 65.7% |
| Express service | 31 | 7.9% |
| Median page count | - | 2 pages |
| 90th-percentile page count | - | 10 pages |
| Median paid order total | - | $3.80 |
| 90th-percentile paid order total | - | $20.12 |
All percentages use the 391 included orders as the denominator. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.
Page-count distribution
| Page-count bucket | Orders | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 page | 163 | 41.7% |
| 2-5 pages | 155 | 39.6% |
| 6-10 pages | 32 | 8.2% |
| 11 or more pages | 38 | 9.7% |
Every included order had a recorded page count. The median was 2 pages and the 90th percentile was 10 pages. Orders are the unit of analysis; these counts should not be interpreted as unique customers.
Print, proof, and service choices
| Choice | Orders | Share | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Color printing | 74 | 18.9% | The order requested color rather than black-and-white printing. |
| Double-sided printing | 257 | 65.7% | The order requested duplex rather than single-sided printing. |
| Certified Mail | 66 | 16.9% | The order selected USPS Certified Mail. |
| Electronic return receipt | 13 | 3.3% | The order selected the electronic return receipt add-on. |
| Express service | 31 | 7.9% | The stored mail class was express; 360 orders, or 92.1%, were non-Express. |
These are selections recorded at checkout. They do not establish that every order was delivered, that every proof record was available, or that a service choice was legally required.
File-type definition
An order was classified as a PDF upload when its stored source filename ended in .pdf, case-insensitively. This classification used the filename field only; the analysis did not open or inspect customer documents. Four included orders did not match that PDF-filename rule.
Cost context
The median paid order total was $3.80 and the 90th-percentile total was $20.12. These are full online-mailing order totals, not USPS stamp prices. They can include printing, envelope preparation, postage, provider handoff, and selected service options.
The results do not form a current price list. Use the PostalForm pricing calculator for a quote based on a specific document, destination, print setting, and mailing option.
Methodology
- Observation window: January 1 through June 30, 2026, inclusive. The first included order was placed January 10, 2026, and the last was placed June 30, 2026. Timestamps were evaluated in UTC.
- Included: orders marked paid, not marked as scam, with a recorded price greater than $0.
- Excluded: unpaid orders, zero-price orders, and orders marked as scam.
- Unit: one order. The analysis did not deduplicate repeat customers.
- Source: aggregate fields from the PostalForm production orders database.
- Privacy: no names, postal addresses, email addresses, filenames, document contents, payment identifiers, IP addresses, user agents, or individual order IDs were exported.
- Rounding: percentages are counts divided by 391 and rounded to one decimal place. Medians and 90th percentiles were calculated across the included orders.
- Timing: fulfillment and delivery-speed claims are excluded because provider creation timestamps and webhook timestamps do not consistently measure customer-visible USPS acceptance or delivery.
Limitations
- The sample comes from PostalForm customers and may not represent people who mail documents themselves or use another service.
- Orders are not unique customers. Repeat customers can contribute more than one order.
- The six-month window includes changes in traffic mix, product features, provider routing, and postal prices.
- Filename extension is a practical file-type proxy, not a content inspection.
- Checkout selections describe requested options, not delivery outcomes.
- Small differences should not be treated as broad market trends without an independent comparison dataset.
Download the aggregate data
Both files contain aggregate statistics only. They contain no order-level or customer-level records.
Citation and release information
- Publisher: PostalForm
- Release date: July 20, 2026
- Version: 1.0
- Canonical page:
https://postalform.com/postalform-online-mailing-data-2026-h1
Suggested citation: PostalForm. “PostalForm online mailing data: H1 2026 order patterns.” Version 1.0, July 20, 2026. https://postalform.com/postalform-online-mailing-data-2026-h1.
If a correction changes a published count, the page will update the version and describe the correction without replacing the dated download files.