How long does a letter take to arrive? Delivery times by city (Lettie)
Letters on Lettie take 1–24 hours depending on the distance between two countries: Seoul to Tokyo 3–6 hours, to New York 12–24 hours. 17 cities and the exact rule.
A letter on Lettie doesn't land right away. The envelope lifts off the globe, flies to the other person's city, and reaches their mailbox after a delay set by the distance between the two countries. We get asked about this a lot, so here's the table.
Sent from Seoul
| To | City-to-city distance | Arrives in (app band) |
|---|---|---|
| Same country (Busan etc.) | 330 km | 1–2 hours |
| Tokyo | 1,150 km | 3–6 hours |
| Taipei | 1,480 km | 3–6 hours |
| Manila | 2,620 km | 3–6 hours |
| Hanoi | 2,740 km | 6–12 hours |
| Bangkok | 3,720 km | 6–12 hours |
| Delhi | 4,690 km | 6–12 hours |
| Istanbul | 7,950 km | 6–12 hours |
| Sydney | 8,330 km | 6–12 hours |
| London | 8,860 km | 12–24 hours |
| Lisbon | 10,420 km | 12–24 hours |
| New York | 11,050 km | 12–24 hours |
| Mexico City | 12,050 km | 12–24 hours |
| Lagos | 12,400 km | 12–24 hours |
| São Paulo | 18,340 km | 12–24 hours |
| Nairobi | 10,110 km | 6–24 hours |
| Accra | 12,750 km | 6–24 hours |
The rule that sets delivery time
The app picks a band from the distance between the two countries' centre points, then chooses a random time inside that band for each letter. So two letters between the same cities can land at slightly different times. Sydney is 8,330 km from Seoul city to city, but only about 6,900 km to Australia's centre point, so it falls in the 6–12 hour band. (App rules as of September 24, 2026.)
| Distance between the two countries' centre points | Arrives in |
|---|---|
| Same country | 1–2 hours |
| Under 3,000 km | 3–6 hours |
| 3,000–8,000 km | 6–12 hours |
| 8,000 km or more | 12–24 hours |
| Country without centre-point data | 3–6 hours within the same continent, 6–24 hours otherwise |
Delivery is at least 1 hour (the same-country band is 1–2 hours) and at most 24 hours. The exact time shows under the envelope the moment you send ("lands in N hours"), and you can watch the envelope cross the globe.
Why we made it slow on purpose
An instant message asks for an instant answer. So messages get shorter, lighter, and eventually become "ok". When you know it takes 14 hours to arrive, you write differently — longer, with the day you actually had, imagining the moment they'll read it.
This isn't a story we made up; it's what the letters look like. One from Hanoi opened with how the rain there is short and heavy, so everyone keeps a poncho under the motorbike seat. Sentences like that don't happen in chat.
While you wait
- Watch the envelope on the globe. You get a notification when it lands, and from 2.0.6 a "landing soon" notification an hour before.
- Read letters strangers released in Discover — three new envelopes drift close once a day.
- You can't write the same person again until their reply lands (turn-taking). If three days pass after your letter arrives with no reply, you can send one more, and Lettie Plus lets you keep writing without waiting.
Is this the same as Slowly?
Same principle — Slowly also computes delay from distance. What's different is that you see the delay as an envelope moving across a globe, and that a letter that lands can be translated into any of 70+ languages right there. The full comparison is in Lettie vs Slowly.