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Every campaign carries a status pill that tells you exactly where it is. This page translates each one into plain English, explains how long the stages take, and shows the point after which you can no longer stop a mailing yourself.

The campaign status pills

These are the only status words you’ll see on a mail campaign.
Ready to mail does not need your approval. It means the cards are made and queued for the printer. You never approve your own campaigns — Mailr reviews them for you.
Your campaign list also shows extra pills alongside the status: Preview for a free preview run, Drop N of M for part of a multi-drop follow-up series, and Automated for a campaign created by an automation.

The normal path, step by step

1

You press Submit Campaign

Credits are held for the full amount — not charged — and the campaign moves to Submitted.
2

Mailr reviews it

On approval, cards start generating and the status becomes In production. If it isn’t approved, it becomes Rejected and the hold is released.
3

Cards finish producing

The status becomes Ready to mail, and credits are charged for the cards actually produced. Anything that couldn’t be produced is refunded — see Refunds.
4

The batch goes to the printer

Status: Printing.
5

The mail goes out

Status: Mailed.

How long each stage takes

  • In production: cards render over minutes to hours, depending on how many you’re sending. The campaign page refreshes itself while this runs, so you can leave it open.
  • Printing to in the mail: typically within about 2 business days. Delivery after that depends on the postal service.
  • Follow-up drops: each drop mails on its own scheduled drop date, shown on the Follow-up schedule timeline on the campaign page.
Mailr does not show per-piece delivery tracking. You see campaign-level status — Printing, Mailed — plus per-household QR scan tracking in your Tracking dashboard. There is no “this postcard arrived at 123 Main St” view and no guaranteed delivery date.

Free preview run stages

A free preview run renders real cards for real homes and mails nothing, so it uses its own words. It always carries a Preview pill: “A free preview run — these cards are rendered, never mailed.” Not started → Finding homes → Queued → Rendering → Preview complete A preview can also show Paused, Failed, or Cancelled. Preview complete is the finish line — nothing gets mailed, by design.

When you can still cancel

While a campaign is waiting for review you’ll see this banner:
This campaign is waiting for review Need to change something? Withdraw it back to draft — the credit hold is released and you can resubmit whenever you’re ready.
Pressing Withdraw submission asks you to confirm: “Withdraw this campaign?”“It comes out of the review queue and back to draft, and the credit hold placed when you submitted it is released. You can resubmit at any time.” Deleting a Draft asks: “Delete this campaign?”“‘<name>’ and any addresses selected for it are removed. This can’t be undone.”
Once a campaign is in production, printing, or mailed, you can’t delete or withdraw it. Email support@getmailr.com as early as you can and we’ll tell you what’s still possible.
If you add an address to Do Not Contact after a campaign has started, we still do everything we can to stop that piece — and you aren’t charged for cards we don’t produce. See Do-not-mail & opt-outs.

What to do about “Stuck”

Stuck means the address search for that campaign stopped partway and won’t finish on its own. The campaign page says so directly:
Address search stopped partway This campaign has been looking for addresses for a while with nothing running behind it, so it won’t finish on its own. Delete it and start a new one.
Press Delete campaign and build a new one. Nothing was submitted, reviewed, or charged, so you lose nothing but the setup time. If a new campaign lands in the same state, contact support.

Next steps

Campaign troubleshooting

Symptoms, causes, and fixes for the common snags.

Do-not-mail & opt-outs

Who gets excluded, and how recipients opt out.

Credits and pricing

How holds, charges, and your volume rate work.

Tracking dashboard

Track scans and leads once cards are in the mail.