If you’ve ever tried to bring someone new onto your team’s workspace and ended up with questions, confusion, or a flood of emails, you’re not alone. Onboarding isn’t glamorous, but getting it right saves everyone time and headaches down the road. This guide is for team leads, admins, and anyone stuck with the job of getting new folks set up in Postal without turning it into a week-long project.
Below, you’ll find a step-by-step playbook — what actually matters, what’s just noise, and a few shortcuts that’ll spare you from rookie mistakes.
1. Get Clear on Why (and When) to Add Someone
Before you even send an invite, make sure you know why this person needs access to Postal. Is it just for sending swag, managing campaigns, or do they need admin rights? Too many cooks (or over-permissioned cooks) can spoil the workspace, so don’t invite just anyone who asks.
Quick gut check: - What will they actually do in Postal? - Do they need to see everything, or just their own stuff? - Are you adding someone for a one-off task, or will they stick around?
If you’re not sure, start small. You can always bump up permissions later.
2. Prep Your Postal Workspace
A little prep goes a long way. Before inviting someone, make sure your Postal workspace isn’t a mess:
- Archive old or irrelevant campaigns. No one wants to scroll through years of dead projects.
- Tidy up groups or teams. Grouping people by department or function upfront saves headaches later.
- Double-check your inventory and budgets. If you’re bringing in someone to send items, make sure they won’t hit a wall right away.
Pro tip: If your team’s using custom branding or templates, make sure those are in place before the new person starts poking around.
3. Invite New Team Members (The Right Way)
Postal makes it easy to invite new folks, but the default settings aren’t always what you want. Here’s how to do it without drama:
- Go to your workspace’s team settings. Look for “Team” or “Users” in the sidebar.
- Click ‘Invite’ or ‘Add User.’ Enter their work email. Don’t use personal emails unless you like support tickets.
- Choose the right role:
- Admin: Can do (and see) everything.
- Manager: Can handle most things, but not the nuclear launch codes.
- Member: Basic sending and tracking. Good for most users.
- Add to the right group or team. This controls what they can access and keeps permissions clean.
What to avoid: - Don’t invite people as Admins unless you trust them not to break (or delete) things. - Skip bulk uploads unless you’re onboarding a lot of people — mistakes multiply fast.
4. Set Expectations (Don’t Skip This)
New users are usually lost, even if they won’t admit it. Save everyone time by laying out what they should do first.
Send a quick welcome message:
- Mention what they’ll be using Postal for.
- Link to any must-read docs, team processes, or how-to videos.
- Point out who to bug with questions (hopefully not you forever).
Example:
“Hey, welcome to Postal! You’ll use this for sending client gifts — start with the ‘Send’ tab. Here’s a short guide if you get stuck. Ping Sarah if you hit any snags.”
It doesn’t have to be fancy; it just needs to exist.
5. Walk Them Through the Basics (But Don’t Overwhelm)
You don’t need a full-blown training session unless your team loves meetings for the sake of meetings. Focus on what matters:
Show them: - How to send something (the main event). - Where to check order status. - How to use team templates or branded items, if you’ve got them. - How to request support if something breaks.
Skip:
- Deep dives into every menu.
- Features your team doesn’t use.
Pro tip: Record a quick screen share video walking through a typical workflow. Reuse it every time.
6. Permissions, Budgets, and Guardrails
This is where most teams screw up. Postal is powerful, but too much power in the wrong hands leads to wasted swag budgets or, worse, embarrassing mistakes.
Must-do checklist: - Set individual budgets if you don’t want someone accidentally sending $2,000 in coffee mugs. - Limit access to high-value or sensitive items. - Review permissions quarterly. People change roles, and so should their access.
If you’re in doubt, default to less access. No one’s ever fired for being too careful with permissions.
7. Encourage Questions (and Actually Answer Them)
No matter how good your process, new folks will have questions. Make it clear that asking is fine — and make it easy:
- Use a Slack/Teams channel for Postal questions.
- Have a short FAQ doc handy.
- Don’t be the bottleneck; point to resources when possible.
You’re not running a help desk, but a little support early saves a lot of rework later.
8. Monitor, Adjust, and Don’t Overengineer
You can spend all day designing the perfect onboarding process, but reality will mess with your plans. After the first week or two:
- Check if the new user actually used Postal. (If not, ask why.)
- Ask what was confusing or missing.
- Adjust your invites, docs, or walkthroughs as needed.
What to ignore:
- Fancy onboarding software unless you’re hiring at scale.
- Tracking every click or obsessing over metrics. You want people using Postal, not filling out reports.
9. Offboarding: Don’t Forget the Exit
It’s easy to forget this part, but when someone leaves or changes roles, yank their Postal access right away. Otherwise you’re just asking for trouble (or surprise swag shipments).
- Remove users from the workspace when they leave.
- Reassign any outstanding orders or follow-ups.
It’s boring, but critical. Build it into your offboarding checklist.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate as You Go
Onboarding someone to Postal doesn’t have to be complicated. The basics — clear roles, good communication, sensible permissions — matter way more than fancy tools or endless documentation. Start small, fix what’s broken, and don’t be afraid to adjust your process as your team grows.
You’ll never make it perfect, but you can make it painless. That’s more than most teams manage.