Penpals are still very popular for a number of reasons. The main reason is to receive mail. It may seem simple to most people, but receiving a hand written letter is one of those simple pleasures that we tend to forget in life. So enter the concept of a penpal, where men and women write detailed letters and exchange pictures for a non-specific period of time. Sometimes they will eventually meet, and other times they may never see each other in a face-to-face setting.

You may have read articles about various types of pen pals such as prison-based penpals. These services are very popular, not because the people exchanging letters really believe that they will ever meet, but rather because it brings the person writing to the convict a sense of excitement. This type of thing mainly attracts women who are looking to meet a "bad boy", yet are safe in that he will likely never be released. Often these women are trying to be charitable in a Christian manner, in that they hope to bring some joy and hope into an otherwise pointless existence through the written word.

Another form of penpal is the form where men from the Western nations of the world will write to women in countries like China, Thailand, and the Philippines in hopes of someday finding love and marriage. In these situations, often the girl is very poor and does not have access to a computer. Agencies find these girls and sell their contact information like that of any other personal ad. The only difference here in this form of personal ads is that obviously the correspondence is much slower, and the man will have to travel to meet the family of the girl.