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Remember when you were a kid and you’d get a postcard in the mail from a vacationing friend or a penpal? Wasn’t that fun?

Well, start checking your mailboxes, because come Monday the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles is starting a postcard campaign No, the DMV doesn’t want to be your pen pal. The agency is making a change in the way it  notifies car owners of their upcoming emissions tests. Instead of sending out letters, the DMV will now send postcards.

Why the change? It’s cheaper to mail postcards than letters, DMV officials said, and the agency can save the state some $400,000 in postage by switching to postcards.

Testing renewal notices are sent to approximately a million people each year whose emissions test is due. Emissions testing is required every two years on all vehicles except those that are less than four years old, and those 25-years old or older.

The cost for a test has remained $20 for the last 27 years since the program began in 1983. The testing process is easier for most vehicles manufactured after 1996 because they will require only a computer hook-up to test the engine’s on-board diagnostics for emissions controls. Older vehicles and some others still require the traditional tailpipe test that measures the emissions gasses, DMV officials said.

The postcard mailing and $20 test fee are part of a new contract signed recently between DMV and Applus Technologies, Inc., the company that conducts emissions tests in Connecticut. Applus’s testing network is comprised of 225 garages and auto dealerships statewide. Customers can find the most updated test station list here, which also allows a vehicle owner to determine their renewal date by entering a vehicle identification number.