Outsourcing the mailing of letters


Once in a while, one needs to actually send a physical letter. For those of you for whom this is an unfamiliar exercise, this involves writing or typing (and then printing) the message, addressing an envelope, sealing the envelope, putting a stamp, and then popping it in the mail box.

Do you find that process onerous? Rob Beschizza says that there is a company that will do all that for you for a cost that starts at $1.52 per letter. All you have to do is email them the text of the letter and the address you want it sent to.

This may be the beginning of a new class of service industries for retro services.

Comments

  1. John Morales says

    So they have access to one’s contact details and every original electronic letters’ full content including metadata, already conveniently digitised.

    (I imagine their database will become rather valuable mining resource, over time)

    PS Their Privacy Statement (http://www.mailaletter.com/Privacy.aspx) doesn’t mention what happens to the letters’ content, which is informative. Nothing there about deleting anything, either.

  2. johnson catman says

    If you have already composed the letter, at least 75% of the work is done. Printing the letter, addressing an envelope, inserting the letter into the envelope, sealing the envelope, stamping it, and dropping it in the mail sounds like a lot, but is not that big of a deal. Also as John @1 said, BIG privacy concerns.

  3. KG says

    For an additional $5,000, they will have it delivered by an appropriately attired rider on a lathered* horse!

    *The lathering is of course done artificially: the letter, rider and horse go all but the last few hundred yards by a truck pulling a horse box.

  4. DonDueed says

    I’m going to start a service that will read the dial of an analog clock for you. As a sideline it will dial rotary phones.

  5. sonofrojblake says

    Printing the letter, addressing an envelope, inserting the letter into the envelope, sealing the envelope, stamping it, and dropping it in the mail sounds like a lot, but is not that big of a deal

    Oh yeah? Stephen Hawking might have disagreed with you.

    Come to that, a harassed single parent at home with one or more small children might disagree with you. Especially if their printer is out of ink, broken, or they can’t afford one to go with their donated five year old still-running-XP netbook. Or, you know, fill on any other of a dozen or a hundred cases where “dropping it in the mail”, although trivial for able-bodied, time-rich people like you and me, really IS a big deal.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *