31–40 of 61 posts
Here's how you can lower your overhead on postage: Flip the sender and recipient addresses around and don't place a stamp on it. The mailman has to send it back to the sender, who, in this case is actually the recipient, because of the missing postage. HA!
Also, lots if good feedback given by others but I especially liked using your service to send invoices, etc. So here's my suggestion, create a developer API and other web applications can use your service to send out snail mail.
Just look at what you need to do: print out the letter, print out the envelope, stuff the letter, apply stamp, seal the envelope. Double check the data.
That's 3-5 minutes per letter.
@3 minutes that's 20 letters per hour.
@4 minutes that's 15 letters per hour,
@5 minutes that's 12 letters per hour.
Let's add up all your variable costs: stamp: 44 cents ink: 22 cents (sample laser cartridge is $35 for 470 pages, count 3 to print envelope+2 pages)
So based on this, you are making 33 cents off each letter. That means your current profit margin per hour is:
@3 minutes: $6.66 per hour
@4 minutes: $4.95 per hour
@5 minutes: $3.96 per hour
Even if you get super efficient and cut that down to 1 letter every 2 minutes. (simply can't do it faster than that on consistent basis), that's only 30 letters mailed. Or $9.90 an hour.
At $1 a letter you simply aren't making enough money. You need to pretty much double your rates, to make this workable.
the problem with this is scale. Just look at what you need to do: print out the letter, print out the envelope, stuff the letter, apply stamp, seal the envelope. Double check the data. That's 3-5 minutes per letter. @3 minutes that's 20 letters per hour. @4 minutes that's 15 letters per hour, @5 minutes that's 12 letters per hour. So your potential income is $12-20 an hour. Let's add up all your variable costs: stamp…
To avoid that, you'll want to offer users whatever you can to make your service a more efficient option: address book integration, built-in letterhead, quickbooks integration, who knows.
You might also expand to adjacent markets. I once heard of an online greeting card company that lets you enter in the addresses and birthdays of everyone you want to send cards to. Then a couple weeks before each birthday, they mail you an envelope containing a pre-addressed, stamped envelope with your choice of card. You just write a note and drop it in the mail.
You could do the same sort of thing, maybe even including the handwritten part!
the problem with this is scale. Just look at what you need to do: print out the letter, print out the envelope, stuff the letter, apply stamp, seal the envelope. Double check the data. That's 3-5 minutes per letter. @3 minutes that's 20 letters per hour. @4 minutes that's 15 letters per hour, @5 minutes that's 12 letters per hour. So your potential income is $12-20 an hour. Let's add up all your variable costs: stamp…
At scale, all of these things can be automated. The challenge is getting to scale but not getting destroyed by someone who already has the infrastructure to do this at far lower cost. (Vistaprint, for example, could probably offer this service with just a little bit of programming work.) To avoid that, you'll want to offer users whatever you can to make your service a more efficient option: address book integration,…
the problem with this is scale. Just look at what you need to do: print out the letter, print out the envelope, stuff the letter, apply stamp, seal the envelope. Double check the data. That's 3-5 minutes per letter. @3 minutes that's 20 letters per hour. @4 minutes that's 15 letters per hour, @5 minutes that's 12 letters per hour. So your potential income is $12-20 an hour. Let's add up all your variable costs: stamp…
You don't get the lower rates unless you commit to spending more... take a look at the pricing/signup link at the top. (Also, would love some feedback on this page...)
Just curious, who is hosting this? Also, lots if good feedback given by others but I especially liked using your service to send invoices, etc. So here's my suggestion, create a developer API and other web applications can use your service to send out snail mail.
Yes, definitely. I actually have one customer that's beta testing an "email to snail mail" system that I've built. I need to clean up a few things but should have that available to everyone sometime next week.
If you're serious about using the service to send invoices (or anything else), feel free to ping me -- my contact info is in my profile. I'll trade you a reduced rate for solid feedback. :)
Wait, so what are you doing differently than Dustin on your end?
Unless I'm mistaken, Dustin's service is better for people that have a "one-off" need to mail stuff. I'm setup for that use case too, but am trying to build stuff to cater to a group of people that have already budgeted money for this expense.
the problem with this is scale. Just look at what you need to do: print out the letter, print out the envelope, stuff the letter, apply stamp, seal the envelope. Double check the data. That's 3-5 minutes per letter. @3 minutes that's 20 letters per hour. @4 minutes that's 15 letters per hour, @5 minutes that's 12 letters per hour. So your potential income is $12-20 an hour. Let's add up all your variable costs: stamp…
I'm with you, it's tough to make the numbers work unless you've got some serious volume. You'll notice that one-off letters are actually $3 each. You don't get the lower rates unless you commit to spending more... take a look at the pricing/signup link at the top. (Also, would love some feedback on this page...)
What about replacing the Lite plan with something that costs $25/mo and includes 15 letters (add'l $2) and the Pro with, say, $99/mo for 99 letters (add'l $1.50).
If you can validate the addresses and generate Zip+4s, you may want to look into this if your volume reaches the minimum: http://www.usps.com/send/waystosendmail/senditwithintheus/pr...
EDIT: Also, when you send via bulk mail, you have to take it to specialized bulk mail facilities... unfortunately, I'm ~50 miles from the nearest one. So, unless I can fill a truck full of mail, I'm not sure how I'd make the numbers work.