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Tell HN: I ripped off Dustin Curtis' snail and got slightly different results

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Re: Tell HN: I ripped off Dustin Curtis' snail and got slightly different results

#21

Post by ryanwaggoner »

bravura wrote: post #6

Here is a variation on an application that involves mailing physical letters. It reconciles two salient facts: 1) people love to complain and be activists, but are also lazy and would rather click a button on the web than lick an envelope 2) most businesses respond better to a printed complaint than a digital one. Anyone can start a petition. e.g. "You, the cafe at the corner of Fifth and Main, charge too much for th…

Interesting, but who pays for this? Is this an ad-supported model, or are you charging each signer a fee?

Re: Tell HN: I ripped off Dustin Curtis' snail and got slightly different results

#22

Post by xinsight »

bravura wrote: post #6

Here is a variation on an application that involves mailing physical letters. It reconciles two salient facts: 1) people love to complain and be activists, but are also lazy and would rather click a button on the web than lick an envelope 2) most businesses respond better to a printed complaint than a digital one. Anyone can start a petition. e.g. "You, the cafe at the corner of Fifth and Main, charge too much for th…

I'd love to see an new idea aggregation site, but was bummed to see that it just returns: "502 Bad Gateway"

Re: Tell HN: I ripped off Dustin Curtis' snail and got slightly different results

#23

Post by symptic »

paulsingh wrote: post #14
ars wrote: post #4

Change: Just address your envelope, write your letter, verify its appearance, then pay using your Paypal account. Add the words "electronically", or "via this website" or something like that. You have a bunch of '2' showing up all over the place. Mention that you don't retain the contents of the letter once printed (if you don't, and I hope you don't). Include a photo of a sample letter so people can see if the paper…

Thanks for the feedback, I'll try to nail these down soon. As for the sheets of paper, for now I'm betting that the average letter won't be more than 4 pages (since that's when the postage costs rise).

That's not very sound basis for your bet. Though you'll be able to study this with the more letters you send. I just wanted to point out that you need to test this rather than assume.

Re: Tell HN: I ripped off Dustin Curtis' snail and got slightly different results

#24

Post by paulsingh »

kirpekar wrote: post #18

1. Do you do international? I see a lot of need for letters to Mexico, China and India. 2. You could charge a lot of money for handwritten notes. In fact, I would pay $20 for someone to hand write a letter to my grandma, once a year, or so. 3. CC from email. It would be great if I could simply cc xxxx@snailpad.com which you would print and physically mail out. 4. It would also be useful if you could print and snail m…

I love #2... that's an awesome idea. (Especially since my wife has some pretty badass penmanship!)

Re: Tell HN: I ripped off Dustin Curtis' snail and got slightly different results

#26

Post by BenS »

kirpekar wrote: post #18

1. Do you do international? I see a lot of need for letters to Mexico, China and India. 2. You could charge a lot of money for handwritten notes. In fact, I would pay $20 for someone to hand write a letter to my grandma, once a year, or so. 3. CC from email. It would be great if I could simply cc xxxx@snailpad.com which you would print and physically mail out. 4. It would also be useful if you could print and snail m…

On #2: you have missed the point of why a hand written letter to a loved one is special.

Re: Tell HN: I ripped off Dustin Curtis' snail and got slightly different results

#27

Post by kirpekar »

BenS wrote: post #26
kirpekar wrote: post #18

1. Do you do international? I see a lot of need for letters to Mexico, China and India. 2. You could charge a lot of money for handwritten notes. In fact, I would pay $20 for someone to hand write a letter to my grandma, once a year, or so. 3. CC from email. It would be great if I could simply cc xxxx@snailpad.com which you would print and physically mail out. 4. It would also be useful if you could print and snail m…

On #2: you have missed the point of why a hand written letter to a loved one is special.

I certainly understand the value of a hand written letters. I am only suggesting a market opportunity.

Re: Tell HN: I ripped off Dustin Curtis' snail and got slightly different results

#29

Post by grippy »

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!

Re: Tell HN: I ripped off Dustin Curtis' snail and got slightly different results

#30

Post by tedunangst »

bravura wrote: post #6

Here is a variation on an application that involves mailing physical letters. It reconciles two salient facts: 1) people love to complain and be activists, but are also lazy and would rather click a button on the web than lick an envelope 2) most businesses respond better to a printed complaint than a digital one. Anyone can start a petition. e.g. "You, the cafe at the corner of Fifth and Main, charge too much for th…

Companies respond to lots of printed letters. One letter with a thousand [forged] names on it is no different than one letter: the return address gets a coupon for a free coffee.
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