I do like your service (from both a personal and business standpoint), and could see a number of possibilities for business partnerships. Mkt agencies, event planning sites (eg. meetup), and social network applications seem the most appropriate off the top of my head.

Direct Mail marketing has lots of capital being dumped into it, and response rates of 3% are considered outstanding. Being able to move the needle to something as small as 10% response rates would be highly welcomed.

Some issues:
1) Your location puts you at a disadvantage. Finding fulfillment companies more strategically located (east/west coast, and possibly central US) would allow for quicker delivery and lower costs w/o international (you place a PC and printer at their location, your system remotely handles which orders go to which place by which is closest, they make sure the postman picks them up daily). The beauty of 1800-flowers is that I can have same day delivery and a partnership with FedEx-Kinkos would allow premium some-day delivery

2) Barrier to entry is low; Zazzle, birthdayalert, and the like, could easily ad support for advert-supported post cards; your narrow focus will help, but so would a “catchier” name that can be made a verb

3) premium service which would put you in direct competition with birthdayalert is also possible where the differentiator is speed of delivery and customer service

Good luck!

Why? Because there are some ppl out there who still live in the real world unlike yourself and place value on receiving something real. Personal Projects said it well – ‘means more than an email’.

Also, you dont have to drop a postcard in the mail with their service, they do the posting for you so your last point is redundant.

Point well taken… it’s a service for consumers and marketers and will only work if both are at the table. Thanks for keeping me in check.

Why so cynical? Can’t a person believe in what he’s doing and make a buck at the same time?

Thanks so much for the article and props Jason and also for everyone’s comments. The response has been amazing… and yes a pleasant suprise.

To your comments on privacy, we are working on our statement and will have it up in a day or so… there are terms that cover off what we do with data and please understand that we do not intend to do anything malicious with information. Quite frankly, we just love the idea of taking social marketing into the offline space… that and my mother needed to hear from her son a little more often.

Really appreciate the support.

Thanks again.

@Lloyd I personally appreciate that I get tons of free stuff through advertisements. Without advertisements you would be paying for all the entertainment you’ve ever seen including TV, websites and radio. What ticks me off is when I’m advertised to but I get nothing in return. Like Billboards.

Postcard sent to Western NY, but was sent from Canada (!!). This made the postage cost rise to 96 Cents Canadian, which I think is pretty close to at least 80-85 US Cents without checking the rates.

Made me laugh, knowing their “formula” for deciding where to send them from must be only based on statute miles from nearest Post Office.

That’s true. There are heaps of suckers, naive, vain internet users who would be the target market for another Facebook related useless product.

Its a service that has value – I think you will find a small niche of people who will pay. People pay for postcards in the real world, why should it be free for them just because its activated in the online world?

Better yet, merge this idea with the biz model of birthdayalarms i read about recently and you might make the $4 million or so that they make. I guess the ultimate solution is have the free one you’re doing currently with a paid one like i suggest. Thank me later.

LP

Because that mail will end up, unread, in the recycling bin? I would definitely read a postcard from my friend, and probably keep it for a while.

I think there is a market for this, though it may end up being relatively small and niche. It’s a great way to send a photo to someone who might otherwise not be on Facebook or Picasa.

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