
Show HN: Send a Custom Postcard to Anywhere, from Your Phone, for $2.99 - traviswingo
https://postcardbot.co/#hn2
======
gfodor
I worked on a few postcard apps about 5 years ago, for my experiments the
economics were very difficult unless a) you charged a lot b) of recurring
revenue c) for a niche. I gave up even when I found a viable model because I
didn't want to spent the next 5 years working on this, thought I could make a
lifestyle business but I think to be successful here you have to move a lot of
postcards and that takes marketing muscle and ensuring a high CLTV. Margins
are good but absolute profit is tiny. Also support costs will be high, people
will be emailing you about lost postcards (inevitable given the many ways they
can be lost, and they will be pissed) when you stand to make 30 cents. Giving
one away for free seemed to help "validate" that delivery has an existence
proof for a given address, but is very expensive.

Anyway free info: the thing that seemed to have legs was an app that lets
parents send monthly postcards of babies. (Recurring, high margin.)
Grandparents and other relatives still have the ones my friends sent on their
fridge. I think if you took this idea and executed well you could be
successful, but you would need marketing capital or capital to get a
partnership with a big brand.

Good luck!

~~~
traviswingo
Thanks for the input. I don't intend on putting in full time work on this
(maybe just a couple hours a week). It's a side project and will remain as
such indefinitely.

I actually built it solely for myself to use when I travel, and I thought it
would be fun to build.

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traviswingo
This is a full rework of my original project, Postacard.io. The entire project
has been completely rewritten. The new version includes a Messenger bot for
international use without the SMS fees, as well as statistical NLP in address
parsing for faster creation (from start to finish) and better accuracy
internationally.

FYI, for those of you using "UK" as your country code. The postcard service
this uses recognizes "GB" as the country code for United Kingdom. I'll be
putting in an alias for this.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Amazing work!

~~~
traviswingo
Thanks!

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yabatopia
There's somehow a contradiction between the service you're offering and the
name of the service. Postcard BOT feels impersonal, cold and automated, while
you associate a postcard with something warm, handwritten, personal. There's a
risk that your target market (postcard lovers) might get turned off by the
name (bot).

~~~
ctpide
I tend to kindly disagree - while what you say is true for the people who love
to write and receive postcards - this service is perfect for lazy people like
me. The real postcard lovers will still want to buy the real thing and hand-
write the message on there and probably wouldn't consider this kind of service
either way.

~~~
icc97
Postcards without handwriting are just email.

I'm not even a postcard lover, I send maybe one a year, but the one I will
send is going to be personal. All the personality and expressiveness that you
give to a written postcard is lost once you use a font. Even a really really
nice one.

~~~
bbcbasic
"The real postcard lovers will still want to buy the real thing"

Sounds like you are in that group.

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jonalmeida
This isn't a new Show HN since you've posted this before[1] with the domain
postacard.io. What's changed since then?

[1]:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12427505](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12427505)

~~~
rick_perez
Well, there is a penny difference in the title. A holiday discount?

~~~
traviswingo
Yeah, I'm playing with the pricing model. As a side project, I'd like it to at
least break even. The NLP required for parsing addresses uses quite a bit of
memory, so this increases the monthly costs to keep it online. Also, sending a
postcard outside of the US costs substantially more than within the US. I
wanted to find a good pricing structure that's flat, regardless of where the
postcard is going.

There's room to reduce these costs as more people use the service. As long as
I'm breaking even on servers I'll be happy :).

~~~
baseh
Sorry if you answered this somewhere else. But does it use LOB's API to send
the postcard?

I wonder if there is data/logic on what would be the optimal locations
(countries/cities/towns) where it is cheapest and fastest to send a postcard
to that country or neighboring countries.

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wineisfine
Nice, but you could make it alot more accessible with naming it something
friendlier, postcardbuddy, or something and have some "cute" logo. Its quite
tech geek bare metal now

~~~
fpgaminer
I've read and analyzed a large number of stories on IndieHackers and not a
single one mentioned the name being an issue, or something they wished they
had changed.

There probably are a few stories out there of companies rebranding
successfully and meaningfully, but it doesn't seem to matter that much in the
general case.

~~~
brianwawok
I can think of many startups with horrible names. A decent chunk of the
failed.

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aluhut
> Depending on the platform, we will provide you either a secure link or
> method to pay once you've contructed your postcard.

This is not very informative. You should provide some examples there.

~~~
traviswingo
Thanks, will do. Still a work in progress.

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nataz
I love the idea. I travel internationally quite a bit and would love to be
able to easily send a picture to my wife or parents in the mail. True, a text
message is easier, but there is something fun and more personal about getting
a physical thing in the mail.

~~~
traviswingo
Exactly. I think we're a bit too impersonal and anti-social with Snaps, Grams,
etc. Taking something digital into the analog world makes it more meaningful
:).

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benthehenten
I've been using The Simple Postcard [1] for a few months now and really like
it. How does this service compare?

[1] [https://www.thesimplepostcard.com/](https://www.thesimplepostcard.com/)

~~~
traviswingo
This project was actually pointed out to be when I originally built
postacard.io. The difference between the two is I support international
postcards, and include a Messenger bot (also an international perk). Other
than that, they're essentially the same service, and I think The Simple
Postcard is incredibly well built!

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fnazeeri
Pretty awesome! Just used it and it worked easy-peasy! Now if I could only
upload a boat load of addresses...

~~~
traviswingo
At some point I'll create a web interface and allow CSV address components.
Whenever I find the time though :p.

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ProAm
This is similar to Bill Atkinson's postcard app. [1]

[1]
[http://www.billatkinson.com/Pages/aboutPhotoCard.html](http://www.billatkinson.com/Pages/aboutPhotoCard.html)

~~~
traviswingo
Except it isn't an app :), which is the reason for the original inspiration
behind the project. Postcards aren't a very popular thing anymore (hopefully
that changes!), and I don't quite believe a dedicated app is justified when
you can do it straight from SMS or Messenger.

~~~
jayajay
Postcards aren't popular, you are right. I don't think they will be anymore.
Kids my age are sending snaps, and even archaic image texts. I think we are
are more interested in showing our friends "I'm here, look at what's behind
me", then in sending some generic, impersonal postcard which doesn't prove
anything.

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gravypod
If you could nock the price down you could market this to HAMs for QSL cards.

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epmaybe
I really like this idea!

I've been wanting something similar, but instead for the postcards to be sent
from the country that you are traveling from. Such a service would be hard to
implement though.

~~~
Casseres
If you're already there, then why not send them yourself? I liked the
adventure of finding postcards (when you're not in a touristy area) and then
finding a post office. You get to see aspects of the country that hasn't been
changed for tourists.

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timthorn
Sending a physical postcard from a mobile phone is a standardised activity:
[https://www.nowsms.com/oma-mms-postcard-
conformance](https://www.nowsms.com/oma-mms-postcard-conformance)

~~~
cpayne
The end user (my mother, sister etc.) definately wouldn't know that.

I remember when Youtube came out, and all the nerds said "I could write that
easily, not that big a deal".

This is why knowing who your customer is (and what problem you're trying to
solve) is essential.

~~~
timthorn
There was a load of publicity ~a decade ago about this, with lots of mobile
operators pushing the service. They did do the marketing, but MMS was the
success we know it was(!), cameras in phones weren't top notch, and the
service was used once only by lots of people who have now forgotten all about
it...

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throwanem
I'd like to use this! But I have questions. Tell me more about the automatic
rotation, and in general about how images are fit to cards when the aspect
ratio differs. I'm also curious about print resolution.

~~~
traviswingo
Well essentially the platform simply looks at the difference between the width
and height, and rotates to fit a 4x6 aspect ratio, gravitated towards the
center of the photo. It works best with photos taken directly from a smart
phone, uncropped. It also scales the resolution if its not high enough, but
this typically isn't an issue if the photo was taken with a modern smartphone
today.

You can read a bit about this in FAQ

[https://postcardbot.co/faq](https://postcardbot.co/faq)

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katdev
Any plans to send gifs as well? (gifpop.io is good inspiration)

~~~
traviswingo
At first I actually wasn't sure if you were joking or serious, but gifpop.io
looks awesome. I'll start looking into how/if I can integrate.

However, If I sent my grandma a postcard that moved, she'd probably collapse
:p

~~~
katdev
Haha, totally serious about the gifs.

I'm surprised that none of the postcard bots (yours included) have targeted
the Christmas/holiday card or wedding gift thank you market. None of them seem
to offer bulk discounts or options for uploading a csv or better yet
integration with iOS or Gmail contacts.

Average number of wedding guests in America is 150, iirc.

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overcast
Neat implementation, but loses the human being portion that makes postcards
special.

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lttlrck
Any plans to integrate with Apple Pay in the messenger bot? I'd love that.

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aninteger
Does anywhere include countries that the USA has embargos (Cuba) with?

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o_____________o
Include real, photographed physical examples on the landing page.

~~~
traviswingo
Here's an example. Found in FAQ.

[https://postcardbot.co/examples/psc_58b3f6b96b4b9b44.pdf](https://postcardbot.co/examples/psc_58b3f6b96b4b9b44.pdf)

~~~
o_____________o
That doesn't give me an idea of what the finished product looks like in hand.
Card stock, etc.

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bdcravens
Just connects a service like Twilio with Lob API, right?

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plg
what a bargain

