Send a Postcard From Anywhere in the World to Anywhere

ByThe Skeptical Traveler

First of all, is there anyone sending postcards any more? I cannot remember when I sent a postcard last time.

It is so complicated to send a postcard nowadays, buy the postcard, the stamp, mail it and at the end be left with the nagging feeling that the postcard will get lost so all your efforts were in vain. And why send a postcard when e-mailing is easy, free, and quick?

However, there is a new service from Canada Post that makes sending a postcard very easy (from a computer to be more specific). I think that sending a postcard is a nice touch in a world where nobody is expecting them. And it costs only $2.74.

The site is www.picturepostage.ca and you can use either their designs or your own photos.

The image is a screenshot of a webpage from Canada Post's Picture Postage service. The top of the page includes navigation links such as "Home," "Sign In," "Shopping Cart," "My Account," "Go Mobile," "FAQ," "About," and "Français." The Canada Post logo is displayed on the left side. Below the navigation bar, there are tabs for "Stamps," "Greeting Cards," "Postcards," and "Other." The main content of the page features a banner with a young girl smiling and holding up a card. There is also an inset image of an elderly woman and a young girl, both smiling and holding up a card. The text on the banner reads, "Create and send cards that are as unique as you are." There is a green button labeled "Create Greeting Cards." The shopping cart icon indicates that there are 0 items in the cart, totaling $0.00.The image is a screenshot of a website offering services to create keepsake postcards from photos. The top section features a banner with the text "Turn photos into keepsake postcards" and images of sample postcards, including one with a baby and another with a "Welcome" message. Below the banner, there is a description that reads, "Out of a picture? Send a postcard! Our postcards are a fun way to send birthday and everyday greetings, share vacation moments, invite friends and family to parties, even show off favorite photos of kids and pets." The lower section of the image displays various categories of postcards with corresponding images: - Birthday - Wedding & Engagement - Baby - Your Photo (with a lock icon) - Thank You - Anniversary - Love - TravelsI think you can get a discount if you set up an account with Canada Post.

This is the way it works, you give the customers something in exchange for their contact information so you can market more products to them. I have nothing against this ‘process’ and I was about to register. However, they were asking for the address (mandatory fields) and I do not like giving it especially when it does not make sense. Why would they need my address? I would give it to them only if they sent me a prize 🙂 or I had something to be delivered to my place but for setting up the account an e-mail and password is enough. But the last straw was that the phone number was mandatory. Why would they need it? Canada Post is a reputable organization and I am sure they would not sell it but still. It is a matter of principle and at the same time I did not want to make up a phone number.

This is what you need to create an account with Amazon.Alt text: "A registration form for Amazon.com. The form includes fields for entering a name, email address (with a confirmation field), mobile phone number (optional), and a password (with a confirmation field). There is a 'Create account' button at the bottom."Why cannot companies just copy what successful companies do (in this case Amazon in e-commerce)?

So I did not create an account and Canada Post does not have my e-mail where they could have sent me offers and I might have ended up buying some of them. And being Canada Post I would have given them my secondary email address, even perhaps my main one.

I will write about my experience of using this service in a future post, coming (very) soon.

Twitter @curbexcitement

 

 

9 Comments

  1. Postcardly (postcardly.com) and Postagram (http://postagramapp.com/) both do this for about $1 a pop and they have smartphone apps, so you can take a pic while travelling and then send it as a postcard to someone back home all from your smartphone.

  3. The kids (age 8 and 10) love getting postcards in the mail, so yes I do still send postcards. The idea of getting mail is new to them and still fun. I sent postcards one time I was wandering around Europe to a class and they used them as a mini-geography lesson.

  4. “It is so complicated to send a postcard nowadays, buy the postcard, the stamp, mail it and at the end be left with the nagging feeling that the postcard will get lost so all your efforts were in vain.” Huh?…….I hope you are kidding.

  6. Pingback: My Experience with Picture Postage - The Skeptical Traveler

  7. Hi Skeptical Traveler,

    Thanks for writing about our photo postcards! Sorry to hear that you found the account sign-up process a bit cumbersome. Right now, we collect the same customer info across the whole range of Picture Postage products – stamps, cards & postcards. The phone number comes in handy if we need to quickly check the details on a custom stamp or bulk card order, and we need the address to deliver the final product!

    Thanks,
    Shannon – Canada Post Marketing

  8. @Shannon
    The address could be asked when a product needs to be delivered, same for the phone not when signing-up. Again, just copy what Amazon, the largest e-commerce company in the world, does :).

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