Facebook Plunges Again
Tumblr 101: Tips And Tricks To Get Started
1HRmail lets you send inexpensive snail mail anywhere in the world
1HRmail is a beautiful, slick, and modern website, which lets you do something that is very old school: send a snail mail letter.
You start off by specifying the addresses (both yours and the destination). You then click "Write Letter," and an in-page Rich Text editor "slides" out from under the envelope, where you can write your letter.
The only language supported is English, but you can upload image attachments, so you can write your letter on actual paper, scan it, and upload it (in case there's no post office nearby). But really, the most common use of the site would be to write down a note in English, and send it off to somewhere in the States; this costs US $0.99, and it's payable through Amazon's micropayment framework (Amazon Payments). So, you don't need to give out your credit card details.
International snail mail is also supported. Sending a letter to Canada only costs $1.53 (the $0.99 for a basic two-page letter plus $0.54 in extra postage). The site seems to use cookies to autosave your text and addresses, so if your browser crashes mid-letter, you can always continue where you left off.
The whole thing feels very modern and solid. It's not something I would use every day, and it's not very romantic (i.e., I'd rather actually write out a love letter than have the service send it for me), but it's good to know it exists. I have a strong feeling that it may come in handy some day.
Comments
10
Subscribe to commentsGavAug 10th 2010 7:25PM
Do you have pillar boxes in the US?
DrakkenfyreAug 10th 2010 8:58PM
We have US Postal boxes usually on the corners near businesses. They aren't pillar shaped, but box shaped.
Here is one that was done up for the Star Wars anniversary.
http://www.civicimages.com/im/united_states/rhode_island/providence-022.jpg
aanidaaniAug 10th 2010 9:32PM
Have we gotten so lazy that we can't pick up a pen and paper anymore? This is just sad...
kojo87Aug 11th 2010 12:05AM
no this is just what we do when the post office is a considerable distance away and i have no car. bus fare to get stamps would be more than this site charges.
MikeAug 10th 2010 11:33PM
How does it compare to snailmailr.com? That's what I've been using, and it's simple but I have two complaints. Snailmailr only allows image attachments up to 5MB, so sometimes I have to resize them before uploading. Second, the print quality of the actual letter when sending photos (which I would imagine is quite popular) is less than stellar, there are wide margins and the colors are not very good, its like a 10 year old inkjet.
Will BurnsAug 11th 2010 9:52AM
The website and design look about the same to me. It's a shame the image quality isn't that good. I wonder if 1hrmail is any better.
BaharehAug 13th 2010 1:21AM
These guys are solid! I've been using them for a few months after being disappointed with snailmailr and the quality really is great.
When they add the mailing list and multi-language it will make them complete.
I think Google should buy them and add the option to send a physical letter to contacts...think about it!!
This might be the 21st century, but people still need to send letters. Lawyers, businesses, soldiers and so many others still are required to use physical mail.
My 2 cents.
FoiledAug 11th 2010 2:43AM
Yah, but can the lawyers/professionals track all letters they sent?
Now, that would really be useful.
Name:Aug 11th 2010 9:25AM
Remember when AOL did this for free?
Name:Aug 11th 2010 9:26AM
Free if you were an AOL member.