ShinyLetter: Converting Email to Snailmail

When I first ran across ShinyLetter I didn’t quite know what to think. ShinyLetter lets you compose a letter online and for two dollars they will print and send your letter through the good old postal system. But how hard is it to sit down, pull out some paper and a pen, write your letter and mail it yourself? Once I thought about it, I figured that unless you have stamps and envelopes on hand, it could be more work than a lot of people care to put into it. Even with that in mind, this site is taking niche marketing to new heights targeting the incredibly lazy and people who don’t own printers but have mail to send.

We live in an age of efficiency — or maybe it’s just laziness — where people are willing to pay a small price if it means less work for them to do. If it takes 30 minutes of your day to drive and get a stamp to mail your letter, two bucks is probably more than worth it. I gladly pay nearly as much to download an album from iTunes as it would cost to go buy the physical CD in a store because it’s easy and I get instant gratification.

According to the ShinyLetter site, the idea originated when one of the founders wished his grandmother had email so he could write to her. Shortly after, the team created ShinyLetter and, apparently, the grandma is happy to be receiving mail from her grandson now. In that regard, I can honestly see ShinyLetter filling a need that some people will have, but I still can’t help but laugh at the thought of it all. That said, I’m going to try it out and send a letter to my wife, believe me she’s going to love getting a letter in the mail. Maybe this is useful after all.