Emailing Postcards.

I have a new discovery that I must share. I found it a few days ago and it may be the coolest thing I've found on Pinterest. Thank God for Pinterest, what else would I do with all of my free time between the hours of 12-1am every night?

My Grandmother is the best. She's adorable, sweet and gives great gifts. Plus, she knits a mean scarf. The problem is that she is not, how should I say, technologically inclined. That is, I think VHS is too advanced for her. But bless her heart, that woman still clips recipes from the newspaper and sends them to me. You know what? They're just as good as the ones I find on the internet.

Here's my point. She and I don't talk enough. I blame this on the fact that (1) I am not a good granddaughter, (2) she doesn't email and (3) she doesn't text either. Therefore I am left with snail mail and international phone calls.

It's always on my to-do list to print off photos, write a quick explanation on the back and pop them in the mail to her. Yeah, that happens maybe once a year, if I'm on top of my game. My dad, on the other hand, is really good about this. For as long as I can remember he has called her every Sunday night. Like clock work. He mails her clippings, prints off my blog and writes her letters. He's a good son.  

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. It's always the simple ideas, people. 

Have you heard of Postcardly.com? It's brilliant. 

Basically, it's an email/postcard system designed to put the technology enhanced generation in touch with the non-technology people out there. Like grandparents.

Exhibit A:

Front.

Back.

It's pretty simple. You go to Postcardly.com and set up an account. In this account you create a unique postcardly email address for your grandmother (for example): grandmother@postcardly.com. The website will prompt you to link the email address to their mailing address. Next you simply go to your normal email account and send an email to your grandmother and attach a photo. Then the good people at Postcardly get your email and print it as a postcard. The photo is the front and your message is on the back of the postcard. They stamp it and send it off that day via US mail.

Let's recap. I send my grandmother an email and she gets it as a postcard in the mail. I can do this from my phone or laptop, anywhere in the world.

Exhibit B:

Front. 

Back.

I'm pretty sure I win Granddaughter of the Year for this.

I know what you're thinking...how much does this cute little service cost? The short answer is $1/per card. Not bad, considering printing and the stamp is included. The first three are free and then you have to buy a $5 minimum. It's like iTunes. They charge your account when you send a postcard. The efficiency is priceless. 

Think how much your grandmother would love a weekly postcard from you! I'm not discriminating here, you can send them to granddads too. Or maybe you have an email-less sister. Or a technologically-declined aunt. Or maybe when your kid is at camp you'll want to send them a post card of the dog. 

I don't know, get creative. Go forth and conquer the postcard!

Click here to visit Postcardly. This is a public service announcement. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

I regret to inform you that at this time Postcardly is only capable of sending postcards to US addresses. Sorry Canadians.

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