Postful Acquired By Click2Mail

We are excited to announce that Postful has been acquired by Click2Mail, a leading provider of online print and mail services. Postful’s product line can now be found at Click2Mail.com, where you will also find far more product options, comprehensive live customer support, and an extensive nationwide print network.

While Postful will be shutting down on May 27, 2011, we have worked with Click2Mail to make the transition as smooth as possible for our existing customers.  Click2Mail has already incorporated the best of Postful’s email interface into the powerful Click2Mail print and mail management system with their Click2Mail Email-to-Mail service, and if you’ve looked for Postful’s postcards recently you already know about Click2Mail’s easy-to-send picture postcards.

To begin using Click2Mail.com all you need to do is sign up for an account with Click2Mail then email Postful customer support (support@postful-inc.com) with your primary Postful email address and your new Click2Mail username. We’ll handle transferring your balance.

Please note that your Postful mailboxes and order history will not be transferred. If you need access to this information, you can log in to your Postful account until May 27.

We greatly appreciate your past use of Postful and look forward to continuing to serve you as a part of Click2Mail. If you have any questions or need help, please contact us at support@postful-inc.com and we’ll be glad to help in any way possible.

Postful Adds Postcards

The biggest feature we’re launching this week is the addition of postcards.  It’s now easy to send custom postcards with your own photos and designs.

To try things out, just go to our site, upload a photo, and add your message.  You can preview the card, set the recipient, and send in minutes.  It’s only $.59 for a single 4.25″x6″ card.  Volume discounts take things down from there.

It’s a great way to send reminders, thank you notes, vacation postcards, holiday cards, and more.

Of course, for many of you, sending individual cards isn’t your key concern.  You want to integrate this directly with your application.  Through our API, you have full control of the postcard printing system, including complete control of the design on both sides of the card (both sides full color).

If you’re interested in getting more details, just contact us and we can help you to handle the integration process.

For everyone, let us know what you like and, just as importantly, what you don’t like.  We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Postful Launches from Beta

By now, many of you have noticed the major changes with Postful.  We’re thrilled to be launching out of beta this week at the Office 2.0 conference where we’re one of the Launchpad companies.

We’ll be talking a lot more about the new features that we’re launching over the next few days.  For now, let me just start by thanking all of the users who have helped us so much through the course of our beta development.  Your feedback, patience, support, and excitement have been invaluable.

And, I’d like to also welcome all the new users who are joining us for the first time.  We look forward to hearing your thoughts.

International Mailings

Postful has been testing global mailings for several months now. We’re now expanding from our initial test group to support over 200 countries. Finally you can mail letters, photos, invoices, brochures, and more anywhere in the world as easily as sending an e-mail.

Pricing is slightly higher for letters mailed outside of the US. International letters are $1.49 for the first page, $.39 each additional page. The difference is due to international airmail pricing which runs about $.50 more than US domestic postage. However, given the rapidly weakening dollar, favorable exchange rates mostly make up for this difference. For example, $1.49 converts to about 1 Euro (as of 1/4/08).

Our experiences with mailing times have been better than expected. To Europe, we’ve seen mailing times from three to eight days. Delivery to Asia has varied from four to nine days. As we open more regional print centers, we look forward to making every letter sent from anywhere in the world into a local letter.

Below the fold is a list of all supported countries. We’re looking forward to connecting more families, helping more businesses reach their customers and contacts across the planet, and taking another big step towards bridging the online and offline worlds.

The Postful API

We’re excited to announce the release of the Postful API. With a few lines of code, any application can now generate dynamic print and mail. Every mailbox on the planet is now wired. Any application can now reach the other 80% of the planet that isn’t online. The web just got a lot bigger.

• CRM applications can send out automated follow-up letters.
• Web applications can snail mail signup confirmations.
• Family-oriented sites can mail newsletter to family members without
  e-mail.
• Invoices and bills can be delivered in whatever format your clients prefer.
• Content from the web can be printed and mailed as soon as its produced.

I’m sure you’re all asking yourselves how you can sign up. It’s easy. If you have a Postful account, you’re already signed up (if not, send a request for an invite). Your regular login credentials will work for the API. Just head over to the docs and start imagining how you can make use of this today.

Shiny New Feature: Use Postful from More Than One Email Address

One feature request that has come up again and again in your feedback is the request to send mail from more than one e-mail address. We’ve heard from those of you who check different e-mail at home rather than at the office, and would like to use Postful from either place.

So we have launched a new feature. We call them aliases. Aliases are just a list of other e-mail addresses that you would like to send ground mail from.

Just log in, and click on Aliases under the Account menu. You’ll be able to create them there.

You can also use aliases to set up a Postful account that your whole family can use. Just add your kids’ e-mail addresses as aliases, and they will be able to send mail, while you take care of the payments.

As always, we encourage everyone in the beta to kick the tires on this feature and let us know any changes you’d like us to make.

Fantastic Response

I wanted to start by thanking everyone who has written about us and to us. We’re working through your questions and comments and will be getting back to every one of you.

It’s almost shocking to have gone from working in near-total isolation on this to suddenly having questions, comments, and requests coming from all over the world (and for those sending me questions in Chinese, bablefish is rendering your letters as threatening poetry and my friends who read Chinese are more comfortable with traditional than simplified characters). I think we’ve passed that point where things are entirely in our control (and I’m still in “take deep breaths” mode).

I’m going to post answers to some of the most common questions here over the next few hours. Once again, I just want to thank everyone for the fantastic response.

First Letter Using Postful (Beta)

So, in grand slashdot tradition, “first post” was claimed on Postful. Yes, we’ve sent other test messages through, but this one was the first after we launched the beta (so, by that logic, you’ll have another try when we have our public launch).

Pretty much every startup out there owes a huge debt to friends and family who faithfully test, provide feedback, and just put up with the hours we put in. My brother, Matthew, has been part of our testing from the beginning and he claimed the honor of sending the first letter yesterday (which he shared with me and kindly gave permission to share with all of you):