h a l f b a k e r yThe halfway house for at-risk ideas
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
Ever forgotten to send a postcard off to someone while you were on holiday? Worry no more!
iwasthere.com lets you send in a handwriting sample, and you pick which location you want your postcard sent from, along with what you want written down, and you pay a small fee, and they do the rest.
They
use your handwriting sample, and type it onto an appropriate postcard, and they'll send it off from an appropriate location, and it will have the right stamp on it!
So no accidently insulting mother-in-law when you go on a loverly ski holiday, and you send everyone but her a post card!
You could actually arrange for these to be sent before you go on holiday, so halfway through your holidays, your parents/best friends/siblings will get a nice postcard.
The O2 service.
http://www.o2.co.uk/photocards
Probably quicker than sending the picture by phone. [DenholmRicshaw, Mar 24 2005]
[link]
|
| |
This is an excellent idea. |
|
| |
[calum] Thanks. I had the feeling that this was a real service somewhere, so I looked it up on Yahoo and Google, and I got nothing. Maybe it really is out there, somewhere. |
|
| |
Of course, you could only send postcards from some of the more well-known places at first, like New York, London, Sydney, Paris, and various other places, and you could also use this service to show off, but I think it would be funny if you accidently sent someone a postcard from London when you were really going to New York. The receiver would definantly smell a rat, so you'd have to be careful as to which icons you click on... |
|
| |
Hell yes I have an alibi.. I was in France that day. |
|
| |
<throws em orf me scent> Can I have one sent from Tristan da Cunha<teoms> |
|
| |
Should the card come with a disclaimer, "For entertainment purposes only; not admissible as evidence of one's whereabouts in a court of law."? |
|
| |
Some greeting card services (and there aren't many, to my knowledge) that are web-based do their actual mail out of the far west, I assume to take advantage of the time difference when accumulating orders. I've used Sparks.com (no longer at that address) to good effect, as they mail out of California where it is rarely too late to do business. |
|
| |
It might be fun to mail a stack of pre-stamped postcards (with pictures harvested from the Internet) inside a larger envelope to some random person in a place you'd like to visit. Include a few dollars and a note to please drop the postcards in the mail. |
|
| |
O2 (the UK mobile phone company) I think do a similar service, where you send them a text message and they write it down and send it to whoever you specify. I am aware of how ridiculous this sounds, but I read it in New Scientist so it must be true. |
|
| |
[+], speaking as someone who went skiing a couple of weeks ago and was way, way too busy skiing to actually get around to the whole postcard thing. |
|
| |
Would the service also allow you to
send in a sick-note while you're not
recuperating at home? |
|
| |
This would let stampophiles get loads of nifty stamps as well. Plus you could get postcards from Osama in Afghanistan! |
|
| |
Optional service: Predate the postcard, and send with a note "The (insert country here) postal service is sorry for the inconvenience, but unfortunately this parcel was misplaced and not shipped to you on (enter date of trip). We apologize, for the lateness and for any trouble we have caused, and I can assure you that this is not the normal course of business for the (insert country here) postal service.”
Useful for those trips when you forget to send postcards, and don’t realize till your mother/wife/brother yells at you 3 weeks later. |
|
| |
I would end up sending all sorts of exotic postalry to myself. I know I would. *sigh* |
|
| |
Nice to see you back, Burnsy. |
|
| |
Ditto, Rayford, and I love this idea! + |
|
| |
Okay to answer a few questions: No, you're not allowed to send it 'sick notes' to your boss, but sick notes to explain that you weren't really bunking school would probably be okay (seeing as that if it didn't, I'd probably be in serious trouble if I used this service) |
|
| |
And it cannot be used as evidence as to where you were when the person was horrifically murdered in your flat, there will be a tiny little mark, like one of those stamps that only show when you put it under some form of light, but it will be discreet, so that only the company will know where it is put on the card, so that angry grannies will never know... |
|
| |
No need even for the evidentiary marking, froglet, if the service keeps a record of the users and their details.
Accused: I was in Guam at the time.
Prosecutor: Then how did you access your password protected PC from your own home and log on to www.iwasthere.com?
Accused: It's a fair cop. |
|
| |
You're going to be a rich froglet when you grow up. |
|
| |
[wagster] It's not a question of WHEN, but IF I grow up. |
|
| |
[reensure] once during a dicey real estate transaction (read: dispute) my husband filed something by phone in Hawaii to take advantage of the extra 5 hours. It worked. |
|
| |
I'm sure I read somewhere (it might have been a story) where someone died in a 'plane crash and their widow then received the postcard from the conference destination he said he was going to which was intended to provide a diversion from his actual trip to see his mistress. |
|
| |