I still vividly recall the excitement of my first internet connection—the strange sounds of the modem dialing in and the exhilaration of seeing a message appear on my screen from a stranger in a far-off city. This was the dawn of a new era, and I quickly grew comfortable with the technology, diving into dBase programming and MIME formats for email exchange.
However, I noticed that not everyone had a computer to connect with others. Even among those who did, many were still hesitant to navigate this new digital landscape. This sparked a light bulb moment for me when I received a letter from the USA that took over 12 days to arrive. Why wait so long when I could leverage the internet?
Thus, Mail My Mail was born—a service allowing people to email their letters to me, which I would print and mail locally within two days. This concept aimed to connect semi-skilled users with those who had no internet access, bridging the gap between the digital and non-digital worlds.
Then the biggest challenge hit me—how was I going to cover the postage costs? As expected, another lightbulb moment occurred. I realized that I could turn this challenge into an opportunity by using the very paper on which the message was printed as an advertising leaflet. This innovative idea meant I could get sponsors to provide the printer paper and use the blank side to print advertisements. It was a win-win situation: businesses would get exposure, and I could offer a more sustainable way to fund the service.
With this new direction in mind, I approached several prominent businesses to pitch my idea. I outlined the benefits of partnering with Mail My Mail, highlighting how their advertisements would reach a diverse audience across the country and beyond. To my delight, many brands were eager to participate, seeing the potential for increased visibility and customer engagement.
Once I secured the necessary sponsorships, Mail My Mail officially became the world’s first free email-to-post service! This groundbreaking model not only addressed the postage cost dilemma but also created a unique advertising platform that connected businesses with consumers in an innovative way.
As word spread about this new service, users, comments and web awards began pouring in from all corners of the globe. People were excited to take advantage of this free service that allowed them to send their letters without the burden of postage costs.
Additionally, many journalists and media outlets approached me, eager to cover this seemingly amazing and free service. The attention from the media further fueled interest, leading to a growing community of users who embraced the convenience of Mail My Mail. By the end of the year, we had mailed over 5000 letters to over 3800 recipients across 76 cities, towns and villages in the country.
Mail my Mail not only transformed the way people communicated but also highlighted the power of creativity and collaboration in overcoming obstacles. It was a testament to how innovative thinking can turn challenges into opportunities, fostering connections in an increasingly digital world.
OVERVIEW (2002)
How do you email your loved ones back home when they either don’t have access to a computer or have a computer but don’t know how to use it?
Welcome to Mail my Mail, a FREE email to post service that allows senders to electronically transmit email content (photographs, scanned letters, images, messages, and greetings) for onward delivery into any village, district, or city using ground mail. Mail my Mail started off with a simple idea – to connect computer users with non-users anywhere in the world ABSOLUTELY FREE OF COST. No credit cards – no hassles.
The recent anthrax scares have forced post offices around the world to be extra careful while dealing with international mail. Unfortunately, this care has doubled postal delivery times in many countries. Mail my Mail not only allows you to send mail ABSOLUTELY FREE OF COST, it cuts global message delivery times down to a few days instead of weeks.
Mail my Mail’s high speed mail servers are ready 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to receive your emails for onward delivery by ground post to your designated recipients. The system has also been made extra easy for you to begin sending post instantly.
Using a centralized automated system that requires minimal human intervention, Mail my Mail system operators print your e-letters on papers, fold and seal them in envelopes and dispatch them by ground mail to local recipients, efficiently, reliably, confidentially and ABSOLUTELY FREE OF COST. Expenses involved in delivering your mail to recipients are covered through sponsorships.
There are three basic ways to communicate domestically and internationally
Make a phone call
Send a letter
Send an email
Phone calls are great but definitely expensive. Postal mail is cheap but very time consuming. Email is the latest trend but both senders and receivers must have computers.
The idea is to be able to effectively connect computer users (online) with non-users (offline), allow online users to send messages by email and allow offline users to receive such messages by post.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q : Do I have to register to use the service ?
A : No. To keep the service easy for everyone, we have done away with the concept of user registrations and remembering of unnecessary passwords. You simply go to the Send Post form, compose your message and Submit.
Q : How do I send a message ?
A : Click on Send Post in any Menu box on any page. The form takes some time to load at the bottom of the page so please be patient.
Q : I want to compose and send a message in Chinese. How can I do this ?
A : We have offered an attachment facility in our Send Post form. You can type or write your letter in Chinese, have it scanned as an image in JPEG or GIF format and attach the same with your message. Similarly, images, photos and graphics can be sent along with each message. Help on attachments is available through links on the Send Post form.
Q : What if I don’t have the complete mailing address or postal code of the recipient, how do I fill out the Send Post form ?
A : The more complete your delivery address, the more effective your delivery. Postal codes help so do complete addresses. This service is for your benefit. If you don’t know a postal code type in zeros. An incorrect postal code is certain to hinder proper delivery of the message.
Q : How long will it take for my message to be delivered ?
A : Deliveries are subject to effectiveness of the local postal system in each delivery country as well as the correctness of the recipient’s address provided by the sender. Normally, mail is delivered within 6 days from the date it was printed and dispatched by our delivery operator.
Q : Are attachments and images printed in color ?
A : To handle the huge daily load on our servers, our country operators in the delivery country use high speed laser printers that generate clear images in black and white. Color printers would place too much load on our system to complete the daily deliveries.
Q : I composed my message quite correctly. Why did I receive an undelivered reply from the system ?
A : The main cause for non-delivery of an otherwise accurately composed message may be the fact that the destination country is not yet activated or, if previously active, may be temporarily out of service. For example, if you are in the US and compose a message intended for delivery in Sri Lanka, the message may not be delivered until the country agent there has activated the system. For some countries, the process of activation is in progress. Non-deliverable messages are automatically deleted from the system to ensure confidentiality of content.
Q : How will I know when a delivery country has been activated ?
A : When you compose your message and it is undelivered, our system records the delivery country along with your email. Whenever that country is activated, the system will intimate you. Even if you don’t see your country activated, do compose and send a brief message so we are able to inform you in due course.
Q : This is a great idea. How can I help activate it in my country ?
A : You can request people you know in the destination country to contact us for Country Agency via our contact page. Similarly, you yourself can opt for Country Agency in your own country. We shall forward the necessary information subsequently. A lot of research over the past several years has gone into refining the system as you see it today. Studies conducted in user requirements, media strategies, consumer behavior, and media analysis have resulted in the development of an outstanding backend software, not to mention the support of users and sponsors worldwide.
Q : Who can become a Country Agent and what are the prerequisites ?
A : Any individual or company can join us as a Country Agent for their host country. For example, if you are resident in Nigeria, you can be the Country Agent for Nigeria. You do not require any infrastructure, equipment or computer know-how to be a Country Agent.
Q : Is a Country Agent also responsible for message delivery ?
A : No. We have established delivery arrangements separately and do not require Country Agents to be burdened with the task of message delivery. That’s the job of our delivery operators in each activated country.
Q : Postage costs money. How can you offer this service free ?
A : Companies in host countries sponsor this service to keep it free for all. The more the sponsorships, the longer the service continues to serve more and more users.
USER COMMENTS
- I just want to let you know that your website is just so amazing!!! Usually it used to be very difficult for me to contact my brother but your site has made means of communication much easier!!! Mehreen Tariq, United Arab Emirates
- Excellent – I like this website too much. Its really wonderful. Mudasser Ali, Pakistan
- Your service is the best. Keep it up. Zeeshan Munir, Pakistan
- I am writing from Bangladesh and am very interested in your site. I would like to start a similar service in my country. Please send details. Moinul Islam, Bangladesh
- I get your web address from Ptv2 Channel. I am from Nepal and I find your service amazing. Sachidananda Chaudhary, Nepal
- Hey this is the best web site I have seen in my life. Mohammad Arfan, Pakistan
- Hi everybody, you must try this, it’s really great and enjoy. You can even mail when post offices are off. Hussain Ali Nazar, Pakistan
- I really appreciate your struggle for making an online post office which is very useful for all of us – Rashid Fayyaz, Pakistan
- This is the best website i have seen in my cyber life. Really this site deserves praise. Syed Latif, Pakistan
- Your service sounds fantastic. My wife just left for Air Force basic and this is gonna make writing her so much easier. Paul Hulzebos, United States
- Excellent. No other words better than this because this site really works. Wow! Fifi, United Kingdom
- I must congratulate you for developing this amazing and really cool website. I have told so many about it and they love it too. Ghulam Farid, Pakistan
- This site is amazingly marvelous! Bhart, Pakistan
- This service is simply amazing, it took 4 to 5 days to reach the destination. I think it should remain free forever!! Owais Gul Bhootani, Pakistan
- Mail my Mail is best web of this century. Muhammad Nasir Iqbal, Pakistan
- I just wanted to let you know that my fiance and I are thrilled to find this service online, otherwise its usually difficult for us to get mail back and forth. The system is pretty easy to use. Thank you for doing this. I will refer others! Heather Vandewalle, United States
- Your service is very good. I have sent two letters so far using this service and they have reached in 4 days. Thank you and best of luck. Faisal Yusuf MD, Germany
- This is a great service and I like it so much. Muhammad Rizwan Altafi, United Kingdom
- I think it is an awesome idea!!! Ruth Hennell, United States
- I am highly impressed by your site. Mohammad Amjad Malik, Pakistan
- I’ve found this great service on Internet providing e-mail to post mail delivery, its just amazing. Shakeel Tariq, Pakistan
- I just found this great new service and thought I’d give it a try. Tera Webster, Netherlands
- In this age of email I can send a letter. Isn’t it amazing ? Hussain Ali Talib, Pakistan
- It’s a free way of sending REAL paper messages to you via the web. It’s free too! Jedidiah James Esposito, United States.
RECOGNITION
Congratulations! Mail my Mail has been reviewed and chosen to bear the 2002-2003 Golden Web Award. You and your staff at Mail my Mail have obviously worked very hard. I.A.W.M.D. sponsors and affiliates include some of the world’s largest and most respected companies, including: GE, Microsoft, Hertz, K-Mart, Amoco, TTI, Budget, FTD, Alamo, AOL, BigBallot, NBCi, American Greetings and a multiple of other name brand companies, as well as health care and other service providers. We consider it both an honor and privilege to welcome you to the International Association of Web Masters and Designers.
I am delighted to tell you that we have now assessed your Web site (www.mailmymail.com) and, based on the ease of navigation, content, graphic quality, page layout and design, we have awarded you our Hot Spot award for Web site excellence.
I really love your web site! The design and layout, and easy navigation around your site are top notch! Congratulations on such a fine web site.
CONGRATULATIONS! Your site has been considered by our review panel and has been awarded an Excellence award. The Excellence award considers sites for interest, content and quality. We recognize that many hours and days of hard work go into creating a site often out of a love of a subject or area. Well done on your web site.
Your web-site has been reviewed, excellent graphics and layout. Your site qualifies for Canada Graphics (excellence of design) Award, 2002. Congratulations on a job well done.
Congratulations!! Your site definitely qualifies for the Critical Mass Award. A very nice site, excellent design, clever original graphics, and you have provided your visitors with content that is informative, entertaining, presented well and easy to access. A worthy enterprise and a positive contribution to the Web. Thanks for helping make the Web a more interesting, useful and attractive place to visit. I really enjoyed my visit to your site.
All of us agreed that you truly do have a interesting web site with quality content and design. Your Web site has been reviewed by our staff of webmasters and unlike most of the sites submitted to us, you are a winner!! The Aloha Award is not an easy award to win. That is why this award is seen so infrequently. Once again, congratulations and Aloha!
Your site, Mail my Mail .com is A Perfect World Award winner! This awards program is rated 3.0 at Award Sites! and Webs Awards Rating Level 9. Applicants this week: 7 Winners this week: 1 Applicants overall: 2004 Winners: 483. Thank you for sharing your great site.
Congratulations. I have viewed your site and find the layout and content very nice, and easy to navigate. You have achieved the Silver status. Keep up the wonderful work.
IN THE NEWS
Khaleej Times, Dubai, UAE
September 29, 2002
Pak expats to have free mail delivery service
By a staff reporter
PAKISTANI expatriates in the UAE can cut out the cost of postage and delivery time when they are sending letters to their loved ones back home. A US-based web site www.mailmymail.com offers free mail delivery at home in any corner of Pakistan and that too, free of cost.
The free email to post service allows senders to electronically transmit email content (photographs, scanned letters, images, messages, and greetings) for onward delivery into any village, district, or city using ground mail. Mailmymail started off with a simple idea – to connect computer users with non-users anywhere in the world absolutely free of cost. No credit cards and no hidden costs.
In Pakistan, the service started with a one month banner ad campaign at dawn.com in February 2002 and is now very much active serving recipients all over the country. The service is scheduled for other South Asian countries very soon i.e India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.
The web site says that the recent anthrax scares have forced post offices around the world to be extra careful while dealing with international mail doubling postal delivery times in many countries. The service cuts global message delivery times down to a few days instead of weeks.
The service has high speed mail servers that are ready 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to receive your emails for onward delivery by ground post to your designated recipients. The system requires no registration and no user login, it was stated.
Using a centralised automated system that requires minimal human intervention, mailmymail system operators print your e-letters on papers, fold and seal them in envelopes and dispatch them by ground mail to local recipients, efficiently, reliably, confidentially and free of cost. Expenses involved in delivering your mail to recipients are covered through sponsorships.
The web site cites that deliveries are subject to effectiveness of the local postal system in each delivery country as well as the correctness of the recipient’s address provided by the sender. Normally, mail is delivered within six days from the date it was printed and dispatched by our delivery operator.
Net Xpress, Karachi, Pakistan
September – October 2002
Mail my Mail e-mail gives way to snail mail?
Back in the good old days, there used to be a wizened band of men used to roam the streets, back alleys and pathways of Karachi. These fine people had dedicated their lives to the fine purpose of delivering the mail from various parts of the world to those to whom it was addressed. However, although they swore that the mail would get through, no matter rain, snow, heat or social upheaval; there usually tended to be numerous frustrating delays and various losses despite their diligence. After all, they were only human!
But ever since this new fangled email technology has come to the fore, our dear ole postmasters have been ruined. Most of them in the cities just sit around twiddling their thumbs, having nothing better to do. And its been like that for quite some time now, not so long ago it seemed as if the written was doomed, done for, essential wiped out; comprende? E-mails are being sent around the world by the billions, people can communicate instantly; important messages are zipped around global boundaries in a fraction of a second; hi tech Utopia!
But then there is something about the written word that is so appealing; the feeling that overwhelms you when you get a letter from a dear one from far away is indescribable. But writing can be so tedious, can’t it? Who wants to sit down with a pen and paper and scribble out a long drawn letter, most of us keyboard-peckers have forgotten how to write anyway. The same guys, who fork out MS Word documents at a dime a dozen, couldn’t jot down a legible grocery list to save their lives! But don’t be alarmed; the end of the written word is not at nigh, not yet anyway, there is a solution. What if you were to use all the luxuries of email to mail out an honest to goodness, real-life letter to the one you love (or your bill collector)?
Mailmymail.com has come up with a very simple idea that ensures that you can use the facilities of the hi-tech world to mail out a letter to any address in various countries, and that too, for free! All you have to do is provide your home address along with that of the recipient and the message that you want to send on their site, there is even an option of attaching pictures or scanned documents (allowing for bilingual transmission). These are then printed and mailed out by the company to the specific address, all the cost being borne by a number of pre-selected sponsors who get the opportunity to advertise their products. If you are skeptical of the chances of something like this ever coming to Pakistan, then hear this, thanks to the efforts of certain dedicated individuals, Pakistan has become one of the first countries catered to by Mailmymail.com. Now all those expatriates living abroad with computer-less relatives back home can send in post with almost no hassle at all. Of course there’s no better way to experience it without trying it out yourself so I just used the site to mail myself a letter, lets see when it gets here!
Blurb: Such a concept promises much potential for a country like Pakistan, just think of all the opportunities made possible. Pakistan is a country with a large rural population, places where electricity even is a rare commodity; but computers? HA! But they do have one thing in common, and that is their object poverty, a root cause being illiteracy. A concept such as Mailmymail.com can successfully be implemented in key locations (possibly GPOs) of such areas. A computer literate postmaster can quickly type out or scan their letter for a nominal fee and then instantly have it sent.
Spider, Karachi, Pakistan
November 2002
Out of the Bag: Mail my Mail
Of all the crazy uses of the Internet, here’s one more, i.e. sending a letter to a non-wired part of the world via e-mail. In other words, if your parents live in some remote village zone and do not have access to computers (also, keeping in mind that letter writing is one the most widely hated exercise amongst Generation X), it is now possible to write a simple e-mail that will reach them in the form of genuine book post or air mail. Can you hear encore? And this service could not have hit us at a better time – considering the anthrax scare and land mail doubling their delivery time due to extended security measures – for Mail my Mail minimizes procedure by reducing human intervention through a fully automated system of printing e-letters and folding them into envelopes. Here’s a thump-on-the-back for these aspiring people and a thumbs up for good luck.
Pakistan & Gulf Economist
Nov 04 – 10, 2002
FREE ELETTER SERVICE
By SYED M. ASLAM
Delivery system is not only innovative but also addresses the ground realities of a Pakistani society
Want to add pizzazz to your emails? Like to turn your emails into eletters delivered to your relatives, friends and acquaintances for free. Now you have this value-added option thanks to an innovative service introduced by a US-based web site- www.mailmymail.com.
The free post email service allows the senders to electronically transmit email, both text and data messages, greetings, photographs, scanned letter, images, etc. which are hand-delivered to any city, town or village across Pakistan. Pakistanis living overseas as well as residing here in the country can now have a facility that can not help them not only save cost of postage but also reduce the delivery time associated with regular postal delivery, particularly in the post-anthrax era which has slowed down the global postal delivery times by half. Thus, the service cuts the global message delivery times down to a few days instead of weeks at a time when international mail delivery times in many countries have doubled due to anthrax scare.
Mail-my-mail service is the materialization of a simple idea – to connect computer users with those who do not use, or do not have PCs, anywhere in the world and that too at free of cost. No credit cards are required and there are no hidden charges whatsoever. In short, the service help PC users to send email which is delivered as a regular letter to a relative, friend or acquaintance in Pakistan.
The service was started in February this year and today is much active nationwide. There are plans to expand the service to other South Asian countries including India, Sri, Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh in near future.
What makes the service even more attractive is that it requires no registration and no user login. The service uses a centralized automated system that requires minimal handling by humans and the messages are printed on papers, folded and sealed in envelopes and dispatched to the local recipients. The system is efficient, reliable, free and ensures total confidentiality.
The expenses involved, from the printing of the email messages on papers to folding and sealing and its onward delivery to the recipients, are covered by sponsors. The service provider says that deliveries are subject to effectiveness of the local postal system in each country. However, the eletters are normally delivered within six days from the date they were printed which still cuts the delivery time considerable compared to regular postal service.
Mail-my-mail claims that the service is the first of its kind anywhere in the world. What, however, makes the service more important is the fact that it provides business to the local postal system at a time when the growing e-mail culture is depriving the national post offices of considerable business across the world. Turning the electronic mail into printed letters and sending them to recipients across the country through the local postal network would not only enhance revenue for the postal service but also add a personal touch to keep in touch with relatives and friends who are not PC savvy.
This is all the more beneficial in the context of Pakistan where the majority of population live in rural and far flung areas where many people have not access to electricity, not to talk of PCs. Moreover, a large number of Pakistani expatriates working in foreign lands hail from rural and far flung places which require considerably longer postal delivery time. The service would help lessen the delivery time considerably to help these expatriates keep in touch with the near and dear ones.
The blending of latest email technology with old, but tested and tried postal, delivery system is not only innovative but also addresses the ground realities of a Pakistani society where a large number of rural population still has no access to power and PCs. It makes all the more sense as the big segment of this rural population has no means to acquire even the basic computer operating skills to keep in touch with their loved ones by email.
The service has also the potential to motivate the rural population to start learning basic computer operating skills. It can help motivate many develop the basic skills to send emails, or eletters, themselves through an old, but working, PC in their area of residence. The potential is certainly immense.
Another encouraging aspect of Mail-my-mail service is that it realizes the importance of written word, and paper culture, in a country which reels from high literacy rate. Combining the convenience of email with real-letter delivered to one’s door step, particularly when that doorstep is located in a rural area, in a country like Pakistan should be appreciated for bringing an otherwise big majority of population into the technet which thus far has remain untouched with the modern times. It will also allow it to experience the benefits of the technology even it means cutting down the delivery time of letters from its loved ones outside the country by half.