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Ask HN: Please review my Hybrid Mail Site BlueMailCentral.com
22 points by DaFresco on April 17, 2009 | hide | past | favorite | 32 comments
http://www.bluemailcentral.com

Hello, For some time now HN is the first site I open each morning thanks to the Submits from everybody. Well, right new my new site is live and i really would appreciate your feedback. Both positive as negative. BlueMailCentral is a Hybrid Mail solution, you can send a real paper letter to any country in the world from your PC and we print the letter in the country of destination. Currently you can open an account and send the first letter for free. So feel free to do so.

Thanks in advance,

Colin




From this teaser in teh bottom right, "What does BlueMailCentral do for the environment? Because you use BlueMailCentral, your CO2 emission is lesser than when you would not use BlueMailCentral. The exact amount of reduced CO2 is impossible to calculate, but a reduction is.."

Lesser should be less.


You are right, i changed it. Tnx for looking.


Nice concept and execution, but you really have to work on your english. "How bluemailcentral works?" is the demo page title's for instance. It should be "How does bluemailcentral work?". I suggest you find a good proofreader.

(this is advice, not an insult)


The French translation is not good either. I wouldn't trust a website where the grammar/spelling/style is bad.

I use oDesk to find native speakers to review what I write before it is published. For less than $10, you can find a US citizen that can review a 500+ page to fix the grammar and style. You might be able to find a French Canadian to do the same for the french translation (also French Canadian and French are not exactly the same).


Thanks for the tip. The french text is translated by a native frenshspeaker who also works for the french government. Perhaps you could mail me a few pointers?


Non taken and adjusted! Before you mention it. I'm still looking for a good native english voice for the voice over.


Moreover, a web interface that allowed someone to upload a doc or pdf instead of having to install software would allow people to use the service from public computers and non-windows computers.


Good point, we have a nifty feature for that comming up. The problem with uploading word documents is that non standards fonts or non embedded images will not be printed correctly. PDF's will be possible!


Hello Colin.

We can handle word files at http://www.cfhdocmail.com ! It's not impossible, just a few years work to get right :)

Our best prices are for UK mail, but I believe you're international so you might be able to use us for UK print/delivery.

We're primarily a web portal (upload word/pdf files and send them to addresses), but do have an API you could use.

Would you be interested in using us as a UK Hybrid Mail provider?

There's contact details on our website if you'd like to use us.

Will

p.s. I'd appreciate a mention of my name if you do get in touch, so we know where the contact came from :)


You've mentioned in your OP that you print in the destination country. I had to carefully look for it on your website to know that. I would highlight that aspect.

A friend wanted to mail his movie script to Mumbai, India from Hollywood. He wanted it to be there fast. I looked for services like yours and couldn't find anything that would print it in legal paper size and deliver quickly. Fedex allows you to do that in the US.


We automatically convert letter and a4 size paper depending on the destination country. Also the conversion is only done if necessary. I'll empathize the destination country more.


One thing that I immediately saw: You seem to be sorting the currency dropdown on the frontpage according to the country's name. Which isn't listed. So instead of making me hunt for "CHF" (I'm in Switzerland), sort the list alphabetically. Seems a no-brainer to me.

Also, please don't play favourites: "USD" should not be the top-most, active currency in that dropdown.


Also, please don't play favourites: "USD" should not be the top-most, active currency in that dropdown.

I disagree about that... it makes sense to extract the most commonly used currencies and put them at the top of the list.


Yes, i was planning on USD EUR on top and the rest in alphabetical order.


Hi, your currency remarks are absolutly true. I'll fix that. Thanks!


You should include a list with locations of your printing locations, and approximate time delay, as I would say those are pretty important. I had to email you to find out the location and speed. Moreover I think that an "affinity" program, allowing people to sign up to print/mail stuff at low-quantity places might be an idea worth looking into.


Yes, something like transit time would be a good thing. I'll do that. You have to help me with your affinity suggestion. I'm not sure if i understand correctly. The current minimum depost is 10,- euro/dollar. The minimum letters is 1. Thanks for your reply.


For example, currently the mail for the western Balkans is sent from Belgium. I think that having an affiliate program, that allows a person/company to sign up from that location and do printing/sending for you might be a thing worth looking into. However, I have no idea how your system works so this might not be possible.


Wouldn't that mean anyone can sign up to read my mail? I think they should use their own employees who are background-checked and have signed some sort of an NDA


Oh, ok i get it now. We have thought about something like that. The problem is indeed as Amarcus says. We currently work only with certified companies who already print for banks and insurance companies etc. Also we print on Xerox Igen3 or HP indigo printers. Both high end digital printers. A small/cheap printer would not deliver that quality. (Unless there is a printer i'm not aware of). We even tested the ink folding crease resistance!


First thing I notice is some trouble with the currency widget, which is taking a long time to update when a new currency during the first few minutes after the page is loaded. I would suggest an indicator that the new currency list is on the way for these slow cases (otherwise the currency list is blank).


Hi, How fast is your internet connection? it chould change instantaniously. (cool notice: the currency value/calculation is updated daily from the FED website.)


Fast enough, I have cable modem. They started to change very quickly after a few minutes. While the site appeared to be completely loaded, however, the widget went blank after any change within the first few minutes. I got the same result in Firefox and Safari. It most definitely could have been a glitch in my connection, however if it affects me it will affect others too. Hence my suggestion for a loading indicator, it gives us something to watch the pass the time :)

Here are some example indicators:

http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en-us&...


Check out http://postful.com - they allow you to send postal mail via email. They also have one price for US and one price for international and support postcards.

They have an API.


Do you have an API for using this from something other than your application? Ideal for my needs would be a web service that I can post PDF:s to...


Hi,

Not yet, but it's in te making as soon as the current software get's out of beta.


frankly I think if you want to focus this much on being green, your actual name should be green. So I would spin off as a separate site greenmailcentral.com and link to that from your original site.

And on the greenmailcentral.com site, I would let users pick some enviro related domains to use as their emails.


I really like the little animation on the homepage. Will try your service soon.


Not to be insulting, but I think the animation is really annoying. However, I will say it did draw my attention to that section, which was probably your goal. That being said, I think there are easier, less invasive ways to accomplish the same thing.


Hey, i asked for feedback so insults are not an issue.:) The thing is that i already had the idea to not animate the letters. That might do the trick in lowering the annoyance level.


Thanks, we used cheap actors. (me)


clickable link: http://www.bluemailcentral.com




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