[dcurtis]

I had a beagleboard (beagleboard.org) sitting around in my closet, so I figured I should do something with it.

When you create a letter on Snail, the beagleboard pulls from the heroku database, formats the letter, prints it, and then sends me an email saying it's ready to be stuffed into an envelope.

(Well... sort of. In a perfect world, that is what would happen. Unfortunately, there are some bugs that I am still trying to work out.)

[barmstrong]

This was my biggest questions too, how much you were able to automate it. This seems like it would really only be viable if you could eliminate the human step as much as possible. Like, ideally, some sort of machine that printed, stamped, folded or put in some kind of envelope, and dropped it in a bucket of outgoing mail that the postman could play with.

If you can work ON the process instead of IN it then there is some potential for this to work on volume, but overall really cool idea, props!

[phreanix]

LOL that's precious, an email to notify you to send snailmail.

[jeremymcanally]

You should invest in a cheap trifold folder and an envelope/postage printer (or envelope tray for your existing, presumably laser, printer). That would cut down your operations time a lot if it gets popular.

Though, I think big, sooo probably not worth the cash.

[percept]

I've always wondered what Netflix does. Is their DVD handling/mailing a manual process?

[philwelch]

Pretty much, you can't trust users to send DVD's back in the mailing envelopes in any kind of reliable state (at all, one to an envelope, with the barcode facing out the window, with the correct disc in the correct slipcover, with the disc in any slipcover) so they have assembly lines of people to tear the envelopes open, check the right DVD is in the right slipcover, and so forth.

[percept]

Thanks. Is that posted somewhere? Is shipping out to customers more automated?

I always wonder about stuff like that.