eSnailer: Hobbled By Ad Overkill

If Web 2.0 is about moving as much as possible to the web, eSnailer takes it a step farther; allowing you to do an every day offline activity (sending snail mail) on the web. eSnailer boasts that it will send your letter anywhere in the U.S. for free. All you have to do is fill out the envelope, write the letter, and click send. They'll print it, address the envelope, apply postage and send. Free.

Of course, by the time you saw the second “free” above, you probably clued in that something was up. While we are getting quickly accustomed to ad-supported Web 2.0 services, eSnailer takes it even further. In order to use the service, you are required to enter a valid email address and phone number. And if you are a person like me who regularly uses my own area code with the number for information when filling out forms like this one, think again; eSnailer goes so far as to verify the phone number, and kicks out any non-valid number. That includes information.

The reason, I am guessing, is to sell your phone number. As well as your name, address, and probably anything else. Clicking “send” takes you through to a page of “offers” which you'd normally see in your junk mail folder in email.

I really thought eSnailer could have been onto something there; I am one of those people who never seems to have envelopes or the right postage when it comes time to mailing formal letters, and I'd probably so far as to pay for the service if it were offered. But when they make you feel as if you are selling your soul to send a letter, suddenly, the line at the Post Office seems a lot less of a bother.

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