Australia Post has launched a new application to allow customers to send postcards anywhere in the world using a photo taken on a mobile phone.
The new iPhone app is free to download, and sees Australia Post converting photos and a personalised message into high-quality physical postcards.
Payment is by MasterCard, Visa or Paypal, with domestic delivery for $1.99 or international delivery anywhere in the world for $2.99.
Catriona Larritt, Australia Post’s general manager for post digital, said the new app was part of an ongoing effort at the postal operator to make its products and services “a helpful part of our customers’ lives”, both physically and digitally.
She said: “We’ve recently upgraded our iPhone app with exciting features like barcode scanning and currency conversion to make it easier for our customers to user our services wherever they are.
“Our Australia Post Postcards are making it easier for Australians to share their happy snaps in a fun, personalised and convenient way. It’s all about giving our customers choice about how, where and when they can access our range of services,” Larritt added.
The Postcards app can be used on iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch units, but not at this stage on other smartphone or tablet platforms.
Essentially a hybrid mail service – turning electronic content into physical mail – the Australia Post postcard application is a mobile Internet means to growing mail volumes.
Australia Post, which is solidly profitable but saw its lowest annual profit in 20 years in 2010, has seen its mail volumes eroded in recent years by the consumer and business shift to Internet communications.
Domestic addressed letter volumes declined 3.7% in Australia in 2011, to just over 5bn pieces for the year.
Source: Post&Parcel/Australia Post
Tags: Australia, Australia Post, iphone, mobile app, postcards, smartphones
