Send real letters from the Internet to anywhere in the world.
# Wednesday, 24 August 2016

PC2Paper is closed for the Bank Holiday on Monday the 29th of August. There are also no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day. Any Mail sent after our 3.30pm cut-off time on Friday the 26th of August will be posted on the next available working day Tuesday the 30th of August. Please note our earlier cut-off time of 1pm for Signed services such as Special Delivery and Recorded Delivery.

posted on Wednesday, 24 August 2016 10:41:35 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Sunday, 31 July 2016

Below is an example of using our JSON API to send a letter.

Our JSON API has exactly the same fields as our SOAP API and uses the same functionality as our SOAP API.

In the example below we are sending a letter to one person with the body included as free text. You may also use HTML to format the body of your letter. The JSON below could quite easily be used straight from JavaScript or from nodejs, but could just as well be used from almost any coding language. The endpoint to post your JSON to is https://www.pc2paper.co.uk/lettercustomerapi.svc/json/SendSubmitLetterForPosting

{
    "letterForPosting":
    {
    "SourceClient" : "My App name 1",
    "Addresses" :[
        {"ReceiverName": "John Smith",
        "ReceiverAddressLine1" : "1 Acme Road",
        "ReceiverAddressLine2" : "My Street",
        "ReceiverAddressTownCityOrLine3" : "Town",
        "ReceiverAddressCountyStateOrLine4" : "County",
        "ReceiverAddressPostCode" : "Postcode"}
        ],
        "ReceiverCountryCode" :1,
        "Postage":31,
        "Paper":1,
        "Envelope":1,
        "Extras":0,
        "LetterBody" : "Dear Peter, 
Please find my letter attached"
,
        "IncludeSenderAddressOnEnvelope" : true,
        "SenderAddress" : "22 Acme Acres\n Acme Town",
        "YourRef" : "MyRef001" 
        
    },
     "username" : "yourusername",
    "password" : "yourpassword"
}

In the above examples you will notice we use a ReceiverCountryCode you can lookup the code to use for the country you are sending to here. In the above example the country code 1 represents the UK.

For the postage options you can lookup the options you would like to use by using our postage calculator. The postage calculator will list the API options at the bottom of the page for you after you make your selection.  In the example above we have chosen Postage 31 (UK Second Class), Paper 1 (Black and White 80 gsm), Envelope 1 (Standard DL). If you would like the ability to lookup your own postage options, you can use our letter pricing API which you can find out more about here

If you'd like to include PDF's as attachment's to your letter, you can upload these and use the unique id's the website gives you to attach them to your letter.

You can upload PDF's one of three ways.

HTTP POST

This is probably one of the easiest ways to upload your file submitting your file over HTTP POST. Simple call https://www.pc2paper.co.uk/uploadfileapi.aspx?fileName=myfileName.pdf

In the headers of your HTTP POST place the following

  • username - This will be your PC2Paper username or API key
  • password - This will be your PC2Paper password or API secret

You will recieve a response that contains the GUID for your PDF and how many pages it has.

JSON PDF File Upload

https://www.pc2paper.co.uk/lettercustomerapi.svc/json/UploadDocument

With a JSON file upload you will need to convert what ever file you are uploading into an integer array. This can usually be done by converting your file into a byte array and then into an integer array

{
    "filename":"myfile.pdf",
    "username":"yourusername",
    "password":"yourpassword",
    "fileContent":[37,80,68,70,45,49,46,53,13,10,37...]
}

 

After successfully uploading your PDF file you should receive a response similar to the following.

{
  "d": {
    "__type": "UploadedFileResult:#PC2Paper.Entity.Public.Letters",
    "ErrorMessages": null,
    "FileCreatedGUID": "648b6725-a3c6-4396-b28a-33e86589aa4b",
    "Status": "OK"
  }
}

Store the FileCreatedGUID somewhere as you will need this to attach it to your letter. 

SOAP PDF File Upload

If you would prefer to upload your PDF file over SOAP instead of JSON you can use this endpoint.

https://www.pc2paper.co.uk/lettercustomerapi.svc?wsd

You can find a PHP example and C# example of how to use our SOAP API to upload a file.

Using an uploaded PDF file in your letter

After you have uploaded your PDF file using one of the two methods above you will be provided with a FileCreatedGUID for each file you upload. Construct the JSON for your letter as before but include an array of File GUIDs you would like to attach in the FileAttachementGUIDs field.

{
    "letterForPosting":
    {
    "SourceClient" : "My PC2Paper Client",
    "Addresses" :[
        {"ReceiverName": "John Smith",
        "ReceiverAddressLine1" : "1 Acme Road",
        "ReceiverAddressLine2" : "My Street",
        "ReceiverAddressTownCityOrLine3" : "Town",
        "ReceiverAddressCountyStateOrLine4" : "County",
        "ReceiverAddressPostCode" : "Postcode"}
        ],
        "ReceiverCountryCode" :1,
        "Postage":31,
        "Paper":1,
        "Envelope":11,
        "Extras":0,
        "LetterBody" : "Dear Peter, 
Please find my letter attached"
,
        "FileAttachementGUIDs":["648b6725-a3c6-4396-b28a-33e86589aa4b"]
        
    },
     "username" : "your username",
    "password" : "yourpassword"
    
    
}

You should receive the following response after submitting a successful letter.

{
  "d": {
    "__type": "LetterForPostingResult:#PC2Paper.Entity.Public.Letters",
    "CostOfLetter": 2.02,
    "ErrorMessages": null,
    "FundsLeftInYourAccount": 160.54,
    "LetterId": "71566",
    "Status": "OK"
  }
}

Sending a letter to more than one person

If you would like to send the same letter to more than one person. Just add more people to the Addresses array.

 "Addresses" :[
        {"ReceiverName": "John Smith",
        "ReceiverAddressLine1" : "1 Acme Road",
        "ReceiverAddressLine2" : "My Street",
        "ReceiverAddressTownCityOrLine3" : "Town",
        "ReceiverAddressCountyStateOrLine4" : "County",
        "ReceiverAddressPostCode" : "Postcode"},
        
         {"ReceiverName": "Bob Smith",
        "ReceiverAddressLine1" : "The Gables",
        "ReceiverAddressLine2" : "Another Road",
        "ReceiverAddressTownCityOrLine3" : "Town",
        "ReceiverAddressCountyStateOrLine4" : "County",
        "ReceiverAddressPostCode" : "ZZ1 0ZZ"}
        ]
posted on Sunday, 31 July 2016 18:59:08 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Monday, 04 July 2016

Our USA based printing station is closed today for the 4th of July public holiday. We are continuing to send mail to the USA as normal for processing, however, customers should be aware no mail will enter the US postal system until our printing station reopens on the 5th of July.

posted on Monday, 04 July 2016 12:03:17 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Friday, 27 May 2016

Monday the 30th of May is a Bank Holiday in the UK. As a result there are no postal collections or deliveries on this day. The PC2Paper office will be closed for the holiday. Any letters sent after our 3.30pm cut-off time on Friday the 27th of May will be queued and processed the next available working day Tuesday the 31st of May. Customers should also expect delivery of mail to take longer as Monday is not classed as a working day.

posted on Friday, 27 May 2016 13:06:56 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Friday, 29 April 2016

PC2Paper is closed on Monday the 1st of May for the Bank Holiday. There are no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day and customers should expect delivery to take longer over the Bank Holiday weekend. Any mail sent after our cut-off time on Friday the 29th of April will be processed on the next available working day Tuesday the 2nd of May.

posted on Friday, 29 April 2016 12:47:46 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Tuesday, 05 April 2016

We have been aware of an issue with postal tracking numbers in eBay. The ebay website sometimes displays the error "The tracking number you entered is already in use for another transaction and cannot be applied for this transaction. Please enter the correct tracking number for this order."

Having checked Google there are many forum threads with ebay customers reporting this error for valid tracking number. If you receive this error from ebay it is not a problem with the tracking number that we have provided for your letter. This is a ebay problem and customers should approach ebay directly.

Any letters that display this error can still be tracked as normal through the Royal Mail or USPS website, the only issue being that they cannot be entered into the ebay system.

posted on Tuesday, 05 April 2016 09:58:10 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Thursday, 17 March 2016

PC2Paper will be closed on Friday the 25th of March and Monday the 28th of March for the Easter bank Holidays. On these days there are no Royal Mail postal deliveries or collections. Any letters received after our cut off time on Thursday the 24th of March will be queued and processed on the next available working day which is Tuesday the 29th of April. Customers should accept all mail deliveries to take longer to arrive over this period.

PC2Paper would like to wish all our customers a happy Easter.

posted on Thursday, 17 March 2016 15:20:24 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Friday, 18 December 2015

Firstly I will start this article by being honest with a disclaimer. We process mail and have done so for nearly 15 years now sending our customers postal mail through our website www.pc2paper.co.uk basically you send your postal mail via our website or using our email gateway and we send it on your behalf. For a large part of that time we used Royal Mail SmartStamp which suited us perfectly. When Royal Mail discontinued SmartStamp it threw us a bit, however after talking to Royal Mail and based on the volumes of mail we were sending they recommended we used Printed Postage Impressions or better known as PPI Mail.

PPI Mail is great for us based on the amount of mail we send each day. However it may not be to everyone's taste as it requires considerably more paper work than SmartStamp did and you have to weigh your mail in bulk and attach dockets to it based on the types of mail you are sending. So what I have done is listed out what solutions are available below.

DMO (If you only send parcels)
If you only send parcels, you are in luck. Royal Mail have a service called Despatch Manager Online or DMO for short. From what we can see your only outlay would be for a printer you can purchase from Royal Mail for printing out the labels (I believe it is £150). You select your postage online and print out the labels for your parcels. This is paid for by keeping a credit account with Royal Mail. You could in theory send letters via this service however the labels are quite large and may no suit the aesthetics of how you would like your mail to look.

Franking
Franking has been around for a long time and usually provides a much cheaper postage price and looks rather professional, it can also be used for letters and parcels. However we have always been put off by the hidden costs involved with Franking, these have been.

  • Machine rental costs/ or purchase cost
  • Top up costs (some providers will charge you per top up cost)
  • Maintenance/recalibration costs
  • Ink costs (many of the machines require specialist ink you can only purchase from the provider)

Note that not all franking providers will have the same fees mentioned above or charge for the same things, the above is a list of the ones we have discovered from various providers or from customers who have spoken to us. If going with a franking provider we recommend you ask about those costs and go over the contract carefully with the sales person.

PPI Mail
This is one of our favourites as we have mentioned earlier it does require a lot more paper work than SmartStamp did, here is a list of the key points

  • You will be billed every 30 days for the postage you use
  • You will need an Online Business Account
  • You place Printed Postage Impressions on your mail with your licence number. This is basically the postage stamp on your mail. You may have seen these types of stamps when your electricity or gas bill is delivered by post.
  • You will need to weigh your mail by different types and work out the amount of items you are sending and average weight.
  • You will need to prepare paper work from Royal Mails portal with the information mentioned in the last step to prepare your mail for collection (if your post is collected) or for taking to the post office.

For more information on PPI you can visit Royal Mails website. They will also be happy to talk you through what is required.

The above may seem daunting at first but after a while it becomes easier as you learn the process.

Online Letter Sending Services
As I said in my disclaimer above, we are an online letter sender. Online letter sending will not work for you if you need to send parcels. But if you only send letters this may be something you may consider. We are not the only online letter sending service although we have been around for a while we focus more on the types of mailings that other online letter sending services don't do such as Recorded Mail, Special Delivery, large letter sending and non machines marked or windowless mail.

If you would like to try us out this is our website www.pc2paper.co.uk . There is no contract, all that is required is to sign-up for an account online place some credit in your account and send a letter using either.

  • Our website
  • Our virtual printer driver (windows 7 only)
  • Our email to letter gateway
  • Our APIs

You can write your letter online. Or if you prefer writing your mail in MS Word for example you can save your letter as a PDF in MS Word and send it via our service.

I hope the above has provided some information for people who are looking for alternatives to SmartStamp.

posted on Friday, 18 December 2015 15:21:00 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback