Send real letters from the Internet to anywhere in the world.
# Wednesday, 08 April 2009

A PC2Paper real letterbox is as the name suggests a real postal address here in the UK. When letters arrive we open them and scan them in for you and then send you an email so you can login and read your mail online. There are many reasons why you might need a real mailbox.

  • If you travel a lot reading your mail is just a case of logging onto the Internet. No more waiting for your letters to be forwarded to you overseas or reading them when you get back home months later.
  • If you live abroad and have relatives in the UK who don't have Internet access and prefer sending you a letter, you can have them send it to your PC2Paper Letterbox and read it the next day from the Internet.
  • You usually change accommodation quite frequently and need a permanent address.
  • You prefer reading all your mail from the Internet.
  • You need a UK address for your business for faster correspondence.
  • You are partially sighted and need your letters scanned in for you to read from your screen reader.

How Does the Service Work?
When you sign up for a real letterbox we provide you with an individual address. This is usually your user ID, followed by our PO Box address although in some cases we can give you an address based on your company name. You can then use this as a regular address. Any letters received will be scanned and applied to your account. We can also forward letters depending on your requirements.

What happens to my letters after they are scanned in?
The original letters are destroyed after one month of being received. If you prefer we can forward the original letters onto a postal address of your choosing. The charge for this is the postage price of the items and a 20p service charge per forward. Items will be forwarded on a monthly basis. If you require us to do this please inform us as soon as you set up your letterbox.

How private are my letters?
At PC2Paper we take privacy very seriously. When you read your letters online they are encrypted so no one but you can read them. When we scan your letters in we do have to briefly read some of the contents to make sure the scanning of the letters are clear we usually make this the senders address and the first paragraph. We will never divulge the contents of your letters to anyone or use the contents of your letters in anyway or form not sanctioned by you. The letter is considered your property we only provide a service for you to read its contents.

How much does it cost?
The cost of your letter is worked out on how many pages there are to scan. So a 1 page letter will cost you 50p to read online. Letter larger than 10 pages are subject to additional charges. We also charge a one time only setup fee of £5.

Is there a size limit on what I can receive?

We do not have a size limit on the letters that can be received at your mailbox, however we are currently only able to scan documents up to 50 pages long. If we receive any letters longer than this we will contact to you and you have the option to have the letter forwarded to you.

I am partially sighted or blind can you provide my letters in a format I can read?
We can optically scan your letters provided these are typed or printed letters and provide them as Word documents for you to use in your screen reader.

Where will my mailbox be located?
Your mailbox will be located in Surrey, England, UK.

What will you do with my mail if I decide not to use the service anymore and more mail arrives?
For a short period we will forward this mail onto you. After that period we will return all mail to the sender.

How do I sign up for a Real Letterbox?
To get a real letterbox you need to sign up for a PC2Paper account. If you already have a PC2Paper account all you need to do is login into your account and select the My Letterbox option found in the left hand menu.

What will my address look like?
Your mailbox will be in the following format:
MB #(Your mailbox number)
PO BOX 229
EGHAM
TW20 8WZ
UNITED KINGDOM

If I already have a PC2Paper account how do I get a letterbox?
When you sign up for a PC2Paper account you automatically get a letterbox with us. After you have signed in to your PC2Paper account just click on the My Letter Box option.

posted on Wednesday, 08 April 2009 12:43:43 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Thursday, 02 April 2009

We have different paper and printing options available depending upon your requirements. If you are sending a basic letter that does not need to be printed in colour, then we recommend using the standard black and white laser print option. This will produce a good quality mono print on white 80gm paper. In some cases you might want your document printed in colour. For this we have two options, inkjet printing and a colour laser print. The inkjet print is capable of producing a good quality print and is suitable if you want a budget colour print. The colour laser print costs a little more and produces a crisper finish suitable when you require your document to be printed at the highest quality. In addition to this we also offer conqueror high white paper. This option can be used when sending an important document such as a CV and produces a professional looking finish with the highest print quality.

posted on Thursday, 02 April 2009 14:34:43 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Wednesday, 01 April 2009

PC2Paper prices for UK and international mail sent from the UK will increase from the 6th of April. This is due to Royal Mail prices increases which come into effect on the same day and mean that we need to pass these increases onto our customers.

posted on Wednesday, 01 April 2009 13:32:29 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Monday, 30 March 2009

Two tube trains almost collided during the rush hour last Friday. The Piccadilly and District line trains almost collided between Ealing Common and Ealing Broadway at around 6pm last Friday evening. The driver of the District line train which had stopped after going through a red signal was given permission to move on when a Piccadilly line train crossed the track immediately in front of it. A signalman has been relived of his duties following the incident and an investigation has now been launched to find out what went wrong.

posted on Monday, 30 March 2009 20:09:33 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Thursday, 26 March 2009

The Government has leant its support to plans for high speed trains connecting London and the North. Under the plans a high speed train service with trains that can reach speeds of 225 mph would run between London and the North. The network could link London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds and if it goes ahead would open in 2007 with construction starting in 2015. The trains would carry up to 800 passengers and would depart every 4 minutes. It would mean that journey times would be cut greatly with a journey from London to Birmingham taking as little as 30 minutes.

posted on Thursday, 26 March 2009 13:54:39 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Wednesday, 25 March 2009

Our standard letters are sent in a DL envelope but you are not restricted to using this size. We do also offer C5 envelopes where your letter is folded in half instead of 3 and A4 envelopes for those documents that you want to send unfolded. You can select the various envelope sizes from the down menu after writing your letter. In addition to this any letters that are too large for the DL envelope are automatically placed into the next size of envelope.

posted on Wednesday, 25 March 2009 09:26:55 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Thursday, 19 March 2009

The number of passengers at British airports has fallen for the first time in 17 years according to the Civil Aviation Authority. Around 4.6 million fewer passengers flew in and out of the UK in 2008 than in 2007 with the decline being particularly sharp towards the end of the year. The last time numbers were so low was in 1991. The bad news for the airlines is that the decline is expected to continue during 2009.

posted on Thursday, 19 March 2009 14:26:19 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Saturday, 07 March 2009

PC2Paper provides two letter sending API's and one Letter Pricing API (please see below)

PC2Papers API Letter Sending Interfaces

PC2Paper has two letter sending API interfaces available. One interface is a simple back end form post interface that only accepts text input (our most popular) and the other is a back end XML RPC interface that only accepts PDF and MS Word documents.

Form Post Interface

The Form Post Interface (FPI) is our most popular because of how simple it is to setup. If you have ever created a backend form interface to integrate with services such as PayPal and World Pay then you already have most of the skills you need to use the FPI. Simply speaking the FPI accepts a form post from either a normal webpage or a back end server to authenticate you, you provide your PC2Paper username and password to it and that is how the site knows who to bill the cost of the letter to. To use the interface and to find out more download the PC2PaperFPI pack.

 

XML RPC Interface

The PC2Paper XML RPC Interface is a bit more advanced than the form post interface and enables the sending of PDF and Word documents from server to server or desktop application to PC2Paper. Inside the PC2PaperXMLRPC pack we provide you with the sample XML the interface is expecting and a compiled (optional) VB 6 DLL called PC2PaperRemote.DLL which you can call instead of trying to create the XML the interface is expecting yourself. You should be able to use PC2PaperRemote.DLL from most COM aware languages such as VB, ASP, Delphi, .NET etc.

To use the PC2PaperRemote.DLL you will need to install MSXML if it is not already installed on the machine you intend to use it from. However if you prefer to generate the XML yourself and Base64 encode the file you wish to send into the XML, the format of the XML file can be found in the file XMLFormat.txt which can be found in the PC2PaperXMLRPC.

Letter Pricing API

PC2Paper provide an XML based interface that enables you to workout the price of your letter before sending it. This is useful for websites that resell our service and would like to know how much to bill the customers before actually sending the letter. To get started you can download the documentation for our interface here. You can also download the country code file, a csv you will need to lookup country codes.

posted on Saturday, 07 March 2009 11:03:34 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback