Would you pay to have a handwritten letter sent to someone as a gift?

[Ebildays]

This might seem like a stretch, but hear me out and give me your thoughts. I know there is a group of people out there who enjoy getting letters. Granted the enjoyment is primarily from knowing who it's from and the emotions behind it, what would you think about a subscription service that sends weekly letters completely out of context for, say, $5 per month? People might be curious to see little snippets of people's thoughts. Maybe I'm just shooting blanks, but I'm more-or-less throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks.

I don't see that as working or very interesting to be honest. Maybe a subscription words of encouragement but it would not just be sending out a card week. $60 a year for cards is alot of money and it needs to be worth it at the end of the year.

That misses the point entirely.

The choices aren't handwritten calligraphy or nothing, they are innumerable, and the most common choice that people would make is sending an email/text, then writing it in their own handwriting, then printing something off a computer, and that pretty much dominates the entire market, and it is free.

After that you have people who buy the services, which is so far down the scale of people as to be virtually no market at all as a standalone product as people often have a "Thank You" note as part of another service.



They aren't similar business concepts: on the one hand you have people who buy a standard bowl versus those willing to pay a bit more for a personalised bowl, and on the other you have people who can send a message for free versus paying someone to write a message.

The competition for the letter writing business is virtually cost free, her competition isn't, and pay vs. pay =/= free vs. pay. You can make a living on the laziness of others, but not at everything.

A. People want personalised pet bowls, there is a market for it - some pet owners are strange, and there is enough of them for it to be feasible. She makes money, not enough that I would do it, but she makes a living.

B. That is her competition, and most businesses targetting a large market accept that.

C. Her products aren't that easy to make without a kiln, which she has access to.



Then you'd have been wrong, which doesn't really say much for your business acumen. She went into a large market, it was a risk, but she has succeeded.

I wouldn't buy from her, as I think they are tat, nor would I invest in her business as I don't think it has much scope for growth. It's a 1-2 person venture at most, and she won't be driving a Bentley anytime soon.



You don't have a business perspective on this, you have a personal perspective on it, which is the problem that so many startups come up against. Stop thinking as to whether you would buy the product, and start thinking whether enough people would also buy the product to make it profitable.

If this person wanted to start a business as a hobby, then I'd say go for it - they'll probably cover their costs, get to write in calligraphy and receive the occasional thank you from their customers to make them feel good (one of my aunts makes jam for that reason, and she enjoys it) - but this person isn't proposing a hobby venture, it is a proposal for a proper business.

It's absolutely nothing like Google creating gmail, unless you don't realise that Google had a huge readymade marketing platform. This person doesn't have that platform, and it would have been a waste of resources for Google to use that platform to market an idea such as this.



You've heard someone say that starting business is a risk and are just repeating what you've heard without understanding it completely - starting a viable business is a risk, starting a non-viable business isn't a risk, it's commerical suicide...this is a non-viable business.

I think you are missing the point, I have said that I would not pay for a written letter and why that would not work. I am talking about options outside of letters and the types of people that want those. The other point is that it is not free vs pay because I am looking for a service not to do it myself. He would be setting up a service for people looking to buy a product. Like your friends dog bowl business would be free vs pay because I also have access to a kiln( I craft a lot) and food grade glazes. Which points back to what I said about her not doing it unless she can bring something fresh to the market. It seems like she is doing that so I would have said it was a good idea.

I don't think you are the using a business perspective either because my personal perspective was examples of how people would use a service like this. It was an example of the types of people he would want to market to not because I would use the service so I think it is a good idea. I have said time and time again for him to do his own research to see if it will work. It is not a good idea to solely base his choice off of random people on MMOC but he can get the pros and cons of such an idea. Neither one of us is any type of spot to say if it will work for sure or not.

On the money side of things I don't know how much he is going to sink into this. If it is just going to be a side venture. If he is going to have more people working with him on this. Right now from my understanding he is an idea phase and the website is just to give everyone a better idea of what he is trying to do.

[Warwithin]

I don't see that as working or very interesting to be honest. Maybe a subscription words of encouragement but it would not just be sending out a card week. $60 a year for cards is alot of money and it needs to be worth it at the end of the year.



I think you are missing the point, I have said that I would not pay for a written letter and why that would not work. I am talking about options outside of letters and the types of people that want those. The other point is that it is not free vs pay because I am looking for a service not to do it myself. He would be setting up a service for people looking to buy a product. Like your friends dog bowl business would be free vs pay because I also have access to a kiln( I craft a lot) and food grade glazes. Which points back to what I said about her not doing it unless she can bring something fresh to the market. It seems like she is doing that so I would have said it was a good idea.

I don't think you are the using a business perspective either because my personal perspective was examples of how people would use a service like this. It was an example of the types of people he would want to market to not because I would use the service so I think it is a good idea. I have said time and time again for him to do his own research to see if it will work. It is not a good idea to solely base his choice off of random people on MMOC but he can get the pros and cons of such an idea. Neither one of us is any type of spot to say if it will work for sure or not.

On the money side of things I don't know how much he is going to sink into this. If it is just going to be a side venture. If he is going to have more people working with him on this. Right now from my understanding he is an idea phase and the website is just to give everyone a better idea of what he is trying to do.

I'll pose this question to the both of you, then: Would selling letter writing kits be a more lucrative business model? I could package together the quill, ink, quality parchment and materials needed to send the letter into an end-product which is sold as-is.

[Kalis]

I think you are missing the point, I have said that I would not pay for a written letter and why that would not work. I am talking about options outside of letters and the types of people that want those. The other point is that it is not free vs pay because I am looking for a service not to do it myself. He would be setting up a service for people looking to buy a product. Like your friends dog bowl business would be free vs pay because I also have access to a kiln( I craft a lot) and food grade glazes. Which points back to what I said about her not doing it unless she can bring something fresh to the market. It seems like she is doing that so I would have said it was a good idea.

I don't think you are the using a business perspective either because my personal perspective was examples of how people would use a service like this. It was an example of the types of people he would want to market to not because I would use the service so I think it is a good idea. I have said time and time again for him to do his own research to see if it will work. It is not a good idea to solely base his choice off of random people on MMOC but he can get the pros and cons of such an idea. Neither one of us is any type of spot to say if it will work for sure or not.

On the money side of things I don't know how much he is going to sink into this. If it is just going to be a side venture. If he is going to have more people working with him on this. Right now from my understanding he is an idea phase and the website is just to give everyone a better idea of what he is trying to do.

She is marketing people who have pets, the vast majority of which don't have access to a kiln and would pay for a pet bowl of some description. Of those owners she is marketing the ones who want a personalised pet bowl, of which there are surprisingly many.

A sizeable market exists - pet products sell. It is pay vs pay. It is a viable business.

Writing thank you notes, letters, or anything similar, is something that a person can do themself for little cost and effort. There is no sizeable group of people who require more intricately handwritten notes that couldn't get them as part of a package they have invested money in.

It has a saturated and miniscule market. It is free vs pay. It is not a viable business.

You don't seem to understand my concept of free vs pay, as demonstrated by you saying you have use of a kiln, and that they are targeting people who don't want to write. Can the general population easily make a personalised pet bowl for free? The answer is no. Can the general population easily write and is it free? The answer is yes.

There is nothing wrong with providing a service that the general population doesn't wish to do themself, people do so all the time, however there has to be a benefit of some kind for them in using that service. What benefit does the handwritten service give? It doesn't save time or money, in fact the opposite is true, but it looks pretty - which is fine. However it falls down on when will people want to use it? For organising weddings? No, weddings will include a similar service. For gifts, e.g. flowers, baskets? No, a retailer will usually provide that on higher end gifts which would be the target market of this service. So you are left with people who want something handwritten in a style they can't do themself, but not as part of a traditional service, and don't particularly care about the cost or time inconvenience...which is just about nobody.


It's a dreadful business plan - you may as well go to the Sahara Desert and put sand in pretty bottles, then try and sell them to the locals, whilst standing next to thousands of other people doing the exact same thing.

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I'll pose this question to the both of you, then: Would selling letter writing kits be a more lucrative business model? I could package together the quill, ink, quality parchment and materials needed to send the letter into an end-product which is sold as-is.

That's a far more realistic business model.

Would it work? Possibly.

Could it work? Yes, it does.

If you can source quality materials, especially distinctive or unusual ones, e.g. an eagle feather quill, then even better. It's the sort of product you can get retailers to stock if you can sort out the packaging, and if you can provide a bespoke option for events or tourist sites it could be used as a promotional tool, e.g. a little plaque on the base with "BlizzCon 2015" inscribed on it.


Please don't go around killing eagles.


Presumably you mean this sort of thing, but better quality as this one looks a bit shit.

[Deleted]

I'll tell you what I *would* pay for. Poison pen letters sent monthly to people I don't like.

[Blueobelisk]

I wouldn't, but this already exists so.

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Wait wait. You actually set up the website already?

[Deleted]

She is marketing people who have pets, the vast majority of which don't have access to a kiln and would pay for a pet bowl of some description. Of those owners she is marketing the ones who want a personalised pet bowl, of which there are surprisingly many.

Like you wouldn't believe. My part time job is with dogs and we've partnered up with several local craftspeople who make everything from custom clothing, to custom leather collars. We give window space to their stock examples, and get a cut for sending them orders. Dog owners are mad for personalised shit.

[dextersmith]

Like for a $0.49 stamp?

[Deleted]

I wouldn't use the service because I can't read "fancy" handwriting


On a side note the website is pretty good.

[Deleted]

I'll pose this question to the both of you, then: Would selling letter writing kits be a more lucrative business model? I could package together the quill, ink, quality parchment and materials needed to send the letter into an end-product which is sold as-is.

Lots of people already do this, hell our local post office does "instant letter kits".

[bignumbers]

kind of depends on the situation really if it was for a dream job or something extremely important sure i would, but for a friend etc i wouldn't.