Enveloupe: An API for snail mail | Hacker News Reader

Enveloupe: An API for snail mail

enveloupe.com

49 pointsdhaivatpandya42 comments

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Prompting users to enter payment information over unsecured HTTP...smart.

Yep, although the form posts to a secure URL: https://api.stripe.com/v1/tokens

Doesn't make it better tough, a MITM could change the action URL of the form.

not if it's pinned at the web app level.

Again, MITM.

If you mean the front-end web (JS) app, MITM the request from the server to the client browser and replace the hardcoded submission url in the JS.

Not really. I used Play Framework which is also its own webserver. SSL is at both the app and webserver level.

MITM requires a man in the middle. For the most part, a state level adversary is required for a generalized MITM attack.

Come join my wifi network at the coffee shop :-D

Yes, but that's not a general MITM attack as the NSA has pulled off. Only the folks at that particular coffee shop are placed at risk from this particular adversary.

Usually Stripe throws warnings into the console for using their JS lib while on a HTTP site.

See http://www.troyhunt.com/2013/05/your-login-form-posts-to-htt...

Seriously! It's 2016, unless you rely on 3rd party resources that don't support HTTPS there's no reason why your site shouldn't be HTTPS only. Certificates are free and there's negligible performance overhead with modern CPUs.

Looks like it does support HTTPS but there's no redirect & HSTS in place to force use of the secure site which is odd.

There is Lob as well: https://lob.com/

Lob is great. I've used them to mail postcards as well as letters before. They also recently started allowing you to use HTML for the design rather than PDFs.

I'm about to use them for a startup. Anything I should know? Tips and tricks welcome.

I used Lob for a small side project, it was fantastic. We simply sent HTML to them, which worked out great since we didn't have to deal with any real typesetting and got to design letters with HTML/CSS.

(my opinions, not my employer's standard disclosure) Lob team has been great to work with - they've accommodated a lot of tweaks we've needed (custom paper, much higher levels of verification). They're good at API backwards compatibility, but they are pretty active on the development front, so it's worth keeping an eye on what changes are coming through on the SDK.

Hey, Lob employee here! Feel free to email me at shrav@lob.com. I'd be happy to give you any tips or tricks!

Looks great. The only downside (like most companies) is HIPAA compliance only comes with the >$900/mo price points.

That's customer segmentation 101.

Wasn't there a company that started doing Instagram postcard mailing, and eventually offered the API as well they were using?

http://repostage.com/

These guys are doing this, as I believe are many others.

Years ago there was postful: http://postful.com/

And postal methods: http://www.postalmethods.com/

My side project, OttoPost[1] does Instagram postcard mailing. It's currently using Lob's API (which has been great). There are several others too, though.

[1] https://www.ottopost.com

I made a little side project that I use to send postcards to my grandma: https://github.com/scott113341/post

It sends the requests to the Lob API directly, so you there's no price markup! $0.70 for a 4"x6" postcard and $1.50 for a 6"x11".

Nice! As a heavy user of postagram .. (#1 grandson.. Check) An iOS app that makes this appear in the print options please then I can..: login to a central site afterwards and choose the content I want to print -> snail mail it to destination

Additionally you could Offer printers to local stores, I could print to my bodega/gas station/Amazon parcel drop/staples etc (Pickup the job via qr code displayed on phone/Apple Pay) for things I need now

For some reason, the https redirect broke - working on fixing it. Rest assured, https://enveloupe.com/api/new works perfectly.

Looks cool! This should totally exist and be independent of any given country's postal system. Perhaps prepend a "SHOW HN: "

If I were you I'd put link to API docs in top navigation. If you are targeting to devs, that's the first thing they look for.

Payment info over HTTP? Ehhh, no thanks.

I'm looking for something like that that's the best fit for singleton mailings. I want to send one letter at a time. The pricing here isn't unreasonable for that ($1.09), but it seems geared for bulk mailings? Any suggestions?

Plenty of printing companies have APIs already (and much lower prices).

Can you list a few?

I've using Printing 4 Less. They've got one, and they're not exactly a big fish. I'd imagine most of these would: http://www.piworld.com/article/the-2015-printing-impressions...

Looks interesting, though I must ask - where exactly is the API? Or are we to hook up directly to the HTML form endpoint?

You should link to the landing page.

I'd like to see the same service for the UK.

You can use Lob in the UK. We (GoCardless) do, and have had a good experience.

Lob employee here. We are running beta services in the UK, please email support@lob.com for more information!

brilliant, i didnt know this. Thanks

Here you go:

http://www.docmail.co.uk/api/ https://developers.clicksend.com/ https://www.stannp.com/

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