I wish the postal service did it. They send somebody by my house every day. It'd be awesome if the actually dropped off something I wanted.
For example, every campus would hugely benefit from a service where students could just email a document to a specific address ([email protected]), have 5 cents a page automatically charged to their account, and pick up their assignment on their way to class to hand it in.
Students used to running around residence looking for someone with a printer, or sprinting to the library with a USB stick would be all over the service. Someone just needs to write a simple application that connects the dots and market it to campuses.
----
Reply From: [email protected]
Your document has been printed and 25 cents charged to your account.
(Disclaimer: I work here. This also means I can help get it to your university if you get in touch with me).
You'd have to solve at least the following problems: Print/sorting/packaging/mailing, privacy (most of the stuff you "need" to print is confidential), timeliness (usually when I print I need it NOW, like when closing a sale on a house)
But if you can solve them, or at least start to, I think it'd be a great opportunity.
Would it make sense more for mass physical mailings via an API?
As an aside, in the EU a printed signature (i.e. printed text in a signature input field) is just as valid as a "real" signature.
(And its invaluable companion service, online registered mail, for documents with legal significance.)
On the other hand, there are services that will fax PDF for you, even for free.
When I was doing Lots Of Paperwork for something, I'd often print out reams at the office and fax reams back. I consider myself rather fortunate that no one ever complained; being friends with the receptionist (who sits next to the fax and was thus ideally suited to calling me out on excessive usage of office equipment for personal use) probably helped.
and expiration date, and cvv (not joking)
I also like to print and send things when it's an old person's birthday (used Apple's Cards app recently and it was brilliant, although a relative was baffled and believed me to be in Prague since it was posted from there).
I'd use this service so much:
1. Printers are fast becoming a thing of the past. How often will people need to use printers in five years time?
2. Lots of government functions still require printed documents (heck, even Twitter insisted that I fax them something a few years back).
3. Post boxes, stamps and envelopes are a pain to get individually.