Best Results Organizing

Three years ago, when we first broached the subject of college textbook clutter, textbook rental was a relatively new phenomenon. Since then, we explored the Textbook Information subsection of The Higher Education Opportunity Act, designed to give college students access to affordable course materials. However, enhanced transparency and un-bundling of resources only go so far.

When Paper Doll attended college, options were limited: Buy textbooks at the campus bookstore or the sole off-campus independent store; buy new textbooks or used ones. It was a seller’s market. Now, students have more textbook-buying options that ever before — rentals, e-texts, comparative textbook search engines — but caveat emptor, because there are still obstacles in the way of a positive textbook acquisition experience.

1) Do your due diligence.

Comb the course catalog and examine assigned materials carefully. But don’t stop there! Explore the course syllabus to see how much and how often any given resource will be used.

Don’t be afraid to contact the professor’s office to find out whether you’ll need to bring a resource to class (like a lab book) or whether a book can stay safely nestled in your dorm. Knowing whether you’ll need to schlep the text to class every Monday, Wednesday and Friday will determine whether you’ll be more comfortable opting for the 500-page hardcover or digital version.

2) Research whether a new text or edition is required every year.

Students may rationalize buying full-price new textbooks because they anticipate being able to sell them back at the end of the semester or year. A dirty secret of the textbook industry is that most popular texts undergo infinitesimal version “revisions” (like changing the font of an illustration’s caption). If your school upgrades the required edition each year, the brand-new text you purchase in late August might be practically worthless by May.

If a textbook is an evergreen, used year after year, especially if it’s in your major field of study and the material will be a useful resource long-term, lean towards buying it.

If the textbook changes every year, especially if it’s a subject you’re taking solely to fill core (non-major) requirements, consider renting it.

3) Find out whether the edition or version matters at all.

Check with the professor to make sure that the selection of an assigned reading wasn’t more a matter of university politics than a true course requirement.

For literature courses, unless a professor requires a specific annotated version, one copy of My Last Duchess or The Odyssey might be just as good as any other. Check the college library, Project Gutenberg, Amazon and other sites to access free copies.

4) Identify whether the whole book is assigned or just a chapter.

Check that syllabus. If you’ll only be required to read a relatively small section of a large book, might you borrow it from the college library and take notes before the due date?

It’s also possible to rent or purchase partial sections of books.

Reference Tree was the first source for renting textbooks by the chapter. Because materials are digital, there are no shipping costs or time delays. Reference Tree rents electronic versions of whole textbooks, sections and individual chapters, promising a savings of at least 25% and upwards of 40% over traditional text purchases. (Note: Reference Tree is a UK-based company.)

CengageBrain is similar, granting access to whole electronic texts, sections or chapters, as well as traditional (printed) text purchases and rentals. Register for an account, and then search the database by title, author, keyword or ISBN. Preview the chapter and the index of any textbook as a PDF file by clicking the “Free Stuff” tab on that textbook’s page. You’ll have to download special CengageBrain viewing software (which prevents file-sharing).

Access your purchased chapters online through your CengageBrain account. You can even download chapters to your hard drive and print them out, so you can scribble and highlight to your heart’s content.

CengageBrain is U.S.-based, but supports sales to Latin America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Canadian students should shop via NelsonBrain.com.

5) Know your study style: New vs. Used

If you’re germaphobic, like Paper Doll, every tiny stain or stray mark in a used textbook may distract you from your work.

Can you study from a gently- (or not-so-gently) used textbook with a prior student’s notes, underlining or highlighting, or will this distract too greatly from the learning experience? If the prior owner was a star student, you might benefit; if someone else marking what he or she thought was important will divert your critical thinking skills, you might need to opt for a new book.

6) Know Your Study Style: Rent vs. Own

There are two big concerns with renting texts. The first is the gap between ordering a printed textbook and its arrival. With most classes, it won’t be an issue, but if your professor assigns a reading on the first day of class and your delivery is delayed by hurricanes or Labor Day, you’ll be scrambling.

Second, lowering your costs by renting instead of buying makes sense as long as you return your books on time. Most book rental companies will let you request extensions, but extensions bring extra fees. Forgotten returns bring extra fees. Lost books bring really large extra fees!

Obviously, book-return obstacles are only an issue with tangible books. With digital books, the system just makes it all go “poof!” and you no longer possess your rental. However, if health issues or extenuating circumstances earn you an extension from your professor, but you haven’t requested an extension from your e-textbook rental provider, you’ll have trouble…and yes, extra costs.

Renting texts is a great alternative to buying, but it requires personal responsibility. (Parents, make sure your newly independent students understand this.)

7) Know your study style: Digital vs. Print

Just a few short years ago, digital textbooks didn’t even exist. Now, Amazon Digital Textbook Rentals exists specifically to deliver e-texts, and many of the standard online textbook sales and rental companies, like Chegg and eCampus, have developed e-textbook apps and services. And the iPad was designed, in part, with digital texts in mind.

Does a digital option fit with your learning style? Consider:

Advantages of Digital Texts

Digital texts are portable and convenient — they lighten the load on your shoulders and are more accessible; you’ll never unthinkingly grab your Calculus text when you wanted your Bio book just because both covers are brown.

They’re digitally searchable, so you won’t waste time flipping through pages to find a barely-remembered concept.

Notetaking and highlighting has gone high tech. See Chegg’s e-Textbook Reader video for an example of the note-taking potential.

You can usually control the type-face of what you’re reading, making it easier on your eyes.

Text-to-speech capabilities mean that for some books, you can just plug your earphones into your e-reader or computer and listen. If you tend to recall and understand concepts better once you’ve heard them, digital materials have a tremendous advantage.

Disadvantages of Digital Texts

The selection of digital textbooks is still much smaller than the paper versions.

Taking notes and highlighting is neither quite as simple nor as tactile as using a pen or a highlighter, and research shows that the kinesthetic experience of manually taking notes makes material more memorable.

A printed book never runs out of power, but your e-reader or computer may lose its juice If you don’t have your charger handy, you’ll have to traipse back to your dorm.

Technology changes over time — while your heavy Psych 101 text may have elements that become somewhat outdated over the decades, barring fires or flood, you’ll still be able to access concepts in a matter of minutes. Formats change — Paper Doll‘s brilliant (!) college papers, written in WriteNow (an ancient Mac precursor to MS Word) and saved to diskette, are largely inaccessible.

8) Don’t count on digital books saving you a bundle over printed texts.

Yes, the lack of production costs, the lesser impact on natural resources and the reduced need for human involvement should vastly reduce the cost of digital textbooks. But it doesn’t. The Chronicle of Higher Education has found that, on average, purchasing an e-book version of a textbook is only about $1 less expensive than buying the book in print.

There are many great reasons to go digital, including lightening your backpack. Just don’t assume you won’t also lighten your wallet.

9) Watch out for international versions of printed textbooks.

Students studying abroad may find that the textbook they’ll need for a class once they return home is available at a much lower price. The problem? International versions may have different pagination, different problem sets or examples, and different terminology (and not just different spelling). International versions of textbooks may also be printed on flimsier paper than North American students are used to, so highlighting and ink notes may bleed through the pages.

10) Compare costs for textbook purchases.

Since we last discussed it, the alternatives for comparing textbook costs have multiplied. In most cases, you enter the title, author, ISBN or keyword to search the book you want to buy or rent, and you’ll be presented with options that list availability of new/used/rentable texts, condition, price, and shipping costs, sorted by vendor. Newer comparison search engines include:

BigWords

Campus Shift

BookFinder

LocAtoZ (in Canada)

But my favorite tool is from the Twenty Million Minds Foundation. Select your state, university, department and course from progressive drop-down menus, and the resulting screen compares prices for the university’s campus bookstore, major textbook sellers, textbook renters and e-text providers. (If your school doesn’t participate, just search by book, author or ISBN.)

11) Keep an eye on the end of the semester.

When deciding what version of a textbook to buy, consider its long-term value to you. If you struggle with math, and will not be taking upper level math courses, don’t hold onto your textbooks, filling up your parents’ basement or your tiny post-college apartment with books you’ll never use.

If the material really isn’t up your alley now, you’re unlikely to develop a passion to learn quantum mechanics in your copious spare time, ten years from now, when you’re juggling work and family. (Paper Doll‘s money is on there being much more to know about quantum mechanics in 2022, anyway.) Use the same kinds of sites at which you buy used and new textbooks to sell them back when the semester is over.

Have a great school year. Learn well!

Paper Doll is occasionally befuddled. On the one hand, as a professional organizer, I aim to reduce clutter, streamline information and make everything more functional. On the other hand, I’m only human, and I have an eye for a particular aesthetic. If something can be described as tiny and adorable, I’ve been known to try to rationalize a functional purpose.

(For example, the tiny, white, rubber limousine atop my iMac was sent to me by organizing maven Jeri Dansky after I tweeted lines from Dorothy Parker’s wonderful One Perfect Rose. I’m resolute that positioning it above my workspace reminds me of the the twin elements of Parker’s insouciant humor and the importance of driving things forward. Right. Sure. It’s just sooooo cute!)

Reading Erin Doland’s Unclutterer, I sometimes find that the Wednesday Unitasker series is an exercise in forbearance for me. Things like the Hot Dog Dicer and Tummy Tub Baby Bath neither improve efficiency nor make much sense. As a professional organizer, these are the unused dust-gatherers I help my clients discard in order to create space and order. But then, there’s the Retro POP Handset,

an old-fashioned phone receiver, that I crave every day, not only for its functionality (no more holding my phone in my hand — I actually prefer neck-crooking!) but for its retro form. (To be honest, though, I prefer the cordless ThinkGeek Bluetooth version. It’s not quite as authentic, but it also lessens the chance of getting the cord caught on a door handle.)

As I go about my business, I’m usually able to separate unitaskers from worthy products. For me, if it’s already in the home or office, the key is always, “Do you use it?” sometimes following up with, “Really, now, how often do you use it?” A simple reality check usually suffices. However, when you don’t actually own the item, the utility potential of any gadget or tchotchke may get over-exaggerated when the aesthetic appeal is high.

News alert: Sometimes wanting something outweighs needing it when we make decisions about acquisition.

All of this brings me to disclosing my own secret desire. Ever since word spread on Twitter last November regarding Little Printer, I’ve been of two minds: Surely, it was impractical! Certainly, I found it adorable! With each emailed press release, I breathed a sigh of relief that it was not yet on the market, so I did not need to bring rationality to the table. The day of reckoning has come. You see, Little Printer is available for pre-order.

LITTLE PRINTER, THE CONCEPT

Little Printer, from the UK’s Berg Cloud is exactly that — a little printer. The teeny box, tipped up on plastic “legs,” holds a compact, ink-free thermal printer (like a miniature version of the kind fax machines used to use). It prints onto BPA-free thermal paper and is wirelessly connected to your home’s web service via another tiny device, the Bridge unit, that plugs into your router. Little Printer, itself, plugs in anywhere you’ve got a power outlet.

When Little Printer prints, Berg’s focus on graphic elements kicks in. In sharp-focus, retro black-and-white designs, Little Printer feeds out tiny “newspapers” reminiscent of half-tone lithography. Oooh, pretty.

WHAT LITTLE PRINTER PRINTS

In case you were wondering, no, Little Printer isn’t for printing out those daily, ad hoc necessities like instruction sheets and directions to your next meeting. Rather, Little Printer creates mini-documents, aggregating the information you program it to curate and print, all in the width of a sales receipt and no longer than 10 inches. (Oy, you’re thinking, didn’t we just figure out how to get rid of the clutter of receipts?)

Once you’ve set up the Little Printer, push the little black button and your registration code prints out. Grab your smart phone to sign in or create an account at http://remote.bergcloud.com. Just enter the registration code and it connects Little Printer to your user account.

Next, use Berg Cloud Remote (optimized for iPhones, Android and Windows smart phones, and compatible with any HTML5-capable web browser) to program the content you want Little Printer to print. There are a growing number of printable feeds, or publications, from Berg partners — they’re basically apps, but instead of delivering content to a smart phone or iPad, the data goes to your Little Printer.

Select publications like news headlines, listings of upcoming friends’ birthdays, recipes, to do lists…and you can even grant trusted friends access to send you messages via your Little Printer. Right now, publications have a decidedly UK skew, including The Guardian newspaper, BBC Worldwide, and Lanyrd, a LinkedIn-esque professional events directory. However, offerings also include popular-everywhere options from Google Tasks, Foursquare and Instagram.

Little Printer isn’t just a ticker-tape of the web. That would be crazy. (Um, apparently, that’s what Little Printer v1.0 did, and the creators said they found it “incredibly annoying.”) Instead, it prints things like a daily puzzle you can stick in your planner to noodle over while you’re waiting for an appointment, beautiful images made from woodcut and pen-and-ink designs, updates from specific Twitter feeds you mark essential to your life, and so on.

At Berg Cloud’s “Hack Day” in July, staff and visitors created 73 different publications, ranging from practical, like an aggregate of local community event schedules by day, to the quirky, like Cat Grinder, that prints out photos of cats shared digitally by people in one’s specific geographic area…apparently so one can go visit the cats. (GPS-located cats? And people think we tweeters are pre-occupied?!)

Publications can be scheduled to arrive at any time of day. Berg Cloud recommends arranging for several publications to arrive at once, to collate in an ideal miniature newspaper for breakfast and/or bedtime.

To get a feel of all of this in action, watch the too-cute video.

THE LOOK

OK, we’ve covered what it does. But if it were ugly, or boring, or not at all novel, nobody would be talking about it. Rather, Little Printer caught people’s attention because it anthropomorphized the printer concept the same way Siri makes you feel like you’ve got a sharp little assistant living inside your phone.

The housing is constructed from glossy injection-molded plastic. A brushed steel faceplate holds the paper, creating a frame around each delivered printout. Until the next document is printed, the Little Printer frames just the edge of the paper, already printed with an adorable little face that reminds me of my beloved Fisher Price Little People classic figures from childhood. (Paper Doll assumes that’s how they’ve suckered everyone else, too. The original Little People rocked!)

Berg Cloud’s newest modification lets you pick from among four printable faces to serve as your Little Printer’s personality. There’s the the original you see in all the PR examples, as well as a long-haired girl, a girl with a medium-bob, and a cowlicked, bespectacled character whom I think is a boy.

THE COST

Starter kits are $259, with $30 flat shipping rates to the U.S. and Canada. Kits include the Little Printer (including paper roll), Berg Cloud Bridge, international power adapters, Ethernet cables and two rolls of replacement paper. (Berg will eventually sell paper rolls but currently recommends buying BPA-free thermal paper.)

In the UK and Europe, starter kits are priced at 199, with flat shipping of 6.50 in the UK and 15 throughout Europe.

European delivery doesn’t include Andorra, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar, Mount Athos, San Marino and Vatican City. I find it ironic that little countries can’t get the Little Printer.

SO, WHAT’S THE POINT?

Paper Doll always seems to be keeping feet planted in the 21st century, with a backwards glance towards the olden days whenever paper represents something with soul — letters or personal memorabilia. But almost everyone is trying to get rid of paper. What is Berg Cloud thinking?

Matt Webb, the face (aside from Little Printer’s face) of Berg Cloud, is all for social media, but seems to see paper as more intimate. He told the press, “What’s great about paper is that it’s made for sharing. You can scribble on a puzzle and give it to a friend, or stick birthday reminders up on the fridge for your family to see. Paper is basically a technology tailor-made for a home full of people.”

The potential clutter aside, I can’t entirely disagree. (And let’s be honest, most clutter is behaviorally-induced and not the fault of the stuff.) If I wanted my honeybunny to remember the milk, I’d put a note on the fridge, and stick a magnet on a coupon. And I know I loved every note Paper Mommy included in my lunch bag (she even wrapped a note in the napkin when I attended my high school reunion picnic). But little paper trinkets that derive from electronic sources? Who will embrace that?

John Pavlus, writing for Fast Company, said:

I’m reserving judgment on the user experience and physical appeal of Little Printer until I can actually get my hands on one. But after the initial shock wore off, I couldn’t get BERG’s odd little product out of my mind. I imagined setting it on my nightstand next to my alarm clock, tearing off my little “mini-newspaper” in the morning–a much more physically satisfying interaction, perhaps, than rotely grabbing my smartphone and pecking at Twitter.

I have to admit, that was my reaction, too. I’m not much of a cook (OK, I’m not a cook at all) but I’d be intrigued by a tiny printout of a recipe I could take with me to the exotic foods store to purchase ingredients. Even though Paper Mommy is on Twitter and Facebook, I’d love to get a little paper message from her that I could carry around all day, and I bet there are a lot of Mommies and Daddies out there who travel for business but would like to be able to make sure their kids start the day with a personalized note they can take with them.

I can imagine Little Printer used in schools to give kids tangible representations of things they’ve learned. For example, Little Printer publishes feeds from How Many People Are In Space Right Now?, and you can envision little kids adorning their cubbies with printed factoids.

As frequent readers know, I don’t have a smart phone. But even if I did, and even if I got completely accustomed to scrolling through information on a glass screen, checking something off a shopping or to do list on paper is just more satisfying. It’s more tactile. It’s more real.

And yet, I know I’m rationalizing. At this price point, there’s no chance Paper Doll will be trying out the Little Printer any time soon, so my practical budget outweighs the appeal in terms of curiosity or aesthetics.

But that retro phone? Every girl needs her indulgences.

The future of tangible mail is uncertain, and for the first time in a while, people actually seem to care. Suddenly, it seems like everyone has gotten nostalgic at once and is trying to make postal mail more appealing.

Don’t have a stamp? No problem. Hallmark has started selling cards with postage included in the cost, removing the stamp-buying obstacle from the process.

Standard paper isn’t interesting enough? A Sony-sponsored student design competition winner invented a combination camera/smell extractor/printer that allows you to capture the scents of foods and encrypt them into postcards to share travel experiences with loved ones. (“The food smells beautiful. Wish you were here!”)

Postal mail is feeling the love from the literary realm, as well.

The Letters of Note blog, which shares fascinating letters, postcards and telegrams sent back when paper correspondence was the norm, has earned such a loyal following that a book is forthcoming.

Last week, we reviewed various methods for easing the letter-writing process. Create your digital message here and it gets printed, stuffed and stamped (by someone else) and delivered there. Today, we look at shorter-form messages for keeping in touch with minimal effort: digital-to-paper postcards.

BoastCards provides a creative way to turn your photos (or BoastCards’ stock photos) into high-quality postcards. Either way, you have the ability to customize them with BoastCards’ partner Picnik’s extensive graphics tools to create nifty effects: adjust the colors, smooth wrinkles (!), add “makeup” to faces or on-card “graffiti” to enhance your message.

1) Create an account (though you can play around with making a card first and create your account once you’re ready to send your first postcard).

2) Manually input or import your contacts directly into the system. If you want, you can create one-click group lists (to easily send one postcard to all of your relatives, a different one to work colleagues and a third to friends).

3) Design your card. Right now, all cards are 4″ x 6″, but eventually other size options will be available. Upload any image in .jpg format, or select a photo from BoastCards’ Blueprint Gallery or Photo Gallery and use the internal editor to add your preferred digital effects.

Next, create your message and fill in the “Photo Origin” (i.e., from where you’ll say the postcard has been sent). About twenty different fonts are available and font sizes range from 14 to 52 point.

4) Pay with a credit card, Paypal or BoastBucks (pre-paid, discounted credits you can load onto your account and which never expire). The more BoastBucks you buy, the higher the discount. Create your card for free; $2 gets it sent anywhere in the world.

Currently, BoastCards works in your browser; iPhone and iPad apps are planned for later this year.

Postcards Anywhere is a digital-to-paper service that works in your browser or on your iPhone. Create an account or sign in via Twitter or Facebook. Upload a photo, add your personal text, assign the recipient’s address and send.

The result is a glossy 4″ x 6″ postcard delivered anywhere in the United States by the USPS — all for just $1! (Postcards Anywhere anticipates mailing internationally in the near future.) When it’s time to pay (via credit card, only; Paypal, Google Checkout and Amazon Payments are coming soon), you can purchase just one card, or buy discounted blocks of “stamps” (5, 10, 20 or 100), good for one year.

(My colleagues, Anna Sicalides and Sharon Lowenheim, at the Baltimore Harbor during the 2012 NAPO Conference.)

There’s no fancy photo editing. However, for those who crave more goodies, in addition to the tangible postcard your carrier delivers, Postcards Anywhere lets you create an online version of the card in Postcard+. There, postcards can be enhanced with audio, video, and Google Map-related location data, and recipients can post comments, share and even reprint the cards you send. And, because the Postcards+ element is digital, your recipients can reply as soon as they get the cards, letting you know how much they love them. (A little imprint on the reverse of the card alerts recipients to visit the Postcards+ web page.)

If you have their email address, but lack someone’s mailing address, Postcards Anywhere has a “Request an Address” feature. So, you can set up the whole card and request the address; once Postcards Anywhere gets a reply from your recipient, the system will automatically send the card…and send you the address for your records.

Postcards Anywhere has even added a way to make your voice heard in Washington, with a Little Black Book of addresses of VIPs to whom you might want to jot off a message.

Postagram takes all those funky Instagram photos you’ve created and gives them a place to live in the three-dimensional world. (It also works for Facebook photos or any other mobile photos hiding in your accounts.) Available on the web or via your iPhone or Android smart phone, Postagram lets you print and email photos as postcards, with 140-character personal messages.

Niftily, the photo can be popped out of the actual card, making it suitable for framing, sticking on your dashboard, or tucking into your pocket. Watch the video to see a happy (and apparently web-free) Grandpa get his card.

The total cost? 99 cents, including labor, printing and postage.

Paper Doll is really hoping the UK’s Cards in the Post branches out to North American users soon (as is planned), because it’s an absolute delight to use. It works on any device — desktop, laptop, tablet or smart phone.

Upload a photo from your computer, the web, your Instagram or Facebook accounts or Cards in the Post’s galleries. If you don’t like uploading, you can actually drag and drop any photo onto the card template! When you’re done, click “flip card” to display the reverse, write your message and address the card. It could not be easier. The postage stamp area even indicates the estimated arrival date. Agree to the Terms and Conditions, pay 2 (about $3.14) via your credit card or Paypal, and your postcard is on its way.

Touchnote, from Samsung, should have been simple to use. Ostensibly, the steps were easy enough: upload a photo from your computer or smart phone and add a caption or thought bubble (if you wish). Touchnote should save the photo and then provide a platform to write your message (in one of two basic fonts). Then, you’re supposed to add the recipient’s address and pay ($1.49 per card, unless you’ve pre-purchased discounted credits).

Unfortunately, while each step worked as expected, advancing to the next step presented repeated problems. At first, the server was busy; then I encountered unexpected error messages, and at each step, it was impossible to revert to the prior step. I was using the web version, so it’s possible Touchnote just doesn’t like old-fashioned users. If you’ve used Touchnote to good effect, please report it in the comments section.

Postcard on the Run is another iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, Android and Windows smart-phone device, but sadly (for stupid-phone users like Paper Doll), there’s no web access.

Snap a new photo or use a photo that already exists on your phone or Facebook account and create a postcard-brief message. Enter the recipient’s address; if you only have a phone number, Postcard on the Run will send a text to your recipient to acquire the mailing address. Wish your card could be more personal? Postcard On The Run lets you sign your postcard with your finger and embed a little map to identify where you are.

Postcard on the Run is Sustainable Forestry Initiative-certified, meaning postcard stock comes from tree paper/fiber obtained through responsible, globally-certified distributors. The high gloss coatings and inks used on the cards are biodegradable.

Pay via credit card or Paypal; it’s 99 cents per card in the United States. International costs vary.
 

Cards is a little different from the other services — it’s Apple-only, and creates tangible, personalized 4″ x 6″, letterpress greeting cards using your own photos and message, printed on 100% cotton paper, imprinted in a debossed style.

Just shoot a photo (or use one from your photo collection), select from various design styles to customize your card, and add your message. If you select one of Cards’ travel-themed designs, the card will automatically display the name of your current location; if you choose a photo with GPS data, the card will be imprinted with the name of the place where the photo was taken.

Once you choose a mailing address from your Contacts, you can place your order immediately using your Apple ID password. To send your cards within the United States, $2.99 plus sales tax covers both the card and postage (with Cards’ own Apple-designed postage stamp); for elsewhere in the world, it’s $4.99 (including the VAT for the applicable country).

Any card you make is saved automatically, so you can resend any design to multiple recipients. Cards makes use of the USPS Intelligent Mail barcode service, so if you’ve sent the card to a recipient in the United States, you’ll get a notification on the day the card is set to be delivered.

Postino works on iPhone, Android, Windows and via Facebook. Snap a photo on your phone, or use a picture from your computer or your Facebook photo albums. Use your finger to draw a personalized message, picture or signature, and if you want, have your GPS location included.

The postcards are printed on super-high quality paper and can be mailed worldwide from locations in North America and Europe. Virtual stamps cost $1.99/card, though you can buy discounted packages of multiple “stamps.” However, Postino doesn’t have user accounts — your purchased packages of stamps are associated with your actual phone, so if you lose and replace or otherwise upgrade your current phone, you’ll have to contact Postino to keep your postage intact.

There are numerous other smart phone apps for sending postcards, and I’d love to hear about your favorites. Please share your digital-to-paper correspondence stories or wish-lists in the comments section.

In April, the Senate passed the 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012, which places a moratorium on closing post offices, and delays the transition from six-day to five-day delivery until at least 2014. (The House hasn’t voted yet.) However, last week’s news of the United States Postal Service defaulting on a $5.5 billion retirement-fund payment is yet another sign of the financial decay of an American institution dating back to 1775.

There’s little doubt that the vast increase in electronic communication is at the heart of the USPS downturn. As an inveterate letter-writer and letter-lover, I believe real letters, thoughtfully-composed and artfully sent, delivered to our homes, even by not-so-speedy delivery, matter. Organized thoughts, committed to tangible form, raise spirits. Organizing the resources for sharing heartfelt messages worthy of savoring can only make the process easier to embrace.

We’ve previously reviewed various stamp-free options for sending tangible letters and telegrams via computer; over the next few posts, we’ll look at more ways of using technology (and ingenuity), to keep old-fashioned letter-writing alive in the 21st century.

Snail Mail My Email — Last summer, a month-long art installation embraced the slow pace of bygone days when people walked to the mailbox with anticipation, in hopes of a love letter or note from a far-off pen pal.

San Francisco artist and designer Ivan Cash created the project to “cultivate appreciation for the lost art of letter writing; that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you open a letter and know that someone took the time to sit down and think of you.” During this project, 10,457 recipients in 70 nations on all seven continents received old-fashioned mail that started as bits and bytes. Users wrote emails which were transformed into handwritten letters, physically stamped and mailed by 234 volunteers.

Reminiscent of the slow-food movement, this project centered on using traditional mail for “being mindful and deliberate, and truly connecting with other people in more thoughtful and meaningful ways.” Although the project is over, you can read more about it in the upcoming book or on the Facebook page. For more on Snail Mail My Mail, visit the letter gallery and click on the letter map to see the range of distribution.

There are still a number of opportunities for you to organize a special and traditional mail call for the people in your life.

Postcardly helps you send a real postcard without ever leaving the comfort of your smart phone or computer. Why might that be helpful?

Perhaps you’d normally attach a photo to a tweet or email, but Great-Grandpa isn’t quite so comfortable around a mouse or track pad.

Maybe you’re nostalgic for the days of sending postcards from your vacation, but don’t have the time to change currencies or buy a stamp as you quickly travel from one mysterious destination to another.

And it might be that you’d love to share tangible snapshots of your honeymoon or new baby, but don’t have the energy to print cards or hand-address them.

Postcardly converts any email with an attached photo into a postcard and then sends your printed message and photo to your intended recipient(s) via the U.S. Postal Service.

1) Sign up for a free account — just provide your email address and create a password. (When you sign up, you get a free trial of three postcards; use FREETRIAL as the promotion code.)

2) Choose your Postcardly plan: Prepaid (a one-time $19.99 charge gets you 20 postcards to use within the first year), Monthly ($9.99/month, for 15 postcards every month and 99 cents for each additional postcard), or Monthly Lite ($4.99/month, for 5 postcards every month and 99 cents for each additional postcard). The free trial applies to all three plans. Each international postcard count as two (to cover the cost of extra postage).

On the down side, you have to provide your credit card information in order to complete your registration. However, Postcardly doesn’t charge your credit card until you’ve sent your fourth postcard, after completion of the free trial. Also, every Postcardly account works as a family plan, so you can add your spouse, kids, parents or siblings as authorized senders at no extra charge.

3) Set up your address book, with recipients’ names and mailing addresses.

4) Create a Postcardly email address (like PaperMommy@postcardly.com) and then send email from your computer or smart phone’s regular email program to the recipient’s @Postcardly.com address. Be sure to attach the photo!

Postcardly mails the postcard from Seattle (sorry, no Bali postmarks), with your words on one side and the photo on the reverse. You can also send the same postcard to multiple recipients, just by using the regular CC: field.

To see your postcard, email it to preview@postcardly.com and you’ll receive a reply with a PDF attachment to preview. (Try the feature even if you haven’t signed up for Postcardly, to see how it looks.)

lettrs is sort of a combination post office, time machine and museum. Founder Drew Bartkiewicz was inspired by the carefully preserved letters received by his maternal grandmother, and the site declares itself as “A platform to organize the world’s letters. Designed by lovers of the written word, lettrs is the place that facilitates, inspires, and slows the world’s lasting communications.”

Sign up via Twitter, Facebook or a personalized login.

To send a digital or typed paper letter, click on the Writing Desk and start typing a message, choosing from among three design styles (printing on lined paper, calligraphy on linen or old typewriter font). Accept today’s date as the default, or select a date from the past or future. If you wish, tag the message as if it were a blog post, to enhance searchability, and select whether it’s OK for the recipient to post it to his or her Virtual Fridge (sort of like a Pinterest board). Add photos to your letter with the clickof  a button and a quick upload.

If you choose to send it digitally, it’s free. Send it to an email address, Facebook friend, Twitter follower or as an open letter visible to all who visit the site.

If you’d prefer to send a paper letter, enter the mailing address. If you don’t know it, you can just provide the person’s email address, and lettrs will email to obtain the address for you!

Select your fanciness preference. Would you like your letter sent on high quality, 25% cotton paper (for $2), watermarked, textured royal linen paper (for $4) or a hand-made, scented, linen card with a waxed seal (for $8)? (Add $1/letter for international mail.) Send as if from your own address, or from your first name and last initial at lettrs’ old-timey PO Box 99 return address in Collinsville, CT.

For either digital or paper options, you can request delivery for a future date (though I wouldn’t wait years and years, given the unpredictability of e-commerce).

You can also upload a letter you’ve already written or received, or one that’s been in your family for generations (or since you went to summer camp), add details about the date, author, recipient and back-story, and share socially with other members of lettrs on your Virtual Fridge. Keep other letters private in your Shoebox.

lettrs spreads love by helping you send real mail, and enables you to curate and preserve the love of letter-writing (and letter-reading). For more about lettrs and the letters Foundation, which promotes “slow communication and letter-recovery initiatives at charities across the globe,” including the Wounded Warrior Project and the Special Olympics, watch the video.

LetterWise is not a pretty site, but it sets out to do something that’s pretty loving. Let’s say someone — Great-Grandpa, again — isn’t exactly web savvy. The great-grandchildren, on the other hand, aren’t going to sit down to write letters to him even though they’ll gladly text and tweet and Facebook all day long. Poor Great-Grandpa.

LetterWise had a charming solution. You “sponsor” recipients, creating mailboxes identifying them (Great-Grandpa) and where the letters will be sent (Retirement Cottage, 123 Long Ago Lane, Old Timeyville). As the sponsor, you can then invite any number of people — your spouse, kids, siblings, co-workers, etc. to become members of that mailbox at no extra charge.

Then, all of you can easily and electronically contribute messages to the mailbox, either using LetterWise’s online system or by replying to an email reminder. Once or twice each week (depending on the plan you pick), LetterWise aggregates the messages into one single printed letter, up to eight pages long, stuffs it into an envelope, stamps it and mails to the recipient.

You pay to sponsor a new mailbox at $9.95/month for one letter per week, or $14.95/month for two, but it’s free for someone to “join” a mailbox. Great-Grandpa gets to stay in the loop and may decide to write back via traditional mail to the great-grandchildren.

All mail is confidential, so although Johnny may tell Great-Grandpa that he’s planning to backpack through Europe after college, Johnny’s mom, even if she’s a member of the mailbox, will be none-the-wiser. (Meanwhile, if Great-Grandpa is anything like Paper Mommy‘s father, he’ll tell Johnny how he came from Europe, and feh, who needs to go back there and schlep around with a satchel on his back?!)

Of course, LetterWise isn’t just for seniors. Kids at summer camp or boarding schools, and adults in the military, foreign aid workers and others may have undependable or restricted access to electronic communication. Using LetterWise can ensure that all their loved ones, particularly those who are more likely to dash off an email than search out stationery, can keep them close at heart.

Epistly, which just launched this spring, is the essence of simplicity. Write a quick blurb in the box on the front page of the site (or send a message to mail@epistly.com, with the recipient’s address in the email), and Epistly will hand-write it and mail it for you!

Epistly has four pricing plans:

Pay As You Go has no monthly charge, but costs a whopping $9.99 per letter, and promises your item will be mailed within three business days.

Scribbler is $9.99/month, earns you two letters (or credits) per month, with each letter $7.95 thereafter, and mail is sent within two business days.

Author is $99/month, earns twenty letters (or credits) per month, with each letter thereafter priced at $4.95. Letters are mailed within one business day.

There’s also a customizable Poet plan if you envision sending 100+ letters each month.

Once your letter is sent, Epistly emails an alert, including a snapshot image of your letter. Log into your account at any time to see the status of a letter order.

Pricey? Paper Doll thinks so, but the About section of the blog explains that the founders see Epistly as a way for busy entrepreneurs to send hand-written, customized letters. (They’ve already got at least one celebrity fan.) Of course, it won’t be your handwriting, but it’s real handwriting (rather than the horrible computerized, faux handwriting of direct mail campaigns) nonetheless.

Next time, we’ll look other online services for sending letters and postcards, numerous smart phone apps for making tangible postcards a (tropical) breeze, and a few other ways to make snail mail spiffy and appealing.

IN THE (BOUNCY) BEGINNING

Ever since the invention of the rubber band in 1845, we’ve been able to bind papers, folders, supplies and books with stretchy goodness. Unfortunately, rubber bands eventually dried and cracked and snapped. Sometimes, as they lost their elasticity, they discolored and damaged the papers and other items they were meant to secure. Then an inventive American rubber band company, Alliance, came along. It was founded in 1917 by William Spencer — the guy who came up with banding newspapers to keep them from blowing across lawns.

Over the years, Alliance has been at the forefront of creating over 2000 innovative rubber bands, including oversized bands for folders and papers (as well as keeping garbage bags from falling into cans), X-Treme file bands for securing large piles of archival paperwork, and (believe it or not) aromatherapy rubber bands.

Got latex allergies? Fear germs? Alliance is also a great source for bright orange latex-free and cyan blue anti-microbial rubber bands for schools, offices and other workplaces.

Bands for office organizing have never been known for their cool factor, and awareness of traditional file-oriented rubber bands has always trended towards drab office-supply basics. There have been a few exceptions:

The Container Store has its line of File Bands. Seven inches long when flat, they’re made of UV- and ozone-resistant, latex-free Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM). Say that three times quickly and you’ll feel like someone snapped some rubber bands at your lips! They only come in green, and run $3.49 for a package of ten.

A little more upscale, the Museum of Useful Things has its own 7″ latex-free, extra-durable File Bands, also made of EPDM rubber, in black or neon green. ($5.50 for a box of 25.)

Today, we’ll be looking at a plethora of colorful, durable, shape-shifting, rubbery organizing options.

CRISS-CROSS APPLESAUCE

4-way rubber bands are also called H bands because of their appearance when not stretched.

4-way bands can be found at a wide variety of office supply, library supply and specialty stores. They come in multiple colors, including blue, red, yellow, green and brown, and are most often found in 8″, 9″ and 10″ dimensions.

Particularly nice are the 4-way rubber bands from the Museum of Useful Things shop. They come only in red, packaged in generic-chic take-out lunch bag packages of ten, for $6.

Although primarily a utilitarian tool, 4-way bands hit the big time after a 2004 Humble Masterpieces exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since then, the brightly-colored Rubber X-Bands (in two sizes, 3″ x 1/2″, 5 3/4″x 1/2″) have been bestsellers at the MoMA Store ($5) and are popular on Amazon ($6 for a box of 16).

In addition to banding together files and paperwork, H bands are popular for securing game and puzzle boxes to prevent ancient cardboard containers from springing leaks.

Bundlebands go the traditional rubber band one better. The company explains that when regular rubber bands are cut from the ends of rubber tubing, the natural grain of the rubber runs across the band’s width. Because of this, when you stretch the band, you open the grain. As rubber dries and oxidizes, the lifespan of the band is shortened. Hence those startling SNAPs, causing your bundles to shift and your office-mate or cat to get thwacked.

Conversely, Bundlebands are cut with the grain running with, rather than against, the length of the band, so when you stretch it, the grain closes, forestalling drying and oxidation, and increasing the life of the band.

Bundlebands also have a small metal clamps to maintained equalized tension and prevent your bundles of files or packages from shifting.

Bundlebands come in four color-coordinated sizes: 8″ red, 9″ brown, 10″ blue and 11″ green. You can purchase bags of 10, 25, 50, or 100, directly from the company, or via selected specialty dealers, like FilingSupplies.com and Kleer-Fax.

If you’re curious to see how they work, Bundlebands will send you a sample.

CUTTING CORNERS

Remember our friends at Alliance? They developed the nifty Corner-to-Corner™ bands. Each is made from from one continuous piece of rubber, with no clips or hooks, and is stretchable from 8 1/2″ to 24″. The band can fasten over all four corners of whatever papers or items you’re securing. Packages of three bands run about $2-$5 at online office supply stores.

Meanwhile, the Museum of Useful Things carries Diamond Corner Bands

($6 for a box of ten) to put a slightly different twist on corralling all your papers or files without squishing them.

BEAUTY OF THE BANDS

The Martha Stewart Home Office™ With Avery™ line has developed two types of bands. The first, the X-Band, in red, measures 3 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ and comes six to a package for about $4. It’s designed to gather stacks of papers or files for safekeeping, just like the other criss-cross bands, above.

But Martha and Avery step it up with their Fabric Elastic Bands. These wide fabric bands stretch to secure binders, scrapbooks, and albums, as well as papers and files, and keep items from springing free of their enclosures. They run about $4 for a pack of two, and come in grey and a turquoise-blue.

Check out the little video to see these products in action.

While Martha’s understated bands will do the job, the award for snazziest bands surely goes to russell + hazel for their extraordinarily pretty varieties of super-strong, heavy-duty, 10 1/2″ x 9/16″ russell+hazel Rubber Band sets. Secure binders or stacks of papers, tether notebooks to homework assignments, or create your own “gift garnish” with these designer bands.

 

The patterns come in Pop Art, Black and White, Sugar, Sugar, Dots + Abstract, Aviation Nation, Bonnie + Clyde, and Geo + Bloom, left to right, below:

Originally $8 for a set of two, Paper Doll found that all sets are currently on sale for $4.

BUILD-IN BANDS

Innovative Czech stationer Papelote has designed spiral notebooks with built-in elastic bands. These 8 1/4″ x 11 3/4″ notebooks (available with blank, narrow-ruled, graph or dotted paper) are banded with looped elastics to keep notebook covers closed and hold pens, pencils, pen-style flashlights and other similar tubular tools.

Papelot banded spiral notebooks can be purchased from specialty stores, including The Journal Shop, for $23.

BOUNCED MESSAGED

The freestanding Snap-It-Up Organizerfrom the Metropolitan Museum of Art has six thick, colorful bands with which you can hold and organize messages, pens, appointment cards, and other desk doohickeys.

Although it’s no longer available from the MoMA, you can buy it for about $13 from Amazon, or make your own with a clear cookbook holder or plastic picture frame and a set of russell + hazel or Martha Stewart bands.

Speaking of Martha, you and your kids (or your inner child), might like to take a stab at this DIY Rubber Band Message Board from Martha Stewart Crafts.

And finally, to make sure you have some ideas on where to keep your rubber bands aside from giant balls or the boxes in which they came, check out organizing maven Jeri Dansky’s How To Hold Rubber Bands.