This article was published on October 12, 2009

PigSpigot Is The Crowdsourced Anti-Hallmark


PigSpigot Is The Crowdsourced Anti-Hallmark

pigspigot_beta_logo

Don’t you love purchasing cards for friends, families, the deceased, and the disliked? The fun never ends while sifting through pounds of cardboard chaff at your local supermarket. Here is some good news, that is all going to change.

PigSpigot is a crowdsourced print and mail on demand personalized card sending service. Delivery options: snail mail, email, and Twitter. Cost to design a card, personalize it, have it printed, and mailed? $3.99. Free for email and Twitter.

The service allows users to upload designs for cards, which are then sorted by genre, and popularity. Of course, you can choose to either use your own design, or use something that others have made. The text inside is written by you, in a fun scrawl that will remind you of reading a letter from your oldest Aunt.  I did not have a chance to send a card via regular mail to test, but I did send out a Twitter card to my girlfriend’s roommate, you can take a look at it here.

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The service is drop dead simple to use, is elegantly designed, and plugs a useful hole: buying a card, taking it home, filling it out, buying an envelope, then a stamp, and then driving to the post is a pain in the posterior. PigSpigot fixes all of those problems; I can ship cards from my desk.

The site is only limited by its current selection of artwork that is open for card use. Most potential users of the service are going to want to choose from other peoples designs, and not upload their own. That in mind, the site needs to multiply its content eight fold. Of course, the chicken and the egg is showing up here: people will only come when there are designs, and designs are only submitted by users. This will just take time to sort out.

For now, the service is a brilliant stroke into a large market. Give PigSpigot a try, and if you do send a card via regular mail, let us know. Double bonus if you send in a picture of the printed card.

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