Once again no stamp to hand? From now on, we shouldn't care anymore, because Deutsche Post once had a brilliant idea!
It's always the same: if we urgently need to send a letter away, we either don't have a stamp on hand or the nearest post office has already closed. Such a crap! How awesome would it be if we could frank our mail without conventional postage stamps?
Tadaaa, may we introduce? The mobile phone postage! Deutsche Post has been offering this simple solution since 2008 and was even awarded the German Business Innovation Prize for it. It's just stupid that hardly anyone knew the postage stamp alternative so far. This form of the sender is as simple as it is ingenious, because all you need is a smartphone and a pen.
That's how it works:
- Send a text message to 22122 with the text 'Letter' or 'Postcard'
- Swiss Post then sends a reply SMS with a 12-digit code (alternatively, this also works via the Post mobile app)
- You write this code in the upper right corner of your envelope or postcard
- Et voilà, put it in the mailbox – your post is now franked. The costs for this are paid through your mobile phone bill.
Of the @schmarsten knows the world's best live hack for people who never have stamps: "Letter" via SMS to 22122. My life is upside down. pic.twitter.com/qcN6hnrzix
– Carline Mohr (@Mohrenpost) October 21, 2016
The only downer:
The mobile phone postage is a lot more expensive than the postage stamp. For a standard letter you have to pay 1.19, for a postcard 99 cents.
Well, you can't have everything. You save yourself the trip to the post office or the stamp machine and can send your important letters and postcards at any time.