Gmail Paper

At first I couldn’t believe it. How could this be true! Gmail launched a new service ‘Gmail Paper’ on 1/4/07. Gmail would deliver all your emails printed on paper, mailed at your address! I suddenly jumped off my feet as I saw that promo. All I had to do was to click on the ‘Paper Archive’ button near the ‘Archive’ button on the Gmail panel. Then Gmail people would print all the emails I receive and mail them to my address as a hard copy. And that too, completely free!

The promo is as follows:

A New Button
Now in Gmail, you can request a physical copy of any message with the click of a button, and we'll send it to you in the mail.

Simplicity Squared
Google will print all messages instantly and prepare them for delivery. Allow 2-4 business days for a parcel to arrive via post.

Total Control
A stack of Gmail Paper arrives in a box at your doorstep, and it’s yours to keep forever. You can read it, sort it, search it, touch it. Or even move it to the trash—the real trash. (Recycling is encouraged.)

Keep it Secret, Keep it Safe
Google takes privacy very seriously. But once your email is physically in your hands, it's as secure as you want to make it.

Is it free?

Yes. The cost of postage is offset with the help of relevant, targeted, unobtrusive advertisements, which will appear on the back of your Gmail Paper prints in red, bold, 36 pt Helvetica. No pop-ups, no flashy animations—these are physically impossible in the paper medium.

How about attachments?

All part of the deal. Photo attachments are printed on high-quality, glossy photo paper, and secured to your Gmail Paper with a paper clip. MP3 and WAV files will not be printed. We recommend maintaining copies of your non-paper Gmail in these cases.

Is there a limit?

You can make us print one, one thousand, or one hundred thousand of your emails. It’s whatever seems reasonable to you.

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/index.html

Great offer, isn’t it? Only Gmail could’ve done that! But alas, I couldn’t find the ‘Paper Archive’ button on my Gmail panel. I searched for it for two days until I finally learnt that the entire paper thing was an April fools prank! I admit that Gmail succeeded in making a fool of me, however clever I thought I was!

But the whole email-to-paper thing is not completely unreal. Although many people do not know it, but the Indian Postal Department was the first to provide such service. If you have to send a letter home from anywhere on the globe, just type the text on the post office website and provide the mailing address. The post office nearest to the destination will print out your mail and deliver it to the destination. Isn’t it really great?