Does anyone still get real mail these days? Forget for a moment about the stream of advertisements, bills, and bank statements that populate (pollute?) your mail box, and consider the last time you received a real, personal communication in the form of a letter or a postcard. I doubt it is an overstatement to say that traditional mail has been all but superceded by new technologies, most obviously by e-mail, but also increasingly by SMS, MMS, and RSS.

The folks at Moo are building a business around decidedly old-fashioned things, like business cards and post cards. I already fell for their hip re-invention of the calling card and now I find myself placing an order for their latest product, NoteCards. Moo is clearly banking on a certain nostalgia factor to convince people that buying stamps and stopping by the postoffice should (once again) be part of their daily lives:

We miss mail! Not email, we get tons of that, but real mail. Delivered by a friendly postie, straight to your door. So we dreamed up NoteCards – square prints made from your own photos or designs. They have a magic flap on the side, to make them stand up proudly on your mantel, bookshelf or window sill, and are perfect for mailing to friends.

You don’t even need to wait for an occasion – sure you can send them as birthday cards or invitations, but why not send one just to say ‘hello’, or ‘I miss you!’ or ‘thanks for the cake’. Make someone feel special again.

(via Moo)

Of course, bringing the allure back into antiquitated things like postal mail requires a bit of modern ingenuity, which is why Moo has worked in Web 2.0 goodies like pictures imported from your Flickr collection and personalized messages on the card backsides. If you’re creative enough, Moo might even invite you to lease your images to their library for others to use. I have a feeling Moo has another commercial hit on its hands. What better way to satisify the inner human craving for the non-virtual, the physical, in an increasingly digital world? Amy Kealoha at Cool Hunting calls it “Hallmark 2.0“. I agree. Post mail is dead, long live post mail!