London - Buying postcards, finding stamps and tracking down a postbox while abroad is a chore for many holidaymakers.
But a new mobile phone app, launched by the Royal Mail, enables tourists to send holiday snaps home as postcards without all the bother.
Using a service called Swapshots, customers can choose a photo using the app and write a message. The Royal Mail then turns it into a physical postcard and delivers it to family and friends back home.
The app, which is free to download, charges 84p (about R20) to send a card. It lets users apply filters to their pictures, just like photo-editing app Instagram, and add extras like a comedy moustache or hat.
The new venture is an attempt by the Royal Mail to modernise its business, which is struggling amid falling letter numbers and competition in the parcels market from rivals like Amazon and the delivery firm DPD.
Daily Mail