Last week, I sent a postcard from Japan to the UK. It cost me ¥70, about 41p at current rates. Today, I sent a postcard from the UK to Japan. That cost me 97p, over twice as much.

Even within the UK, the cheapest (2nd Class) rate for sending a postcard is 53p. That means that it costs less to send a postcard to the UK from nearly ten thousand kilometres away than from the next village.

Now I’m wondering: is there a business opportunity in printing and sending business paperwork (bills and so on) from abroad? Or even just nice greetings postcards?