It is known as telex. Users of the system need to be able to do little more typing. Telex messages can also be sent by anyone with a suitable modem and a terminal or computer. The only pitfall of the system is that messages seem to be a little expensive per bit. This is up to the user at the receiving end.
Paper is the usual default.
It is much harder to lose or forget messages that way. The userid for the hardcopy capability varied and that was the hitch. I would be forced to remember the hardcopy userid for each node. Those sites that have a hardcopy facility will print out the mail in their mailroom and have it delivered as a Telex or internal mail would be delivered. Many sites have this capability already but it seems to be localized to a site and not to the network as a whole.