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Mail fraud is a criminal scheme where the postal system is used to obtain money or anything of value from a victim by offering a product, service, or investment opportunity that does not live up to its claims.

I'm afraid he's right.

A clarification:

Junk Mail does not waste the Post Office's time. They make money on it. They actively promote the creation of it.

http://www.usps.com/directmail/

Good reminder, it also reminds me that I don't think this works well. I get daily credit card offers from organizations I have no relationship with even though I'm on this list. The telemarketing one seems to work well, however. The difference might be explained in the financial penalties for junk phone calls, which I don't think exist for junk mail.

Another off-topic comment - the post office takes offense to the term "junk mail", and actively encourages its creation.

Just about every Well-Used(TM) government form that you will ever have to fill out in your life has been put into the .PDF format (Postal Service, Military, IRS) for interoperability amongst platforms. Although PDF is not a fully open standard, the fact it can be read with free (including free OS) software, makes it superior to anything Microsoft can distribute.

You want to see a fun, yet freely available, form from the government in PDF? Check out Form 86: http://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/SF86.pdf

Or just check out the entire range of forms from the OPM: http://www.opm.gov/forms/html/sf.asp and Postal Service: http://www.usps.com/forms/allforms.htm

BTW, why have all the "please type the word in this image: " images been 'sadist, suffer, atrophy, etc.' lately?

Yep, That'll stop them :)

This was amazingly easy. I first went to http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp to look up my zip+4 , then to http://www.house.gov/writerep/ to write my rep. I didn't even know his name, or my district, or my zip code, and I was able to find and write him in less than 5 minutes.

There is no excuse for each of you not to do the same thing. Keep it short, or they'll never read it. Here's what I wrote:

Please support HR811 so that the most precious aspect of a democracy, the integrity of the vote, is not at risk. With our current electronic voting process, there is the potential for a few corrupt individuals to completely subvert the will of the people by altering the vote, and no method to prove they didn't. If this bill becomes law, then the possibility for a paper recount to prove the validity of and maintain public confidence in the vote in electronic voting areas is restored.

H.R.811
Title: To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require a voter-verified permanent paper ballot under title III of such Act, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Holt, Rush D. [NJ-12] (introduced 2/5/2007) Cosponsors (200)
Related Bills: S.559
Latest Major Action: 3/29/2007 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee Hearings Held.

The postal service could advertise their rates a little better, USPS First-Class Mail Rates no mention of a rate increase, and with it saying 39 cents I was thinking that the slashdot story might just be a typo, but google news had stories on the rate change.

The above quote is from the USPS website at: http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/pubs/pub100/pub100.ht m#thepostal

There is a write-up on Wikipedia, but you always take Wikipedia with a grain of salt. As for it being a monopoly, the quote explains why the post office was created. The monopoly on first class mail continues because in a competitive environment, many small cities and towns would be under served by other companies. Even now, the commercial carriers impose rural surcharges on nearly 25,000 zip codes to increase their revenue on sparsely populated delivery points. In all US locations the carriers impose a residential surcharge, even though a home may be right next door to an industrial park. Ironically, the determination as to what zip codes are rural and what addresses are residential comes from the Postal Service! Yet, the USPS doesn't impose surcharges and still delivers to every legal address in the US.

That's why they are a monopoly. And, like any business, their operating costs increase each year, which is why rates go up. But a first class stamp is still a huge bargain, considering what it can do.

In this thread, I seem to have been put in the position of defending the USPS, which was not my intention. You've raised questions which I, as someone very familiar with the transportation industry, have tried to answer. I won't respond to any further posts on this thread, instead, inviting you or anyone else to seek answers on the web. Competition is usually a good thing, but it wouldn't make any economic sense for a business to take a handful of letters bearing .39 postage several miles to their delivery address. So, a monopoly has to be tolerated to make the system work.

i like http://www.usps.com/ now. it was lacking that.. amazingness before. think post men should have lightsabers on the 25th?

On the dot, today, I learned that rates are going up for mail.

Umm, the poster very clearly referred to the actors still being alive. Maybe you should head back to grade school and work on your reading compression skills.

But anyway, these stamps also appear to break rule #6 at http://www.usps.com/communications/organization/cs ac.htm -- "Stamps or stationery shall not be issued to promote or advertise commercial enterprises or products".

For those who live in the U.S.:

You can get your 5+4 ZIP Code:
http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/

And then find those who work for you in D.C. and your State capital:
http://www.congressweb.com/

Cheers,
Tony

OT: The USPS is the only government mandated agency that is self-sustaining

Special budget appropriations are made to cover the cost mail for certain groups. The first Bush administration and Congress eliminated over 90% of these appropriations in the early 90's and individual rates were increased to compensate.

NASA would have been a better example. Burt Rutan could say a thing or two about competition with a government.

find a single authoritative website listing that shows how much the USPS recieves from any taxes you pay.

start here
http://www.usps.com/communications/organization/po stalfacts.htm
read the entire "did you know" section, it'll give you a few pointers that will speed your research..

It's amazing how many people live in Schenectady, NY ;-)

Sarcasm aside, the grandparent is correct: http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/merch.h tm

And if the bank accidentally transfers money into your account you can keep it. If they ask for it back, it's entrapment. What's more, if a cop gives you a speeding ticket and he's not wearing his hat, you don't have to pay.

The kicker is how they received it and what the prior to receipt emails constitute. I went through a bunch of blogs and most just say they received it but not how. One simply said a courier arrived (suggesting not USPS) but one did specifically mention DHL. So the below may not apply....

In the ENTIRE United States, if MS sent the item by the POSTAL SERVICE without contacting them first, it's considered unsolicited merchandise. And they can keep it.

http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/merch.h tm

Not only that, it's considered ILLEGAL practice by Microsoft to do so in the first place if by USPS, not sure if in general though (someone may want to look into that).

Not to mention, insisting that you return it MAY also be illegal (if received by USPS) esp. if they demand it, since they are under no obligation to do so, and if they are asking you to incur some debt to return the item.

Note that I'm aware that companies do this all the time by sending stuff to reviewers in hopes of getting a review posted. There is a private courier versus postal system distinction here it seems, so this all may not apply. Furthermore, it's not clear what sending you an email and you replying with your address constitutes--are you agreeing to solicitation or not?

It seems it depends on what the PR department said or contacted the blogger; if they say "gift" or "present" then my guess is that the blogger can do whatever. However, it does not seem that all the bloggers had the same communication with MS (not to mention received the same thing).

Regardless, this is great. MS tried to buy off bloggers. Bloggers blow who tried to pay them off with gifts. Bloggers give Vista bad reviews. MS tries to STUPIDLY backpeddle, thus making it more public that they tried to pay off the bloggers, have a crappy OS, and now have sour grapes and want their crappy OS back, showing their immaturity at reaping what they sowed, crappy PR, and anti-competitive tactics.

Win. Win. Win. Win.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to buy myself a MacBook.

>wasn't created at the time the Constitution was. Neither were phones or the US Mail service

1775, first Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin.
The Constitutional Convention was 1787.

Ahem.

"The privacy and security of mail are core values of the Postal Service. Information from the contents or cover of any customer's mail may not be recorded, photocopied, filed, or otherwise collected or disclosed within or outside the Postal Service, except for Postal Service operations and law enforcement purposes as specified in 39 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 233.3 and Chapter 2 of the Administrative Support Manual."
http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/hand/as353/a353c2_002 .html#vnameref_1

Which leaves a lot open to interpretation.

USPS's NetPost service lets you send letters, cards, and postcards from your browser.

> Now if we could only reply the same way.

You can, with USPS's (US Postal Service) NetPost service

As I read the regulations, if perfectly legal for me to contract a special messenger to deliver private mail. In fact, it's written into Title 18, Part I, Chapter 83, section 1696(c).

Post Office Publication 542 (pdf) makes repeated mention to Title 39, mostly in Chapter 3 (which is all sections starting with 3xx). You will notice that the US Code site does not list Chapter 3. Since I can not find reference to them, I'm forced to assume one of three things:
1. they've been repealed
2. they've been updated somewhere
3. the government is intentionally hiding them

It's really hard to follow the laws if you can't read what they are, and I mistrust an organization who can only claim (same pdf as before) things in their favor while pointing to legislation now purged from the lawbooks to back it up.

As I read the regulations, if perfectly legal for me to contract a special messenger to deliver private mail. In fact, it's written into Title 18, Part I, Chapter 83, section 1696(c).

Post Office Publication 542 (pdf) makes repeated mention to Title 39, mostly in Chapter 3 (which is all sections starting with 3xx). You will notice that the US Code site does not list Chapter 3. Since I can not find reference to them, I'm forced to assume one of three things:
1. they've been repealed
2. they've been updated somewhere
3. the government is intentionally hiding them

It's really hard to follow the laws if you can't read what they are, and I mistrust an organization who can only claim (same pdf as before) things in their favor while pointing to legislation now purged from the lawbooks to back it up.

STAMPS

http://www.usps.com/

Worked for years before email.

Snail mail too slow try ma-bell, instant comunication to anywhere in the world.

Make it so that instead of just dropping letters, you can drop letters without postage and small to midsize packages. The letters have to be sorted anyway, so just add in a step of the process to have someone calculate the charge for me and bill me. Come to think of it, why hasn't this been done yet?

It's called a postage meter. It was invented in 1912 by Arthur Pitney, who went into business with Walter Bowes in 1920. They're used on pretty much all commercial mailings these days (when was the last time you saw a stamp on your utility bills?), and can be found under "Mailing equipment" in the Yellow Pages (which, by the way, is a telephone directory in nearly every building in the country).

You may not be aware that the U.S. Postal Service has a free pickup service, and they also have a paid premium pickup service...

Check out their pickup options below:
http://www.usps.com/pickup/welcome.htm?from=home&p age=schedulepickup

Ron

IMHO, any web application should be written to accept both GET and POST. I'm very annoyed with USPS.com for this very reason.

This seems to work:

http://trkcnfrm1.smi.usps.com/PTSInternetWeb/Inter LabelInquiry.do?origTrackNum=99999999999999999999

I thought the post office broke away from the government and that's why prices keep increasing. Also isn't that why its http://www.usps.com/ instead of http://www.usps.gov? [ Reply to This ]

You have the right to refuse mail. I wonder what would happen if you just started refusing every piece of junk mail that came. Maybe they would decide it's easier to just not deliver any to you.

I thought the post office broke away from the government and that's why prices keep increasing. Also isn't that why its http://www.usps.com/ instead of http://www.usps.gov?

When creating scripts that detect specific browser versions, ensure that you only identify user agent strings or browsers that you know do not function with the content of your Web page. Do not require a specific browser for viewing the Web content. http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/hand/as508a/508a_c6.h tml#508hdr64

You have to worry about two kinds of security: physical protection from damage and theft deterence. For both functions I recomend using multiple layers. Those those free Priority Mail boxes work well for small laptops. Also use some bubble wrap inside. Put that inside of another bag with lots of clothing and other padding around it and a TSA approved luggage lock on the outside.

My beef with it is that when we mail things out, our mailing addresses are in all caps and it looks like we're sending out mail from the 1980s

"Free speech? I do not see them slapping fines on people for unsolicited snail mail. And trust me, you can get a lot of that crap and getting addresses is really damn easy. Also, the article isn't clear about the Utah law. It could be using those nice, vague terms that make the law unenforceable and could even target e-mail that was solicited. Remember, people sometimes identify items as spam that really are not."

Try this: http://www.usps.com/forms/_pdf/ps1500.pdf

Its a form for banning explicit mail. However nothing says it has to be porn, so it works against every mailing firm. And they don't want to have the postal service after them - some of those laws have serious teeth.

United States Postal Service is a self-supporting agency. Their entire goal is to make a profit and not receive one dime from Federal government. They ARE a BUSINESS and they run like a BUSINESS. It is why postage goes up and they modernize. They are in reorganization mode now to increase profits. I just hope they see a need to change package tracking. It sucks.

Also, Postmaster General is also called CEO of USPS. Read USPS website. You can also read their financials and business plans.

The reason why USPS has a monopoly on letter delivery is because of the laws. Only two people is allowed access to your mailbox, you and USPS. Those neat little boxes are protected by federal law.

As for the increase in profits for USPS, I bet it is mostly due to eBay.

Uh, oh. They're going to come after us now.

It seems to me that the poor secretary will be the one having to handle these 1000 calls.

Wouldn't it be much better to write a letter, put it in a manila envelope and send it directly to the RIAA exec. The key is to pay the extra dollar or so and get the Signature Confirmation service that the USPS offers. I think when an executive gets 1000 letters on his/her desk that ALL need signatures you tend to notice.

The customers needn't have been pissed off, they should have been grateful that the company was sending them gifts. This sort of fraud used to not be that uncommon until laws were passed in the early 1970's that make it illegal to send a bill for unsolicited goods.

The UK and the US both have laws that say that unsolicited goods are gifts and that there is no obligation to pay for them.

Th UK law is called "Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1971". In the US, the law was passed in 1970 and it is in Title 39, United States Code, Section 3009. This specific section of the US Code deals with mail sent via the US Post Office, but I understand that it applies to other delivery methods as well.

http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/buying-selling/uns olicited/index.html
http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/merch.h tm
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/products/unord erd.htm

So I communicate to others but through a nice free little thing called letters

My friends often try to send me files or pictures or videos through the "internet" and it doesn't work. They get annoyed and tell me to "go online." I'm told that snail mail is stupid & crappy for not supporting these features.

Really makes you wonder if the people who developed writing couldn't figure out how to make the videos/pictures stream through the mail box ... or if it was a design decision by choice to avoid hidden viruses that the codecs unpack in the media files. Probably the latter.

Do you also rail against email attachments? Oh wait GAIM is OSS so it's automatically better even if that betterness manifests in a lack of basic features.

The reason these stories on Slashdot are useless is because all of the slashbots here will be screaming "I don't want ads!". Well, tough shit. Advertising is part of our world and culture and they are coming to video games whether you want them to or not.

There are 3 ways to avoid advertising. Here they are:

1) Die. Seriously. Then your problems with advertising will be all over for good. The drawback is that it is permanent [depending on your beliefs in an afterlife.... :) ].

2) Live 'off the grid' on public/private land with NONE of the technological amenities of modern civilization other than (maybe) a P.O. box or other suitable 'mail drop' (but then the ad men will probably get ahold of it and still send you junk mail! :P). I like how the USPS's definiton of '1st Class Mail' only covers bills/invoices/purchase orders/related whatnot, financial statements/legal papers/government correspondence, checks and equivalents, and handwritten personal correspondence. To them, everything else that is not a periodical or parcel of some kind is considered bulk mail and is fair game for recycling/disposal. :)

3) Use the technologies at hand to minimize/eliminate your exposure to advertising. Some examples:

3a) Digital Video Recorders with 'adskip' (if you can still buy 'em or build 'em). If push comes to shove, hang on to your VCRs and use them instead.

3b) DVD Players that ignore Prohibited User Operation(s) (and region codeds as well!). Yay, no more FBI warnings/trailers/long animated menus before the movie! :) (the animated menu on Disney's Lion King DVD is notoriously long! :P) If you live in the USA and are thinking 'FVCK THE DMCA(.pdf)!!!!' there is software out there that will allow you to 'remaster' a commercial DVD to remove 'all' unwanted content. Non-USA world citizens don't have this worry (lucky them!)

3c) Ad blocking hosts file for your webbrowser such as this one. Use a 'surfer friendly' web browser like Off By One that ignores Flash and popup windows because it doesn't understand the SCRIPT and OBJECT HTML tags I am using it now to write this post instead of IE 5 that came with Windows 2000. Slashdot looks like crap in IE 5 so I gave up on it and am now using Off By One to surf Slashdot--much nicer! If you have to/want to use a 3rd party popup blocker, I heartily recommend NoAds

On Windows and tired of email spam? Filter it out with my absolutely free gift back to the Internet community at large who can use it. Since I started using it, my email spam has dropped to essentially zero. Attention Mods. before you mod this post down as spam/karmawhoring, consider 'going after' Roland Piquepaille first who always seems to get a story posted here no matter how trivial it is sometimes...or the multpage 'adfest' stories mentioned here from Tom's Hardware.

P.S. Sorry, I have no solution to public restroom advertising other than to keep your eyes closed while you do your business, use a 100% ad-free bathroom, or risk being arrested for defecating/urinating in public....

"The writing is on the wall" Indeed. Legal, for-profit commercial graffiti.... :P

Why aren't laws in place that REQUIRE, on a FEDERAL level people to report to the Attorney General, the company(s) involved with the theft, and the actions taken? California has something close to it, but something nation wide would be nice for the FASTEST growing crime in the US. http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/idthft_ncpw.h tm. (source)

The excuse they used that "We thought they knew" is total crap, you'd figure when the head of NNSA says to the ED "Oh hey, we had a security breach where information on 1500 people was stolen, just so you know" Bodman would say "Woooh there, what have you done about it?" as opposed to you know, saying "Mm kay, how about them bears?" and brushing it off...

In my opinion, you have to read the privacy agreement for whatever mode of transit you choose. I don't think it becomes public property in either case, but you're relying on the service you've chosen to keep it private.

In the case of USPS, I think this addresses that. Number 7 might fit a similar program to the NSA's.

For UPS, I would assume a similar code, but I haven't found that addresses the contents of your package in my 5 minutes of surfing their site.

In general, if I want it to be truly private, I hand deliver or encrypt. There are privacy acts out there that address what transport companies must keep private, but there seem to be a lot of legal loopholes that I don't fully understand.

--trb

90210? I have a much better ZIP code I use when lying to the web: 20505. Go ahead, look it up, it's interesting. Heh...

Okay, let's start with the obvious...

First, we go to USPS and file a change of address form. We need to do this quickly and it probably should span the next three or four months. That should give us bank account information--bank statements and the like. We can then contact the bank and arrange a wire-transfer to a bank account in the Caymans. Hope you weren't saving money for college.

FedEx can do whatever the hell they want with your package, and the worst you can do to them is try to get back your declared value by following their claim procedure. You have no guarantee of privacy whatsoever when sending things through them.

Ironically, you're safer from government intrusion if you use the government's postal service. They can't open USPS packages without probable cause and a warrant.

Speaking of jokes ...

Q: How can you tell Cheney is lying?
A: Bush's lips are moving.

Q: Why doesn't the Bush cabinet use condoms?
A: There's no end to those pricks.

Q: Why aren't there more sex scandals in the Bush cabinet?
A: They're too busy f*cking the rest of the country.

Top reasons why the post office had to recall the GWB/Cheney Freedom stamp?

1. people were spitting on the wrong side
2. they're so sleezy that even the glue won't stick
3. in tests, postal workers would insist on hand-cancelling each one, over and over and over
4. any mail with one would automatically be classified as "suspicious" or "junk"
5. nobody would pay 33 cents for it

Although guideline No. 2 says, "No living person shall be honored by portrayal on U.S. postage," (the key word is "honored") occasionally, postage stamps have depicted living people -- either through the use of a photograph or illustration -- as design elements that commemorate a theme rather than an individual.

The key is to look at all mail from the top right first, where the stamp/imprint is. If it says 'PRSRT STD', 'STANDARD', or 'STD' that means it was mailed at Standard instead of Frist Class rates. Standard rate is the new term for bulk mail. In this house, all Standard rated mail gets torn in half and put into the paper recycling bin. If it is from a credit card company, it hits the shreader first.

The reason for this is that Standard rate can pretty much be only used to send you advertising. No bills, payments, or invoices are allowed to be sent via Standard rate. See the flow chart at http://pe.usps.com/text/standardeligibility/ .

In addition use junkbuster's webpage to generate an opt out letter for all DMA member companies: http://www.junkbusters.com/declare.html .

Don't catch a STD from your mail! Throw it out!

d

I imagine they use the USPS Confirm service as does Gamefly, who won an award for developing the system along with the USPS