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Go to http://www.moneyfactory.gov/.

Oh, and don't get upset at http://www.usps.com/ and http://www.usmint.com/.

I know how we like to get things right on Slashdot, so here's the actual [unofficial] USPS motto

Actually, given the topic, "gloom" seems a better match, anyway...

I have been running an experiment on spam reduction. I have been checking every spammers's whois and filing a report on false data at http://wdprs.internic.net/. If their email bounces or their US address are not in the http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.htm/ I rat them out. The results are not in yet but it has so far yielded about a 25% reduction. The 15 day waiting period is still pending on my largest sources of spam.

I at least have the pleasure of thinking that I have annoyed some spammer at least as much as they have annoyed me. When the new TV season starts I think I will loose interest in this but it is something to do for an hour when it is too hot outside.

It may annoy you that you have to have a valid whois but it is a useful tool to attack spammers with. No bucks comming in to a web site, not as much spam.

"Fiber-optic networks capable of sending information at 10 Gbps or 40 Gbps are being rolled out around the world and under the oceans to connect everyone to everything."

The downside to all this is that loafing on the internet will require significantly less of your time. Maybe this could help deliver Eurosport video broadcast over the internet :-)

"The new technology, described in a paper published Aug. 11 in the scientific journal Nano Letters, uses buckyballs glued together by a custom polymer, providing a way to create an optical switch."

Good ol' Bucky! There's a cool new stamp out for you Buckminster Fuller fans out there.

More speed, more stuff, you can almost hear the groan from Langley, "gawd, more crap to sift, better get a few more petabytes..."

Oh for christ's sake. Audited financial statements *are* evidence. They are the most accurate financial information that is publicly available. If you don't understand what an annual report is I cannot help you.

You can view all of the available financial info for the USPS here: http://www.usps.com/financials/welcome.htm/

How To Buy Big-Ticket Items on EBay

Use the postal service!!! Don't send a check via FedEx, UPS, or any other method. If you get scammed, these people will not help you.

Local police, and even the FBI, will often ignore "petty" scams less than $3,000 or $5,000. I don't know about you, but five grand is a lot of money to me.

Go buy a USPS Money Order, and send it Express or Priority Mail, signature required. Note exactly what goods the Money Order is for. If you get scammed, contact the Postal Inspection service. These people do nothing except investigate mail fraud.

The minute a con-artist signs for his package, or cashes the Money Order, he is on the hook for a federal felony. Unlike the FBI or your Local PD, the USPS doesn't regard mail fraud as a "minor crime".

They will go to bat for you.

Also, Lance Armstrong kicks ass. Just one more reason.

> Oh, go on. Indulge me: Why is it illegal to tamper with or
> just read (snail) mail intended for others? Remember, you
> can't cite privacy since you apparently don't think that's
> the reason.

Tampering with postal mail has been a federal felony for a very long time. Further, removing or putting postal mail in a mailbox is considered tampering. Just ask a lawyer or a postmaster.

Since postal mail is in sealed envelopes, there is also an expectation of privacy. Whereas postcards are not, so there is no expectation of privacy.

The post office even has a nice poster saying tampering with the mail will get you a new home, new friends and new job - in prison.

Mail Tampering Poster

or, if the link breaks,

http://www.usps.com/communications/news/security /m ailtampering.htm

I thought this was common knowledge. It was when I was a kid, decades ago.

Why can't I get paid in Microcredits to fold Protien Molecules for some Research Lab...

That's a real missed opportunity by the micropayment promoters. By offering a downloadable compute server that paid you money when you ran it, that could bring back the days of give-people-stuff-to-promote-a-new-business of the tech-boom. But this time around, it won't be investor money being gvien away, but an actual business. Larger payouts can be a check or whatever, but smaller amounts can be barcoded cents-off coupons, e-stamps, credit to e-gold (whose minimum fee is $0.002), or donations to a charity. A pioneering micropayment provider can then go to merchants touting thousands of consumers with money in their accounts ready to spend, enticing merchants to sign up. With more places to spend more consumers will sign up, and so on up the path to critical mass.

All this assumes, of course, that compute serving is worth more than $1 a month, or no one would bother.

Well, by law the USPS is supposed to break even, and as far as I can tell, it has not received any tax dollars for more than a couple of decades (since the 1970s perhaps?). If you google about you can find lots of compalints that the USPS is making too much money and should drop their rates. Similarly Canada Post has been making profits (and PAYING taxes) for the past few years.

Annual report Canada Post $250+million profits - http://www.canadapost.ca/corporate/about/annual_re port/highlights2003-e.asp

Annual report USPS $3+billion profits - http://www.usps.com/history/anrpt03/ This scheme and every scheme that tries to make email cost money or cpu cycles, which is the same thing, is just a way to push the little guy out of the market and replace him with the big guy.

Email DOES cost money, and we all pay for it in our ISP and connection fees. The problem is that bulk emailers use a disproportionate fraction of the resources while not paying a proportionate amount of the costs. This type of proposed scheme creates ecconomic disincentives to sending bulk email. I don't know who these "little guys" are that you are worried about, but I do not want these little guys sending bulk email to me. At least the "big guys" have disincentives to promoting fraudulent crap - the big guys are easy to find and prosecute.

We all know that governments are ridiculously bad at spending more than need be. Civilians companies are much, much better at it...

Hmmm...There aren't too many private companies better or cheaper than these guys.

Unfortunately, the post office charges a lot of money for this service in America. The fee starts at $4.50 for a $0-50 COD.

USPS COD Fees

Maybe not cook your dinner, but it might sterilize your mail

You also don't mention that it absolutely hemorrhages money. It's been forever since it actually broke even.

Actually it hasn't. Net income from the last quaterly report is listed as 1.817 Billion dollars.

I don't know why you're posting financial information from 2001, but things have changed quite significantly since then. Either you were unaware, or you're one of those types who believes that "the gov't can do anything right and we might as well do away with it."

Why get a PO box? Just have it sent to a post office in the area you're travelling to.

It's called General Delivery .

You just need to make sure you time it so that the laptop arrives sometime within the 30 days prior to your ability to pick it up...should be pretty easy.

Frankly, it seems like a waste of time, but what do I know?

US Post Office Change of Address

yes, i know, US centric - but i assume the same thing exists or is coming soon for most developped countries. The idea being to catch the change at the last possible moment: with the people who put the peices of dead tree in the box attached to your house.

No, they'd heavily go after Conneticut

Talking about USPS, whatever happened to the certificate service they once started? It is no where to be found in usps.gov anymore.

Uh, you mean this?

Every transaction on the Internet I complete must somehow involve them, if the merchant is unwilling to accept a USPS money order, delivered via the USPS I will have nothing to do with them. Look up the fraud division, they go completely bizerk when anyone uses them to commit fraud, they want to send you to federal pound you in the ass prison, they live for catching scammers.

They still have a 2.5 million reward for the person who sent the anthrax letters. Along with 100K for information for the murder of a mailcarrier, does your job put bounties on people who kill you?

Would you really have the desire to mess with the people who define "going postal".

"only a hash code of the file is logged as evidence of authenticity." -About EPM

Tampering by a macro or script would change the file, thereby making it incompatible with the hash, no?

That it's word only ATM (as far as I also can find out from the site) is irrelevant... Well, nearly so. With the Java SDK any application from any OS appearently can easily be enhanced with their Electronic Postmark capabilities.
What I'm wondering about is the "Nationwide reach and trust" point they list in "Benefits of EPM".
Does the strong encryption make it illegal to use this for international communications?

Amazon: Found a need for an online bookstore where there was none, and capitalized on it...

Ahh, but there's more to it than that though. The US postal system since more or less the beginning of the republic has always provided for a discount rate on books -- Any non-media package of a pound or more in weight -- which will be the majority of what any mail order company deals with -- has to be sent as priority mail, at double to triple the rate of media mail. Quoting from the Post Office's site:

Media Mail (Book Rate)

Description

Used for books, film, manuscripts, printed music, printed test materials, sound recordings, play scripts, printed educational charts, loose-leaf pages and binders consisting of medical information, videotapes, and computer recorded media such as CD-ROMs and diskettes. Media Mail cannot contain advertising.

Just look at that list: books, films, recordings, software, etc. These are all the things that Amazon started out with. That's no coincidence. One of the biggest expenses for a mail order company has to be the cost of putting all those packages in the mail, and Amazon employed a loophole in the US Post Office to set themselves up for a steep discount on that part of their business.

They didn't find a need for books & capitalized on it. Amazon found a loophole for them, and capitalized on that.

How about a simple enough protest of the can spam law? Buy a can of Spam and mail it to your congress critter or the Direct Marketing Association.

Direct Marketing Association
Washington D. C. Office
1111 19th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-3603
Telephone: 202.955.5030
Fax: 202.955.0085

This website will give you the address of your congress critters address when you put in your zip code. Just to play it safe I went to the USPS website and checked their prohibited items list(warning PDF) and canned meat isn't on it.

For 400,000 dollars you get the worst of both worlds.

Maybe the US Postal Service will snap up a bunch. Money (and practicality) apparently isn't a high priority there...

It is a FELONY in the United States to send an incorrect or fraudlent invoice in the mail knowningly. If SCO so much as mails a notice requesting ONE PENNY from Google, et al, then the United States Postal Inspectors can get involved. And since SCO has the burden of proof, then SCO will have to prove to the Postal Inspectors in court that there is copyright infringment and Google owes SCO. Further, if SCO is killed in the law suit and found to have violated the GPL knowingly it is further proof for felony convictions.

Now wouldn't that be a great reputation for the Post Office -- the FBI could not get Al Copone, but the IRS could, the FBI did not go after SCO, but the Post Office did....

If you have recieved an invoice or a letter from SCO via snail mail you can report it to the USPS HERE. Then you can scroll down to subject of complain and select "False bill or invoice."

Rember, sometimes unorthidox means need to be used to take out the bad guys. What does the Postal Service have to loose by taking out SCO?

On behalf of the State of Minnesota I apologize for the complete and utter breakdown in the brain of my Senator. At one time the email tax myth was such a widespread urban legend that the US Post Office had a link on their front page debunking it. Said link is no longer there and this idiot decided to try to make an urban legend into reality. Again, I apologize, and you have my promise to try and get this guy out of office next election.

Let me put it this way: If I pay 65 cent/l for gas (as of this morning), I get 9l to a 100K, then I can see quite clearly that somehow 87cents (no matter how cheap the bulk rate for fuel is) will pay for the transport alone. I would say someone is someone giving money to allow this stuff to be so cheap, no?

Actually my point is that what we pay for our produce at the register is not an accurate reflection of the true costs. There is a lot of hidden costs (e.g. Transportation) that we obviously don't seem to pay for. Having said that, the question would be: Who is paying for that?

"It's only mail fraud if you bill someone for something that you're not allowed to bill them for/never sent."

Maybe not. According to the US Postal Inspection Service:

"Postal Inspectors investigate any crime in which the U.S. Mail is used to further a scheme, whether it originated in the mail, by telephone or on the Internet. The use of the U.S. Mail is what makes it a mail fraud issue. "

Of course, this is not a quote or an interpretation of federal law, but to me it looks like the SCO scheme would fit the USPS description of fraud. No matter what communications method they used (internet, phone, mail), there is some corresponding fraud issue for them to worry about. I seriously doubt that anything short of criminal prosecution would convince SCO to hold back on the invoices.

As others have suggested, the "license" would have to be worded more like insurance, so as to dance around the GPL copyright infringement issue. The invoices could be interpreted as a "protection" scam, especially if SCO loses (meaning they had nothing to sell all along).

I say more power to Massachusetts. One MS beats down another ^_^

As a Massachusetts resident, I must say that we abbreviate our state as "MA". "MS" is Mississippi.

See here.

Yes snail mail is private, to both businesses and private individuals. Now think about the anaology, I do not expect anyone to open my mail at home, but the office is different, ... So to compare, many businesses do open and read snail mail addressed to another person in the company. There is even a word for them, Gatekeepers. It is chapter 1 materical in a business communication class to know that people other than the person you address a letter to are going to read that letter.

I think the real issue is that any snail mail that arrives at a business is property of the business, and that any email that arrives at a business mail server could be considered the same. Of course if you want to get your personally mail at work, then you could use one of those fabulous web based services, but then that goes back to the issue of surfing/emailing on company time.

I wonder if you could claim that it's a gift?

I guess you'd have to argue that a credit card itself was "merchandise" - don't know how well that would hold up in court. While the use and purpose of credit cards is fairly well-known, you might be able to argue that an unasked for, unsolicted line of credit - in whatever form - is essentially a free gift of money. Maybe this would take care of those stupid "by cashing this $1 check, you agree to switch phone service" sort of mailings, too...

In any case, you can always contact the USPS about it:

If you are aware of violations of the federal law prohibiting the mailing of unordered merchandise, or if you have personally had difficulty with such items--especially if you are sent statements demanding payment for the merchandise--you should contact you local postmaster or the nearest Postal Inspector.

If they did end up sending invoices to all of these people, wouldn't that be considered mail fraud? Check out this which seems to suggest it would be.

18 USC 1341 defines the statute.

Maybe SCO's lawyers aren't so dumb after all...

-jag

A lot of what you mention in your post sounds vaguely familiar.

The NFIC accepts reports about attempts to defraud consumers on the telephone or the Internet.

Yeah, if anyone gets one of these, fill out a Mail Fraud Complaint

I especially love the part that says "Postal Inspectors investigate any crime in which the U.S. Mail is used to further a scheme, whether it originated in the mail, by telephone or on the Internet. The use of the U.S. Mail is what makes it a mail fraud issue." So a scheme (e.g. making money by making unsubstantiated claims about, oh, intellectual property) that then uses the US Mail (e.g. to send invoices for said IP) could wind up being investigated, as long as a sufficiently large number of the people affected register a complaint with the USPS.

Here's the mail fraud complaint form.

Hint: Select "False Bill or Notice" when you fill this out.

Ok this is mail fraud plain and simple.

So report any invoices you get from SCO to your Postmaster Inspectors at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Report it and get these guys in jail, 5 years per Invoice.

This will not cost you a dime and it is up to the postmaster to go after them. SCO must prove it to the postmaster.

The more people the better to quote the webpage:

Postal Inspectors base their investigations of mail fraud on the number, pattern and substance of complaints received from the public. The Postal Inspection Service is interested in your concerns and will carefully review the information you provide.

Well, there are many websites that vigorously claim that the email tax is a number one hoax....

So it must be true then.

Right?
RIGHT!

Uh Oh.

That was this summer 2003, Sen. Mark Dayton's idea to fight Spam...

Pfew, that was a close call: Senator Downplays E-Mail Tax Idea, Thursday, May 22, 2003.

If they tax email, then the spammers have won.

Now, if 'they' find this posting, they'll probably come up with a tax on hyperlinks...

But will anybody think of the children?

send an email to your PHB that says things like "fire hazard" "risk to operations" "danger to employees and $$$$ equiment" "violation of code" and/or "insurance risk". That should get you the authorization you need to do whatever needs to be done - which, as others have pointed out, is HIRE A PROFESSIONAL.

I wouldn't trust this to an email. Emails tend to get lost, and also tend not to be available once one has been terminated for not doing something stupid. I'd suggest $2.30 USD and a nice certified letter. Or if too lazy to visit the post office, spend $5.00 and send one online.

You mean like this?

they don't receive any money from the rest of the federal government

That's almost right, but off by $48 Million. (I thought it would be more) They have the ability to ask for $470M.

So an "nl" has to point out to a "us" where the usps FAQ is located? tsk tsk.

I'm quite sure "how mail works" was explained on a how-stuff-works kiddy tv show once.. ;-)

The document is useful but the post above goes into much more detail, and is more emphatic. Would be good to include these points in the USPS site AND make sure it gets out there

Well, the USPS is a bastion of bureaucracy, so the fact that they managed to publish the "inspiringly" titled publication 221 - Addressing For Success is quite a feat in itself.

Checkout postnet barcodes if you really want to make sure machines can read your address even though your not using e-stamps. (Many countries use postnet-alike barcodes, but the schemes can vary wildly, so make sure to check with your national postal service).

So an "nl" has to point out to a "us" where the usps FAQ is located? tsk tsk.

I'm quite sure "how mail works" was explained on a how-stuff-works kiddy tv show once.. ;-)

The document is useful but the post above goes into much more detail, and is more emphatic. Would be good to include these points in the USPS site AND make sure it gets out there

Well, the USPS is a bastion of bureaucracy, so the fact that they managed to publish the "inspiringly" titled publication 221 - Addressing For Success is quite a feat in itself.

Checkout postnet barcodes if you really want to make sure machines can read your address even though your not using e-stamps. (Many countries use postnet-alike barcodes, but the schemes can vary wildly, so make sure to check with your national postal service).

This sounds like the making of a FAQ. Seriously.

It is a FAQ.

Then again, you'd think people would know by now that machine printed correct addresses get your mail sorted quickest..

Electronic stamps usually include the sender's and recipients address right in the funky looking 2D barcode - even better, because the error rate is much lower than OCR, and a printed address is still there for backwards compatibility.

Track Packages Here.

Of corse, it costs extra. But why force everyone to pay for it?

• Look closely at the SSNs and phone numbers.
• Try to find Podunk, SD on a map.
• Look up 77523 ZIP code.

I'm glad you came up with this idea. You should contact a patent lawyer -- after all, it has never been done before.

USPS Electronic Postmark page More about electronic postmark

Here's the relevant section of the page from EPIC. I only included one link, the one to the most important form.

=== snip ===
Stopping Junk Mail with Post Office Prohibitory Orders

Individuals may obtain a prohibitory order to stop junk mail from being sent to a residence. This order can be obtained through a law that prohibits the mailing of advertising materials "which the addressee in his sole discretion believes to be erotically arousing or sexually provocative." Practically, this means that individuals can obtain a prohibitory order against any junk mail sender.

Individuals wishing to obtain a prohibitory order should visit their local post office for "Form 1500" or click on the link provided below.

The Attorney General's office no longer sues under this statute to obtain damages. However, individuals should still obtain prohibitory orders against junk mailers. By doing so, marketers who engage in saturation mailings (heavily-discounted mailings delivered to every residence in the area that are usually addressed with "Postal Customer" or "Resident") must adjust their address lists so that the materials are no longer sent to the address with the prohibitory order. This results in higher costs to junk mailers.

* Application for Listing and/or Prohibitory Order (Form 1500), United States Postal Inspection Service.
* 39 U.S.C. Sect. 3008, Prohibition of pandering advertisements.
* Rowan v. U.S. Post Office, 397 U.S. 728 (1970). "In today's complex society we are inescapably captive audiences for many purposes, but a sufficient measure of individual autonomy must survive to permit every householder to exercise control over unwanted mail...Today's merchandising methods, the plethora of mass mailings subsidized by low postal rates, and the growth of the sale of large mailing lists as an industry in itself have changed the mailman from a carrier of primarily private communications, as he was in a more leisurely day, and have made him an adjunct of the mass mailer who sends unsolicited and often unwanted mail into every home. It places no strain on the doctrine of judicial notice to observe that whether measured by pieces or pounds, Everyman's mail today is made up overwhelmingly of material he did not seek from persons he does not know. And all too often it is matter he finds offensive."
* Unsolicited Sexually Oriented Advertising, United States Postal Inspection Service.
* Stop Unsolicited Sexually Oriented Advertising in Your Mail, United State Postal Inspection Service.
* Postal Bulletin PB 21977, United State Postal Inspection Service, July 30, 1998. "The prohibitory order. This order aids in protecting customers from receiving pandering advertisements through the mail. An addressee may obtain a prohibitory order against the mailer of an advertisement that the addressee determines, in his or her sole discretion, to be offering matter for sale that is erotically arousing or sexually provocative, as defined in title 39, United States Code, 3008. Postmasters may not refuse to accept a Form 1500 because the advertisement in question does not appear to be sexually oriented. Only the addressee may make that determination. The order prohibits the mailer from sending any further mail to the applicant (and his or her eligible minor children included in the application), effective on the 30th calendar day after the mailer receives the order."
* U.S. Laws on Direct Mail, Junkbusters.

=== snip ===