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The Future of Stamps
New submitter Kkloe writes: Wired is running a profile of a gadget called Signet, which is trying to bring postage stamps into the age of high technology. Quoting: "At its core, it is a digital stamp and an app. If you want to send a parcel, you'd simply stamp it with a device that uses a laser to etch it with your name and a unique identifying pattern. After that, the USPS would pick up your package; from there, the app would prompt you to provide the name of the person you're trying to reach." I'm curious whether such a finely-detailed etching can even survive a journey. How far can you expect it to travel before all the handling and sorting make the mark unreadable to the sorting machines in the delivery office? Then you'd have to worry the post office would mark it as a fraudulent stamp (as someone has to pay for the shipping in some way) and either return it or throw it away.
Shipping companies already do similar things with bar codes etc. So to the question in the summary, yes it should be fine. To the general idea, why? What's wrong with a QR code or a bar code?
There are still bills I pay with paper. (Some companies still charge for the "privilege" of paying online, which pisses me off even though the amount doesn't matter.)
I occasionally deposit checks via mail. Even if I trusted my phone enough to put banking software on it (which would be a silly thing to do), that only works for some kinds of checks.
Some companies respond to customer complaints via paper mail much better than they do via the net.
Sometimes I send checks to family members who aren't technologically sophisticated enough for there to be another way.
Maybe all of those reasons will disappear eventually, but I doubt that will be in my lifetime. It's also worth remembering that you can still send some mail anonymously - frankly, I'm surprised you still can, as there's nothing a totalitarian state hates more than anonymous communication.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Why re-invent the printer just to stamp a package? All of the major shipping companies let you print out a shipping label already. As for the other stuff, such as having the shipping company look up an address, that can all be done with software provided there's enough incentive to develop it.
The main problem with electronic stamp creation currently is the lack of a postmark date stamp from the postal service.
99.9% of the mail I receive is either metered or printed with a bulk permit. Neither of these is postmarked by the postal service.
That means that the item can be lost for any length of time without any accountability, just lost in the machine.
How does a postmark provide accountability? If you want to track the package or certify delivery, that is an extra charge, and an extra sticker.
Anyway, I read TFA, and I still don't understand what "problem" they are trying to solve. Normal stamps seem to work pretty well for me, for the two or three times a year that I mail a letter.