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Irradiate the mail

 Irradiate mail like we irradiate food.
  (+3, -4)
(+3, -4) 		  [vote for,
against]

Since it'd be harsh on magnetic media, like new credit cards, they might have to use bar-codes now or some other optical technology.
—seal10, Oct 22 2001

(ENS) US Postal Service to Irradiate Mail http://ens.lycos.co...2001L-10-24-02.html
Starting November 1st (!) [jutta, Oct 22 2001]

World Seeds http://www.worldsee...rldseed/default.asp
Nothing from this site could go through the irradiated mail. [cameron, Oct 22 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Heritage Seeds http://www.seeds.ca/
Attempts to preserve heritage seeds would also die out. [cameron, Oct 22 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Hamster replacements http://www.realhamster.com/
This kind of 'pet' hamster would make it through the new mail system. [cameron, Oct 22 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]


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Annotation:







       I've heard this discussed in great detail on NPR. The food irradiation industry is already thinking about how they can reapply their technology to mail.
—jutta, Oct 29 2001
   

       It would spell doom for the mail-order seed industry. (see some of the links)
—cameron, Oct 29 2001
   

       ...and mail-order brides?
—sdm, Oct 29 2001
   

       RodsTiger - no need to send hamsters through the mail when we have http://www.realhamster.com/ (also see links)
—cameron, Oct 29 2001
   

       When you buy an ant-farm, the ants are delivered by mail. Would the postal service irradiate my ants?
—mighty_cheese, Oct 29 2001
   

       I would imagine that irradiating all the mail would be excessively cost prohibitive, and a lot of things get sent by mail that would suffer. Most people have no need or desire to have their mail irradiated.   

       Wouldn't it be better to put these on the recieving end of certain large businesses, who don't want any ant farms coming to them, and have more reason to fear saboteurs than the typical homeowner?   

       Major post office hubs might have them as an optional service, and in the event of a "suspicious package" addressed to someone without the service, the post office might drop the owner a message, like they do for packages.
—ye_river_xiv, Jul 31 2006
   


 

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