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PostalID
Register a ID with the post office that has your mailing info | |
The problem is that everytime I move, I have to update all the banks, friends, etc, and it's a pain.
Have the post office maintain a table of IDs, each ID referring to a postal address. Anyone can send in an address and get an ID number for it. Each ID and mailing address pair can be made private
(post office only) or public (listed on the web).
To mail a letter, you just put the ID on it. If your ID is private, you can receive mail without telling people where you live. If it's public, FedEx and others can look it up and use it. GPS receivers and anything else that needs addresses should be able to access the list.
You can register as many IDs are you like. One ID might be for business-related things and another for your friends. They'd both be the same address until you move out for uni or whatever and then change the personal address but keep the bills going to your parents' place or whatever.
My Own Postal Code
My_20Own_20Postal_20Code
[xaviergisz, Aug 12 2009]
Mail Boxes Etc. – mailbox services
http://www.mbe.com/ps/ms.html
A commercial mail forwarding service [Jim Bob of Merriam Park, Aug 13 2009]
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Annotation:
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[ ] interesting concept, but you may find yourself changing ID and having to update all your real contacts anyways just to avoid the spam resulting from the snail equivalent of e-mailing lists (oh yay the spam can now follow you around, too). |
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But I'm reading stuff into it that isn't actually there :D : what you've written seems to be referring to simply affixing an ID to a postal address irregardless of the person, which is a bit bollocks. |
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One of the major security problems these days is that while companies and agencies of which you are a customer/client should be able to deal with you in full legal format (<name> of <location>) they often abuse that system to send you spam and get all their "friends" to do it too. |
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What about a virtual PO box number that the post office uses to forward mail for a fee? Your "ID" would thus be a normal address -- a PO box number combined with the City, State and ZIP code (or non-US equivalent) of the managing post office. |
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There are companies right now that will do this for a fee. The concept is slightly different, though; instead of an ID number, you use the street address of the company plus a box number. The fees might be prohibitive, though, for the ordinary person. |
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I was just thinking of this the other day, but for a different reason, which adds onto your good points: |
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If you have an account with a specific barcode, etc., then you don't need stamps (and most importantly, you don't need annoying 2 cent stamps). They could just deduct the appropriate amount from your account balance. |
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To prevent abuse / balance theft, the post office could use something much more complex than a barcode, (like those snowy looking barcodes on airline tickets) and when you buy a sheet of them, each one is actually different, so the recipient could not just photocopy your stamp and print off their own and use it. |
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