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You want to provide a postal code for any location? I've been thinking it would be better if we had virtual postal codes. In other words, you use my name and
by stretchwithme 16y ago
You want to provide a postal code for any location? I've been thinking it would be better if we had virtual postal codes. In other words, you use my name and postal code (they have to match) and the post office or FedEx connects it to a physical location without you needing to know where I live.
You'd be able to figure out roughly where it so you know how much it will cost to ship, but otherwise where I live would be private.
I'd be able to change what the code maps to and all my mail would automatically follow me when I move. Or my identity theft, depending on how competantly this is managed :-)
- ErrantX 16y agoThis service already exists; PO boxes can do pretty much what you want. The problem is that this is a service "worth" something so the postal services can charge for it. You'd have to remove that incentive to convince them to offer it as a global service.
- sprout 16y agoPO boxes provide stability should your physical address change, so there will always be a market for them.
- stretchwithme 16y agoits kind of backwards. they charge you NOT to deliver. you pay for the storage of course. but delivery isn't cheap. its mandated by law though so they can't change it easily or even stop Saturday delivery without an act of Congress (for real) But, even so, the PO box is tied to a city. people can't keep using it and have mail go to the right place automatically. the best they can do is forward it. so something could be shipped from nyc to a PO box in LA and then get forwarded back
- stcredzero 16y agoI've heard of mail getting to well known people in Ireland with an address consisting of little more than their name and the town. depending on how competantly this is managed :-) Is this a play on the "Qualaty Initiative" from Dilbert?
- randallsquared 16y agoWhile it's certainly not guaranteed to work, a name and postal code will work fairly often in the US. As a lark, I once sent mail to my father (in a small city in Georgia) with only his name and zip code on it, and it did arrive.
- JoeAltmaier 16y agoI can send mail to my cousin in a small town in Iowa, with her name and town name only.
- stretchwithme 16y agoThat's true. My uncle's address is just Quartermire, County Clare and he gets his mail. Its basically the road he's on.