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Ask HN: What stops the USPS from offering everyone an email address?
I have been thinking about this for a while now. Why doesn't the US Postal Service (or Royal Mail, etc.) offer everyone an email address? While they are at it, why not offer digital storage as well, so people can store their photos, files, etc., knowing that the USPS will be around a lot longer than their private competitors. Would less tech savvy people who already use the USPS for mail boxes and other services be more willing to trust it than a tech giant they are less familiar with?
If said USPS email address is linked with physical addresses (updated regularly), then couldn't the email address also being used for address verification purposes when fulfilling online orders? I know how painful address verification can be, and I would have loved to have had a service like that. Ideally all a customer needs to provide an online store is just their USPS email address, then the site can obtain the shipping address from USPS.
Edit: added last sentence.
Edit 2: Perhaps the question should have been: what are the pros and cons of the USPS offering: an email service, a digital storage, etc. Would it improve their finances if they charged for them? Would people pay for them given that there are plenty of free services out there?
- metalliqaz 9y agoTwo reasons: 1) Services at that scale are hard, and even companies like Yahoo and Google struggle to provide fast, secure, and robust services like email. The US Government doesn't exactly have a good track record implementing services like this. Just think of the extreme security threat. And don't even get me started on customer support costs. 2) They are heavily invested in carrying physical letters and parcels. They would fight tooth and nail to resist a new service that might cannibalize their current service.
- smt88 9y agoAnything like this would increase the budget of the USPS. Republicans control Congress and have been trying to reduce the budget for USPS (or replace it entirely with private services).
- towndrunk 9y agoLack of money... they seem to always be short on it.
- vitovito 9y agoThe USPS considered it at least a couple of times. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-usps-email/ https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-usps-email/ discusses their E-COM efforts in the 80s, and individual email addresses in the 90s. They were finally legally restricted to physical delivery in 2006.