This is an awesome story. Oh, and in case you're wondering how they did (similar) things in the Good Old Days(TM), let me tell you a story from the late 70's/e

This is an awesome story. Oh, and in case you're wondering how they did (similar) things in the Good Old Days(TM), let me tell you a story from the late 70's/early 80's. I subscribed to "Cycle" magazine in my youth, and due to mistakes on their part, for a couple of years I got two copies, and when I finally decided to unsubscribe, I got only one copy a month (but for another year). My mother had written to them to unsubscribe me (it was a recurring birthday present). My first year of college I wound up meeting a guy in the magazine subscription business, and told him my story, and told me how it worked. Turns out that they got a LOT of mail at the (US) publisher. So they had a machine with a gripper that grabbed each letter, held it while a grinder ground off (!) three edges of the letter, and then put it on a conveyer belt. One person was tasked with folding the top page of the envelope back so the letter was revealed, and a few people (IIRC) took them and put them in boxes, taping the letter back together (!) when part had been ground off with the edge of the envelope. These boxes of letters were then sent to Ireland (!) to be processed, where people entered what should be done on some kind of mainframe application, which then cut 9-track tapes that were sent back to the US for processing. Told this to my Mom, with the delightful result of seeing her collapse in tears of laughter.