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Making stamps obsolete through SMS
- ebun 16y agoHere's a little more info: http://www.thelocal.se/32436/20110307/ http://www.thelocal.se/32436/20110307/
- cpach 16y agoAccording to The Local's article, a system like this is already in place in Germany, and will launch in Denmark in April. It might be available in Sweden some time this year [see http://www.gp.se/nyheter/sverige/1.566988-sms-kan-ersatta-frimarke http://www.gp.se/nyheter/sverige/1.566988-sms-kan-ersatta-fr...].
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- valjavec 16y agoAwesome! They could easily offer tracking of letters or just notifying sender when letter was delivered or innovate even more on top of that.
- cgranade 16y agoJust what we need: more services to depend on the already-obsolete SMS. From the standpoint of a gov't agency, that decision makes a lot of sense, but just further illustrates to me how badly we need to transition to messaging protocols like XMPP that are designed for use in the modern world.
- OstiaAntica 16y agoStill more efficient, and environmentally friendlier, than traditional stamps.
- cgranade 16y agoOh, definitely. It's also a bit of a wasted opportunity in some ways, as it becomes harder to retire SMS with each service built on top of it.
- flashgordon 16y agoWell there is no reason the service has to rely on SMS. In this case it does, but in the future there does not be a lock in right?
- OstiaAntica 16y agoIt is important to understand why this innovation did not happen in the U.S. In Europe, the old national postal systems have to compete for customers, thanks to EU deregulation. In the U.S., where the postal service regular mail is a monopoly, it is not in the postal service's interest to innovate and offer new services-- they make money from people buying, storing, and never using physical stamps.