Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
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Mailbox Scanner
Return to sender? Uh-uh!
  (+1)
(+1) 		  [vote for,
against]


All mail gets sorted by zip codes or postcodes to speed up processing. Mails without codes maybe do get where they're supposed to but not as fast.

Building an OCR scanner into the slots in mail collection points means mail could be read at point of posting and if the code is illegible/absent/incorrect it comes back out. An LED panel advises why it wasn't accepted.

The slots would need a diagram to show the letter has to be inserted a certain way in order to be read, similar to putting your ATM card in a machine.

If you don't do that it rejects the letter completely, spitting it back at your feet with a loud "PHOOEY".

It could also tell you if there's insufficient postage paid and then you buy extra stamps and affix in the normal way.

The LED display on the mailbox can also display things like '4 delivery days to Christmas/next collection is at 18.30' in between user-specific messages.

If you want to post more than one letter at a time then it takes them through an ADF (Automatic Document Feeder), scanning as it goes.

UnaBubba, Jan 22 2003


Short name, e.g., Bob's Coffee

Destination URL. E.g., http://www.coffee.com/

Description (displayed with the short name and URL.)







       It's still going to have trouble with handwriting, a lot of the time. Can it be overridden, in the event you are posting mail from a doctor, for instance?
UnaBubba, Jan 22 2003
   

       The pharmacist emulator addon for the mail scanner takes care of those UB.
Trodden, Jan 22 2003
   

       Hah !
UnaBubba, Jan 22 2003
   

       What an awful prospect. Some machine telling me that my handwriting stinks and refusing to accept my letters for posting. Fishbone!
DrBob, Jan 22 2003
   

       This could be the salvation of handwriting everywhere. Much of the handwriting I see these days appears to be the work of a tarry chicken, dying violently on the page.
UnaBubba, Jan 22 2003
   

       [+], mostly because of the image of a machine spitting out the letters with that loud phooey.
Bert6322, Jan 22 2003
   

       Can I have one fitted to my house? Any leaflets/junk are spat back at the poster.
st3f, Jan 28 2003
   

       Hmmm, Ok, I'll give this a cautious croissant.
8th of 7, Jan 28 2003
   

       Would that be one that manages to "grow mould gracefully"?
UnaBubba, Jan 28 2003
   


 
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