

Making stamps obsolete through SMS - scottieh
http://namesake.com/conversation/a57fea2e-48ec-11e0-a08a-12313f014066

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valjavec
Awesome! They could easily offer tracking of letters or just notifying sender
when letter was delivered or innovate even more on top of that.

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ebun
Here's a little more info: <http://www.thelocal.se/32436/20110307/>

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cpach
According 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-fr...](http://www.gp.se/nyheter/sverige/1.566988-sms-kan-ersatta-
frimarke)].

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cgranade
Just 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.

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OstiaAntica
Still more efficient, and environmentally friendlier, than traditional stamps.

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cgranade
Oh, 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.

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flashgordon
Well 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?

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OstiaAntica
It 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.

