Ship Real Packages and Letters Privately... by Phone # or eMail address?
By
Staten Island, NY Posted: 9/11/2014 1:00:00 AM
Here's an idea whose time has come. Feel free to spread this idea and even Patent it and make a billion off it. That's why I created this site.
Wouldn't it be great if we could ship packages to people with nothing more than a phone number or email address?
Yes. I'm serious. What I'm proposing is the creation of a simple system that will let people walk into FedEx, UPS or the Post Office and send a package by using something as simple as either a phone #, eMail address, or even a Twitter ID
How the heck can anyone do that?
Before PayPal was launched, people said the same thing about sending money to people by using just their email address. Behind the scenes, all PayPal did was create a database of email addresses, then linked them to the people who owned them. The only thing the sender needs is the linked email address, and PayPal knows who to send it to. Even if you send money to somebody without a PayPal account, all they have to do is tell the recipient they have money waiting for them.
Using this simple model, the sender and recipient remain private, only PayPal has the linked names, addresses, along with bank and credit account numbers. It's secure, and it's easy.
Sending packages is the same thing, as long as it's done pretty much the same way. Here's all they have to do.
1. Allow people to register their email address, phone number or Twitter ID with the shipping company (FedEx, UPS, USPS).
2. That's it. Now any time a package is addressed to that email address, phone number, etc... the shipping company already has everything they need to deliver it. Once the package is in their sorting center, they just print the final label with the full address for the carrier to complete the delivery. It's not only private, but it's also much faster than writing out the whole address.
To make it even more private, shippers could even allow people to create an email address @ the shipping company's domain. So, a package could be addressed to IdeaOfTheDay@FedEx.com and FedEx would always have the correct address on file. Even if you moved frequently, they would always have the latest address.
In addition, if the database of registered Phone #s, eMail Addresses, etc. were centralized at the post office or an independent service, rather than at each shipping company, everyone would be free to use any shipping company and know they have the correct address.
Joe Crescenzi, Founder
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