Smart Stamps

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the we-know-what-you've-been-sending dept

The US Postal Service is thinking about issuing smart stamps that would include barcoded information about who bought the stamps, where, and when. This way (in theory) they can track who sent any particular piece of mail. Privacy issues aside, I wonder if this would actually work. How easy is it to just “borrow” a stamp from someone? With something this cheap, it’s not as though people will actively “protect” their own stamps. It seems like it would be a very costly solution for something that was unlikely to solve any problems.