msmemory_archive: (Default)
msmemory_archive ([personal profile] msmemory_archive) wrote2009-04-10 12:09 pm

Literal minded machines

Stupid address checker.
Our last mailing list run bounced One Glen Square (it's 1 Glen St.), 6801 Jerichp Rd (Jericho) and from 245 Rodger Ave (Roger Ave.).

Back in the oooooollllddd days, the letter carrier would be allowed the brains to intervene on these things. Now, if the address doesn't conform exactly, it's kicked out as Undeliverable. The USPS is saving their money by making our company spend the money (me) to clean these things up.

I can see a future where we don't even have human letter carriers, we just have little automated jeeps who put only the correctly addressed mail into the correctly sized boxes located an appropriate distance from the curb.

[identity profile] aneirin-awenyd.livejournal.com 2009-04-10 04:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Where I work, we take credit card payments via the Internet. Our system can only accept payments where the 'billing address' matches, character for character, what is in the credit card company's computer when the charge is processed. If one character is off, the system rejects it. It can be very frustrating. So...I hear you.

At the same time, I am cherishing the fact that I live in a small rural town that has its own post office and zip code and there is no one else in town with our last name. So I can still use the return address:

MYLASTNAME
ZIPCODE

And it still works. And I've had things returned successfully before. I know it probably won't last, but it's fun to feel like we can still do it the old-fashioned way for awhile longer here.