A Blue-Sky Idea For the USPS — Postal Trucks As Sensors 252
An anonymous reader writes "The US Postal Service may face insolvency by 2011 (it lost $8.5 billion last year). An op-ed piece in yesterday's New York Times proposes an interesting business idea for the Postal Service: use postal trucks as a giant fleet of mobile sensor platforms. [Registration-required link; this no-reg summary encapsulates the idea, as does this paper by the same author.] (Think Google Streetview on steroids.) The trucks could be outfitted with a variety of sensors (security, environmental, RF ...) and paid for by businesses. The article's author addresses some of the obvious privacy concerns that arise."
Re:Insilvent? So what? (Score:5, Informative)
That's Already How It Works! (Score:5, Informative)
Congratulations, you've just described exactly how the USPS works.
Bajillions of people who live in rural areas (like me) pick up their mail at the post office, because the cost of delivery to their homes is prohibitive. Universal service is not, in fact, universal, and never has been. Even UPS won't deliver to my house—I've got to pick up their packages at the post office (!), too.
Also, your example is ludicrous. Have you ever heard of a house so isolated that it's in a "neighborhood" (?) five miles away and yet, mysteriously, this five-mile-long stretch of road, devoid of any homes or businesses, has a 20 MPH speed limit on its road? Because I can't summon any scenario in which that would be the case.
Re:Insilvent? So what? (Score:5, Informative)
This should be emphasized....
And the government sends secret documents [navy.mil] by the U.S. Postal Service.
Re:Insilvent? So what? (Score:5, Informative)
I have never had USPS gore my package with a forklift and then try to tell me it was "inadequately packed" so they won't be paying the insurance claim. I can't say the same for other carriers.