Ask HN: Why there is no DNS for the paper mail?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28111017

by Aspos • 5 years ago

23 15 5 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Why can't my mailing address be decoupled from my physical location? Why can't mail follow me wherever I decide to go next? Fighting paper spam would be trivial if there was a mail DNS.

Are there any examples of such approach in the world?

pwg• 5 years ago

Why there is no DNS for the paper mail?

Because thousands of years ago, there was no DNS, nor network communications systems, yet there was "the mail".

According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail#History) the concept of a courier service may date back to the Egyptians:

"The first documented use of an organized courier service for the dissemination of written documents is in Egypt, where Pharaohs used couriers for the dissemination of their decrees in the territory of the State (2400 BCE). The earliest surviving piece of mail is also Egyptian, dating to 255 BCE."

Wind that forward to today, and "mail delivery" is largely the same as then. A letter/package has an address inscribed upon it indicating a physical location, and a courier carries it to that location and delivers it. Among things that have has changed are the transportation mode, and the accuracy of the address location. But the overall high level operation remains very similar. Because it is an age-old system that still functions similarly to how it did before computers and computer networks it is likely no one has thought the concept of an "address lookup" for the historic "mail system" was a necessary add-on.

davismwfl2• 5 years ago

While not on a USPS scale there are companies that offer this service. A lot of sailers and expats use these types of services. Works great and lets you move around as you please and get your mail/packages forwarded to where you are or where you are heading next. Adds time and cost to all your deliveries, but it is a service available now.

josephcsible• 5 years ago

Aren't these more like proxy servers than DNS? In particular, doesn't all of your mail have to physically pass through these services, instead of the post office just using them to look up the final destination directly?

davismwfl2• 5 years ago

Fair. I think of proxy servers more as filters though and not mail stops. Usually these companies don't act as your filter, just a mail stop on the way to you.

anchpop• 5 years ago

Can you suggest some? Another commenter mentioned http://physicaladdress.com which seems nice but I’m curious what options are out there

dguo• 5 years ago

Some other options are Earth Class Mail (https://www.earthclassmail.com/) and Traveling Mailbox (https://travelingmailbox.com/).

Nextgrid• 5 years ago

Fighting paper spam would be trivial if there was a mail DNS.

Keep in mind that the people running the mail system and being in power to change it may be benefiting from paper spam or too stupid to call BS on spam-friendly lobbyists' arguments.

__d2• 5 years ago

For the last 30 years, I've used an Australian Post Office box as my official mailing address, and they just forward the mail to wherever I happen to be at the time.

It saves needing to update my details with everyone whenever I move.

But it's not really like DNS: my PO Box address isn't really any more memorable than a physical address, for instance.

There are commercial services that do the same thing in the US, at least.

timothyduong• 5 years ago

This process/function costs money right? I’d also like to decouple my home address to for security reasons.

What’s the yearly cost for you? (I’m also from AU)

el_dev_hell• 5 years ago

Not the person you asked, but I've been doing the same for a few years.

The cost of a PO box seems to vary based on the location (and even the location within the Post Office if it's large). I pay ~$110 per year for the PO box.

My mail redirect is $165 a year.

Edit: didn't mention it, but I'm also in AU.

__d2• 5 years ago

Yeah, it's not free.

My box (I have the smallest size) is $136, and the redirection is $160.

I dunno -- that sounds expensive, but it's like 80c a day, so it's kinda noise ...

mmerlin• 5 years ago

Auspost offers free "Parcel Collect" addresses for everyone who registers at auspost.com.au

It's approximately as good as a dedicated paid PO Box for my usage.

e.g. it's free for receiving stuff I dont want left outside on my front verandah.

I also use my Parcel Collect addresses for web service signup/registrations where I don't want to give out my actual home address.

When mail arrives waiting for me, they send an SMS and I go to the service counter of the post office and show the SMS code to collect.

It's easy to create multiple new Parcel Collect addresses at many Post Offices, on demand via the web portal.

stmw• 5 years ago

Well what you really want is something like TOR and/or anonymous email forwarding, not just DNS, to really decouple from location and get control over who can reach you. This turns out to be hard to do because of both laws and business models.

tofukid• 5 years ago

Call your legislators and propose it.

I use a virtual mailbox service, physicaladdress.com. They scan my mail and give me an online interface to view it. If I want, I can choose to scan the contents, forward it, or shred. It’s not a PO Box so I can use it as a real address.

Spooky23• 5 years ago

Fundamental issues:

- Global identity at the individual level doesn’t exist.

— Routing of physical goods is either inflexible and cheap or flexible and expensive.

There are overlay services that add value and cost. At a simple level, you can forward mail at the post office for a limited period. At a more complex level, you can pay someone to open and process your mail.

I think that technology has historically achieved what you’d be looking for by replacing mail.

Ask HN: Why there is no DNS for the paper mail?

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