XPost: uk.politics.misc, alt.politics.british, uk.tech.electronic-security   
   From: banana@REMOVE_THIS.borve.demon.co.uk   
      
   In article <1130966370.045134.120920@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, Ian   
   Bailey  writes   
      
   >banana wrote:   
   >> In article <1130862272.603676.174030@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, Ian   
   >> Bailey  writes   
   >>   
   >> >banana wrote:   
   >> >> In article <1130856751.053723.239350@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, Jay   
   >> >>  writes   
   >> >> >   
   >> >> >banana wrote:   
   >> >> >> In article , banana   
   > >> >> HIS.borve.demon.co.uk> writes   
      
      
      
   >> Maybe it's one in a country wall, the sort that birds sometimes nest in?   
   >   
   >Nope. Its a free-standing box on a pole.   
   >   
   >> But when collecting mail from ordinary free-standing cylindrical   
   >> cast-iron boxes, posties use a handheld electronic device. I am open to   
   >> the idea that this is simply a barcode reader.   
   >   
   >Surely if a system existed it would be on all post boxes - otherwise   
   >what use it it?   
      
   Maybe the system is being phased in. Maybe it's considered more useful   
   to the bosses to have it in most postboxes than in none. Whatever,   
   'ordinary' postboxes do contain (at least) barcodes that the postie   
   points an electronic device at.   
      
   But even the smallest postboxes would have room for a printed barcode,   
   e.g. on the back of the door - or indeed an RFID chip. Maybe   
   bureaucratic idiocy is involved somewhere along the line.   
      
   >I can categorically assure you that my post box has no   
   >electronics, no barcodes and my postie has no handheld device.   
      
   --   
   banana     "The thing I hate about you, Rowntree, is the way you   
               give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy-bear to   
               Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the   
               rest of your frigid life." (Mick Travis, 'If...', 1968)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)