OT. New online postage stamps?

[Mark Goodge]

Does it have any kind of "memory"? That is, can you log in again tomorrow and ask it to print another label to the same address as last time?

Mark

[Roland Perry]

In message , at

16:06:30 on Tue, 19 Sep 2006, Mark Goodge remarked:

Does the barcode include the destination address, for use in automatic sorting machinery?

[Grunff]

I've just logged back in, and no, it doesn't keep a record of previous send addresses.

[Brian Morrison]

Strange, so does this mean that if you use a stamp multiple times they will charge your account or credit card?

[Grunff]

I doubt it - I suspect the second (and subsequent) letters bearing the same stamp will simply count as unstamped, and the recipient will be asked to pay.

[Simon Morris]

A bloke on "Today" implied that they'd consider the postage to have been not paid on packages whose stamp barcode has previously been scanned.

S.

[Brian Morrison]

So they've designed a broken system and then dropped the broken pieces on the general public. I can't see how this is any better than a book of stamps.

Not smart :(

[Clive George]

Eh? It's the only way this sort of thing can sensibly be done. Or do you have a better idea?

clive

[Hugh Jampton]

I tried it as a test earlier. I've been charged for 4 X 32p stamps when I only wanted 1. I only printed once although I looked at the pdf a few times before printing - guess this is the reason.

I've requested a refund but it had to be for the full amount (£1.28) although I did want the 1 stamp - guess I'd better not post it now :-) Also I had to select one of their reasons why I wanted a refund, none of which was my reason :-(

[Christian McArdle]

Very simple. I can never find a book of stamps. I can pretty much always find a computer and printer. No need to go shopping or rummaging through old drawers in a desperate attempt to find some.

Christian.

[Mark Goodge]

I don't know - that's the question I was hoping that the FAQ section would answer, but it doesn't!

You can use the offline "SmartStamp" system to print stamps without addresses, and this looks as if it's just a cut-down version of SmartStamps, so I'd be surprised if it is encoded into it. I suspect that it's more to do with ensuring that you pay the correct amount of postage.

Mark

[Tim Ward]

It means a trip to a post office whilst same is open. This is not something I normally do. So it's quite a big deal actually.

[Richard Kettlewell]

What on earth would be the point?

I would hope not! Otherwise you end up subsidizing anyone smart enough to duplicate your stamp.

[The Natural Philosopher]

h - definitely i didn't mean the technology was cunning, just that they can now sell stamps for f*ck all overhead..

[Brian Morrison]

To endure that printing the stamp is done from within the Java sandbox so that only one print attempt per bar-code can be made.

Exactly why I would have thought it's important not to allow multiple printing if it worked this way.

[Brian Morrison]

Yes, I can. Ensure that the same bar code cannot be printed more than once by doing the printing from inside a custom application in Java or possibly something that is downloaded and installed?

[Brian Morrison]

I shall now be expecting RM to provide ever lasting books of stamps where only the first ten are valid. I can still post things, but then the 11th and later recipients have to pay.

Seems to be equivalent to me.

[Grunff]

Well, yes, but if they display it full size, you can always screen-grab it.

While Java is beautiful, I have never liked Java applets. There is

*always* a better, neater way of achieving the task. It seems many developers agree with me, since the use of Java applets is dropping like a stone.

But it wouldn't be fraud-proof, you'd still need duplicate checking at the scanning end. If you didn't have that, I could simply scan the printout and make as many copies as I want. Checking at the point of printing is totally pointless.

[Bob Eager]

An over-complex and ultimately useless solution! One can always hold the print job at the spooler, and ask it to print multiple times...so that would not be secure at all.

That's why it has to be done with unique barcodes.

[Michael Hoffman]

And this will stop them from using a driver that prints to a file that can be repeatedly printed? Or photocopied?