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USPS posts

Chrysler aims to produce all-electric USPS pimpmobiles... er, minivans

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 27th 2009 at 2:11AM

Have a look at that sweet piece up above and just imagine your mail being carted around inside. Go ahead, we'll wait. If Chrysler has its druthers (and stays afloat long enough to make good on its good intentions), it'll soon be producing a fleet of all-electric Town and Country minivans for the United States Postal Service. The automaker has voiced its plans to apply for a federal grant in order to get things moving, though it will be looking to utility companies Duke Energy and ConEd to make it all come together. If all goes well, the vans produced will have a range of around 40 miles, though it's expected that they will have a gasoline-powered motor on board in case that last overnight package requires just a few more miles. 'Course, there's no guarantee that the application will result in a grant, but for all those who appreciate comedy, we can only hope it flies though in record time.

Netflix Blu-ray movies showing up cracked and unplayable?

by Richard Lawler, posted Apr 18th 2009 at 10:42PM

That's the word, with a small but vocal group of subscribers claiming their discs are repeatedly arriving with small cracks on their outer edges. It's unclear what might be to blame, even with the extra coating to prevent scratches on Blu-ray, they could still be susceptible to automated mail processing machines, manufacturing defects or perhaps a spontaneous game of mail Frisbee. The Mars Box blog experienced this issue back in '07 with the disc pictured above, but in the last few months reports seem to be picking up again. It's really too bad those extra costs can't buy tougher packaging like the cardboard slips GameFly uses, but Netflix told Wired the problem is "infinitesimally small" and changing shipping wouldn't be cost effective. We know plenty of you rent your discs, let us know, have you been afflicted?

[Via Hacking Netflix]

Read - The Mars Box
Read - Wired
Read - AVS Forum

The US Postal Service wants your useless junk

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Mar 19th 2008 at 2:44AM

The US Postal Service may soon become very relevant to a generation which seems increasingly disinterested in physical mail. The USPS is launching a pilot program in ten cities and 1,500 post offices which hopes to aid in the fight against electronic waste. Come rain, sleet, snow, or any other violent natural occurrence, the post office will now allow you to mail used printer ink cartridges, PDAs, MP3 players, and other small electronics to Clover -- a company which recycles the castoff hunks of metal and plastic -- free of charge. You can feel pretty good about utilizing the new service too, as Clover is a "zero landfill" company, which means they do everything they can to avoid making more waste. Now, if the postal service can just do something about these old TVs that need hauling...

GPS Letter Logger promises to keep tabs on mail

by Donald Melanson, posted Nov 21st 2007 at 1:29PM

It looks like the United States Postal Service is considering all its options for how it handles mail in the future, with it even go so far as to commission a GPS tracking system from TrackingTheWorld Inc. Among other things, the USPS apparently required the system to be able to report the position of a piece of mail at customizable time intervals, record down time, and interface with Google Earth, not to mention fit in a standard size envelope. From the looks of it, it appears that TrackingTheWorld managed to meet all those considerations, producing a system that's just a quarter of an inch thick and the size of a tri-folded piece of paper. What's more, the system also boasts a microSD card slot that allows for "future extended tracking missions," and it includes a slim 1100mAh battery that promises to last for 20 hours in a timed configuration, or up to two weeks in "tilt mode," which only kicks the system into gear when a tilting movement is detected. According to the company, the so-called "Letter Logger" should be ready by February of next year, although it obviously won't be available to the general public. You can always build your own mail tracking system though.

USPS goes postal with R2D2 mailboxes

by Jeannie Choe, posted Mar 9th 2007 at 8:16PM

Who knew the United States Postal Service could feel the Force? In honor of Star Wars' 30th anniversary, these kick-ass R2D2-wrapped mailboxes will be replacing the old boring ones in post offices across the nation. Star Wars lovers / haters can say whatever they like -- we're just glad this has nothing to do with Jar Jar Binks.

[Via Boing Boing]