Reply to post: Re: """Fake""" address changes.

Chap charged with fraud after mail for UPS global HQ floods Chicago flat

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

Re: """Fake""" address changes.

The problem is not everyone plans moves well (or even has a chance if they are evicted) so being able to personally receive & verify a confirmation letter from USPS isn't always possible. If they refused to change one's address without it, a lot of people would never receive a lot of their mail (and identity theft is no doubt made easier when you receive something for an old addressee like a credit card offer)

Many years ago I thought that postal service should allow people to sign up for a personal ZIP code that you could update with USPS. Instead of saying you live at 22 Wall Street NY, NY you'd give your address out as 29357025725 or somesuch. When USPS receives a letter with a personal ZIP they have a computer system that tells them it is 22 Wall Street and sends it there. When you update it to say you live at 33 Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills CA everyone would keep using the same personal ZIP but it would go to your new address.

For bonus points, you can have more than one, sort of like email where you have a few throwaways you use for signing up to web forums, which you can simply stop using if it starts getting spammed too much. Moving is currently the way to stop snail mail spam (and only to a new house, otherwise you get the previous occupant's spam)

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