[sarahtia]

So you've got an old-school mailbox, the ones with the red flag that the mailman puts up. And you're waiting on an important letter, for example. But the weather outside is far from beautiful and the tiny flag is pushed down by the wind without you noticing. You don't want to go outside to check if your mail is out there - you could catch a really bad cold with that weather.

Now what I'm thinking is that instead of a little red flag the mailman pushes up, how about your mailbox being connected to your computer, and the mailman has a kind of universal key, or some kind of unique thing that only he would have, that he somehow digitally tells you that you have mail. There could be a slot in the mailbox, and when he inserts the key it alerts your computer. You could get this feature installed on any kind of mailbox, it would save alot of time.

Would this work?

[JimPerlGuy]

How about we expand your idea a bit. How about having your mailbox hooked up to your print port. When you want to send a letter, it prints out in the mailbox. The mailman picks up the mail directly. A barcode could be printed on your letter to charge for postage.