On Tue, 19 Sep 2006 17:38:38 +0100, Brian Morrison put finger to
keyboard and typed:

Clive George wrote:
"Brian Morrison" wrote in message
...
Simon Morris wrote:

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


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.

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

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

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?

How do you stop someone photocopying it once it's been printed? And
what do you do if the printer jams halfway through?

The "one-scan" barcode method has been working perfectly well with the
existing SmartStamp system, so there's no reason why it shouldn't work
here. And franking systems create "stamps" that are copyable quite
easily, and thus have to be validated in other ways. There are
problems with this system, but they're more about usability as regards
buying the online stamps than with concerns about multiple use.

Mark
--
Please help a cat in need: http://www.goodge.co.uk/cat/