They Know How Many Letters You Send

[jamiel@sybase.com (Jamie Lawrence)]

I stopped to get money at an ATM for my bank (Wells Fargo)
this morning, and there were little flyers littering the
area informing me that I can now purchase stamps there, just
as easily as I can get money. There was no surcharge for the
convienience.

I instantly saw visions of new junkmail. "Since you are such
an active user of the postal service, we'd like to offer you
this wonderful automatic stamp licker for only..."

And then I thought of that data building up somewhere, in a
creaky database somewhere, and heard the dialog "Citizen IYTC804HI3
has purchased 845 stamps to date this year and isn't a registered
home business owner. Red Flag."

Maybe I'm getting cranky and paranoid in my old age.