04-30-2017, 03:05 AM
I worked for the USPS briefly about 15 years ago. Machines read the address but not everybody's handwriting was legible. The image was beamed to a clearance center where a human read the address and typed it in, then the machine would spray a tiny barcode onto the mail to route it. The system was developed in the 80's and implemented in the 90's. They may be offering this as a "new service" but I think Reagan was President when they were planning it.