Thursday, September 1, 2016

leadership dot #1553: permanent address

As I was considering an interim assignment in another state, it occurred to me that unless I shared that fact, most people I do business with would never even know I moved. 

The internet is almost everywhere. Smart phones give you a computer in your hand. You can work remotely or virtually and all of your information is accessible via the cloud or Dropbox. You can see people when you conference with them via Skype or Zoom. Documents are scanned and sent without needing a physical exchange.

Two other advantages to seamless communication: your phone number now travels with you and you can keep your email across platforms and providers. I have had the same email address longer than I can remember and my phone number for 15 years even though I live in a different state. I could move to another location, not just go there temporarily, and it would not change anything...

...except for mail. In this mobile and virtual society, I am surprised someone has not figured out a way to give you a permanent address that can remain the same even though mail is delivered to different locations during its use. I envision something like military mail -- you would put the equivalent of APO/FPO/DPO as the address, and like the military, the mail service would know where to deliver it. Before it is processed, someone could link it to a code that says "oh, today, address #45678 is located in Iowa" and a month from now it could be in Tennessee. It would allow people to have continual access to the tangible items that they want/need to receive via the postal system.

This could work for people who travel a lot, "snowbird" for part of the year, want to work virtually, have multiple offices or just don't want to reprint stationery/labels/forms/business cards every time there is an address change. I would clearly sign up!

It's sad that I have more attachment to my phone number and email than the address where I make my home. Maybe there is someone out there that can find a way for that to change.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com


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