Which I assume still subsidizes first class mail.
Honestly, it doesn't bother me a lot. Some I even find useful and the rest is quick to toss in the trash. There's actually a lot less than there sed to be with the decline in mailed catalogs and the like.
That seems quite low compared to other uses of AI. Imagine a self driving car taking a decision every second with 98 percent accuracy. After a minute of driving there would be a 70% probability of making at least one bad decision.
However, machine printed addresses are the norm, and address barcodes for large mailers are very common. Manual assistance on 2% of handwritten mail isn't that much manual assistance.
That seems unbelievablly cheap and it appears to last for 10 years. Thanks for the link.
> Today, the USPS’s OCR technology can read handwritten mail at nearly 98 percent accuracy, while machine-printed addresses bump its accuracy to 99.5 percent.
> [...] it first started using a handwriting recognition tool in 1999. The USPS is currently in the middle of a 10-year modernization plan, which includes investments in technology, such as AI. However, the plan has faced criticism for raising the price of stamps and causing service disruptions in some areas.
$0.78 to send a letter or postcard anywhere in the USA seems so cheap that I don't think the "rising cost of stamps" could ever even cross my mind. I'm aware that it does matter to some people, though.
I will, however, be glad if it becomes too expensive for spam mailers.
[1] https://www.usps.com/manage/informed-delivery.htm