On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 2:38 PM, Rony <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello, > > Since quite some time, the Railways has introduced smart cards that can > be used on touch screen kiosks to book tickets with varying choices like > destination, single/return, number of adults/children and class of > travel. The card costs only Rs.100/- and you get a free initial usage of > Rs. 50/-. It is a pure cash card with no ID or papers required and is > purchased across the counter. To recharge it, simply pay amounts like > 50/-, 100/- upto 500/- and you get it recharged across the counter. > > I find this technology has tremendous potential for use in various Govt. > as well as private organizations where there are long queues on manned > counters. For example bill payments for MTNL, BEST. The Post Office is > another department that would benefit very much from this. Multiple PO > kiosks inside the PO could offer services like stamps, money-order as > well as registered letters. Just like the current manned counters, you > simply enter the sender and destination address and 2 identical sticker > labels with bar codes will pop out. One is to be pasted on the letter > and the other is the sender's copy. A smart plate on top of the machine > can be the weighing scale for determining the postage as per the weight > of the letter/parcel. The letter/parcel is then dropped inside a > designated box. An extra feature would be to optically scan the movement > of the letter inward as proof of dropping. This kiosk can also be placed > in banks and enterprising shops who can be given....say 5% of all > earnings through that kiosk. so now the Post Office is not far away but > right near your home and the Postal Dept. does not have to invest in > land or office manpower to extend its reach. The same technology can be > used by courier companies too. MTNL's telephone exchanges too can use > these kiosks for bill payments and adding/removing extra services to > their subscription like changing plans, enabling CLIP. The kiosks can be > linked with wireless networking so that it is immune to cable problems. > So any office that experiences long queues for payments can take > advantage of this technology. > +1 to all the above.IIRC,this link was posted in relation to this earlier:
http://www.linux.com/feature/132871 -- Regards, Easwar Registered Linux user #442065 -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
