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Fifteen years later, the Apple Cards origin story

437 points · 120 comments · ksec

  1. woadwarrior01 · · focus · HN ↗
    > For one, Apple was unwilling to have visible barcodes printed on the envelopes — but it wanted every step of the shipping and delivery of your card tracked. That wasn’t something the US Postal Service did. Apple and the printing company created an invisible barcode that was sprayed on the envelope, visible only under certain UV light, so that the envelope itself would remain unadulterated. And the USPS agreed to scan cards when sent, when processed at mail facilities, up to and including when they went out on a mail truck for delivery.

    This is classic Steve Jobs. Sheer force of will.

    1. Mistletoe · · focus · HN ↗
      Sheer force of stupid, no one cares if a bar code is on the envelope.
      1. matwood · · focus · HN ↗
        Someone who cares about the barcode tends to care about other details. In some ways it's like the band riders that have silly things like no brown m&m's.
        1. woadwarrior01 · · focus · HN ↗
          There's a related Steve Jobs quote:

          "When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through."

          1. ad_fontes · · focus · HN ↗
            Assuming that is an actual Jobs quote, it's pretty on-brand for him. Carpenters don't make furniture.

            That's typical executive lack of awareness of the skills and roles of the little people charged with fulfilling their grand vision.

            1. bradly · · focus · HN ↗
              Also funny that a plywood back is often preferred because it holds the squareness of the furniture without the issues of wood movement you get with solid wood backings.
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