The original Express Mail... I knew that we weren’t the first to try to accelerate the delivery of documents using ‘high tech’ means. As a matter of fact, a bunch of folks had the idea for REALLY fast mail delivery starting over 70 years ago…  
Using ROCKETS!

  • April 21, 1931: Friedrich Schmiedl launched the first rocket mail (V-7 rocket) with 102 pieces of mail, between Sch?ckl and St. Radegund, Austria. 

  • July 31, 1934: Gerhard Zucker launched a rocket over a 1600-meter flight path between the Hebridean islands of Harris and Scarp in Scotland. Around 1.07 m long with a diameter of 18 cm, the fuselage was packed with 1,200 envelopes. Unfortunately for Zucker, the rocket exploded and destroyed most of its cargo. Fail. 

  • February 23, 1936: The first successful delivery of mail by a rocket in the United States was made when two rockets that were launched from the New Jersey shore of Greenwood Lake landed on the New York shore, some 300 meters away. Success! 

  • June 8,1959: U.S. Navy submarine USS Barbero assisted the Post Office Department, predecessor to the United States Postal Service (USPS) in its search for faster mail transportation with the only delivery of “Missile Mail.” Barbero fired a Regulus cruise missile — its nuclear warhead having earlier been replaced by two Post Office Department mail containers — at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Mayport, Florida. Twenty-two minutes later, the missile struck its target.

US Postmaster General Arthur E Summerfield proclaimed the US Navy event to be “of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world,” and predicted that “before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail.” 

Fortunately for DocuSign, Summerfield was not correct. If mail could be delivered by rockets raining down on businesses each day, perhaps I wouldn’t have had a reason to start DocuSign… hmm.

Odd thing is that I was into rockets before I was into DocuSign. I’ve been flying rockets since 1993. No really.

Though DocuSign does not use rockets, we can quickly deliver mail, such as documents requiring signatures. Our digital signature service and electronic contract execution (ECE) process can take fewer than 22 minutes, making it faster than “Missile Mail” and allowing you to accelerate your business.* 

The process of creating electronic signatures is highly visible, allowing you to know where you are in the online contract execution process. If DocuSign’s speed and visibility aren’t enough, our electronic signature and online contract execution services are also safe. With over 21 million signature events, not a single smart envelope has exploded like Gerhard Zucker’s project.

Want to know more about shipping mail via rockets?

*Actual response times may vary.

Photo by Jurvetson (flickr)

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