Push-me-Pull-You: Fed Ex vs. Snail Mail

An interesting thing happened last week. A client sent me a check via Fed Ex on Monday July 1st. Having given the client my Fed Ex number, but not having given specific instructions, I assumed he would send it "Standard Overnight." When it didn't arrive on the 2nd, I confirmed via the tracking number that it had been sent via "Express Saver" (which takes up three days). Due to the July 4th holiday, it wasn't scheduled to be delivered until Friday July 5th.


Was the client intentionally trying to delay the delivery of the check? That made little sense, as I had offered to let the client post-date the check if necessary. The client used his Fed Ex number, so maybe he was just saving a few dollars. No matter, I called up Fed Ex, and using my account number, had them change the shipping method. They took care of re-routing my package and it was delivered on Wednesday July 3rd instead of Friday July 5th. I deposited the check the same day, and it was presumably in my bank account by July 5th


This raises an interesting question. Did Fed Ex breach its contract with the sender by delivering the package earlier than originally scheduled? Should a sender have a reasonable expectation of control over the timing of delivery? What if someone could suck an email intended for them from your outbox before you sent it?


What if you could unsend an email that had already been delivered or even read? We've all accidentally sent emails before we intended to, or been sorry that we sent one in haste (anger). It would be technically possible to implement an unsend feature, and I've heard of some mail servers that fake this by delaying outgoing email for, say, 15 minutes. During that grace period, users can unsend an email.


When does "ownership" of an email transfer from the sender to the receiver? Would it be illegal to write a utility that would erase an email that you had already sent to someone else? Should POP and SMTP servers support such a feature? (maybe some already do). Should it be enabled or disabled by default?