For my upcoming product development class. A team, following the methods taught in the course, can improve the design of ANYTHING. A strong claim, admittedly.

Building a Better  Mailbox

It is often said that there are no new ideas, but Ms. Troyer and Mr. Farentinos turned that cliché inside out. By correctly anticipating how the high-tech future would change the way we shop, they updated one of the most low-tech items around: the repository of snail mail, the trusty mailbox. Along the way, they responded to a growing concern — identity theft — that established mailbox suppliers had failed to address.

via Prototype – Architectural Mailboxes – A Tale of Determination – NYTimes.com.

The course is based on the textbook by Ulrich and Eppinger:  http://www.ulrich-eppinger.net/