Using your finger to create a wobbly line that looks nothing like your signature is a massive waste of time, new research has found.
While signing for a parcel by roughly scrawling a fingernail across a small screen in order to create a series of disconnected lines may give everyone involved the fleeting feeling that something official has taken place, it is, in fact, literally meaningless.
“Most people have this idea that their shitty little doodle on an iPhone will be of very little use in identifying them. But our research found that there’s no use,” lead researcher Karen Leigh said.
But Rick Montescue, a spokesperson for the delivery industry, disagreed that using a finger to sign for a parcel was totally pointless.
“Not at all. It allows us to crosscheck deliveries. So when someone disputes that their parcel has been delivered, we can go back to our records and say, ‘Actually it was received. It was signed for by Oojoooleee. Or is that Woojoooleee?’” he said. “Actually a lot of our parcels are signed for by Oojoooleee. Must order a lot of stuff”.
