USPS Informed Delivery – Digital Images of Front of Mailpieces(informeddelivery.usps.com)
informeddelivery.usps.com
USPS Informed Delivery – Digital Images of Front of Mailpieces
https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action
147 comments
The machine reading is now so good that there's only one center left, in Salt Lake City, where humans look at images of illegible addresses.[1] "We get the worst of the worst. It used to be that we’d get letters that were somewhat legible but the machines weren’t good enough to read them. Now we get letters and packages with the most awful handwriting you can imagine. Still, it’s our job to make sure it gets to where it’s supposed to go."
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/us/where-mail-with-illegib...
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/us/where-mail-with-illegib...
It's not just for this purpose, there are more image scanners designed to be part of a mail surveillance network, but I haven't heard much about that since the pre-snowden echelon days.
<like WV
It used to be in Barbados
It used to be in Barbados
And once they had one in Utah (I know because in the early 90's I was one of those cheap labor workers doing the data entry ;-) )
Next, Recycle Direct™. Select the mail you want delivered, and the USPS sends everything else directly to the recycling center.
That'd be awesome, but I expect there'd be significant pushback from the direct mail advertising industry that makes up a good chunk of the postal service's revenue.
Not the direct mail industry itself, but the postal service which earns a significant amount of it's revenue from them. Your mail carrier happily delivers any and all unwanted mail in the interest of their continued employment.
Honestly, I don't mind junk mail that much.
- It's slightly depressing to come home to no new mail (I know, that's just a weird mental thing for me).
- More importantly, it helps keep the postal service afloat, something that I think is an important service.
-- It keeps a sizable chunk of U.S. government workers employed. Employed is good.
-- It acts as a proxy wellness check for elderly and rural citizens.
-- It lets Grandma cheaply send me a card and $20 for my birthday. Email and Venmo just doesn't cut it.
- It's slightly depressing to come home to no new mail (I know, that's just a weird mental thing for me).
- More importantly, it helps keep the postal service afloat, something that I think is an important service.
-- It keeps a sizable chunk of U.S. government workers employed. Employed is good.
-- It acts as a proxy wellness check for elderly and rural citizens.
-- It lets Grandma cheaply send me a card and $20 for my birthday. Email and Venmo just doesn't cut it.
> "- It's slightly depressing to come home to no new mail (I know, that's just a weird mental thing for me)."
100% agree. I still enjoy getting the mail every day after I get home from work. I even find the junk mail interesting, in a "Why in the world did they send this to me?" type of way.
100% agree. I still enjoy getting the mail every day after I get home from work. I even find the junk mail interesting, in a "Why in the world did they send this to me?" type of way.
Interesting because I don't even check my mail every day...on average every 4 business days or so. So I'm guaranteed to have mail. I petitioned the HOA in my townhouse neighborhood to install trash cans at all the mailboxes. Otherwise I'm just carrying trash into my house to throw away.
What about the environmental impact of printing all those useless letters and flyers?
Couldn't that material be better put to use elsewhere?
Couldn't that material be better put to use elsewhere?
Yeah. There's the occasional semi-important thing I don't notice because it got tangled up in a pile of mail I'd been throwing in a box. But I flip through catalogs every now and then and don't have a problem with throwing out obvious credit card offers unopened.
In the grand scheme of annoyances that include telemarketers, throwing out some mail every day is pretty minor.
It does clog up my mailbox but since I swapped out for an extra-giant one that isn't really a problem any longer.
In the grand scheme of annoyances that include telemarketers, throwing out some mail every day is pretty minor.
It does clog up my mailbox but since I swapped out for an extra-giant one that isn't really a problem any longer.
I find something oddly therapeutic about tearing up credit card offers before tossing them in the recycle bin.
The bundle of grocery store ads that comes every Tuesday, I could do without. I don't shop at any of the included stores, but the bundle has such a mish-mash of odd sized circulars that I have to go through it since important mail gets mixed in frequently.
The bundle of grocery store ads that comes every Tuesday, I could do without. I don't shop at any of the included stores, but the bundle has such a mish-mash of odd sized circulars that I have to go through it since important mail gets mixed in frequently.
What I'd really like is to get all the spammers to pay a fraction of my utilities bill.
You send me spam, which goes directly in the recycle bin, a service that I pay for from my wallet - you need to pay up for the privilege.
You send me spam, which goes directly in the recycle bin, a service that I pay for from my wallet - you need to pay up for the privilege.
If you hate junk mail, you'll LOVE this trick!
If a piece of junk mail has a postage-paid return envelope included, take everything else, stuff it in there, and mail the whole thing back.
Doesn't pay your utility bill, but feels oh so righteous :)
If a piece of junk mail has a postage-paid return envelope included, take everything else, stuff it in there, and mail the whole thing back.
Doesn't pay your utility bill, but feels oh so righteous :)
Or tape the return envelope to a brick (with clear packing tape). In my experience the post office is happy to take it.
Have you really done this?
I remember another HNer saying they have a bunch of letter size wood blanks that they mail back in the postage-paid, by weight, envelope!
Glorious!!
There are several services that do this.
1. give you a mailbox
2. scan outside of all incoming mail
3. allow you to select which ones to open
4. scan the contents
5. optionally forward items you need physical
6. dispose of everything else
1. give you a mailbox
2. scan outside of all incoming mail
3. allow you to select which ones to open
4. scan the contents
5. optionally forward items you need physical
6. dispose of everything else
Link?
I'm currently a customer of https://www.usglobalmail.com , just one of many services like this. They scan mail, can throw it away for you, and can repack / reship packages.
I've contemplated using a service like this to lighten the junk mail, but how do you 'shut off' mail service at your physical mailbox?
You probably can't, honestly.
My apartment, on a weekly basis, gets mail to roughly 3-5 previous inhabitants. As in, exact same address, etc.
Sometimes even bills from insurance companies or other important mail.
I think when you move you're supposed to notify USPS to forward mail to your new address (probably also inform important mailers of the move as well) but from what I've seen they don't propagate the address changes very well.
I mean, sure, those previous inhabitants may not have notified USPS at all, but I find that hard to believe.
My apartment, on a weekly basis, gets mail to roughly 3-5 previous inhabitants. As in, exact same address, etc.
Sometimes even bills from insurance companies or other important mail.
I think when you move you're supposed to notify USPS to forward mail to your new address (probably also inform important mailers of the move as well) but from what I've seen they don't propagate the address changes very well.
I mean, sure, those previous inhabitants may not have notified USPS at all, but I find that hard to believe.
USPS only forwards the mail for one year after notification. After that any mail that is still marked for that address will be delivered there. Ideally you would have notified all relevant parties at that point.
Also a lot of junk mail will be addressed to the name "or current resident"
Also a lot of junk mail will be addressed to the name "or current resident"
However, the forwarding database is apparently pretty easy to get access to. Junk mailers will query it and update their list with your new address.
> I think when you move you're supposed to notify USPS to forward mail to your new address
> sure, those previous inhabitants may not have notified USPS at all, but I find that hard to believe
I certainly wouldn't. Why would I notify the USPS that I moved? I would notify my contacts (or much more likely, they'd ask me for my address in the event they wanted to send me something). A delivery service is for delivering things to addresses, not to people.
> sure, those previous inhabitants may not have notified USPS at all, but I find that hard to believe
I certainly wouldn't. Why would I notify the USPS that I moved? I would notify my contacts (or much more likely, they'd ask me for my address in the event they wanted to send me something). A delivery service is for delivering things to addresses, not to people.
> A delivery service is for delivering things to addresses, not to people.
A delivery service is for delivering things to people; addresses are just a tool for locating the perosn you are trying to get the thing delivered to.
A delivery service is for delivering things to people; addresses are just a tool for locating the perosn you are trying to get the thing delivered to.
Try getting them to deliver to a person using some other location than an address, such as "wherever he happens to be". It can't be their purpose to do something they're not able to do.
If I have something mailed to me at my office, are you claiming the post office hasn't made a mistake when they deliver it to my home?
If I have something mailed to me at my office, are you claiming the post office hasn't made a mistake when they deliver it to my home?
> Try getting them to deliver to a person using some other location than an address
So, like, General Delivery?
> If I have something mailed to me at my office, are you claiming the post office hasn't made a mistake when they deliver it to my home?
There's a question of principal/agent there, so maybe, maybe not.
OTOH, I'll maintain that the post office is not making a mistake when it keeps delivering my mail from my employer to me at my actual address, even though they keep sending it to an address which resembles mine only in that the street name and zip code are the same, and two of the four numbers in the street address they use also appear (in different positions) in my actual address.
Which I suppose I should go talk to HR about again.
So, like, General Delivery?
> If I have something mailed to me at my office, are you claiming the post office hasn't made a mistake when they deliver it to my home?
There's a question of principal/agent there, so maybe, maybe not.
OTOH, I'll maintain that the post office is not making a mistake when it keeps delivering my mail from my employer to me at my actual address, even though they keep sending it to an address which resembles mine only in that the street name and zip code are the same, and two of the four numbers in the street address they use also appear (in different positions) in my actual address.
Which I suppose I should go talk to HR about again.
General Delivery is meant for the use of people who don't have an address (or as a substitute for a PO Box), and has to be arranged by the recipient, and the recipient may only receive General Delivery at a single location. So no, not like General Delivery -- General Delivery is an address, the address of the post office offering it, which is where the person receives their mail.
What happens when you miss giving notice to one of your contacts? What if your contact doesn't update their records right away? How do you get the timing just right? Not having your mail sent to a new address before you move in nor having any mail arrive after you've left your old address?
There is value in updating your address. Ideally, you won't need a year to get things sorted, but a couple of months is certainly valuable.
There is value in updating your address. Ideally, you won't need a year to get things sorted, but a couple of months is certainly valuable.
>> much more likely, they'd ask me for my address in the event they wanted to send me something
You're trying to invoke the fear that the only method of contacting your friend is to write to the last address you knew for them. That was true once; it has no particular relationship to the modern day.
Even when it was true, though, postal services were a system for delivering mail to places, not to people. If your friend moved and you didn't know that, it was difficult to contact them.
You're trying to invoke the fear that the only method of contacting your friend is to write to the last address you knew for them. That was true once; it has no particular relationship to the modern day.
Even when it was true, though, postal services were a system for delivering mail to places, not to people. If your friend moved and you didn't know that, it was difficult to contact them.
By not having a physical mailbox. Nothing says that you have to have a mailbox, and without one the USPS won't deliver mail to your house. Also, I believe that they have some sort of permanent forward that the local postmaster can put in so that if you don't have a mailbox at home they'll send it to a PO box.
place a sticker inside with someone elses name on it
The subject of Startup Junkies, season 1, a fairly interesting thing to watch. Not sure if there was a season 2.
There wasn't! We've talked about doing a follow up as recently as last year.
The company has gone through a lot of changes since then, for the better.
We'll have some exciting announcements in the coming months as well.
The company has gone through a lot of changes since then, for the better.
We'll have some exciting announcements in the coming months as well.
[deleted]
Was asked to participate in an early test for this last year. It was terrible.
I have a PO box and as that address includes the post office address you would receive notification and pictures of ALL mail going to that address, so everyone's PO box. Not good.
I have a PO box and as that address includes the post office address you would receive notification and pictures of ALL mail going to that address, so everyone's PO box. Not good.
You mean an actual PO Box? At a post office? Or a private mailbox, like at a UPS Store? If the former, this is really surprising. If the latter, not as much.
Anyway, I set this up for my house and it has been working fine. I haven't gotten anything that wasn't intended for me (of course, I get stuff that's not intended for me in the REAL mail on a regular basis, so even if it happened here from time to time, it wouldn't be a big change).
Anyway, I set this up for my house and it has been working fine. I haven't gotten anything that wasn't intended for me (of course, I get stuff that's not intended for me in the REAL mail on a regular basis, so even if it happened here from time to time, it wouldn't be a big change).
Former. PO box at a post office.
That sounds amazing! You can get a PO Box at a USPS location and then creep on everybody else's PO Box mail???
They shut down the test after I pointed this out to them, but had I not they were completely unconcerned. At the time it was called "Real Mail Notification", so hopefully they have fixed the issue with this new iteration.
They don't seem to have fixed it. From their FAQ:
Is Informed Delivery® available to PO Box® customers?
USPS® is looking to expand the service to PO Box customers in the future. PO Box customers in certain Post Offices nationwide can use our existing Real Mail Notification® service to receive a text-only message without images, via email or SMS message. Check with your local Post Office for more details.
Is Informed Delivery® available to PO Box® customers?
USPS® is looking to expand the service to PO Box customers in the future. PO Box customers in certain Post Offices nationwide can use our existing Real Mail Notification® service to receive a text-only message without images, via email or SMS message. Check with your local Post Office for more details.
Good to know. Thanks.
USPS has been taking images of the mail for years [1].
All the images of the service are emailed to the user and are not secure.
[1] https://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/08/03/us/postal-service-conf...
All the images of the service are emailed to the user and are not secure.
[1] https://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/08/03/us/postal-service-conf...
Canadian here, please use USPS when sending us stuff because they don't charge a $40 made up customs handling fee at the door like Fedex and UPS do.
USPS transfers to Canada Post, so in fact it is Canada Post that is choosing not to charge you terrible fees like the other ones.
But yes, always use USPS to ship to Canada.
But yes, always use USPS to ship to Canada.
I have stopped ordering a physical product from the U.S. more than once when presented with UPS as the shipping handler.
[deleted]
If you open a UPS or FedEx account, you can usually bill the charge to it which removes a big part of the handling fee, so you only pay the duties+taxes and possibly a small surcharge (nowhere near 40, I think it was, max, 5 when I used to use it).
If only I could drag and drop images of junk mail into a trash can icon to prevent them from being delivered, I could finally clean out my butterfly fuck swing.
http://www.theonion.com/article/butterfly-fuck-swing-filled-...
http://www.theonion.com/article/butterfly-fuck-swing-filled-...
The USPS shut down Outbox for this same service.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/theopriestley/2015/12/08/usps-l...
Still, though, I would really like this service. I travel quite a bit and I would hate to miss important pieces of mail.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/theopriestley/2015/12/08/usps-l...
Still, though, I would really like this service. I travel quite a bit and I would hate to miss important pieces of mail.
Doesn't seem like the USPS shut them down.
"Ultimately, management concluded that Outbox’s business model was flawed – a conclusion that the market appears to have affirmed."
"Ultimately, management concluded that Outbox’s business model was flawed – a conclusion that the market appears to have affirmed."
From https://www.wired.com/2013/08/outbox/
"Part of the trick was that the service could automatically weed out junk mail, and when U.S. Postmaster General Pat Donahoe got wind of this, he wasn’t happy — at least according to Baehr."
"Donahoe summoned Outbox to his office, and Baehr made his pitch, arguing that the company was just a few smart guys with $2 million in financing who wanted to spend the next few years learning about Donahoe’s customers and even sending him data about what these customers needed. Donahoe responded by saying that the customers of U.S. Postal Service were not the general public. Its customers, he said, were a few hundred bulk mailers."
"Part of the trick was that the service could automatically weed out junk mail, and when U.S. Postmaster General Pat Donahoe got wind of this, he wasn’t happy — at least according to Baehr."
"Donahoe summoned Outbox to his office, and Baehr made his pitch, arguing that the company was just a few smart guys with $2 million in financing who wanted to spend the next few years learning about Donahoe’s customers and even sending him data about what these customers needed. Donahoe responded by saying that the customers of U.S. Postal Service were not the general public. Its customers, he said, were a few hundred bulk mailers."
[deleted]
There's direct quotes from Outbox that confirm your opinion, here: https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/21/outbox-shuts-down/
"After several months of testing and refining, we reasonably concluded that we were executing well and collecting good data—it told us that there wasn’t enough demand to support the cost model."
"After several months of testing and refining, we reasonably concluded that we were executing well and collecting good data—it told us that there wasn’t enough demand to support the cost model."
postal management concluded...
I guess. I travel quite a bit as well. But anything that's genuinely important probably isn't going to come unexpectedly through USPS. I suppose I can construct scenarios where I'm waiting for something and want to see if I need to chase it down while I'm away for a couple weeks but that's sort of contrived.
If they're storing them anyway, it probably makes sense that people should have access to stored information about them though.
If they're storing them anyway, it probably makes sense that people should have access to stored information about them though.
>But anything that's genuinely important probably isn't going to come unexpectedly through USPS.
Any notice from government offices comes this way. And usually the important notices are ones that weren't expected. :(
Any notice from government offices comes this way. And usually the important notices are ones that weren't expected. :(
Could be good way to dodge registered mail you have to sign for, but don't want to...If you knew the source.
The picture of the envelope would give you more info on what it was, who sent it, etc, than the current green slips do.
The picture of the envelope would give you more info on what it was, who sent it, etc, than the current green slips do.
Fair enough. But if I'm traveling and see I received mail from the IRS or whoever, it's not like there's much I can do about it until I get home. (Yes, I can call someone and ask them to get my mail and tell me what it is but if it's something serious I probably don't want a random neighbor reading it anyway.)
If you got an IRS notice you could call the IRS
I'm pretty sure it could wait until I got home. If it was that urgent I doubt if they'd have just sent it as a letter.
>If it was that urgent I doubt if they'd have just sent it as a letter.
This is the only way the IRS contacts you.
This is the only way the IRS contacts you.
Wait. I thought they do use the postal service and want the general public to 'ignore' callers who say they're from the IRS?
What I meant was that I might expect registered mail or something along those lines if something really needed to be dealt with right now. But maybe not. In any case, my basic point was just that there are very few things that show up in your mailbox unexpectedly that can't wait until you come back from a trip.
Not the same service as Outbox though. The USPS is not opening the mail. It's just scanning the envelope. You know who has sent you something but not the contents.
Other services scan the contents or your mail as well. Outbox was just really weird about the whole thing, particularly as it related to how they got the mail in the first place. For more information I recommend the analysis I gave back around when this was a story.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7667942
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7667942
Shortly after attending a ios 4 app class I wrote a letter suggesting a table view listing all machine mail. Then sell ad space above/below rows. So if BB&B has their $5 coupon in the mailstream Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel could but a hyperlink to their ad.
The USPS culture is anything but profit centric. Without violating the sanctity of the mails there could be creative ways to leverage the combined household and individual knowledge for profit.
But then when I thought there was no hope the USPS got the Amazon deal.
Threshold mail delivery is another concept that could be interrupted by a user request (based on mail information in the stream)
But it's not a profit organization and ideas are just fun to think about.
The USPS culture is anything but profit centric. Without violating the sanctity of the mails there could be creative ways to leverage the combined household and individual knowledge for profit.
But then when I thought there was no hope the USPS got the Amazon deal.
Threshold mail delivery is another concept that could be interrupted by a user request (based on mail information in the stream)
But it's not a profit organization and ideas are just fun to think about.
This is the first time, I believe,where someone can know what is in the mailbox without opening the mailbox. (Which is a federal crime if it is not the owner/addressee)
Separated spouses and private investigators will use this from the comfort of their home. (Of course one party will give permission)
Separated spouses and private investigators will use this from the comfort of their home. (Of course one party will give permission)
I got automatically enrolled in this last week and have been getting scans of mail for 5 days now. It is a complete disaster. I got my own mail one day, but the other four have been mail for other units in my building.
I sent one support ticket in that went to an unmonitored inbox, then another that got a vague reply saying that there is nothing I can do about it.
What a mess.
I sent one support ticket in that went to an unmonitored inbox, then another that got a vague reply saying that there is nothing I can do about it.
What a mess.
I'd also like to add that the one day I did get scans of my own mail in my email inbox, it was mail that I had picked up the day before.
Feature request: [a] accept [b] trash.
I'm not sure how well this works elsewhere but I did an experiment and simply refused to take the marketing junk USPS put in my mailbox, until it overflowed. They ended up actually not giving me any more, it's great.
That's not the proper way. If it comes with an envelope, find a brick and attach the return envelope to it with duct tape (paid by weight), if it doesn't stuff it into another company's envelope (along with the brick)
I tried that too. They just stopped delivering all of my mail.
With [c] a spam filter
Junk mail is a source of revenue for the USPS
I believe it is their biggest source of revenue.
see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/business/seeking-revenue-p...
The US tax payers effectively subsidize an agency that delivers junk mail and there's nothing you can do to opt out of that junk mail if they buy those services from the USPS. Oh and the USPS still loses money doing it. I wish I could borrow from the Fed at 1.2%.
http://fortune.com/2015/03/27/us-postal-service/
see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/business/seeking-revenue-p...
The US tax payers effectively subsidize an agency that delivers junk mail and there's nothing you can do to opt out of that junk mail if they buy those services from the USPS. Oh and the USPS still loses money doing it. I wish I could borrow from the Fed at 1.2%.
http://fortune.com/2015/03/27/us-postal-service/
I work very closely on this product. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as best as I can.
Are there any policies in place that would prevent your team from implementing a feature that enables users to tell [some postal worker in the delivery chain] to recycle particular pieces of mail instead of delivering them?
Was it a known issue that you were sending scans of everyone's mail to everyone else who had a PO box at same address?
Any plans to offer the capability to scan and see the inside?
Not as far as I know.
Will FSS be added later?
I just tried to turn it on for my USPS PO Box, it doesn't work. They require you to verify your identity via an online option that just reports that it didn't work or in-person verification. To verify in person you need a us government issued ID (passport, military, but not state gov) and if the address there doesn't match you need a secondary document (mortgage, bill, etc.) The only things I receive at my PO are amateur radio documents and domain registration scams. There are less stringent identification requirements to buy a handgun in California (State ID + supporting document)
That said, I'd really like it to work because it would save me trips down to the post-office only to collect junk mail and the previous PO box tenants non-forwarded correspondence.
That said, I'd really like it to work because it would save me trips down to the post-office only to collect junk mail and the previous PO box tenants non-forwarded correspondence.
>"Participate in this new USPS® service enhancement test and get images of the mail that will be placed in your mailbox each day"
What is that "enhancing" exactly? An enhancement would be the option to not have something delivered to my mailbox at all because it is not important or is junk mail. Such an enhancement was provided by a startup called Outbox that the Post Master General put out of business because it was in conflict with the US Post Offices biggest "customer" the direct marketing industry. Outbox did many other things too like deposit checks for you and shred mail if you elected to do so.
see: https://www.forbes.com/sites/theopriestley/2015/12/08/usps-l...
After September 11th the Post Office began scanning all American's mail. So it sounds like someone got the bright idea to repurpose that invasion of privacy as an "enhancement."
What is that "enhancing" exactly? An enhancement would be the option to not have something delivered to my mailbox at all because it is not important or is junk mail. Such an enhancement was provided by a startup called Outbox that the Post Master General put out of business because it was in conflict with the US Post Offices biggest "customer" the direct marketing industry. Outbox did many other things too like deposit checks for you and shred mail if you elected to do so.
see: https://www.forbes.com/sites/theopriestley/2015/12/08/usps-l...
After September 11th the Post Office began scanning all American's mail. So it sounds like someone got the bright idea to repurpose that invasion of privacy as an "enhancement."
Can we just get a solid "do not call" list for mail. Like 90% of my physical mail is junk and it's bullshit. I'm kind of on the edge of wanting to be rid of all letter delivery in its entirety.
A very cynical and cruel interpretation of the modern post office is that its real business model is to subsidize political mailers during campaign season (which are phenomenally cheap) with junk mail, while conveniently providing jobs.
Politicians, who are the benefactors of the low priced mailers, and who have an interest in preserving the few no college required jobs left, thus are incentivized to support the USPS at all cost, so they do.
It's not the only interpretation of the modern USPS, but it's hard not to grumble about that one when using the incredibly poorly run locations that bless NYC. It's also hard to love the USPS when you consider that this interpretation results in thousands of tons of paper printed, moved, delivered, and then put directly in landfills every year for essentially no benefit.
Politicians, who are the benefactors of the low priced mailers, and who have an interest in preserving the few no college required jobs left, thus are incentivized to support the USPS at all cost, so they do.
It's not the only interpretation of the modern USPS, but it's hard not to grumble about that one when using the incredibly poorly run locations that bless NYC. It's also hard to love the USPS when you consider that this interpretation results in thousands of tons of paper printed, moved, delivered, and then put directly in landfills every year for essentially no benefit.
You can register with the Data & Marketing Association to opt out of most junk mail:
https://www.usa.gov/telemarketing#item-35222
https://www.usa.gov/telemarketing#item-35222
I have a sneaking suspicion[1] that this won't be happening anytime soon.
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/business/seeking-revenue-p...
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/business/seeking-revenue-p...
Junk mail subsidizes the postal service.
here you go:
https://about.usps.com/forms/ps1500.pdf
I've been using this for over a year. I am still surprised how often I am tempted to click "report spam". I have no problem with the email, but it's amazing how many days in a row I only receive junk mail. (And this isn't the local spam that the USPS gets paid to deliver, someone really made an envelope with my name and address on it, stuck their junk in, and put a stamp on it.)
I kind of suspected the USPS tracked standard postage mail for a long time but had my suspicions confirmed after watching the first season of the US tv show hunted. Investigators were able to review images of mail sent to potential friends of contestants.
I'm trying to imagine a situation in which this would be useful and I can't think of one. Perhaps my lack of imagination is because I haven't cared for years what letters come in the mail—It's all bills and spam.
All of my mail is delivered to a PO Box at a post office downtown. I don't go into town often and sometimes make special trips just to check my mail.
I don't expect to use this service but, at times, it would be nice to see what mail is waiting for me to pick up. If I knew there wasn't anything important there, I might just skip going and save myself a trip.
Also, my next door neighbors are out-of-state travelling for about half of the year and I get their mail while they're gone. They let me know if they're expecting something important so that I can open it and tell them what it says or forward it to them or whatever while they're gone. With this service, they would know for sure when those items arrive.
I don't expect to use this service but, at times, it would be nice to see what mail is waiting for me to pick up. If I knew there wasn't anything important there, I might just skip going and save myself a trip.
Also, my next door neighbors are out-of-state travelling for about half of the year and I get their mail while they're gone. They let me know if they're expecting something important so that I can open it and tell them what it says or forward it to them or whatever while they're gone. With this service, they would know for sure when those items arrive.
That's neat, but it would be even cooler if they sent you the photos online. The fact that they are printing them out and sending them to you in the mail shows just how behind the USPS is when it comes to technology.
Why don't they offer a junk mail filtering service?
I'm sure it could be trained to be highly accurate and let you whitelist as needed.
They just have to make sure to charge enough to still profit after accounting for lost junk mail revenue.
I'm sure it could be trained to be highly accurate and let you whitelist as needed.
They just have to make sure to charge enough to still profit after accounting for lost junk mail revenue.
Would imagine there are people that will use this to spy on a spouse or a significant other who gets mail at the same address but is able to get it out of the mailbox before the paranoid party gets home.
There is today. Its called intercept the letter carrier. We know what's up. Hiding the bill or the package.
Once had a lady tell me she wanted to surprise her husband by paying the mortgage when i delivered a certified from her bank. (She drove her van to find me each day) when I gave her the cert AND the (usual) non-certified piece she said she was paying in 1/2 in each letter. I knew it was BS and the letter was "bad"
Once had a lady tell me she wanted to surprise her husband by paying the mortgage when i delivered a certified from her bank. (She drove her van to find me each day) when I gave her the cert AND the (usual) non-certified piece she said she was paying in 1/2 in each letter. I knew it was BS and the letter was "bad"
The one thing I'd like to pay the post office for is to stop delivery to my house.
If my mailbox were a Gmail inbox it'd be 98% spam, 2% government. And yet, it's a Gmail inbox I can't close.
If my mailbox were a Gmail inbox it'd be 98% spam, 2% government. And yet, it's a Gmail inbox I can't close.
The USPS would never offer that feature. They get directly paid [1] to deliver that spam, so providing you a 'cutoff' method directly effects their bottom line because the sender will not want to pay for items that never get delivered.
But I do agree, it would be a nice feature to have a "no junk mail" switch that could be turned on.
[1] I believe they do not charge a high enough price for the junk, but they do get paid to deliver it in any case.
But I do agree, it would be a nice feature to have a "no junk mail" switch that could be turned on.
[1] I believe they do not charge a high enough price for the junk, but they do get paid to deliver it in any case.
There was https://www.google.com/contributor , where you would pay them a monthly fee and they wouldn't serve google ad network ads to you.
USPS could do the same thing. $1-2 / month for mail delivery service?
USPS could do the same thing. $1-2 / month for mail delivery service?
Have you tried this?:
1. Get a box (not too large - just small enough to fit thru the door of the post offices package box - or better, use one of the USPS free shipping boxes)
2. Collect the junk mail, and put it in the box, sans any identifying information (this is important!)
3. As you collect the junk mail, keep back one of the pre-paid envelopes sent with some junk mail.
4. When the box is full, tape it up, and tape or glue the pre-paid envelope to the front. Alternatively, put the address of the postmaster general on the front. Leave the return address blank!
5. Take it to a random post office, and mail it. Use the outside boxes, and make sure not to be caught on any cameras (you may need to do a bit of looking around first)
6. Repeat as needed, paying attention to the previous step and not using the same post office each time.
This is probably not completely legal - but if you do mail it to the postmaster general instead of using a pre-paid envelope, I think you can do so without needing to pay for a stamp or anything (can't recall).
It might be very satisfying to do it once or twice, though.
/ymmv, the above is for entertainment purposes only
1. Get a box (not too large - just small enough to fit thru the door of the post offices package box - or better, use one of the USPS free shipping boxes)
2. Collect the junk mail, and put it in the box, sans any identifying information (this is important!)
3. As you collect the junk mail, keep back one of the pre-paid envelopes sent with some junk mail.
4. When the box is full, tape it up, and tape or glue the pre-paid envelope to the front. Alternatively, put the address of the postmaster general on the front. Leave the return address blank!
5. Take it to a random post office, and mail it. Use the outside boxes, and make sure not to be caught on any cameras (you may need to do a bit of looking around first)
6. Repeat as needed, paying attention to the previous step and not using the same post office each time.
This is probably not completely legal - but if you do mail it to the postmaster general instead of using a pre-paid envelope, I think you can do so without needing to pay for a stamp or anything (can't recall).
It might be very satisfying to do it once or twice, though.
/ymmv, the above is for entertainment purposes only
There was a Seinfeld episode where Kramer tries to opt out of the mail system. I always wondered - can you do that? Is there a law saying that you have to receive mail?
No law. Just don't have a mail receptacle.
What I like about this, despite the privacy implications, is that it lets you preview upcoming mail. Less keys for me to carry every day.
As others have said, this imagery is already created and stored. That said, people with PO Boxes who don't necessarily check them daily would probably be a good use case for this.
A friend (really!) subscribed to this so that he could be sure that his wife wasn't tossing some of his mail. Trust but verify.
So you get a preview of the mail electronically... but you still have to physically sort through it and throw away the junk mail?
I had this in the UWS of NYC last year, and it is worthless. It's just another reminder of how much spam mail you get.
I signed up for this to try it out. Hopefully, I am not giving up too much privacy (if I have given up any privacy at all).
You are not. The USPS already images all mail for all persons[0]. Not to mention their use of license plate scanners[1] if you're picking up your mail at a post office.
[0]: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/us/monitoring-of-snail-mai...
[1]: http://kdvr.com/2015/03/11/mysterious-spy-cameras-collecting...
[0]: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/us/monitoring-of-snail-mai...
[1]: http://kdvr.com/2015/03/11/mysterious-spy-cameras-collecting...
I haven't tried it, but it sounds like the only option is sending it over unencrypted email which would add a few vectors if you're concerned about privacy.
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on one hand it's seems like a nice feature but I can't help but to think this is clever marketing spin for a surveillance backed project.
And on yet another hand it's obvious you can't deliver mail at $.49 a pop without heavy doses of automation. Surveillance or not, the USPS will be taking images of your mail.
They use OCR to interpret as many addresses as possible, then resort to sending digital images of difficult labels to remote centers to be read by a human. See http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/usps-remote-encoding-faci...
So, of course they have images of all your mail.
Also, it's been known for some time that the federal government collects data on mail, like emails and phone calls. This article covers that, from 2013... https://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/us/monitoring-of-snail... and it involves this program, which apparently exists for legitimate business purposes, but the data is also used for surveillance: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_Isolation_Control_and_T...
So, of course they have images of all your mail.
Also, it's been known for some time that the federal government collects data on mail, like emails and phone calls. This article covers that, from 2013... https://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/us/monitoring-of-snail... and it involves this program, which apparently exists for legitimate business purposes, but the data is also used for surveillance: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_Isolation_Control_and_T...
Everything sent via USPS is already scanned and put into a surveillance system (Google for "mail cover").
This product is likely a result of the data collected from the surveillance project, not the other way around.
This product is likely a result of the data collected from the surveillance project, not the other way around.
It's great - a very important tool I rely on daily now!
I bet they already have to do this for the NSA / CIA / FBI so why not profit from it as well as a separate product that people will pay extra for? Genius!
Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to HN?
If you have a substantive point to make, make it thoughtfully; otherwise please don't comment until you do.
If you have a substantive point to make, make it thoughtfully; otherwise please don't comment until you do.
dang, I think koolba had a good point and was not trolling. It's an open secret that the US government tracks mail, though I think the details are not well understood. USPS has probably been taking pictures of the outside of everyone's mail for a long time and somebody recently had the bright idea to monetize it.
Given that I'm not the only one in this thread pointing out that the source of this offering is most likely driven from features designed for three-letter agencies, I'd argue my comment was substantive (though I'll give you the point that it was written a bit cheekily).
While certainly useful to three letter agencies, the original reason for imaging the front of mail-pieces is for mail routing. The mail-pieces that don't have routing bar-codes in the address areas get fed to an OCR system to read the address data (with a fallback to humans for the last few that OCR can't read) so the computer system knows where to route the mail-piece. In order to read the address text via. OCR one needs an image of the front of the envelope to feed to the OCR system. This new offering is just leveraging that scanning process that has been in place for a very long time. The biggest difference might be that previously the image went from scan to OCR to deletion and instead now they've decided to replace "delete" with "store" to make this new offering feasible.
> This new offering is just leveraging that scanning process that has been in place for a very long time. The biggest difference might be that previously the image went from scan to OCR to deletion and instead now they've decided to replace "delete" with "store" to make this new offering feasible.
And with my tinfoil hat on, I'm saying it's probably driven by requests from three-letter agencies. We already know they scan the covers not just for automated processing (which as you mention wouldn't require saving the image after the OCR is complete), but to also provide it to law enforcement.
If public pressure is forcing those agencies to be more forthright with what data they're collecting and storing, it conceivable for them to push that responsibility upstream. If the USPS is going to be imaging and storing everyone's mail, there's no need for other agencies to do so. They can just access it on the fly.
Arguably, the government would save money with this approach as well as I'm sure all three major agencies would want a full copy the data set.
And with my tinfoil hat on, I'm saying it's probably driven by requests from three-letter agencies. We already know they scan the covers not just for automated processing (which as you mention wouldn't require saving the image after the OCR is complete), but to also provide it to law enforcement.
If public pressure is forcing those agencies to be more forthright with what data they're collecting and storing, it conceivable for them to push that responsibility upstream. If the USPS is going to be imaging and storing everyone's mail, there's no need for other agencies to do so. They can just access it on the fly.
Arguably, the government would save money with this approach as well as I'm sure all three major agencies would want a full copy the data set.
Yes, in fact they do: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/us/monitoring-of-snail-mai...
Though I'm sure the primary purpose of scanning envelopes is, ya know, to see where they're going.
Though I'm sure the primary purpose of scanning envelopes is, ya know, to see where they're going.
Mail covers[1] are a very old surveillance technique and mail isolation control and tracking/MICP[2] has been standard on all parcels since early 2000s
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_cover 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_Isolation_Control_and_Tra...
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_cover 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_Isolation_Control_and_Tra...
It's free.
> It's free.
For now sure but there's no reason this couldn't be a premium service down the road.
Heck, I'd pay for it if it allowed me to access it programmatically, process the cover images to filter junk mail, and have them (for an added fee / driven by API) shred them for me.
If anyone wants to try building it that idea out let me know. I'll beta test.
For now sure but there's no reason this couldn't be a premium service down the road.
Heck, I'd pay for it if it allowed me to access it programmatically, process the cover images to filter junk mail, and have them (for an added fee / driven by API) shred them for me.
If anyone wants to try building it that idea out let me know. I'll beta test.
This is already a service and has been for a long time:
https://www.earthclassmail.com/
https://www.earthclassmail.com/
I looked at that years ago and found enough complaints about it thatI picked a lower-tech service. Be sure to do some research before you try it.
A positive testimony here for Earth Class Mail. Using them for several years now. It seems like they were in difficult times maybe five years ago. Since then, they went through a re-org, found a new CEO, and are by all signs doing well. New addresses and features added periodically. They regularly ship (forward) for us internationally too.
Good to know, thanks!
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Any address that can't be machine-read (which is, like, 5%?) is sent via teh internet to some people sitting in a "cheap labor" place like WV where it is keyed in by a person.
Later, the typed results go back to the origin and a barcode is slapped on the letter. How do they find the right letter, you ask? Look for the florescent barcode at the back: that uniquely identifies the letter. So unreadable mail is scanned twice to get barcoded. After it's barcoded, the only human who looks at it is your delivery person.