Checking your mail will soon be as easy as checking your e-mail

[Shawn Knight]

The US Postal Service will soon make checking your mail as easy as checking your e-mail. That's because the USPS is actively testing a service it calls Informed Delivery - a daily e-mail that contains pictures of the mail destined for your physical mail box that day.

The service, which may seem asinine to some, will only be offered to residential addresses (sorry, no businesses). Furthermore, participants will only be able to see scans of the front-side of letter-sized envelopes in greyscale. Only 10 pieces of mail will be sent to your inbox each day; additional image scans can be viewed on the USPS website.

Packages and other odd-sized parcels won't be included in the daily inbox message although the USPS does eventually plan to add support for magazines and catalogs. Daily messages should arrive in inboxes no later than 10:00 AM EST daily, Monday through Saturday.

The USPS has been testing Informed Delivery in several zip codes in Northern Virginia since last year with plans to expand to the New York City metro area and some sections of Connecticut in the near future (if not already available). The postal service said it is free to participate in Informed Delivery.

So, when would such a feature come in handy? If you're traveling and expecting an important piece of mail, one could use Informed Delivery to verify when it arrives and have a friend or family member retrieve the letter. Or if you're feeling extra lazy, a quick look in your e-mail inbox could tell you whether or not it's worth venturing outside into the elements to grab the mail.

Image courtesy Paul J. Richards, Getty Images

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https://www.techspot.com/news/63079-checking-mail-soon-easy-checking-e-mail.html

 

[Uncle Al]

And when hackers are able to access it, they will have a ready inventory of which addresses to hit in order to pick up all sorts of material they otherwise would not be sure of ..... yeah, great service!!!!

 

[MoeJoe]

And when hackers are able to access it, they will have a ready inventory of which addresses to hit in order to pick up all sorts of material they otherwise would not be sure of ..... yeah, great service!!!!

Another ill-conceived Millennial innovation.

 

[Sniped_Ash]

Rand Paul is gonna **** A BRICK.

 

[Ziffel]

This isn't the service I want. What I want is the ability to see what's coming and REFUSE it before it gets here. I'd like the ability to opt out of ALL mail addressed to 'current resident', and blind bulk rate mail -- in other words I want the ability to cut off junk mail, but of course the USPS won't offer that service, as much of their income comes from physical mail spammers.

 

[Uncle Al]

I am seriously contemplating the development of a new kind of mailbox for the residential client. It will consist of a similar looking mailbox, but have the ability to sort the incoming stuff by size and value based on the stamp. Anything that does not meet the criteria will drop into a lower chamber that includes a shredder and small incinerator. Right now I'm working through the engineering to have a water-tube system to capture all the BTU's and cycle them back into the residential hot water heater so I can apply to have it "green" licensed as well as a small smoke stack that has a whistle on it to notify the home owner that there has been a deposit into the system. We're figuring we can build and sell each unit for about $1,000 each (plus installation) but I'm going to need to see if I can get some crowd funding to make a go of it. In as much as only 1 of 10 makes it, I figure I should get about $250,000,000 in funding, after which I can proclaim bankruptcy and move down to one of the nicer islands, build a house, employ LBFM's and basically enjoy the remainder of my life ........ any contributors?

 

[Yynxs]

Well, up until now, anyone needing access to mail posted to you before you received it had to get a warrant or commit a federal crime to even view the outside of the envelope.

Keep moving, no loss of privacy here.

 

[BabyFaceLee]

Oh puhleeez. Yet another ridiculous 'Just because you can doesn't mean you should' idea by solving problems that don't exist. If only such effort went into the REAL problems in this world. Anyone for fiddling whilst Rome burns?

 

[pmshah]

Why can't they build an app like whatsapp which is linked to one's mobile telephone ? Only way it can be hacked is if one's phone was cloned, a much less of an occurrence. Secondly scanning the packages is more important since most need signing for them. I have sent some gifts for my grand daughters. My daughter could easily sign for and pick them up at the post office itself as she works in the vicinity in stead of staying at home for it.