Going on vacation and expecting an important letter? Wondering what credit card offer is on its way in the mail? Now you won’t even have to wait for the mail carrier to find out.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has launched a new service (in beta testing) called Informed Delivery® (limited ZIP Codes at this time; link below to check your availability).
Get up to 10 mail piece images in your morning email (before 9:00 AM EST daily), which can be viewed on any computer or a smart phone. Get more mail than that? Additional images are available for viewing on your online dashboard.
How’s it work?
According to USPS, “To automate the sortation and delivery of mail, USPS digitally images the front of mailpieces that run through our automation equipment. Now we are using those images for a second purpose: to provide digital notifications to users in advance of the delivery of physical mail.”
Informed Delivery:
- is an optional email notification service.
- is for residential consumers that sends an email to users containing.
- uses grayscale images of the outside, address side of letter–sized mailpieces that are arriving soon (no, not the inside contents… that’s a few years down the road?!).
- is viewable via daily email or from the user’s dashboard on informeddelivery.usps.com for a seven–day period.
- allows you to view your mail from anywhere in the world on a computer, tablet, or mobile device.
- is free!
Where is Informed Delivery available?
Informed Delivery is currently available in select parts of the U.S. for its beta testing, including areas of California, Connecticut, Maryland, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. The USPS says the feature will be rolled out nationwide sometime in 2017. You can use this ZIP Code™ lookup tool to see if Informed Delivery is offered in your area.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission.
This has to be one of the coolest hacks I’ve seen in quite awhile. Thanks for sharing!