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Informed Delivery<\/a> is a service from the United States Postal Service that scans the outside of your mail and shows you the images each morning before the mail is actually delivered.<\/p>\n While\u00a0the USPS first started testing the free service more than a year ago<\/a>, it\u2019s finally rolling out (almost) nationwide for residential addresses. Now\u00a0it\u2019s available in almost every major metropolitan area, and by April 14th will be available in\u00a0most of the remaining ZIP\u00a0Codes covering the U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n To make sure you aren\u2019t getting anyone else\u2019s mail, USPS sends you a physical letter with a verification code\u00a0when you sign up.<\/p>\n While you still won\u2019t be able to see the inside of your mail until it arrives, it should be helpful to know if an important letter is being delivered today or not.<\/p>\n Right now the service only provides black and white scans of regular letter-sized mail.\u00a0But in the future they may add other flat-sized pieces like magazines. Subscribers get an email digest each morning\u00a0with images of the first 10 pieces of mail, and a link to view the rest\u00a0if they received more than 10.<\/p>\n Interestingly, the USPS has already been scanning the outside of your mail for a while \u2014 it\u2019s how their automated equipment sorts it for delivery by ZIP\u00a0Code and street address. They also occasionally provide these images to law enforcement agencies<\/a> that request them as part of a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n So providing these images directly to users didn\u2019t require any additional hardware \u2014 just the software backend to direct the scanned images to the right accounts.<\/p>\n Startups have tried this before, like Outbox<\/a>,\u00a0which actually would scan and email you both the inside and outside of your mail. But they shut down in 2014 due to low demand and an upset postmaster general<\/a>, who thought the service \u201ccompromised the security and value of the mail.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n You can enter your ZIP Code here<\/a> to see if Informed Delivery is available\u00a0in your area and sign up now.<\/p>\n Featured Image: czarny_bez<\/a>\/Getty Images<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/03\/gettyimages-535354935.jpg?w=680\")
Informed Delivery is a service from the United States Postal Service that scans the outside of your mail and shows you the images each morning before the mail is actually delivered. While you still won’t be able to see the inside of your mail until it arrives, it should be helpful to know if an important letter is being delivered today or not. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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