My USPS Informed Delivery

[Yarome]

Very cool!

USPS Informed Delivery

[SWharton]

Big Brother is watching you.....................

[Kirk W]

5 hours ago, Yarome said:

Very cool!

Have you found it useful? Just what does it tell you?

[Jaydrvr]

1 hour ago, Kirk Wood said:

Have you found it useful? Just what does it tell you?

This has been an exceptional asset for me. It shows a scan of the front of incoming mail. If there's anything I don't recognize as routine, I can then ask my daughter to make a P.O. Box run to check it out. Otherwise, I leave the snail mail on autopilot... And my daughter doesn't have to schlep three tiny ones to the post office unnecessarily.

[pjstough]

We have been using Informed Delivery for about six weeks, and really like it.  In the summer we get our mail at a post office box at a post office about three miles from us so knowing what mail is in our post office box is nice.  So if we are waiting for something in particular we dont have to go to the post office everyday, we just wait till it shows up in our email.  Also, it is nice when you get something important that you are not expecting.

[Yarome]

7 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

Have you found it useful? Just what does it tell you?

I just received the notification last night and have not actually used it yet. Likely, as the service has expanded, it was just made available in my area.

As Jay and Paul mentioned though, I can certainly see a benefit in being able to "pre-sort" the riff from the raff. I do have scanning service with my current forwarder, but I have to "pay per piece" (95% of which turns out to be "junk"). If USPS want to do it for me for free... all the better! 

Updated: I just read the notice again. I guess it says "coming soon", so not yet an option for me. I'll be looking forward to it though.

[StarDreamers.us]

Very good addition to the service.

 

Safe Travels!

[SWharton]

I guess I don't see much use for this. From my viewpoint, the USPS could drop delivery to one day a week. I have thought that for several years. I have as much as possible sent to me electronically and get maybe one piece of mail a week(plus all the junk mail).

When on the road we use Escapees and I doubt if this would work.

 

[Dutch_12078]

2 hours ago, SWharton said:

I guess I don't see much use for this. From my viewpoint, the USPS could drop delivery to one day a week. I have thought that for several years. I have as much as possible sent to me electronically and get maybe one piece of mail a week(plus all the junk mail).

When on the road we use Escapees and I doubt if this would work.

 

If you're having your regular mail temporarily forwarded to Escapees while you're traveling, yes, Informed Delivery will still notify you of any mail being scanned by the sorting system. The USPS forwarding label doesn't get added until after the mail has been scanned. You would not be notified of any mail sent directly to your Escapees address, since the system sees it as a commercial address that isn't eligible for Informed Delivery.

[cpaulsen]

USPS kinda sucks at times!! Waiting for a package the other day.....USPS showed it was ot delivered to the location I had it sent too............but left a tag with the person at the office(to be delivered too). Then another notification that it was at another post office about 15 miles away. So.......drove to the location the tag was left at and ....NO TAG was left. In fact the lady thee said she helped the post office delivery person  bring the packages in and made everything was there except not mine..and there no "attempted delivery receipt"! So....off I go the the main post office.........and they got the postmaster involved who said that he could not understand the notification at the one post which was so far away. He checked and checked and finally called the delivery driver  who said she finally dropped those packages off just recently! I asked the postmaster why the notifications showed what they did and he said "it is just an automated general response." Went back the original location where the package was to be delivered to  and my package was there. ...5 hours after the first notification.

[Al F]

I'm sure everyone has war stories about the USPS. 

Mine is a mail order prescription (Rx) I messed up on and had shipped to our house which had already been set up for forwarding to Escapees in Livingston, TX.  The Rx got forwarded from our house to USPS distribution facility in NW Houston and then sent to Dulles International airport at Washington DC and then to the distribution center near by.  After about 24 hours there it went back to Houston and finally to Escapees. 

 

[RV_]

I had a set of expensive rechargeable batteries stolen and the empty envelope delivered.

We had the Post Office at Chimacum Washington say they had no package for me for three days after it was delievered and I got some rude responses when I asked them to double check the packages in general delivery, which was how Evergreen CoOp said it must be done. We were there an extra three days and they suddenly found it and no apology for doubting it was there. She never looked! That was back in 1999.

I have been using my UPS which emails me package delivery notifications as well.

[Dutch_12078]

6 hours ago, RV_ said:

I had a set of expensive rechargeable batteries stolen and the empty envelope delivered.

We had the Post Office at Chimacum Washington say they had no package for me for three days after it was delievered and I got some rude responses when I asked them to double check the packages in general delivery, which was how Evergreen CoOp said it must be done. We were there an extra three days and they suddenly found it and no apology for doubting it was there. She never looked! That was back in 1999.

I have been using my UPS which emails me package delivery notifications as well.

I get email, text, or app alerts for packages coming by USPS, UPS, and FEDEX. And Informed Delivery emails for auto sorted regular mail.

[rynosback]

Looks cool, I will have to play with it.

[vermilye]

Just a heads up - the images only include mail that goes through the automated sorter.  I've been using it for a couple of weeks and it only has shown about 1/2 the pieces of mail that end up in my mailbox.  It has included all the bills, but misses lots of junk & bulk mail, as well as packages, even large envelopes.

[Dutch_12078]

A "My USPS" account is a good companion to Informed Delivery if you regularly receive packages. Informed Delivery  notifies you of exactly what they say they will, only the mail that is photographed as part of the automatic sorting process. I suggest anyone that thinks it may be useful give it a try. You can easily opt out if it doesn't do what you want.

[Kirk W]

I have had the "My USPS" for quite some time as I use that to arrange mail holds or temporary forwarding when we travel. I did go in and join the "Informed Delivery" and I just received my first email from them and it is an image of the item that just went into "hold" for me. It looks to me as though it would be a good companion to any mail forwarding service as well since it lets you know what is there and would mean you don't bother having mail forwarded unless there is something worth getting. 

[Dutch_12078]

I don't think the various RV mail forwarder addresses are eligible for Informed Delivery. As I recall, someone reported attempting to sign up and being turned down as a commercial address. It would still work for mail temporarily forwarded to the service, based on the original address. I hope I'm wrong about the RV mail forwarders though...

[docj]

7 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

I hope I'm wrong about the RV mail forwarders though...

FWIW we've been getting this same information from our mail forwarding provider (MyDakotaAddress) for the past 6+ years.  And, in addition, they send emails containing scans of any items I want with no extra charge.

[Dutch_12078]

Yes, if your forwarder offers those services, then Informed Delivery isn't necessary. For those that only temporarily forward to a commercial forwarder though, it can still be useful to know what mail is being sent on to your forwarder.

[Kirk W]

12 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

For those that only temporarily forward to a commercial forwarder though, it can still be useful to know what mail is being sent on to your forwarder.

It is also very useful if you use a PO box, have your mail on hold, are forwarding mail to a mail service, or any of several other reasons. According to the USPS, eventurally it will be available to all postal users as the program is being phased in by zip code. If that is true, it will probably include even mail services, unless they plan to exclude commercial addresses. I have not checked that yet, but will next time I am at the Post Office. 

[Dutch_12078]

They already exclude commercial addresses, so that may continue to be a hindrance for full-time forwarder users.

[RV_]

Yarome,

Update. I have been using this now since my last post above. It is excellent but like peeking at a baby's sex some love the surprise and others don't! <grin> I love scanning to see if anything besides junk mail is in there each day. I have a 300 foot drive so I can let it wait until one of us drives to town or I mow if it is just junk. We get a lot of royalty checks and other checks as I do buy when rebates are involved, my last was a $75 dollar rebate on a .40 cal. S&W M&P Shield handgun. Bought it on base so no sales tax as well. Made it end up being only $230 or so. I forget. Just popped up in the mail 8 weeks later when I wasn't looking for it. Very handy program, thanks!

[eddie1261]

On 7/8/2017 at 6:06 AM, SWharton said:

Big Brother is watching you.....................

They have been watching for decades. I was a mailman for 8 years and mail was routinely, um, "looked over".... No 1984 here.

From the USPS perspective, I am trying to figure out why an organization that is already bleeding cash is adding a service which cost me nothing to sign up for yet adds man hours to their end of the operation. Very curious.

I, like you, could do with mail once a week. The 1st class mail I get now is monthly type stuff. The rest of it I walk directly to my trash can, which is on my way from mailbox to rear door. I haven't looked at a store circular for years. I know what I want to buy, and I know how to find it online. I pretty much buy everything online other than fresh food items and stuff like clothes that I have to try on. The digital world has truly made the post office 98% obsolete.

[eddie1261]

6 hours ago, RV_ said:

We get a lot of royalty checks and other checks as I do buy when rebates are involved, my last was a $75 dollar rebate on a .40 cal. S&W M&P Shield handgun.

So, I just signed up for this too just to see what it's all about, but I have to ask. Does this do anything for you other than let you know early in the day what is arriving later? I mean, does this somehow enter into decision making or alter your day at all? I can see the value of knowing when a check is coming when you live in a horrible area like I do and mail is stolen from random mailboxes quite often. But in general, I will have to see what this brings to the table before I decide to stay in or opt back out.  I am quite atypical because I get nothing in the mail. And once I finally go full time and this house and the accompanying bills go away, I will get no 1st class mail at all outside of the courtesy notices when my license plates are going to expire, which I find ironic since my birthday has not changed in 66 years.... Also know that I am retired so I am home close to 24 hours a day. I take my dog to a park every day, I shop for food, and do annoying errands. I only put gas in my car like twice a month.