USPS's "Informed Delivery"--sneak a peek at your incoming mail before you get it

[agate]

The US Postal Service (USPS) sends me messages because I'm signed up on its Website, and today I received this news:

We are excited to announce that the My USPS application will soon be upgraded to offer you more benefits and convenience.No action is required from you - you will retain your My USPS benefits, but will also have access to Informed Delivery--a new, free feature that gives you the ability to see a digital preview of your incoming mail. Informed Delivery allows you to view grayscale images of the exterior, address side of your household’s letter-sized mailpieces* on a computer, tablet, or mobile device. This new feature offers the convenience of seeing what is coming to your mailbox - anytime, anywhere.

Now when you log in to your My USPS account, you will be able to track packages and view a preview of your letter-sized mailpieces in one, integrated dashboard. Your dashboard will display mailpiece images for a seven-day period; you can also opt to receive these images via email notification.

This could be useful--or no?

If you're interested, you can find out more at Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register.... Look for "Informed Delivery" there.

[Howie]

They should have done this a long time ago. Amazon does this, whoever is delivering. It's nice to know if you can go to the grocery store today, because you know something you ordered, will be coming on a certain day.

[Virginia]

Guess when I am having a hard time walking to the mailbox, it might be useful to know if anything important is coming through. Otherwise, I am not sure I would think to look at it.

[agate]

I signed up for it right away. It's been nice sometimes to track packages, and you can do that with UPS or FedEx or the US post office. This "Informed Delivery" should help when I need to know when I'm getting something important that I'm waiting for. It doesn't happen very often but it does happen.

"Informed Delivery" doesn't let you know about catalogs or magazines or packages as I understand it.

[Howie]

I chuckled the first time I ordered from Amazon. It sends you an email telling the arrive / depart time of the whole journey. The first tells you it has shipped, and the last one says, "it is on your front porch". I get up, walk to the front door, and there it was.

[stillstANNding]

I am wondering why they do this? What value it has? And how long have they been copying the outside of envelopes and are they storing that information.

ANN

[agate]

I like that too. It makes me feel all secure and cozy-like, as if that package really exists out there.

You go to a store and pick out an item and from then on it's not out of your sight. You even watch as it's rung up and handed to you personally, and then you take it home. It's yours, all yours, all the time.

Picking out an item online (or from a mail-order catalog) is always uncertain until you actually get the package. It could go astray. They could lose your order.

The tracking system lets you know if your package is in Pierre, South Dakota, or some other place. I often wonder just what it's doing in these places but the ways of the postal service are mysterious.

[Howie]

I think it's mostly for their own protection if an item gets lost, they can pinpoint the last place that had it, and where it was headed next. A lost item has to be replaced at the expense of the last place that had it.

[stillstANNding]

I think I am talking envelopes and Howie and Agate are talking packages. I already can follow both USP and USPS packages.

It's the scan envelopes that's new. Do I have that right?
ANN

[agate]

You're absolutely right, ANN. The package tracking system is already in place. This additional and separate system is a way of finding out what letter-size items are on their way to us.

From the FAQ about "Informed Delivery":

Can I get an image of incoming packages via the Informed Delivery^® notification?

No. All USPS^® customers have access to USPS Tracking^® that enables them to track their household’s packages. Visit Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register... for additional details on personalized package tracking.

[jendie]

My biggest issue is that lately there are new postal carriers who don't know how to properly sort the mail. I live in a 4-plex, that is next to a pair of duplexes. My building number is 1008 and I have been getting mail for 1018 and 1020, plus I got a notification that a package had been delivered to MY apt, B, but in reality if was delivered to apt, C. I called the post office and complained.

I don't think informed delivery would work in this type of situation, though I did just sign up for it.

[stillstANNding]

Jendie, our street really delivers mail to each other every summer when the part-timers are on. I don't mind delivering but you do wonder what you never got.

This new peek at your envelops would solve that.
ANN

[agate]

I received my first e-mail from the Informed Delivery service. There's even a place to check if you didn't receive any of the items pictured.

Today's mail looks very uninteresting but maybe the actual mailbox will hold items not included in the e-mail.

Like one of those envelopes shouting "You may already have won!"

[agate]

OK. The mailbox contained exactly the two pieces of mail pictured in the e-mail, plus a mail-order catalog, but Informed Delivery doesn't include those.

This is going to be very handy in the next few days when I'm waiting for a couple of important letters to come along and would be relieved to know that they're about to reach me because I need them by the 10th.

[Howie]

I got my first informed delivery today. You just see a poor photo of the outside of each envelope. But there was also a small package from Amazon. UPS may have passed it over to USPS to finish delivering it. There was no photo of it on the informed delivery site.