Do you use Microsoft's free Seeing AI app or KNFB Reader to scan, sort and read your mail? Well, the US Postal Service may now be ready to save you at least one of those steps: scanning your envelopes so you can quickly sort through the deluge and select what's important to actually open and read. The service is called Informed Delivery, and it's currently available to residential consumers and eligible personal PO Box addresses throughout most of the United States.
For over 20 years the USPS has been creating a scanned copy of the outside of every piece of mail processed—over 149 billion pieces of mail per year. These scans help with sorting, but I suspect that at least one of the reasons for saving these digital scans may have something to do with the Patriot Act, though note that I have no evidence that this is true.
Whatever the reason, the US Postal Service is now sharing these digital images with recipients, via email, a Web portal, or both.
To sign up for the service, log on to the Informed Delivery website. A link is also prominently featured on the USPS.com homepage. You'll need to either sign up for a USPS account or sign into your current account. After filling out an Informed Delivery application you are then asked a few credit bureau questions, such as which employer or home address you've been associated with, to establish your bona fides.
After completing my application, I began receiving daily emails with envelope images attached. I am told by a postal representative that up to ten images can be included in a daily email, but all are available from the website. The email also contains a link so you can quickly log on and view your images there. I usually received the emails by 8 am, long before my normal 4 pm delivery.
Using my iPhone to open these emails, each piece of mail is labeled "Scanned image of your mail piece." Now I can double tap and hold to call up Mail's Share sheet, and select Recognize with Seeing AI. I could, alternatively, use KNFB Reader, or JAWS OCR capabilities to do the same on my Windows PC.
Today, I had a single piece listed in my daily email, and a quick OCR showed me that all I could expect in the day's delivery was junk mail. Yesterday I could tell by the outside address that one of my four pieces of mail was payment for a previous AccessWorld article. I know the shape of an AFB envelope, which made it easy to pick out of the pile when I walked to the bottom of my driveway to fetch the day's offerings. Another was an insurance form for my wife. Apparently once I signed up with my address, I would henceforth be notified of all letter and post-card size mail processed on USPS automation equipment arriving at my address. Images of flats such as magazines and catalogues are not captured, nor are images of packages. In emails, package information is presented as status updates when it's available. In addition, some products like Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) or saturation mail (mail addressed using mailing lists), are also not available at this time.
Granted, receiving images of the day's mail is not a huge time saver, but if you use a post office box to collect your mail, or if you're waiting for something important, it's an easy way to check if it's on its way, or if it was lost in the mail. The service recommends waiting at least seven days before reporting a missing letter. On the positive side, if you are missing that letter you can determine if it was out for delivery and lost then or if it was never sent. No more "the check's in the mail."
The reason for scanning mail is to use optical character recognition to facilitate delivery. With the resources of the USPS, it's not unreasonable to assume these are high-quality scan recognitions, far more accurate than you can do when you "try this at home." Perhaps with the proper lobbying, this could be the beginning of making snail mail universally accessible. How difficult could it be, after all, to offer a "Send my images with text" OCR option on an Informed Delivery account?
This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.
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