This is one of those things that seemed sorta cool (but not really) and probably the future will look more like it than what we have today. But then you start thinking about the cost to operate it and trying to get people to pay for very marginal value. And it's pretty easy to predict demise. I'm sure folks will say that's not always the case so please provide some examples.
Outbox Is Shutting Down
11–20 of 97 posts
Re: Outbox Is Shutting Down
#12" senior leadership of USPS made it clear that they would never participate in any project that would limit junk mail and that they were immediately shutting down our partnership." This part is really interesting. Why would USPS do that ? Can someone from outbox elaborate on this ? I would love to get rid of the junk mail that I receive on a daily basis in my mailbox. It is crazy and I have to waste time in taking it…
doughj3 is right, postal mail would have been in the toilet so to speak, a long time sooner if it wasn't for the massive amount of junk mail that as he puts it "subsidizes" the service.
Up here in Canada I've almost got my mail to a point where I can tell them (Canada Post) to suspend service to my home. My estimate is that I'll have about 6 pounds less paper waste to drop into the recycling bin every month.
Re: Outbox Is Shutting Down
#13"total yield from the waitlist was under 10 percent" that's 10% paying customers that's definitely not as bad as they made it sound.
I'm a little surprised why did they think it would be a cheap operation. They send someone to pick up the mail from your house, that's insane. Of course that will be expensive. And it's only $5 per month. There are a few old school services that do the same but they ask the customer to redirect their mail to a specific new address. I wonder why outbox didn't go down that route.
Definitely sad to see them go.
Re: Outbox Is Shutting Down
#14" senior leadership of USPS made it clear that they would never participate in any project that would limit junk mail and that they were immediately shutting down our partnership." This part is really interesting. Why would USPS do that ? Can someone from outbox elaborate on this ? I would love to get rid of the junk mail that I receive on a daily basis in my mailbox. It is crazy and I have to waste time in taking it…
Employee unions at the USPS worried about further job losses due to technology. Can't do anything that would decrease revenue, even if it means technological progress.
Re: Outbox Is Shutting Down
#15" senior leadership of USPS made it clear that they would never participate in any project that would limit junk mail and that they were immediately shutting down our partnership." This part is really interesting. Why would USPS do that ? Can someone from outbox elaborate on this ? I would love to get rid of the junk mail that I receive on a daily basis in my mailbox. It is crazy and I have to waste time in taking it…
Sadly, USPS sees bulk mailers as their customer; American citizens (and our kitchen tables) are their product. It's like the old line: if you aren't paying for the service, you are the product. If curious, listen to a full story of it here: http://kut.org/post/austin-startup-says-you-ll-never-touch-s...
Re: Outbox Is Shutting Down
#16I read this kind of quickly but did they actually say that they raised $5,000,000 6 months ago, decided in that time that their business model would not work then decided to go into 'stealth mode' and work on their next fancy?
Re: Outbox Is Shutting Down
#17" senior leadership of USPS made it clear that they would never participate in any project that would limit junk mail and that they were immediately shutting down our partnership." This part is really interesting. Why would USPS do that ? Can someone from outbox elaborate on this ? I would love to get rid of the junk mail that I receive on a daily basis in my mailbox. It is crazy and I have to waste time in taking it…
"Why would USPS do that ?"
About 80% of the mail in my mailbox is junkmail. Someone is paying to send that. It seems pretty obvious why the USPS wouldn't want to limit junkmail.
Re: Outbox Is Shutting Down
#18One of the best letters of this kind I've seen. I like how they were up front about the mistakes/miscalculations they made, and what they learned from it.
Re: Outbox Is Shutting Down
#19[deleted]
Re: Outbox Is Shutting Down
#20Just a FYI there are a handful of companies already doing something very similar. Except instead of physically picking up your mail, they receive it on your behalf (made possible by USPS form 1583 [1]). Then they digitize and forward (you pay S&H.)