Digitally preview incoming USPS mail and packages • Hacker News Board

Re: Digitally preview incoming USPS mail and packages

#161

Post by niij » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 12:26 AM UTC

JoshTriplett wrote: post #97

gergles wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no feedback loop for most mail you don't want. Anything "standard" (or "STD") in the postage area will just be thrown away if you put it back in the mail stream. You'll also have to deal with every catalog being sent to "OR CURRENT RESIDENT". The prior owners of my place still get on average 9-10 pieces of mail a week here, and I just have to throw it all out. If one sender is especially egregious, I will co…

> (The prior owners refused to submit change of address forms, and when I contacted them they specifically said "we get too much junk mail and we want less of it!") I don't submit change of address forms, as the USPS sells the data from those to spammers. I do, however, systematically call and cancel any sources of spam, as well as redirecting any mail I actually want.

Do you have a source for them selling that information?

Re: Digitally preview incoming USPS mail and packages

#162

Post by Spooky23 » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 12:49 AM UTC

CharlesColeman wrote: post #93

_ea1k wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like they are saying it is not by design, but a mistake that they allowed you to sign up when your location isn't yet meeting the requirements. At least that is how I read the line about "unable to offer[...]until the coding is complete".

> It sounds like they are saying it is not by design, but a mistake that they allowed you to sign up when your location isn't yet meeting the requirements. Yeah, IIRC they don't support this feature for PO boxes, but I managed to accidentally get it for mine when I filed a change of address form. I regularly see notifications for mail really indented for a few other PO boxes. It's pretty clear that their automated so…

It’s not the postman, it’s that physical addresses get aligned with the stop on a mail route and other types of delivery do not.

Re: Digitally preview incoming USPS mail and packages

#163

Post by Spooky23 » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 12:52 AM UTC

lacey wrote: post #42

crazygringo wrote: post #38

I tried signing up for this 3 months ago, and was shocked to receive images for the mail of literally everyone in my building (I'm one of seven apartments). Huuuge privacy violation. (It's just images of the envelopes, but that still tells you a lot.) I unsubscribed and then went to file feedback, and got an immediate reply explaining this was by design : > Thank you for participating in Informed Delivery®. You recen…

I had a similar experience after moving a year ago. I kept receiving the emails for mail going to my previous address. This was despite my having filed a change of address. I suggested that this was a privacy problem and was told that it was my responsibility to stop the emails if I didn’t want to continue receiving them. After two or three more back-and-forth emails I still had absolutely no acknowledgement from the…

It isn’t a problem.

The outer envelope isn’t private by design and law. It’s metadata that is open to whomever sees it.

Re: Digitally preview incoming USPS mail and packages

#164

Post by mgerdts » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 12:54 AM UTC

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #154

eli wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can opt out of the vast majority of junk mail here if you wish: https://dmachoice.thedma.org/

Who/what is this? Official USPS service, third party...? It looks either really cool or really sketchy, and I can't tell which.

When I moved several years ago my new home got lots of catalogs for places I'd never shop at. I was shocked at how significantly it dropped the volume. Did nothing for things local ads, but the thick glossy catalogs all stopped.

Re: Digitally preview incoming USPS mail and packages

#165

Post by Spooky23 » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 1:08 AM UTC

JoshTriplett wrote: post #97

gergles wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no feedback loop for most mail you don't want. Anything "standard" (or "STD") in the postage area will just be thrown away if you put it back in the mail stream. You'll also have to deal with every catalog being sent to "OR CURRENT RESIDENT". The prior owners of my place still get on average 9-10 pieces of mail a week here, and I just have to throw it all out. If one sender is especially egregious, I will co…

> (The prior owners refused to submit change of address forms, and when I contacted them they specifically said "we get too much junk mail and we want less of it!") I don't submit change of address forms, as the USPS sells the data from those to spammers. I do, however, systematically call and cancel any sources of spam, as well as redirecting any mail I actually want.

It’s sort of a futile gesture, as DMV sells a real-time feed to multiple parties.

Re: Digitally preview incoming USPS mail and packages

#166

Post by sbuttgereit » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 1:09 AM UTC

mikro2nd wrote: post #3

Sounds like USPS is joining the panopticon-purveying surveillance capitalism game. "It's only metadata..."

The postal service has been doing this for decades.

I once did data entry for the postal service; I would type in the addresses from the images of scanned mail pieces where the systems couldn't OCR the address/route by some other means. The actual mail and I were almost always in different states.

That was the mid 90s. Which means they were imaging pretty much everything way back then. While the OCR and facilitating the manual entry processes are a couple of uses, I am quite sure those images had many uses with the right kind of imagination... perhaps even today...

What I don't recall/remember ever knowning is if there was a retention policy....

Re: Digitally preview incoming USPS mail and packages

#167

Post by dugluak » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 1:21 AM UTC

theaccordance wrote: post #82

dugluak wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to register to get the daily digest of the physical mail. That is not a spam.

^ Didn't get the joke. I'm aware you have to register; I've been registered for 6 months. My comment is based off of 6 months of these daily emails.

It was not a joke, you registered which means you gave them permission to send you emails. You opted-in.

Re: Digitally preview incoming USPS mail and packages

#168

Post by craftyguy » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 1:27 AM UTC

dawnerd wrote: post #72

abarringer wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work in the Credit card industry. Account origination fraud using the real address is a thing. The bad guys hire mules to check mailboxes daily until the card arrives. This would greatly simplify that task.

Luckily usps requires all new development to use cluster boxes so that should put an end to it for any new house.

[Citation needed]

Re: Digitally preview incoming USPS mail and packages

#169

Post by jedberg » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 1:28 AM UTC

ams6110 wrote: post #104

crazygringo wrote: post #38

I tried signing up for this 3 months ago, and was shocked to receive images for the mail of literally everyone in my building (I'm one of seven apartments). Huuuge privacy violation. (It's just images of the envelopes, but that still tells you a lot.) I unsubscribed and then went to file feedback, and got an immediate reply explaining this was by design : > Thank you for participating in Informed Delivery®. You recen…

I frequently get actual mail addressed to my neighbors, so IMO that's a worse problem than seeing the images of the envelopes or packages. I also don't know what problem this really solves. Grasping at straws for the USPS to remain relevant I think. Big waste of money in my opinion.

I’ve had it for a long time now. Things it helps me with:

When I’m on vacation and have a mail hold, I still know what mail cane each day. If I see a bill I know to log in and pay the bill.

I know if I have an important letter and whether it’s worth rushing to empty the box for the day.

A few times I knew to go ask the neighbors if they had my mail because I saw a letter was supposed to come but didn’t.

Also it tells you about packages that are coming that day so you can make sure you get them and that they weren’t stolen by a porch pirate.

Re: Digitally preview incoming USPS mail and packages

#170

Post by ilaksh » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 1:28 AM UTC

ams6110 wrote: post #104

crazygringo wrote: post #38

I tried signing up for this 3 months ago, and was shocked to receive images for the mail of literally everyone in my building (I'm one of seven apartments). Huuuge privacy violation. (It's just images of the envelopes, but that still tells you a lot.) I unsubscribed and then went to file feedback, and got an immediate reply explaining this was by design : > Thank you for participating in Informed Delivery®. You recen…

I frequently get actual mail addressed to my neighbors, so IMO that's a worse problem than seeing the images of the envelopes or packages. I also don't know what problem this really solves. Grasping at straws for the USPS to remain relevant I think. Big waste of money in my opinion.

I think it's helpful for PO boxes or when the mailbox is far from the house.