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Swiss Post scans your snail mail and sends it to you via email.

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Re: Swiss Post scans your snail mail and sends it to you via email.

#31

Post by darklajid »

eddywebs wrote: post #11

Wondering how the privacy is taken into equation while scans are done of the mail.

I have some connection to that company and would definitely agree with the sibling post that privacy is a huge concern for them.

Another interesting thought is this: All your snail mail metadata is (obviously, but have you recently thought about it?) already available in digital form: No one's reading the addresses by hand on your letters or parcels (unless absolutely necessary, i.e. OCR fails).

So they (post services in general) already constantly have to handle the (digital) information of person A sending something to person B, at roughly time X. Feels like smtp.

Re: Swiss Post scans your snail mail and sends it to you via email.

#32

Post by hannibalhorn »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #27
sivers wrote: post #8

For what it's worth, for anyone interested, I used this service for years, and they're great. Really nice if you're nomadic and want to have a steady mailing address. In the U.S., https://www.earthclassmail.com/ provides the same service. I think it is (or was) Earth Class Mail's backend software that is/was powering Swiss Post Box, when I was using it. Also great for having a U.S. mailing address for your business,…

Any problems with earthclassmail? I've heard from people who love them and people who have had problems with them.

I used them for 2-3 years, and wouldn't say I ever had any problems, but left after they upped prices with little advance notice. Especially when you're only stateside once a year or so, it becomes tricky to change providers. There are several similar services these days and some of the smaller players can be a better fit, depending on your mail volume and exact needs as far as scanning and forward shipping. I've been pretty happy with virtualpostmail the past few years now.

Re: Swiss Post scans your snail mail and sends it to you via email.

#33

Post by ipmb »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #27
sivers wrote: post #8

For what it's worth, for anyone interested, I used this service for years, and they're great. Really nice if you're nomadic and want to have a steady mailing address. In the U.S., https://www.earthclassmail.com/ provides the same service. I think it is (or was) Earth Class Mail's backend software that is/was powering Swiss Post Box, when I was using it. Also great for having a U.S. mailing address for your business,…

Any problems with earthclassmail? I've heard from people who love them and people who have had problems with them.

I've used them for a few years. No problems at all.

Re: Swiss Post scans your snail mail and sends it to you via email.

#34

Post by at-fates-hands »

sivers wrote: post #8

For what it's worth, for anyone interested, I used this service for years, and they're great. Really nice if you're nomadic and want to have a steady mailing address. In the U.S., https://www.earthclassmail.com/ provides the same service. I think it is (or was) Earth Class Mail's backend software that is/was powering Swiss Post Box, when I was using it. Also great for having a U.S. mailing address for your business,…

They were actually featured on the Start Up Junkies series which gives you a great idea of what it was like getting their service up and running:

http://www.hulu.com/start-up-junkies

Re: Swiss Post scans your snail mail and sends it to you via email.

#35

Post by joshuaheard »

drcoopster wrote: post #18

I use virtualpostmail.com for the same purpose; it's a bit easier if you're US-based.

I have been using this service for years. I started using when I lived overseas, but now I will never quit. With my bank bill pay, I am pretty much paperless.

Re: Swiss Post scans your snail mail and sends it to you via email.

#36

Post by rb2k_ »

hannibalhorn wrote: post #32
toomuchtodo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any problems with earthclassmail? I've heard from people who love them and people who have had problems with them.

I used them for 2-3 years, and wouldn't say I ever had any problems, but left after they upped prices with little advance notice. Especially when you're only stateside once a year or so, it becomes tricky to change providers. There are several similar services these days and some of the smaller players can be a better fit, depending on your mail volume and exact needs as far as scanning and forward shipping. I've bee…

Are there any that are more targeted towards low volume "regular" consumers? (aka: cheaper)

Re: Swiss Post scans your snail mail and sends it to you via email.

#37

Post by digikata »

sivers wrote: post #8

For what it's worth, for anyone interested, I used this service for years, and they're great. Really nice if you're nomadic and want to have a steady mailing address. In the U.S., https://www.earthclassmail.com/ provides the same service. I think it is (or was) Earth Class Mail's backend software that is/was powering Swiss Post Box, when I was using it. Also great for having a U.S. mailing address for your business,…

What do services like this do with mailed documents for which you might want to retain as originals - contracts w/ physical signatures, grandama's handwritten letter, etc?

Re: Swiss Post scans your snail mail and sends it to you via email.

#38

Post by phlo »

digikata wrote: post #37
sivers wrote: post #8

For what it's worth, for anyone interested, I used this service for years, and they're great. Really nice if you're nomadic and want to have a steady mailing address. In the U.S., https://www.earthclassmail.com/ provides the same service. I think it is (or was) Earth Class Mail's backend software that is/was powering Swiss Post Box, when I was using it. Also great for having a U.S. mailing address for your business,…

What do services like this do with mailed documents for which you might want to retain as originals - contracts w/ physical signatures, grandama's handwritten letter, etc?

I'm not sure about earth class mail, but Swiss Post Box will deliver them.

Using the default settings, if I'm not mistaken, only envelopes will be scanned. You then get to decide to either open and scan or physically deliver letters. Scanned documents can be delivered, too, but paperclips or staples may be removed.

Re: Swiss Post scans your snail mail and sends it to you via email.

#39

Post by peterkelly »

I read the first half of that title and though "oh god, here we go again". Then I realised (1) it's Switzerland, not the US/NSA, and (2) it's actually a useful service.

Go Switzerland!

Extra paragraph to compensate for the HN comment truncation bug.

Re: Swiss Post scans your snail mail and sends it to you via email.

#40

Post by martianpenguin »

rb2k_ wrote: post #36
hannibalhorn wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used them for 2-3 years, and wouldn't say I ever had any problems, but left after they upped prices with little advance notice. Especially when you're only stateside once a year or so, it becomes tricky to change providers. There are several similar services these days and some of the smaller players can be a better fit, depending on your mail volume and exact needs as far as scanning and forward shipping. I've bee…

Are there any that are more targeted towards low volume "regular" consumers? (aka: cheaper)

I use postscanmail, which has $10/mth plans. It works well and any issues I've had have been resolved.

I had an issue with postcards not scanning properly due to the envelope=letter, but they eventually got them scanned.

The other issue is that it can take an extra couple days for things to happen, so I wouldn't use it with time sensitive things. I'd like to hear if anyone using the other services have better experiences with how long it takes to open/scan mail when it's received.

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