USPS's Informed Delivery

[Elixer]

pretty crazy. I just signed up, semi hesitant to willingly be a part of this, but as soon as I did they showed me scans from the last week, so they're doing it anyway

Yeah, they scan everything these days, so, you being part of this program has 0 effect, it is just now that you are also aware of what they have been doing.

 

[Chaotic42]

Your mailman sucks.

True

 

[destrekor]

I just learned that the USPS collects meta-data on every single piece of mail delivered. No wonder NSA needs that much storage space.

How else did you think they achieved delivery with the insane volume of mail in the modern age? Actual humans sorting the mail? lol

I'm surprised people didn't know USPS uses ::gasp:: OCR technology! And of course with large packages, they have barcodes that contain everything necessary to ensure delivery.

There's just no other way to achieve it this days if you want postage to be remotely cheap. Systems automate mail sorting so that mail moves at a decent pace affordably.

 

[pcgeek11]

I do not understand the point?

 

[rh71]

Recently ordered new checks from my bank and it was supposed to be 8 thin packages. Never appeared in the email (not even when checking the USPS website version under packages) but the rest of the mail that day was shown. Surprised to get my checks in the mailbox. Thing was, only 7 of 8 showed up so it failed me for the one important thing I needed it for. Then the last one shows up the next day in my mailbox without it ever appearing in informed delivery again.

Only on occasion I'm finding it useful for expecting things like rebate checks or something important from the town. Most other times it's showing incoming junk mail like tax reduction services. Those are annoying when I get them in the mail now I get to see them digitally too.

 

[Mike64]

Where is this picture-taking action taking place? I mean, if I get an email that shows five pieces of mail is supposed to be coming to me on a given day and only three come how do I know it just wasn't delivered vs. stolen? Is it the last mile postal carrier taking the pictures?

Definitely not last mile. I don't recall the emails saying the mail in question will be delivered on that day, either (though I might've missed that.) I frequently don't get mail in a given email until a day after the email arrives... I don't keep close enough track to know if the lag time is no more than a day; it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it's up to 2 or 3 days, depending...

Ever report him if you had anything actually ruined because of it? USPS is great, but individual mail carriers vary. Don't put up with shitty performers on any job, report their asses.

What parallel universe do you live in where your local PO gives a rat's ass about complaints about carriers?/ At least those that fall short of wholesale destruction of mail by carriers that want to finish their routes early, and when it's already been reported by news media and so makes the higher-ups look bad?

I just learned that the USPS collects meta-data on every single piece of mail delivered. No wonder NSA needs that much storage space.

Yep. I didn't sign up for it, but since I had created a USPS account for other reasons, they automatically "opted me in" at some point. If deleting the account would stop them from collecting the data in the first place, I'd have done it in a heartbeat. (Not because I have "anything to hide", but because I vehemently oppose mass governmental surveillance on general public policy grounds.) But it wouldn't, so there's no point in doing so.

 

[IronWing]

How else did you think they achieved delivery with the insane volume of mail in the modern age? Actual humans sorting the mail? lol

I'm surprised people didn't know USPS uses ::gasp:: OCR technology! And of course with large packages, they have barcodes that contain everything necessary to ensure delivery.

There's just no other way to achieve it this days if you want postage to be remotely cheap. Systems automate mail sorting so that mail moves at a decent pace affordably.

Scanning mail for sorting purposes is well and good and the USPS has done so for a long time. The issue I have is record retention. For mail that isn't tracked, there is no purpose for retaining routing records and certainly no postal purpose for retaining images of the mail.

 

[Ichinisan]

I had a very pricey package sent to me a couple weeks ago. I was home when I got the text message that it was "delivered." My security DVR could prove that no carrier was present.

An elderly woman that could barely walk showed up the next day and put the package on my porch. They had delivered it to ---- Ct instead of ---- Dr. Different part of town.

 

[Ferzerp]

I signed up for this quite a while ago too. I'm not sure it's really of much use to me though. You can see what's coming but if it's anything that looks interesting you still need to wait for it to be delivered to find out what it's about. I guess if you're really waiting with bated breath for something it might be useful to know it will be delivered that day but it seems kind of gimmicky.

I think you've missed the point. You skim the email, and if there is something coming that you actually need, you empty the box that day. If you get no email (which means nothing, or just junk addressed to "resident"), or if there is nothing in the email that matters, you just don't bother going to the box that day. If you don't live in an apartment and actually have a normal sized mailbox, you end up only bothering with the mailbox if there is something worth bothering with. Then you toss all the built up junk at the same time.

 

[Elixer]

Scanning mail for sorting purposes is well and good and the USPS has done so for a long time. The issue I have is record retention. For mail that isn't tracked, there is no purpose for retaining routing records and certainly no postal purpose for retaining images of the mail.

What about stolen mail? That is a postal purpose to know what comes in, actually gets delivered.
Sure, that isn't the main goal of this program, but, it still has good uses, and as with everything else, it can be abused.
However, like I mentioned above, they will scan everything anyway, and signing up doesn't add more scrutiny to your mail, it just informs you what is coming.
Main use would be for law enforcement agencies to find patterns of drugs / threats / and other things that concerns them, but, they still need a warrant to open anything.

 

[IronWing]

Data mining is what concerns me. It has the potential to turn the post office into another facebook.

 

[Ferzerp]

You seem to think that whether or not you receive the emails has anything to do with their data gathering. They’ve already been doing this for a long time. They don’t magically know not to photograph your mail if you haven’t signed up.

The thing that bothers me about it though is that I can often read the contents of non-security envelopes somewhat in the images.

 

[IronWing]

You seem to think that whether or not you receive the emails has anything to do with their data gathering. They’ve already been doing this for a long time. They don’t magically know not to photograph your mail if you haven’t signed up.

The thing that bothers me about it though is that I can often read the contents of non-security envelopes somewhat in the images.

Not at all and that's my point. Using scanning tech for sorting and carrying out the business of delivering mail is a good thing. Archiving the scan info isn't necessary to the delivery of mail and opens the door to data mining.

 

[GeekDrew]

Not at all and that's my point. Using scanning tech for sorting and carrying out the business of delivering mail is a good thing. Archiving the scan info isn't necessary to the delivery of mail and opens the door to data mining.

They've been collecting/indexing this data for a very, very long time. I also disagree with it, but it's nothing new. I've seen internal reports indicating mailpiece statistics w/ address granularity, along with names associated with that address... more than a decade ago. I've no idea what the security around it is like, but then again, it likely doesn't matter.

 

[Aikouka]

Where is this picture-taking action taking place? I mean, if I get an email that shows five pieces of mail is supposed to be coming to me on a given day and only three come how do I know it just wasn't delivered vs. stolen? Is it the last mile postal carrier taking the pictures?

The Post Office uses OCR to determine how to sort mail, and part of doing OCR is taking photos of the mail for processing. This is literally just using part of the OCR materials and repurposing it for another service. (I used to work at a place that did some of this work.)

 

[Mike64]

This is literally just using part of the OCR materials and repurposing it for another service. (I used to work at a place that did some of this work.)

We have very different definitions of the word "repurposing". Scanning for sorting purposes does not require images to be "saved" at all past the moment when the imaged mail passes into its final sorting "slot" at a given facility, much less "archived" for a longer period. And in fact "rational business sense", which we're so commonly told determines corporate behavior (however ridiculous a proposition that is, in practice), argues against it, since saving it costs money. Unless of course the archived images have some sort of "future value", to "someone"... And as far as it being archived - for what period? with what security precautions (of the anti-hacking variety, I mean), and who has access to it, and under precisely what circumstances do they have access?

 

[Ferzerp]

Not at all and that's my point. Using scanning tech for sorting and carrying out the business of delivering mail is a good thing. Archiving the scan info isn't necessary to the delivery of mail and opens the door to data mining.

Ahh. And yes, sadly though, this service just confirms that this happens (and we can assume has for a long time).

 

[BarkingGhostar]

The Post Office uses OCR to determine how to sort mail, and part of doing OCR is taking photos of the mail for processing. This is literally just using part of the OCR materials and repurposing it for another service. (I used to work at a place that did some of this work.)

From my observed experience while at the last-sort location (neighborhood postal annex), the final mail is hand sorted into street name/number delivery order, but this when the delivery fails more often than desirable. Based on the descriptions above it seems the only usefulness of the above feature is to prove undelivered mail, or mail not delivered correctly.

And since the USPS rarely does anything meaningful and permanent to correct failed deliveries in my area I do not see this being any better than to maybe collect larger volumes of evidence. But what good is said evidence when the USPS does nothing about it (rhetorical).

 

[Brainonska511]

The Post Office uses OCR to determine how to sort mail, and part of doing OCR is taking photos of the mail for processing. This is literally just using part of the OCR materials and repurposing it for another service. (I used to work at a place that did some of this work.)

AFAIK, the OCR reading is for the zip code only: it prints a bar code on every envelope which contains the zip+4 info. This alone localizes the mail quite well for final sorting and delivery.

 

[gamefreakgcb]

BTW can everyone in the family do it or only one person?

Sign up with your email and then create a label and forwarding rule for it to have the email sent to your family members. 1 email comes in, many go out.

 

[Muse]

I signed up early. Usually the things I am really interested in are my packages, not the letters. I have yet to get word of any packages delivered by USPS AFAIK, so it's of very limited value to me.

 

[Mike64]

I signed up early. Usually the things I am really interested in are my packages, not the letters. I have yet to get word of any packages delivered by USPS AFAIK, so it's of very limited value to me.

I only vaguely recall what the "introductory email" said about it, but based on my experience, I'm fairly sure it only "informs" one of "first-class mail"; I certainly never see images of "bulk rate" circulars and other "junk mail". I guess it might include small "first class parcels", but I doubt even that, since I don't think those are handled by automated sorting machinery at all.

 

[Ferzerp]

The packages are a totally separate service that they've had for ages. Well, I say separate, but they've collapsed the branding down to both falling under "informed delivery". You still sign up separately though.

 

[Mike64]

The packages are a totally separate service that they've had for ages. Well, I say separate, but they've collapsed the branding down to both falling under "informed delivery". You still sign up separately though.

Are you saying you can now sign up for notice of non-tracked packages? It's been possible to get alerts based on tracking numbers for quite a while now, but I've never heard of a notification service for packages without an explicitly-issued (and paid for) tracking number.

 

[Ferzerp]

Non-tracked packages? No.

Then again, I don't know that I've ever physically received one of those...