MUST HAVE Tool (USPS Informed) *Free Signup

[geowrian 22,335]

1 hour ago, Suss&Camm said:

In Sweden we can just put a note on our mailboxes for "no commercial flyers"... but it only takes away the stuff that's not addressed to you - the rest you have to contact the actual company sending it (I mean you can opt in and out of e-mail newsletters so I don't see the problem? it's my mailbox...). Does it work similar here or no?

Not that I know of...I'm unaware of any way to decline having mail delivered to your address with USPS. You can do so with packages, but not for regular mail. I just asked a couple people here who were unaware of anything akin to that. Then again, they are also in IT, not actually delivering or routing mail.

 

1 hour ago, Suss&Camm said:

Might I suggest having more than one supplier of personal data for a more stable verification set-up?

Equifax is in fact the credit bureau that most ppl moving to the US have problems with - I know this after research since I Myself have problems with them. They "can't find my credit file". Been trying to get them to find it for the last few MONTHS... Experian and TransUnion have no problem whatsoever and all my creditors have verified multiple times over that they do report to Equifax and that my data is being reported correctly. I have now gotten the advice from Equifax to ask each of my creditors to personally call their business hotline to confirm me - sigh -

 

 anyhow - funny that I could verify through USPS website if Equifax can't find me  and yes "shout out" to the USPS team behind this tech. development 

I can't argue with that. But just to clarify, I don't believe they supply personal data to USPS for identity proofing. My understanding of the service utilized (keep in mind it's another group that handles it so there is likely more to it than this) is that they either only send the questions and answers, or they just wrap the content from Equifax's service. This is literally the same service utilized by several major banks for new account signup and such, but I completely realize that it's far from perfect. Ideas on ways to make more verification options available are being thrown out there, but I am unable to elaborate on any details or possible future plans, sorry.

 

That is funny! lol I think it has to due with how they don't own all the data and they just act as a large wrapper or middleman for all kinds of other services. The credit check is just one part of it (and very likely wouldn't be needed for only identity proofing). Thank you!

[DILAW 94]

I have been using this feature for a little over a month.  I did see an image of the RFE letter around 7:30 am EST.  I found my mailman and asked him to give it to me and he did before getting to my house.

I worked for the USPS a while back as an engineer.  I remember when I got hired, they took all the new hire engineers and put us through a rotational program to learn the USPS processes and each had to complete a project.  At the end, we were asked of ways to make the USPS more profitable.  I proposed having Priority Gold and Express and getting rid of everything else when it comes to packaging.  I also proposed ending the letter business which is crazy I know.  I also proposed the USPS to have a pharmaceutical division and deliver medicine.  Last, I proposed to send customers images of their letters since the machines already scan them and when I worked for the USPS, we were able to see the images of scanned letters.  I was told this won't happen because if the letters are not delivered, then the customer would complain.  They proffered the customers not knowing what was coming to them for some reason although packages are tracked.  I simply said "Ok, might not be doable now, but once you start losing more money it will be."  I liked the people there, but USPS focus on lots of things the real customer doesn't care for.  The USPS needs to get into more than mail.  They have the network to cover the entire country and they are focusing on a business that's dying (letters/flats).  Packages they are making money on, but they need other things to get involved in just like Amazon keeps expanding it's business.  Amazon is getting into the pharmaceutical industry. 

[broppy 204]

2 hours ago, Suss&Camm said:

In Sweden we can just put a note on our mailboxes for "no commercial flyers"... but it only takes away the stuff that's not addressed to you - the rest you have to contact the actual company sending it (I mean you can opt in and out of e-mail newsletters so I don't see the problem? it's my mailbox...). Does it work similar here or no?

Ha! No such luck. Pretty much everything in your mailbox is addressed to you personally, or "postal customer" at your address, or Every Door Direct Mail (that's usually the local flyers). USPS is pretty much obliged to deliver everything that the senders send. If you want to stop receiving junk, you have to tell the senders to stop sending it to you (or "customer" at your address).

For most of the national stuff, you can register and express your preferences at https://dmachoice.thedma.org/. You can chose what type(s) of junk you like to receive or opt out entirely. I've found that most of the big players respect your preferences and it helped to reduce the level of junk I was receiving.

For the EDDM local flyers, though, there appears to be nothing you can do. There's no global opt out. The best you can do is contact each individual sender and ask them to exclude you from future mailings. That still means you'll receive at least one piece of junk from each company (and due to the nature of flyers, that may be all you'd ever receive from them anyway). But the way the system works, even if you are excluded from one company's delivery list, I expect you still receive their junk in future - it's a lot easier for the mailman to put everyone's junk into everyone's mailbox than it is to decide which particular pieces of junk each address doesn't want to receive.

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

1 hour ago, broppy said:

Ha! No such luck. Pretty much everything in your mailbox is addressed to you personally, or "postal customer" at your address, or Every Door Direct Mail (that's usually the local flyers). USPS is pretty much obliged to deliver everything that the senders send. If you want to stop receiving junk, you have to tell the senders to stop sending it to you (or "customer" at your address).

For most of the national stuff, you can register and express your preferences at https://dmachoice.thedma.org/. You can chose what type(s) of junk you like to receive or opt out entirely. I've found that most of the big players respect your preferences and it helped to reduce the level of junk I was receiving.

For the EDDM local flyers, though, there appears to be nothing you can do. There's no global opt out. The best you can do is contact each individual sender and ask them to exclude you from future mailings. That still means you'll receive at least one piece of junk from each company (and due to the nature of flyers, that may be all you'd ever receive from them anyway). But the way the system works, even if you are excluded from one company's delivery list, I expect you still receive their junk in future - it's a lot easier for the mailman to put everyone's junk into everyone's mailbox than it is to decide which particular pieces of junk each address doesn't want to receive.

It's easy enough to separate the generic (goes to everyone for example grocery store flyers) and the ones that are addressed (for example phone and tv subscription flyers). it's just two categories a simple red tape on the side of the mail box for opting out of the former shouldn't add too much confusion or work. Yes I realize it won't happen.  Another issue I have with it is the environmental impact - at our complex ppl just shove it straight into the trash bin that stands right there - it gets full to the brim every day. What a complete and utter waste.. 

 

I've noticed consumers are not very well protect against BS in this country.

Edited May 18, 2017 by Suss&Camm

[geowrian 22,335]

26 minutes ago, Suss&Camm said:

It's easy enough to separate the generic (goes to everyone for example grocery store flyers) and the ones that are addressed (for example phone and tv subscription flyers). it's just two categories a simple red tape on the side of the mail box for opting out of the former shouldn't add too much confusion or work. Yes I realize it won't happen.  Another issue I have with it is the environmental impact - at our complex ppl just shove it straight into the trash bin that stands right there - it gets full to the brim every day. What a complete and utter waste.. 

Bulk mail (i.e. items still addressed to you) is considered a relationship between you and the company sending it. You can write "refused" and send it back to them at best...they're supposed to no longer send you anything after that (but I doubt that actually happens). If enough people do it and it pulls their delivery rate below a certain threshold, it disqualifies them for some discounts and/or use of the service. But I wouldn't hold my breath for enough people to ever do that. It's a bread and butter revenue source for USPS, so I wouldn't expect any movement here.

 

As for the mail sent only to an address but not an individual, that's probably via the EDDM mailers. From what I've seen and read (outside USPS), it seems like this is actually growing. It used to be such a pain to do these types of mailings due to the forms involved, so you either went through that hassle directly or, more likely, went through agencies that charged a premium. Fairly recently, this process has become far easier for even small businesses to do themselves.

 

Quote

I've noticed consumers are not very well protect against BS in this country.

So very true...not just with mail. It's all about money.

Edited May 18, 2017 by geowrian

[Ketsuban 1,034]

I've signed up, verified my identity and opted in to receiving daily emails, but I'm not getting any emails and the website says there is no mail. Then I go home to mail lol. I guess it's not working for my zip code.

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

3 hours ago, geowrian said:

Bulk mail (i.e. items still addressed to you) is considered a relationship between you and the company sending it. You can write "refused" and send it back to them at best...they're supposed to no longer send you anything after that (but I doubt that actually happens). If enough people do it and it pulls their delivery rate below a certain threshold, it disqualifies them for some discounts and/or use of the service. But I wouldn't hold my breath for enough people to ever do that. It's a bread and butter revenue source for USPS, so I wouldn't expect any movement here.

 

As for the mail sent only to an address but not an individual, that's probably via the EDDM mailers. From what I've seen and read (outside USPS), it seems like this is actually growing. It used to be such a pain to do these types of mailings due to the forms involved, so you either went through that hassle directly or, more likely, went through agencies that charged a premium. Fairly recently, this process has become far easier for even small businesses to do themselves.

 

So very true...not just with mail. It's all about money.

Just one Q..... EDDM?

[geowrian 22,335]

2 minutes ago, Suss&Camm said:

Just one Q..... EDDM?

Every Door Direct Mail. You can pick individual carrier routes based on route demographics (age, income, etc.), and send the mail to those routes just by address without any name associated to it. It's cheap and now it's pretty easy. Here's one of the sites my team made around 2 years ago for a different client (not an endorsement of the company or anything...albeit I do stand by both my and my team's work): https://click2eddm.com/

[kumakun 12]

On 5/17/2017 at 2:15 PM, geowrian said:

The data is linked to an address (technically a ZIP11: ZIP5 + ZIP4 + DPV). So if somebody lives at the same address as you, they can signup and will see the exact same data.

 

Nothing with your account will show up on your husband's account, but the packages and mailpiece images will be identical for a given address.

 

Sorry but I am unable to determine the answer to this question from this thread, even though I think you may have tried. I signed up for Informed Delivery and was able to be verified online no problem. Even got my first email notification today! But I am wondering: will I get notifications about mail addressed to my husband automatically as well since we both share the same mailing address? Or will I only receive notifications about mail addressed to ME specifically?

Long story short: we are unable to verify my husband for his own Informed Delivery account because we are unable to produce a secondary form of ID that reconciles his name, our physical address, and our mailing address. (Basically the post office in our town does not deliver mail to our physical address: we have no choice but to use a PO Box, but the state doesn't allow a PO Box to be listed on a driver license or state ID.) So we're hoping I will still receive email alerts when a piece of mail with his name on it is on its way. Any idea?

Edited May 19, 2017 by kumakun

[Ksenia_O 695]

49 minutes ago, kumakun said:

Sorry but I am unable to determine the answer to this question from this thread, even though I think you may have tried. I signed up for Informed Delivery and was able to be verified online no problem. Even got my first email notification today! But I am wondering: will I get notifications about mail addressed to my husband automatically as well since we both share the same mailing address? Or will I only receive notifications about mail addressed to ME specifically?

Long story short: we are unable to verify my husband for his own Informed Delivery account because we are unable to produce a secondary form of ID that reconciles his name, our physical address, and our mailing address. (Basically the post office in our town does not deliver mail to our physical address: we have no choice but to use a PO Box, but the state doesn't allow a PO Box to be listed on a driver license or state ID.) So we're hoping I will still receive email alerts when a piece of mail with his name on it is on its way. Any idea?

You should see ALL mails, coming to your address. At least, this is what i see through USPS e-mail notifications - not only the mails, addressed to me, but also the letters, sent to my husband and to my son.

 

[mindthegap 2,521]

20 minutes ago, Ksenia_O said:

You should see ALL mails, coming to your address. At least, this is what i see through USPS e-mail notifications - not only the mails, addressed to me, but also the letters, sent to my husband and to my son.

 

Do you share a surname though?

 

 

[kumakun 12]

9 minutes ago, CookieCat said:

I also received my first e-mail today with the scanned letters that were addressed to me and to my husband. We don't share a surname (I kept my maiden name after marriage) yet I saw the scan of a letter addressed to only him. There was also another letter where the letter was incorrectly addressed to me at my name + husband's surname. So basically you should get all names linked to your address. Magazines and junk mail don't show up in the e-mail scans...

OK this makes me hopeful! We still have AOS pending and are hoping to hear about an interview or outright issuance of a 2-year GC soon. Our post office isn't always accurate with mail sorting, and we know USCIS' notification system isn't always reliable, so I am hoping this will give us another layer of information should a notice or RFE be headed our way in his name.

[geowrian 22,335]

2 hours ago, kumakun said:

Sorry but I am unable to determine the answer to this question from this thread, even though I think you may have tried. I signed up for Informed Delivery and was able to be verified online no problem. Even got my first email notification today! But I am wondering: will I get notifications about mail addressed to my husband automatically as well since we both share the same mailing address? Or will I only receive notifications about mail addressed to ME specifically?

Long story short: we are unable to verify my husband for his own Informed Delivery account because we are unable to produce a secondary form of ID that reconciles his name, our physical address, and our mailing address. (Basically the post office in our town does not deliver mail to our physical address: we have no choice but to use a PO Box, but the state doesn't allow a PO Box to be listed on a driver license or state ID.) So we're hoping I will still receive email alerts when a piece of mail with his name on it is on its way. Any idea?

You'll see packages and images for everybody at that same address.

1 hour ago, Ksenia_O said:

You should see ALL mails, coming to your address. At least, this is what i see through USPS e-mail notifications - not only the mails, addressed to me, but also the letters, sent to my husband and to my son.

Bingo

48 minutes ago, mindthegap said:

Do you share a surname though?

It won't matter since mail is routed to an address, not a person. But don't ask about how Change of Address (COA) works...just believe in the magic.

42 minutes ago, CookieCat said:

I also received my first e-mail today with the scanned letters that were addressed to me and to my husband. We don't share a surname (I kept my maiden name after marriage) yet I saw the scan of a letter addressed to only him. There was also another letter where the letter was incorrectly addressed to me at my name + husband's surname. So basically you should get all names linked to your address. Magazines and junk mail don't show up in the e-mail scans...

Exactly. Scans of flats (i.,e. magazines and such) and certain other types of mail are not currently available. They are sometimes even processed in separate facilities and the machines that handle them are different. That doesn't mean you'll never see stuff like that, but you just won't see them yet.

[kumakun 12]

15 minutes ago, geowrian said:

You'll see packages and images for everybody at that same address.

Yay! Very cool feature and service! Congrats on a job well done. 

[mindthegap 2,521]

Ok...did the verification ok (spooky!) and it worked for a couple of packages, but did not work for letters/other mail, and I can't see any option for it.

 

What am I missing?

 

 

Edited May 24, 2017 by mindthegap