US Postal Service - Informed Delivery

[mdurette]

I just came across this from a local police department feed. I didn't know it even existed. I just signed up, it appears to notify you of your mail delivery. Do any of you use?

https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action


The article from the PD was about fraud. Bad guys sign up for the Informed Delivery at your address, apply for fraudulent credit cards and are then notified when they hit your mail box. When the cards arrive and go get them.

 

[Bucky]

Been using it for about a year now. Great info to have. I actually had my local PO track down a check that didn’t show up. Might have never known it was even coming if I didn’t received these every morning.

Just read this article about it https://lifehacker.com/sign-your-address-up-for-usps-informed-delivery-before-1830389625

 

[Talent312]

I've used Informed Delivery for nearly two years.
No surprise CC's. But there is a lot of junk-mail.
.

 

[Free2Roam]

I've also been using this service for a couple years now. It's my daily reminder to check my mailbox - although I don't actually do it everyday...most days there's just junk mail!

 

[bbodb1]

I've been using this service for over a year now and as Bucky and Talent312 suggest, it has been very handy for knowing what should be coming to your mailbox today.
The sign up process has some checks and balances, but could fairly easily be hacked but someone determined enough. I don't know how secure the sign up process is in that would it let two different email addresses register for the same physical mailing address.

Still, it is a better option than not having any idea at all what will be delivered in the U.S. Mail today.

I can also tell you that I used this service and was expecting a check in the mail one day when the check did NOT show up. Remembering that our postman sometimes puts mail in the wrong box (my neighbors) I checked their box and sure enough, there was our mail.

Had I not been using this service, I would not have been looking for a check that I might have missed. Give it a shot.

 

[pedro47]

I just came across this from a local police department feed. I didn't know it even existed. I just signed up, it appears to notify you of your mail delivery. Do any of you use?

https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action


The article from the PD was about fraud. Bad guys sign up for the Informed Delivery at your address, apply for fraudulent credit cards and are then notified when they hit your mail box. When the cards arrive and go get them.

Yes! We used this service for our vacation. Thanks to a Tugger who shared this information about two (2) years ago.

To pick-up your vacation delivery mail our local post office required that you show a valid government picture ID with your current address; to avoid this problem..

 

[bbodb1]

And to add to Pedro's point about your mail during a vacation, it is now possible to hold your mail online but IIRC you still have to appear and show ID at your local PO to restart home delivery.

 

[controller1]

I've used it for over a year and have had no problems.

 

[bluehende]

And to add to Pedro's point about your mail during a vacation, it is now possible to hold your mail online but IIRC you still have to appear and show ID at your local PO to restart home delivery.

We have an option to have the accumulated mail delivered. Is this not universal in a mail hold?

 

[bobpark56]

I just came across this from a local police department feed. I didn't know it even existed. I just signed up, it appears to notify you of your mail delivery. Do any of you use?

https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action


The article from the PD was about fraud. Bad guys sign up for the Informed Delivery at your address, apply for fraudulent credit cards and are then notified when they hit your mail box. When the cards arrive and go get them.

When I try that link, it says...

This service is currently unavailable.

We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause.

 

[Free2Roam]

Just for clarification...these are 2 different services.

1 - (which the OP mentioned) allows you to receive a daily email showing what mail should be delivered to your address
2 - allows you to request a hold on your mail delivery... where I live, we have the option of either retrieving held mail from the post office or scheduling delivery at the end of the hold

 

[Talent312]

At the end of the hold, we have our mail delivered.
The stack of junk is substantially more than the useful mail.

 

[VacationForever]

I did not get notified today in email and I think their system is down today.

To answer the question on vacation hold, this is our experience. We put in our vacation hold and we still receive an email Mon-Sat as to what is in the mail. We check off the box to have all our mail be delivered on the last day of hold and they are delivered into our mailbox on the last day of hold.

 

[WinniWoman]

I just came across this from a local police department feed. I didn't know it even existed. I just signed up, it appears to notify you of your mail delivery. Do any of you use?

https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action


The article from the PD was about fraud. Bad guys sign up for the Informed Delivery at your address, apply for fraudulent credit cards and are then notified when they hit your mail box. When the cards arrive and go get them.

I clicked on that link and it said the service is unavailable,

 

[WinniWoman]

One thing I love is when I order something from Amazon. Alexa will tell me that my item has arrived shortly after it has been placed in our mailbox. Being my mailbox is 700 feet away from the house on the road opposite my driveway (and I cannot even see the mailbox from the house), this lets me know my mail has also arrived- unless it was a large item that came by UPS or Fed Ex. Then I can make the "trip" down to the mailbox to retrieve it.

I think it would be awesome to have some kind of service where once your mail is delivered Alexa tells you it has arrived.

 

[WinniWoman]

When we go on vacation, we always have our mail held and all delivered when we get back- or I pick it up.

 

[bbodb1]

When I try that link, it says...

This service is currently unavailable.

We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause.

That is weird - and furthermore, as someone who already subscribes to this service, I did NOT get the usual email today with a preview of the mail I should be expecting.

I suspect - and I emphasize this is just a guess - that post holiday mail volumes might preclude scanning some days...

 

[Free2Roam]

That is weird - and furthermore, as someone who already subscribes to this service, I did NOT get the usual email today with a preview of the mail I should be expecting.

I suspect - and I emphasize this is just a guess - that post holiday mail volumes might preclude scanning some days...

I did get my email this morning

 

[bbodb1]

I did get my email this morning

Could be a problem specific to our SCF I suppose. I'll be back tomorrow to see if I get the daily email then...

 

[artringwald]

That is weird - and furthermore, as someone who already subscribes to this service, I did NOT get the usual email today with a preview of the mail I should be expecting.

I suspect - and I emphasize this is just a guess - that post holiday mail volumes might preclude scanning some days...

I didn't get my email today either.

 

[plpgma]

I just came across this from a local police department feed. I didn't know it even existed. I just signed up, it appears to notify you of your mail delivery. Do any of you use?

https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action


The article from the PD was about fraud. Bad guys sign up for the Informed Delivery at your address, apply for fraudulent credit cards and are then notified when they hit your mail box. When the cards arrive and go get them.

I did not know this service existed! Thanks for letting us know -- I've signed-up for the service and am looking forward to becoming informed about my deliveries!

 

[mdurette]

For those that were having issue with the link - it is working now. Or, you could simply go to the USPS.com site and find your way.

 

[Bucky]

Didn’t get our email yesterday either but since it was raining most of the day we wouldn’t have went out to get it anyway! Occasionally we don’t get a morning notification but in most cases it’s because we actually didn’t have any mail. That’s probably why it’s called “informed delivery”.

 

[bbodb1]

Didn’t get our email yesterday either but since it was raining most of the day we wouldn’t have went out to get it anyway! Occasionally we don’t get a morning notification but in most cases it’s because we actually didn’t have any mail. That’s probably why it’s called “informed delivery”.

That is true, Bucky. And in my experience as well, the absence of an email has been a pretty reliable predictor of no mail that day.
But yesterday (Tuesday) after a federal holiday with no mail means a person can pretty well rest assured of something in the mailbox....even if it is just those dreaded bills.....

 

[bbodb1]

I did not know this service existed! Thanks for letting us know -- I've signed-up for the service and am looking forward to becoming informed about my deliveries!

The postal service has not made too much of an effort to publicize this past ads on their web page and signs in their office. If you're like me, very seldom do I happen to stop by my local post office anymore. It is only because I used to work in an industry tied to the postal service that I heard about this.