Great!

Distance from my back door to the mail box is 1/3 mile, up/down a steep driveway. My mail gets delivered between 5 and 6 pm. I've made the trek Mon-Sat, often in the dark, or rain, only to find junk mail. I haven't wanted to chance having something important sit in my box overnight. Now, I don't have to. The contents of my box have matched the images emailed to me, since signing up for Informed Delivery.

Thank you, guysmom!

This sounds really great. I'm going to do this. Thanks for sharing.

The USPS said I didn't have anything important today and sure enough they were correct. Love this service !

@Mert wrote:

Great!

Distance from my back door to the mail box is 1/3 mile, up/down a steep driveway. My mail gets delivered between 5 and 6 pm. I've made the trek Mon-Sat, often in the dark, or rain, only to find junk mail. I haven't wanted to chance having something important sit in my box overnight. Now, I don't have to. The contents of my box have matched the images emailed to me, since signing up for Informed Delivery.

Thank you, guysmom!

Glad this has been a helpful hint for many folks here. So glad my friend told me about it, and she's not even a mystery shopper!! Also, just remember, that if you have any magazines or packages, those will NOT be listed in the Informed Delivery email. So if you can track packages, that will be the only way of know if those will be arriving. But for the regular sized cards and envelopes, this sure is handy!

I didn't receive a email from usps yesterday and sure enough, there wasn't anything important in the mail. This service has been accurate!

I came here to thank you again for letting me know about the service! It has been highly accurate, and I know that I'm driving home right now to a paycheck in my mailbox. Just like I knew yesterday :-) the digest comes straight to my email at 7 AM. It is so awesome!

A few years back I actually worked for USPS as a walking carrier. When I say it is a tough job - I assure you...it is tough! You are constantly moving, and walking/running to get your deliveries in while your supervisor is breathing down your neck to hurry up and get done in a certain time frame.

You cannot believe the amount of mail that gets moved by just one carrier - my trucks were always filled top to bottom, front to back, and then some.

I worked when it was cold and icy outside. My fingers were constantly numb, but I had to leaf through the letters in a certain manner or else I would get in trouble. I absolutely cannot imagine doing it in the summer heat.

The work environment was harsh, unfriendly, and definitely not what I was expecting. The actual physical demand of carrying the weight of the letters and packages with you were ultimately too much for me to bear. And when I tell you I gave it a shot - I did my best. It did not last long.

That being all said - the postal service has the delivery of mail as their number one top priority above all else. I was really impressed with that. And the letters get scanned in to huge huge machinery in a central area where the do get scanned and then sorted out automatically.

To the person who said the state abbreviation was the most important part of the package - you were misinformed by that clerk. The zip code is what they most care about, though it is all important.

I was definitely not "tough enough" to be a walking carrier (which you have to begin with to work for USPS), but that was the most fascinating experience of my working career, how the system works.

I am not surprised about the Informed Delivery option, and personally like it myself. Thanks for the tips, though. Brought back some...interesting....memories of my time there!

I'm currently traveling and have my mail on vacation hold. I still get the daily emails though. Kind of neat to know what will be in my mail when I get back.

My Regal check is coming today!

Yes, we were gone for 3 days last week, and we also put our mail on hold. And we still got our daily emails telling us what would be there when we got back!

I just signed up for myself. I go to my boyfriend's house for the weekend and it would be nice to know if I need to hurry home to pick up a check or not on Monday. I don't like to leave them sit in there. I thought about getting a PO Box but a lot of places won't mail to PO boxes so I don't see the real benefit.

I signed up because this service is really cool!! I have however found that sometimes not all of the mail is showing up and sometimes it shows I am to receive something and it never shows. So, if you are expecting something important you should still check your box. :/

Leslie - It should show all envelope sized mail and I believe 1st class mail. It won't show magazines or advertisements/flyers that are larger. With those guidelines, the service is totally accurate for me.

Also it only shows what goes through the sorting machine (that's where they get the picture). It won't show any separate or loose letters that never went through the machine.

Leslie, The neat thing is that IF it shows something and you DON'T get it, now you can call your local PO and ask where that piece of mail went, as it showed as scheduled to be delivered to your mail box on a particular day. That's what I like about it.....if it doesn't show up, something needs to be looked into. So far for me, though, I've gotten everything showing up in the email. As others have pointed out, packages, magazines, odd sized parcels, etc, won't be in the email. But I believe that wasn't your issue....it sounded like your email showed something you were supposed to get, but didn't. If that's the case, call your local PO and make sure your driver/carrier knows that you KNOW what you are supposed to get....should take care of any issues! (Unless someone is going through your mail after getting in your box....then you've got a different problem!)

Thank you. This will come in handy with an elderly member of the family.

Me...the first email rocked my world. I do not need to drive one mile roundtrip to pick up, garbage.

thanks! what a great service. used it 2day 4 the 1st time.

Thank you for this information. I was already signed up for package notification. We have a huge problem with misdelivered mail in our neighborhood. This will be beneficial.

Checked my Informed Delivery email this morning and see that my check from Strategic Reflections will be here today!! Gotta love it!

I have cut down on my trips to the mailbox and skipped the junk mail due to this great service !

For the first time, the online service missed a piece of mail that was in my mailbox.

@7star wrote:

For the first time, the online service missed a piece of mail that was in my mailbox.

I just had that happen too. A check I've been waiting for was not in the scan email but was delivered that same day. I guess it's better than the other way around.

The email will only show the letters that went through the machine that puts them in proper delivery sequence. Other pieces of mail (like magazines, catalogues, and other letter sized pieces) the carrier sorts personally, and never went through the machine, so a picture was never captured. You can always get more than what is in the email. You should never get LESS. You should always wait a day or two before you worry. Sometimes they can get separated and delivered a day or two after.

Actually I did get less than what the online showed. The missing piece of mail was the same size as the piece that was shown online. So it only showed one out of the two pieces. The online service definitely missed one piece. I'd still use the service though.

@kenasch wrote:

@7star wrote:

For the first time, the online service missed a piece of mail that was in my mailbox.

I just had that happen too. A check I've been waiting for was not in the scan email but was delivered that same day. I guess it's better than the other way around.

Oooohhhh....that's not good. If that happened to me, I would call my local post office, and speak with the postmaster/postmistress, and let them know I am signed up for the service and what happened. Maybe they could give a reason. If not, at least they would know that you are watching, and that might help!

In my email this morning was a piece of mail that contained a good sized interest check from an annuity that hubby has...glad to have gotten notice....hubby got the mail as soon as it was delivered. I sure would have hated not to have gotten a notice on that. If I had, I would have called them.

Guysmom - if i got less mail than what the online service said then i would contact them. As long as i get at least what the online said, i'm ok with that. I may just contact them anyway.

Well, my Informed Delivery email tells me that today I will be receiving a check from Stericycle.....neat-o!! I don't get paid by check from very many companies, perhaps this one and Strategic Reflections, but it sure is nice to know the day the check will arrive in my mailbox!

I just signed up, my mail has been coming later and later, so no more trips only to find mail is not there.
Thanks for this info. the best.....

Glad you signed up, Irene. Now, the email does not tell you the time that the mail will arrive....only the letter-sized pieces that you are getting. You still have to figure out when to go check your box, but at least if the email shows junk mail, you won't have to rush! Remember also, that it will not show packages or magazines...only letter-sized mail. But it's still a handy-dandy service!

I like it but not 100% reliable. I've had a check in the mail box that wasn't in the email notification. So far not the other way around, fortunately.