Postal Service Debuts Digital Mail in New York

U.S. Mail goes digital in Gotham this week. Residents and businesses in several New York zip codes are being introduced to the Informed Delivery app, which—every day at 8 a.m.—emails them pictures of the front of mail envelopes being delivered to them later in the day.

The pilot program works through the My USPS website and follows on a small-market Virginia test of what the Postal Service initially called "Real Mail Notification." Results of that 6,600-person program boded well for paper mail's digital future. The average response rate to direct-mail appeals received by service subscribers was 5.9 percent compared to 0.5 percent for residents without the app, and nine out of 10 users said they'd continue to use the free service if available.