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Comment by largesse | Hacker News Reader

I'd like to find the best way to "opt out" of the postal system.

When I go out of town and put hold on my mail, they never work. The postal worker just delivers until the box is full and then returns the letters. Of course, the box is full because of junk mail (which you can't opt out of). I'd consider a post office box, but it is inconvenient, plus I'd have to change my address with everyone who sends me legitimate mail - you know, the things that you still can't handle electronically like W2s, etc.

I've heard that there are services which can have your mail forwarded to, who scan it and send it to you electronically, but I'd be concerned about identity theft.

It's just a broken system and there's no way to opt out.

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I sent all my mail to Earth Class Mail (by using one of their mail centers as an address for basically everything except legally-required residence address). They scan the covers of your mail by default. You don't actually need to have them open and scan the contents, so if you're afraid of identity theft, just scanning covers isn't any worse than someone with access to your (unlocked) mailbox.

They also have pretty good internal procedures to keep your mail safe. Top Secret paper shredders, employee background investigations, video monitoring, etc. I'm fairly paranoid, and I consider them safe enough for all of my personal mail. I wouldn't send root passwords for them to scan, but really, there's nothing in the banking system which lacks an audit trail and is irreversible, and they're a US company which could be sued if they did anything improper, so it seems like a safe risk to take.

The only complaints I have are that their costs have steadily creeped up over the years, and I've had to change one of my addresses twice in 5 years (first time, they had a horrible local UPS driver who kept misdelivering packages; the second time, Nike bought their building when their lease was up for renewal. They have a 7y lease on the new place, though.)

Sounds like you have a problem with your local post office, not the concept of a postal service. I've successfully had my mail held before. If you can switch to a door slot instead of a mailbox, I think that also might solve your problem.

I have a problem with the reality of the postal service, not the concept.

Yea, try putting a mail slot on your door in an apartment complex, or one of the many neighborhoods which now use 'central' mail boxes.

I agree with a lot of your thoughts, but as a counterpoint, I'm impressed by the UX of the "put my mail on hold" process at the USPS site every time I use it. I'm guessing there's real variance in the quality controls from office to office.

But I have no idea why the USPS doesn't offer a "we'll scan your mail before we deliver it, and you can select what you want" service, like the idea laid out here: https://tonywebster.com/2012/07/reinventing-the-united-state...

Simple answer: they would lose money from the junk mailers. It's a sizable part of their revenue, possibly more than half.

The junk mailers would still mail their advertisements. The USPS picks them up and scans them at their pickup point, or at the nearest processing facility (they already do this, to automatically shunt mail to the proper zones). Mail that I designate as "trash" via the iPhone / web app gets recycled before it actually gets shipped across the country, or, if it's already shipped, then when it next gets processed at my local processing facility. So the advertisers still pay the full rate; I just have the option of intercepting it before it makes it to my mailbox. If I don't act in time, it gets delivered, just like normal.

I'm sure advertisers would still pay the same rates for junk mail that nobody sees, and it wouldn't reduce the value of the junk mail to those advertisers.

Individual advertisers such as Red Plum let you opt out of their mailings. You can also opt out of credit card offers and the cash advance checks on your existing cards. Spent 20 minutes on it: it will save you a lot of time in the long run.

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