Yeah, they scan everything these days, so, you being part of this program has 0 effect, it is just now that you are also aware of what they have been doing.
Yeah, they scan everything these days, so, you being part of this program has 0 effect, it is just now that you are also aware of what they have been doing.pretty crazy. I just signed up, semi hesitant to willingly be a part of this, but as soon as I did they showed me scans from the last week, so they're doing it anyway
I just learned that the USPS collects meta-data on every single piece of mail delivered. No wonder NSA needs that much storage space.
Definitely not last mile. I don't recall the emails saying the mail in question will be delivered on that day, either (though I might've missed that.) I frequently don't get mail in a given email until a day after the email arrives... I don't keep close enough track to know if the lag time is no more than a day; it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it's up to 2 or 3 days, depending...Where is this picture-taking action taking place? I mean, if I get an email that shows five pieces of mail is supposed to be coming to me on a given day and only three come how do I know it just wasn't delivered vs. stolen? Is it the last mile postal carrier taking the pictures?
What parallel universe do you live in where your local PO gives a rat's ass about complaints about carriers?/ At least those that fall short of wholesale destruction of mail by carriers that want to finish their routes early, and when it's already been reported by news media and so makes the higher-ups look bad?Ever report him if you had anything actually ruined because of it? USPS is great, but individual mail carriers vary. Don't put up with shitty performers on any job, report their asses.
Yep. I didn't sign up for it, but since I had created a USPS account for other reasons, they automatically "opted me in" at some point. If deleting the account would stop them from collecting the data in the first place, I'd have done it in a heartbeat. (Not because I have "anything to hide", but because I vehemently oppose mass governmental surveillance on general public policy grounds.) But it wouldn't, so there's no point in doing so.I just learned that the USPS collects meta-data on every single piece of mail delivered. No wonder NSA needs that much storage space.
Scanning mail for sorting purposes is well and good and the USPS has done so for a long time. The issue I have is record retention. For mail that isn't tracked, there is no purpose for retaining routing records and certainly no postal purpose for retaining images of the mail.How else did you think they achieved delivery with the insane volume of mail in the modern age? Actual humans sorting the mail? lol
I'm surprised people didn't know USPS uses ::gasp:: OCR technology! And of course with large packages, they have barcodes that contain everything necessary to ensure delivery.
There's just no other way to achieve it this days if you want postage to be remotely cheap. Systems automate mail sorting so that mail moves at a decent pace affordably.
I signed up for this quite a while ago too. I'm not sure it's really of much use to me though. You can see what's coming but if it's anything that looks interesting you still need to wait for it to be delivered to find out what it's about. I guess if you're really waiting with bated breath for something it might be useful to know it will be delivered that day but it seems kind of gimmicky.
What about stolen mail? That is a postal purpose to know what comes in, actually gets delivered.Scanning mail for sorting purposes is well and good and the USPS has done so for a long time. The issue I have is record retention. For mail that isn't tracked, there is no purpose for retaining routing records and certainly no postal purpose for retaining images of the mail.
Not at all and that's my point. Using scanning tech for sorting and carrying out the business of delivering mail is a good thing. Archiving the scan info isn't necessary to the delivery of mail and opens the door to data mining.You seem to think that whether or not you receive the emails has anything to do with their data gathering. They’ve already been doing this for a long time. They don’t magically know not to photograph your mail if you haven’t signed up.
The thing that bothers me about it though is that I can often read the contents of non-security envelopes somewhat in the images.
Not at all and that's my point. Using scanning tech for sorting and carrying out the business of delivering mail is a good thing. Archiving the scan info isn't necessary to the delivery of mail and opens the door to data mining.
Where is this picture-taking action taking place? I mean, if I get an email that shows five pieces of mail is supposed to be coming to me on a given day and only three come how do I know it just wasn't delivered vs. stolen? Is it the last mile postal carrier taking the pictures?
We have very different definitions of the word "repurposing". Scanning for sorting purposes does not require images to be "saved" at all past the moment when the imaged mail passes into its final sorting "slot" at a given facility, much less "archived" for a longer period. And in fact "rational business sense", which we're so commonly told determines corporate behavior (however ridiculous a proposition that is, in practice), argues against it, since saving it costs money. Unless of course the archived images have some sort of "future value", to "someone"... And as far as it being archived - for what period? with what security precautions (of the anti-hacking variety, I mean), and who has access to it, and under precisely what circumstances do they have access?This is literally just using part of the OCR materials and repurposing it for another service. (I used to work at a place that did some of this work.)
Not at all and that's my point. Using scanning tech for sorting and carrying out the business of delivering mail is a good thing. Archiving the scan info isn't necessary to the delivery of mail and opens the door to data mining.
From my observed experience while at the last-sort location (neighborhood postal annex), the final mail is hand sorted into street name/number delivery order, but this when the delivery fails more often than desirable. Based on the descriptions above it seems the only usefulness of the above feature is to prove undelivered mail, or mail not delivered correctly.The Post Office uses OCR to determine how to sort mail, and part of doing OCR is taking photos of the mail for processing. This is literally just using part of the OCR materials and repurposing it for another service. (I used to work at a place that did some of this work.)
AFAIK, the OCR reading is for the zip code only: it prints a bar code on every envelope which contains the zip+4 info. This alone localizes the mail quite well for final sorting and delivery.The Post Office uses OCR to determine how to sort mail, and part of doing OCR is taking photos of the mail for processing. This is literally just using part of the OCR materials and repurposing it for another service. (I used to work at a place that did some of this work.)
BTW can everyone in the family do it or only one person?
I only vaguely recall what the "introductory email" said about it, but based on my experience, I'm fairly sure it only "informs" one of "first-class mail"; I certainly never see images of "bulk rate" circulars and other "junk mail". I guess it might include small "first class parcels", but I doubt even that, since I don't think those are handled by automated sorting machinery at all.I signed up early. Usually the things I am really interested in are my packages, not the letters. I have yet to get word of any packages delivered by USPS AFAIK, so it's of very limited value to me.
Are you saying you can now sign up for notice of non-tracked packages? It's been possible to get alerts based on tracking numbers for quite a while now, but I've never heard of a notification service for packages without an explicitly-issued (and paid for) tracking number.The packages are a totally separate service that they've had for ages. Well, I say separate, but they've collapsed the branding down to both falling under "informed delivery". You still sign up separately though.