3 cities get paperless postal service
Image: Zumbox Every day, new technological innovations help make information flow faster, systems work better and our lives a little easier, But often, when it comes to adopting new technology, governments lag behind the private sector and even the casual consumer because they are unwilling or unable to try something new and change the way things have always been done. That’s small-minded thinking. In serving the public, government should constantly be looking for new and better ways to provide information and services. The City’s pilot program with Zumbox will give us yet another means to get information to New Yorkers.
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Comments(19)
Posted By Anonymous - Thu, Oct 08 2009 at 4:18 PM ESTHmmm
This article doesn't explain the concept very well. Does this service require a computer and an internet connection? If so, what are those without one supposed to do? I'm sure the majority of municipal mail probably goes to seniors and low-income households.
Posted By Mark - Wed, Oct 07 2009 at 2:37 PM ESTSaving Trees & Money
I send out promotional materials for my business, I make efforts to use eco-friendly printing from companies like http://pixxlz.com If this catches on it may help me save on printing cost but I don't see this having far reaching effects for marketing purposes. I remember when e-mail was going to be the end of print mail promotions, years later I still find that snail mail marketing campaigns are VERY effective.
Posted By MeganW_24 - Wed, Oct 07 2009 at 2:05 PM ESTOther online post offices?
what about other online post office versions? like http://www.earthclassmail.com
who will monitor all the different sites?
Posted By Juan Chaparro - Wed, Oct 07 2009 at 12:27 PM ESTIt's the best choice...
As owner of Gmaids we belive in going paperless, we have implemented the same system, running our maid service, without paper & everything online and it has only improved it....we understand that paper mail it's part of the economy, but as email never destroyed these USPS, FEDEX nor UPS, it just improved them, I think it will be a new trend and new oportunities will arise for those who care more about our planet than the economy, we can't have an economy without a planet.
Posted By Rich - Mon, Oct 05 2009 at 6:42 AM ESTMore Government Control
As the While House just appointed another Czar to be in charge of the internet, this is just another way for Government to control us. By just "pulling the plug" everybody's lines of communication would be "turned off". This is a control effort and the stupid blind sheep will fall for it as they always do.
Posted By hack attack - Sun, Oct 04 2009 at 10:03 PM EST3 cities get paperless postal service
can't wait till someone hacks NYC zumcrap and sends out tons of nudie mail so everyone can read it, and then their computers go bonkers because of a virus. Official government documents I thought still had to be mailed so whats the use.
Posted By Drewk86a - Sun, Oct 04 2009 at 1:35 PM ESTNot good for Economy
As Senator Susan Collins (ME) likes to point out the mailing industry is a $900 billion industry and makes up a large part of our economy. This doesn't only hurt the USPS, but also the printers, envelope manufacturers, paper manufacturers, loggers, etc...
By the way, people deride junk mail for killing trees, but studies show we have more trees now in this country than ever thanks to harvesters who plant trees for each one they cut
Posted By MARK - Sun, Oct 04 2009 at 11:32 AM ESTPRE-SORT DISCOUNT
HOW WILL THIS AFFECT THE CITIES ABILITY TO RECEIVE PRE-SORTED DISCOUNTS SINCE THE VOLUME THEY ACTUALLY MAIL MIGHT BE BELOW THE REQUIRED NUMBER OF PIECES. AND, WHAT ABOUT THE COMPANIES THAT DO THEIR MAILINGS FOR THEM? WILL THEY GO OUT OF BUSINESS?
Posted By Anonymous - Sun, Oct 04 2009 at 1:48 AM ESTAnd the Mail goes on....
Today on my postal route a customer asked me if I had heard of this new company trying to put paper mail to an end. Of course I had not. When I handed him his mail, he said, "oh here is the LETTER THEY SENT ME to confirm my enrollment." DUH Even Zumbox needs us!! This may catch on but the posal service will never go away. It may shrink, but there will always be a need. Not everyone in the US has accses to a computer or the internet, but the mail is delived to every house every day. Every single.... More
Posted By juli - Sat, Oct 03 2009 at 8:41 PM ESTnot enough
I opted out of junk mail ten years ago (had to insist with a few companies but eventually they stopped). My only junk mail now is addressed to "postal customer" and I have argued with USPS for years about it. In the other hand there are the flyers stuck at the door by different junk companies, which keep increasing every week. In short, what needs to happen is that businesses need to respect people's rights to refuse to trash the planet.
Posted By john - Sat, Oct 03 2009 at 4:56 PM ESTpaperless
I would never use it,plus its like email u just delete it but if you have it sent to the house you will open it, what about people jobs delivering mail....this is america lets not lose any more jobs... plus I wait for my mailman tooo..THERE BILLLION OF PEOPLE ON SECTION 8 AND LOW INCOME THEY CANT AFFORD COMPUTERS
Posted By Bill - Sat, Oct 03 2009 at 10:25 AM ESTMost stats are made up
Stats like those are meaningless. They also say that 100 WW 2 vets are dying every day. We would have run out of WW2 vets long time ago. Glad someone ran some figures.
Posted By Drewk86a - Sat, Oct 03 2009 at 5:39 AM ESTThis Won't Work
What about people who don't own computers or have internet access? What about people who move and Zumbox doesn't update it's address database? What about hackers?
Can't force people to use it.
Posted By Rob Reed - Sat, Oct 03 2009 at 10:11 AM ESTOptional
Zumbox is optional. The City will still send paper mail to whomever wants it. But if even a small percentage opt for exclusive paperless mail delivery via Zumbox, it will reduce the City's waste stream and mailing costs by a meaningful amount.
Posted By Bob - Fri, Oct 02 2009 at 8:34 PM ESTIt's a big world
You think maybe some of the mailings are going outside of the city? It is a distinct possibility.
Posted By norm scherstrom - Fri, Oct 02 2009 at 3:46 PM ESTAre the NYC mail statistics valid?
Is this statement true? “In New York City alone, 15 million pieces of mail from the City are sent out on a typical day.”
According to the NYC planning department, which cited Census Bureau numbers, the 2008 population of New York city was a bit under 8.4 million persons, about half the entire population for the state.
If the city works a five-day week and we knock out 10 holidays, the city is mailing 250 days a year. At 15 million a day that is 3.75 billion pieces, which.... More
Posted By Rob Reed - Sat, Oct 03 2009 at 10:08 AM ESTStats
The 15 million+ pieces of paperless mail were sent on Tuesday via Zumbox by the City of New York. Not sure about how much paper mail the City sends.
New York City & News
Could it be that Bloomberg, the mayor, sees this a a good business opportunty to get his Bloomberg´s, the company, content distributed via another channel. Hmmmm