[Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery]

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Doom&Gloom
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by Doom&Gloom »

lthenderson wrote: Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:09 am
gd wrote: Wed Sep 06, 2017 5:57 am Signed up for this 2-3 weeks ago when the thread started, it says I'm registered with correct email, and have never received anything. YMMV. Don't get your hopes up.
After I signed up, it took a little over a week before I received my first email. I don't get one every day since they don't scan magazines and postcard ads type stuff which is the bulk of what our mail consists of these days.
I signed up when this thread began. It took about 10 days before I received the first notification, and so far I have only received about three total. I do get consistent and accurate notifications of packages being delivered, but that may be separate notification process.
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deanbrew
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by deanbrew »

I just tried to sign up and got a message that "Your ZIP Code is not eligible" and "Your address is not eligible for Informed Delivery. We update our lists weekly, please try again next week."

Anyone else have this issue?
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Cash
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by Cash »

I signed up about a month ago, and e-mails started a few days afterward. I now look forward to the almost daily e-mail around 7:30 a.m.
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flamesabers
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by flamesabers »

I got an email the other day saying my USPS online account has been upgraded to include the "informed delivery" feature. Once I complete the opt-in (which I'll probably do tonight) I should start to get the emails.
hudson
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by hudson »

I signed up for me and my wife....my experiences...

The "Informed Delivery" email comes about 8 a.m.
It does not include packages. To see packages, one has to log on to USPS "Informed Delivery"
My packages and my wife's packages show up on my "Informed Delivery" account...not my wife's. Mail shows up in both accounts.
This service is very useful.
Last edited by hudson on Fri Sep 15, 2017 8:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by ResearchMed »

hudson wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:37 am I signed up for me and my wife....my experiences...

The "Informed Delivery" email comes about 8 a.m.
It does not include packages. To see packages, one has to log on to USPS "Informed Delivery"
My packages and my wife's packages show up on my "Informed Delivery" account...not my wife's.
This service very useful.
DH signed up a few days ago.

It seems to be address-specific, and not "addressee-specific" (e.g., a person).

He looks online, and sees his mail, our mail, my mail, and the mail we *still* receive for the people we purchased the home from (15 years ago), and the people they purchased the house from.
(The latter two addressees get only junk mail nowadays, and there seems to be no way to stop it. I'm guessing that "no longer at this address; return to sender" type messages written on envelopes don't do anything for junk mail.)

RM
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Doom&Gloom
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by Doom&Gloom »

hudson wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:37 am I signed up for me and my wife....my experiences...

The "Informed Delivery" email comes about 8 a.m.
It does not include packages. To see packages, one has to log on to USPS "Informed Delivery"
My packages and my wife's packages show up on my "Informed Delivery" account...not my wife's. Mail shows up in both accounts.
This service is very useful.
Interesting. My experience is exactly the opposite. I receive e-mails for every package, but only rarely a piece of mail.

I haven't bothered logging on to see what is listed there--I might as well just walk to the mailbox and find out :oops:

Shocking that USPS is inconsistent!
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flamesabers
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by flamesabers »

Doom&Gloom wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 11:11 am
hudson wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:37 am I signed up for me and my wife....my experiences...

The "Informed Delivery" email comes about 8 a.m.
It does not include packages. To see packages, one has to log on to USPS "Informed Delivery"
My packages and my wife's packages show up on my "Informed Delivery" account...not my wife's. Mail shows up in both accounts.
This service is very useful.
Interesting. My experience is exactly the opposite. I receive e-mails for every package, but only rarely a piece of mail.

I haven't bothered logging on to see what is listed there--I might as well just walk to the mailbox and find out :oops:

Shocking that USPS is inconsistent!
I got a letter from the utility company yesterday and I didn't get any emails from USPS. Is there something else I need to do to get the emails? I know I signed up for it.
investor4life
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by investor4life »

Looks useful. But...the FAQ has this sentence under how the method works:

"Informed Delivery allows users to take action before important items reach their mailbox, while offering mailers an unprecedented opportunity to engage users through synchronized direct mail and digital marketing campaigns."

OP, have you experienced this?
rgs92
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by rgs92 »

At my local post office, a local ad booklet is mass mailed to every PO box. So they have to place every single identical piece into the correct individual box. This seems like an incredible waste of time and effort to sort through these things that are all identical.

And the trash/recycling bins at the post office are filled with these things every time they show up.

And there are many of these mass mailings to every box in the post office, and there are hundreds of PO boxes, so there are tens of thousands of placements each week.

I guess by law they can't just stack them up for the taking.

Couldn't they have a special PO-Box-mass-mailing class to send something to every box in a given zip-code or post office?

As an actionable question, is there any way to stop such mass mailing things from going to my PO Box? (Every little bit helps you know...)
hudson
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by hudson »

flamesabers wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 11:16 am
Doom&Gloom wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 11:11 am
hudson wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:37 am I signed up for me and my wife....my experiences...

The "Informed Delivery" email comes about 8 a.m.
It does not include packages. To see packages, one has to log on to USPS "Informed Delivery"
My packages and my wife's packages show up on my "Informed Delivery" account...not my wife's. Mail shows up in both accounts.
This service is very useful.
Interesting. My experience is exactly the opposite. I receive e-mails for every package, but only rarely a piece of mail.

I haven't bothered logging on to see what is listed there--I might as well just walk to the mailbox and find out :oops:

Shocking that USPS is inconsistent!
I got a letter from the utility company yesterday and I didn't get any emails from USPS. Is there something else I need to do to get the emails? I know I signed up for it.
I had the same experience. A day after I signed up; no USPS Informed Delivery Email.
The fix: I went back to the USPS website and browsed to the Informed Delivery page. I found a checkbox that I needed to check. A check in the box fixed it.
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flamesabers
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by flamesabers »

hudson wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 12:29 pm
flamesabers wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 11:16 am
Doom&Gloom wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 11:11 am
hudson wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:37 am I signed up for me and my wife....my experiences...

The "Informed Delivery" email comes about 8 a.m.
It does not include packages. To see packages, one has to log on to USPS "Informed Delivery"
My packages and my wife's packages show up on my "Informed Delivery" account...not my wife's. Mail shows up in both accounts.
This service is very useful.
Interesting. My experience is exactly the opposite. I receive e-mails for every package, but only rarely a piece of mail.

I haven't bothered logging on to see what is listed there--I might as well just walk to the mailbox and find out :oops:

Shocking that USPS is inconsistent!
I got a letter from the utility company yesterday and I didn't get any emails from USPS. Is there something else I need to do to get the emails? I know I signed up for it.
I had the same experience. A day after I signed up; no USPS Informed Delivery Email.
The fix: I went back to the USPS website and browsed to the Informed Delivery page. I found a checkbox that I needed to check. A check in the box fixed it.
Thanks, I check into this.
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Doom&Gloom
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by Doom&Gloom »

hudson wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 12:29 pm
flamesabers wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 11:16 am
Doom&Gloom wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 11:11 am
hudson wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:37 am I signed up for me and my wife....my experiences...

The "Informed Delivery" email comes about 8 a.m.
It does not include packages. To see packages, one has to log on to USPS "Informed Delivery"
My packages and my wife's packages show up on my "Informed Delivery" account...not my wife's. Mail shows up in both accounts.
This service is very useful.
Interesting. My experience is exactly the opposite. I receive e-mails for every package, but only rarely a piece of mail.

I haven't bothered logging on to see what is listed there--I might as well just walk to the mailbox and find out :oops:

Shocking that USPS is inconsistent!
I got a letter from the utility company yesterday and I didn't get any emails from USPS. Is there something else I need to do to get the emails? I know I signed up for it.
I had the same experience. A day after I signed up; no USPS Informed Delivery Email.
The fix: I went back to the USPS website and browsed to the Informed Delivery page. I found a checkbox that I needed to check. A check in the box fixed it.
I just logged into USPS and confirmed my settings were correct. The interesting thing is they have logged 12 packages and 1 piece of mail to me. I am pretty sure I have received notifications for at least 2 pieces of mail. I am guessing that my particular post office has not fully implemented mail being scanned and logged into their system. But that is just my WAG.
mouses
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by mouses »

ResearchMed wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:47 am
It seems to be address-specific, and not "addressee-specific" (e.g., a person).

He looks online, and sees his mail, our mail, my mail, and the mail we *still* receive for the people we purchased the home from (15 years ago), and the people they purchased the house from.
(The latter two addressees get only junk mail nowadays, and there seems to be no way to stop it. I'm guessing that "no longer at this address; return to sender" type messages written on envelopes don't do anything for junk mail.)

RM
I think the junk mailers do no feedback to the companies that hire them about requests to remove people from their address lists. What generally works for me is to call the company's 800 number and ask to be removed from the postal mailing list and that they not sell or rent my contact information to anyone. It does take awhile for that to take effect. In only one case have I had to write the CEO (Kohl's) because that did not work.

However, the stuff that goes to every mailbox seems impossible to stop. I am sure the letter carrier does not look at the addresses, which would add significantly to their work time. I am off the RedPlum mailing list, for example, but it still shows up.

As someone noted above, notices for "letters" and packages are handled from different parts of the Post Office's software mass.

I do find informed delivery useful. It saves me trips to the mailbox when the scanned stuff is not interesting.
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catdude
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by catdude »

investor4life wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 11:41 am Looks useful. But...the FAQ has this sentence under how the method works:

"Informed Delivery allows users to take action before important items reach their mailbox, while offering mailers an unprecedented opportunity to engage users through synchronized direct mail and digital marketing campaigns."

OP, have you experienced this?
Not that I know of. I need to figure out what "synchronized direct mail" is. Synchronized with what?? As for "digital marketing campaigns", I assume that means email. Gmail filters all of my incoming spam into its own folder, which I never check. I have no idea if I'm getting more spam these days...
catdude | | All generalizations are false, including this one.
JBTX
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by JBTX »

Been a month and have received nothing.

Went back in and I guess I hadn't verified identity. We'll see if it works now.
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VictoriaF
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Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by VictoriaF »

[Thread merged into here, see below. --admin LadyGeek]

As a consequence of the Equifax and other breaches, some protection measures include signing up for services before the crooks do it for us. In addition to getting electronic accounts with the IRS and SSA, we should also establish accounts with the US Postal Service (USPS) for their Informed Delivery Service.

The place to do it: https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/p ... art.action

Brian Krebs's review: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/10/usp ... ers-dream/

Brian's recommendation:
Brian Krebs wrote:The Postal Service said it is not possible for an address occupant to receive emailed, scanned images of incoming mail at more than one email address. In other words, if you wish to prevent others from signing up in your name or in the name of any other adults at the address, the surest way to do that may be to register your own account and then urge all other adult residents at the address to create their own accounts.

Victoria
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bluebolt
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by bluebolt »

Recently covered in a thread here:

viewtopic.php?t=225757
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Ice-9
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by Ice-9 »

Thanks for the post, VictoriaF!

I had actually heard about Informed Delivery several weeks ago via the Bogleheads thread bluebolt posted above and had signed up immediately. However, I hadn't even considered a potential security risk of my wife NOT signing up as well. She commented that I was a "geek" for having signed up for it a few weeks ago, but I'll try to convince her to sign up as well next opportunity for this reason.
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heartwood
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by heartwood »

My experience differs. The account is in my name, but shows all scannable mail to the address: my name, my wife's name, my LLC, and "our friends at ..." In fact ours shows mail for previous tenants as well.

It only covers mail that goes through the scanning machine, e.g., no large thick envelopes that won't fit the auto scan, no magazines, etc

There's a 5 day window to report an item you saw online and did not receive.
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Ice-9
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by Ice-9 »

Heartwood, my experience is the same as yours. My understanding is that my wife (or anybody else who signed up for the service at our address) would get the same scans in their email each morning that I'm currently receiving. No separation by recipient name.
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VictoriaF
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by VictoriaF »

bluebolt wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:42 pm Recently covered in a thread here:

viewtopic.php?t=225757
bluebolt,

Thank you for a link. I have not seen that thread before. Now, that I've read it, please note:

The August 2017, thread focused on the conveniences of this service and general ways to get rid of junk mail.
My emphasis is on signing up before a crook does it for us.

In the August thread I also noticed that some people had problems signing up for the USPS service if they had credit freeze. The work around is to go to the Post Office with a copy of the barcode they send to you.

Victoria

P.S. I will link this thread in the August one.
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VictoriaF
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by VictoriaF »

FYI,

I have started a thread about the security considerations of Informed Delivery. Please see "Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery" at
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=228882

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
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VictoriaF
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by VictoriaF »

heartwood wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 2:33 pm My experience differs. The account is in my name, but shows all scannable mail to the address: my name, my wife's name, my LLC, and "our friends at ..." In fact ours shows mail for previous tenants as well.

It only covers mail that goes through the scanning machine, e.g., no large thick envelopes that won't fit the auto scan, no magazines, etc

There's a 5 day window to report an item you saw online and did not receive.
Yes, they are sloppy. Still, it's preferable for you to receive the fruits of their sloppiness than for a crook who could have signed for Informed Delivery in your name, applied for a credit card in your wife's name, and was promptly notified of its delivery to your mailbox.

Victoria
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bluebolt
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by bluebolt »

VictoriaF wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 2:39 pm
bluebolt wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:42 pm Recently covered in a thread here:

viewtopic.php?t=225757
bluebolt,

Thank you for a link. I have not seen that thread before. Now, that I've read it, please note:

The August 2017, thread focused on the conveniences of this service and general ways to get rid of junk mail.
My emphasis is on signing up before a crook does it for us.

In the August thread I also noticed that some people had problems signing up for the USPS service if they had credit freeze. The work around is to go to the Post Office with a copy of the barcode they send to you.

Victoria

P.S. I will link this thread in the August one.
My intention was to direct people to the discussion that already existed about the service, not to invalidate the reason you suggested signing up.
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VictoriaF
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by VictoriaF »

As I am reading comments to Brian Krebs's article I linked above, I see some horror stories, as follows:
Brian Krebs's commenter wrote:Yes, everyone who is eligible NEEDS to sign up and claim your name/address before someone else does. So, I went to claim mine, signed up really fast, and the KBA are SO DAMN EASY, that, indeed, a Zillow or Whitepages dot com search will provide all of the required answers. SHOCKINGLY SIMPLE.
Brian Krebs's commenter wrote:If you miss one of the KBA questions, just hit the back button and try again!
Brian Krebs's commenter wrote:I just tried logging into my USPS account to see about this, and it was *happy* to sign me up using an address I haven’t lived at for two years. I filed an official USPS change of address form when I moved.
Brian Krebs's commenter wrote:Unless your SSN is very old or rather new, you can figure out when and where it was issued with the “Five-Digit Decoder” on this page: http://www.stevemorse.org/ssn/ssn.html .
If you have credit freeze, it may or may not prevent you from signing for the service:
Brian Krebs's commenter wrote:I have had credit freezes on all 4 credit agencies for several years. I just signed up for usps.com and Informed Delivery. To authenticate my identity for sign-up, they clearly had information from my credit report.
If you think that signing up for this service is a prudent action--do it now! A half of the Universe is reading Krebs and finding out about these workarounds.

Victoria
Last edited by VictoriaF on Mon Oct 02, 2017 3:34 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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VictoriaF
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by VictoriaF »

bluebolt wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 3:10 pm
VictoriaF wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 2:39 pm
bluebolt wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:42 pm Recently covered in a thread here:

viewtopic.php?t=225757
bluebolt,

Thank you for a link. I have not seen that thread before. Now, that I've read it, please note:

The August 2017, thread focused on the conveniences of this service and general ways to get rid of junk mail.
My emphasis is on signing up before a crook does it for us.

In the August thread I also noticed that some people had problems signing up for the USPS service if they had credit freeze. The work around is to go to the Post Office with a copy of the barcode they send to you.

Victoria

P.S. I will link this thread in the August one.
My intention was to direct people to the discussion that already existed about the service, not to invalidate the reason you suggested signing up.
Some people may have read the August discussion when it was active, decided that they already knew all there is to know about the Informed Delivery, and may not click on it again--even if it's revived.

The title of my thread should alert these people to new issues.

I think both threads have their place: the old one about the usability of the service, the new one about the risks of not getting the service.

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
runner3081
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by runner3081 »

For my neighborhood, this is more to "find out what items were incorrectly delivered" by the post office.
bluebolt
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by bluebolt »

VictoriaF wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 3:17 pm
bluebolt wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 3:10 pm My intention was to direct people to the discussion that already existed about the service, not to invalidate the reason you suggested signing up.
Some people may have read the August discussion when it was active, decided that they already knew all there is to know about the Informed Delivery, and may not click on it again--even if it's revived.

The title of my thread should alert these people to new issues.

I think both threads have their place: the old one about the usability of the service, the new one about the risks of not getting the service.

Victoria
Yes, that's precisely why I linked it, so others could get more info by reading that thread.
student
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by student »

I just signed up. The system could not verify my identity. So I had to go to the post office with a bar code. There were two ladies there. One of them had no idea what I was talking about but the other lady did.
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flamesabers
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by flamesabers »

runner3081 wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 3:34 pm For my neighborhood, this is more to "find out what items were incorrectly delivered" by the post office.
On the USPS website, the only option I see for each mail item is "I didn't receive this piece of mail" or something to that effect. Interesting enough, on one of my informed delivery emails I did see a scan of a letter for a prior resident, but the letter was never delivered to my mailbox. I'm assuming the mail carrier or someone else corrected the error before the letter was delivered to my address.
mrc
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by mrc »

All my credit reports are frozen. I couldn't verify my identity. There were three none of the above and once possible hit on a car loan. Guess I'll stop by the PO. The irony is amusing.
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Nicolas
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by Nicolas »

I signed up a few weeks ago and now get a daily preview of my incoming junk mail about 8am. However a few times I spotted something important coming in and so I watched for it in the box. It brightens up my day. This service will come in handy when I'm out of town and my mail's being held. Note that oversized envelopes and packages are not scanned.
Good Listener
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by Good Listener »

Thank you Victoria for letting us in on this. I signed up after reading your post primarily for defensive reasons as it would be scary if somebody else registered my address. Indeed with a little luck a crook might be able to answer the questions. I took 3 shots to get it right as I forgot some old phone numbers.

Question: Do you need to log on to the website or use the app every day or does one get an email with the pdfs each day?
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VictoriaF
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by VictoriaF »

Good Listener wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 5:41 pm Thank you Victoria for letting us in on this. I signed up after reading your post primarily for defensive reasons as it would be scary if somebody else registered my address. Indeed with a little luck a crook might be able to answer the questions. I took 3 shots to get it right as I forgot some old phone numbers.

Question: Do you need to log on to the website or use the app every day or does one get an email with the pdfs each day?
Hi Good Listener,

I have signed for this service today, and have not received anything yet in my email or online account. I saw a comment that in order to receive email you have to check a box in your online profile. Tomorrow, I will know if it works.

As we are discussing defensive measures, please note that one of the most critical resources is your primary email. Make sure that you use a unique complex password, and that you have a two-factor authentication (2FA) for your email account.

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
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bertilak
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by bertilak »

miamivice wrote: Tue Aug 15, 2017 9:43 pm I appreciate the information and signed up for the service since it sounded interesting.

With that said, I sincerely do not have the time to compare the letters received each day to the scanned images to make sure nothing is missing....
That's not the main use I find for this service.

My mailbox is just over a quarter mile away. It is a minor pain to drive out there and check the mail. Delivery times are quite erratic, over a span of many hours, making this an uncertain proposition. I look at the scanned images to see if there is anything there I care about. If there is something important I will check early and often until it shows up. For less important things, I'll check much later. There is no iron-clad algorithm here, just a general tendency.
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by azurekep »

Just thought I'd mention this since this is a mail thread.

A common con in some communties is for women with baby carriages to walk down a street right after a mail delivery. They reach into mailboxes, grab the mail, put it in the carriage and continue walking to another box.

This procedure would be easier for a box that is unlocked, but I'd imagine it is still possible with a locking mailbox with the right tool -- and maybe the cover of bad weather.

This procedure isn't targeted at any one person, but is just an indiscriminate grab, hoping to get things like credit card statements with the CC # and any other items that could be used for social engineering/identity theft.
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by VictoriaF »

azurekep wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 7:37 pm Just thought I'd mention this since this is a mail thread.

A common con in some communties is for women with baby carriages to walk down a street right after a mail delivery. They reach into mailboxes, grab the mail, put it in the carriage and continue walking to another box.

This procedure would be easier for a box that is unlocked, but I'd imagine it is still possible with a locking mailbox with the right tool -- and maybe the cover of bad weather.

This procedure isn't targeted at any one person, but is just an indiscriminate grab, hoping to get things like credit card statements with the CC # and any other items that could be used for social engineering/identity theft.
Are there any babies in these carriages? It's probably not healthy for a baby to touch and inhale fresh print, especially from cheap mass mailings. And the woman does not have the time to separate junk mail from checks-in-the-mail.

Victoria
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by nisiprius »

Silly me. Apart from the fact that I don't want the service, I assumed that signing up for it would be a security risk since it would mean that more personal information about me was being sent over the Internet. I was under the impression that even seeing the outside of your mail is considered valuable information e.g. by law enforcement agencies; it's somewhat sensitive information.

So, now I'm torn. I'd ignored the service because I didn't want my mail cover images sent over the Internet. But now Victoria is saying it's a security issue if I don't sign up for it. I'm not sure how to strike the balance!
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by Good Listener »

nisiprius wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 7:46 pm Silly me. Apart from the fact that I don't want the service, I assumed that signing up for it would be a security risk since it would mean that more personal information about me was being sent over the Internet. I was under the impression that even seeing the outside of your mail is considered valuable information e.g. by law enforcement agencies; it's somewhat sensitive information.

So, now I'm torn. I'd ignored the service because I didn't want my mail cover images sent over the Internet. But now Victoria is saying it's a security issue if I don't sign up for it. I'm not sure how to strike the balance!
I would go with what Victoria suggested and I did it I assure you with careful thought
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by student »

nisiprius wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 7:46 pm Silly me. Apart from the fact that I don't want the service, I assumed that signing up for it would be a security risk since it would mean that more personal information about me was being sent over the Internet. I was under the impression that even seeing the outside of your mail is considered valuable information e.g. by law enforcement agencies; it's somewhat sensitive information.

So, now I'm torn. I'd ignored the service because I didn't want my mail cover images sent over the Internet. But now Victoria is saying it's a security issue if I don't sign up for it. I'm not sure how to strike the balance!
I also signed up for it. I don't think having the outside of your mail sent over the internet is a security risk unless someone is targeting you specifically. I think knowing whether there are mail thefts or mistakes in delivery is more important.
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by VictoriaF »

nisiprius wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 7:46 pm So, now I'm torn. I'd ignored the service because I didn't want my mail cover images sent over the Internet. But now Victoria is saying it's a security issue if I don't sign up for it. I'm not sure how to strike the balance!
There are two reasons why you should sign up:
1. The power of the Internet. The knowledge of the Informed Delivery is spreading like a wildfire, and there will be armies of wanna-be crooks enrolling in the service on behalf of their neighbors. Brian Krebs provides very useful information. Good guys like you, me and Good Listener use this information to protect ourselves. Bad guys read Brian Krebs to learn new mischieves. Guess who is more motivated and acts faster?

2. The ease of signing up. The authenticating information you have to provide to the USPS is pathetically easy to find out. And if you don't guess right--according to the commenters I cited above--you go to the previous page and try it again, until you get it right. This means that even the most stupid bad guys can become you quickly and easily.

Victoria
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by Nicolas »

VictoriaF wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 6:27 pm
Good Listener wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 5:41 pm Thank you Victoria for letting us in on this. I signed up after reading your post primarily for defensive reasons as it would be scary if somebody else registered my address. Indeed with a little luck a crook might be able to answer the questions. I took 3 shots to get it right as I forgot some old phone numbers.

Question: Do you need to log on to the website or use the app every day or does one get an email with the pdfs each day?
Hi Good Listener,

I have signed for this service today, and have not received anything yet in my email or online account. I saw a comment that in order to receive email you have to check a box in your online profile. Tomorrow, I will know if it works.

As we are discussing defensive measures, please note that one of the most critical resources is your primary email. Make sure that you use a unique complex password, and that you have a two-factor authentication (2FA) for your email account.

Victoria
You might not get it tomorrow either, it takes a few days for it to kick in. After that you'll get it without fail every day that mail is delivered.
Last edited by Nicolas on Mon Oct 02, 2017 9:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by LadyGeek »

I have merged VictoriaF's thread into the on-going discussion. I also retitled the thread.

FYI - It's best to keep all the information in one spot. If anyone sees a discussion that's duplicated elsewhere, please report the post using the "!" in the top right-corner of the post. One of the reasons is "Duplicate thread".
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Re: [Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery]

Post by cas »

Since credit freezes are another hot topic in recent weeks, here's a note:

Late in the afternoon, Brian Krebs edited the article that Victoria refers to to add information on how credit freezes interact with Informed Delivery:
Readers who have taken my advice to freeze their credit files with the four major consumer credit reporting bureaus (Equifax, Experian, Innovis and Trans Union) will find they are not able to sign up for Informed Delivery online. That’s because having a freeze in place should block Equifax from being able to ask you the four KBA questions.

By the way, this same dynamic works with other services that you may not wish to use but which require you otherwise to plant your flag of identity to prevent others from doing so on your behalf, such as managing your relationship to the Internal Revenue Service online and the Social Security Administration.
(Source: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/10/usp ... ers-dream/ )

I think that paragraph means that in theory, freezing your credit should provide a one-stop-shop (err... four-stop-shop) for protecting against the bad guys taking over a variety of other accounts-in-your-name you don't want them to have, including the Informed Delivery account (and Social Security and IRS transcript and IRS IP PIN and ??).

But then you can probably guess that things got clear as mud after that:

- Some commenters said they were still able to sign up, even though their credit was frozen.

- Some commenters said they were indeed blocked from being able to sign up because their credit was frozen.

- Some of the commenters who were able to sign up despite frozen credit *did* seem to indicate that they already *had* a USPS login account, so that may be why the credit freeze didn't prevent the sign-up ... although maybe they had to login into their existing account before they clicked a check box to add Informed Delivery to the services they already had. It wasn't clear to me.

- I also started wondering if it was possible some of the people who said they had "frozen" their credit (and could still sign up online for Informed Delivery) were confused and had actually had "locked" their credit instead. The credit "freeze" vs "lock" is another hot (well, warm) topic at the moment, and there seems to be a lot of confusion.

So I don't know where that whole discussion leaves the assertion that freezing your credit *also* takes care of blocking access to the creation of an assortment of other accounts (including Informed Delivery) that you would rather not have somebody else steal from you.
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Re: Postal Service -- "informed delivery"

Post by VictoriaF »

LadyGeek wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 9:11 pm I have merged VictoriaF's thread into the on-going discussion. I also retitled the thread.

FYI - It's best to keep all the information in one spot. If anyone sees a discussion that's duplicated elsewhere, please report the post using the "!" in the top right-corner of the post. One of the reasons is "Duplicate thread".
Thank you, LadyGeek,

I appreciate both: your work on eliminating duplicate threads and the new title highlighting the defensive reasons for signing for Informed Delivery.

Victoria
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by VictoriaF »

Nicolas wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 9:06 pm
VictoriaF wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 6:27 pm
Good Listener wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2017 5:41 pm Thank you Victoria for letting us in on this. I signed up after reading your post primarily for defensive reasons as it would be scary if somebody else registered my address. Indeed with a little luck a crook might be able to answer the questions. I took 3 shots to get it right as I forgot some old phone numbers.

Question: Do you need to log on to the website or use the app every day or does one get an email with the pdfs each day?
Hi Good Listener,

I have signed for this service today, and have not received anything yet in my email or online account. I saw a comment that in order to receive email you have to check a box in your online profile. Tomorrow, I will know if it works.

As we are discussing defensive measures, please note that one of the most critical resources is your primary email. Make sure that you use a unique complex password, and that you have a two-factor authentication (2FA) for your email account.

Victoria
You might not get it tomorrow either, it takes a few days for it to kick in. After that you'll get it without fail every day that mail is delivered.
Thank you, Nicolas,

As you wrote, I have not received any email from the USPS today and there is no mail listed in my online account. I will wait for a few days.

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by Ice-9 »

VictoriaF wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 8:36 am Thank you, Nicolas,

As you wrote, I have not received any email from the USPS today and there is no mail listed in my online account. I will wait for a few days.

Victoria
Victoria,

FYI - When I signed up in August, I hadn't received an email at first either. I actually printed out the screen where I *thought* I had enrolled in in-person verification and took it to the Post Office. The USPS staff quickly informed me that I was supposed to have received an email with a bar code for them to scan. I returned home and, perplexed, found no email from USPS.

Then I logged back in to USPS.com and re-traced my steps for enrolling in in-person verification. It turns out that last screen required me to scroll down several screens to locate a "Continue" button. Once I hit that, I received the USPS email with barcode in minutes. If I remember correctly, the reason for the long space above the Continue button was that USPS was listing all the post offices within a certain number of miles of my address, and because I live in a heavily populated area, the list took several screens.

My original post about this here.
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Re: Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery

Post by VictoriaF »

Ice-9 wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 9:56 am
VictoriaF wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 8:36 am Thank you, Nicolas,

As you wrote, I have not received any email from the USPS today and there is no mail listed in my online account. I will wait for a few days.

Victoria
Victoria,

FYI - When I signed up in August, I hadn't received an email at first either. I actually printed out the screen where I *thought* I had enrolled in in-person verification and took it to the Post Office. The USPS staff quickly informed me that I was supposed to have received an email with a bar code for them to scan. I returned home and, perplexed, found no email from USPS.

Then I logged back in to USPS.com and re-traced my steps for enrolling in in-person verification. It turns out that last screen required me to scroll down several screens to locate a "Continue" button. Once I hit that, I received the USPS email with barcode in minutes. If I remember correctly, the reason for the long space above the Continue button was that USPS was listing all the post offices within a certain number of miles of my address, and because I live in a heavily populated area, the list took several screens.

My original post about this here.
See UPDATE in this message: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=225757&p=3558754#p3558754

Thank you, Ice-9!

I have checked my USPS online account. It turns out that I, too, have to perform another action, but it's quite different from yours.

When I go to my USPS account Profile, then to Preferences, and scrawl down to Informed Delivery -- I see my Informed Delivery Status as follows:
You have a valid address - Checked
Your ZIP Code is eligible - Checked
Your identity has been successfully verified - Checked

Below, there is a link with a title "Click here if you received a validation code in the mail"

I did not pay attention to that link before. Now, it appears that I will receive a code in a USPS mail and will have to input it electronically. My take-aways:
1. USPS subscription processes vary widely.
2. Validation via paper mail to my address of record is a more secure process than just sending me email with images.

Victoria
Last edited by VictoriaF on Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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SmileyFace
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Re: [Prevent mail theft; sign for USPS Informed Delivery]

Post by SmileyFace »

I attempted to sign up and got a failed identity verification message. I answered all questions correctly so perhaps the post office doesn't know me as well as they think they do.
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