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I understand you’ve been having some financial troubles. I admit I am not feeling sympathetic right now given that you recently started returning my husband’s mail, marking it “Return to Sender – Left No Forwarding Address.” The only explanation we’ve come up with is a neighbor with a similar name moved about the same time you started rejecting my husband’s mail.
Ironically, had you started returning my mail, I would have been grateful. Unfortunately, my husband is launching a new business and he actually needed to receive his mail. This mistake has cost him two weeks in his schedule so far and still isn’t resolved.
On the flip side, I can always count on you to stuff my mailbox with credit card offers I don’t want and then must shred and recycle because I’m afraid someone will use the the pre-approved forms to steal my identity.
I have an idea for you.
You might have noticed that just about everyone has email these days. Ask yourself this, “How can I compete with email?” The answer is you can’t. And what do you when you can’t beat ‘em? Join ‘em!
Today, there are companies that offer mail scanning services that allow people who live on the road to use a physical address that accepts all deliveries (including UPS and FedEx, unlike a PO Box). The service scans all envelopes and packages and sends an email that mail has been received. The customer logs into a website and views the scans online. For each mail item, the customer chooses: 1) shred, 2) recycle, 3) forward, 4) open and scan content. This allows the customer to receive the mail they want (and only the mail they want) at whatever physical address they happen to be at.
I personally would purchase this service at its current price, even though I am living at one address, except for two things. I don’t want an out-of-state physical address and I don’t want to have to pay extra to have my mail delivered to my home address. This is where you come in.
As the USPS, you can offer me an address in the same zip code as my physical address, preventing any confusion with entities such as taxing authorities. You can also deliver the mail I want at no extra charge to my home address because you’ve already been paid to deliver it there. You can still charge me if I decide to have it forwarded somewhere else.
Think about it. You get paid to deliver junk mail by the sender and then get paid to not deliver it by the recipient!
The advantages to me, the customer, are:
- The elimination of paper I have to shred and/or recycle.
- The availability of my mail from anywhere.
- A separation of my physical address from my mail address, allowing me to be mobile without having to change my address.
What do you say? Are you ready to start offering services your customers actually want?
nomadicmainstream 
This so makes sense!