The United States Post Office started testing a new service that scans your mail and emails you photos of it about a year ago, but now the service is rolling out in most major metropolitan areas.




The service, called Informed Delivery, scans your mail then emails you a black and white scan of that mail. The USPS has been scanning envelopes for a while because it’s how their sorting equipment works, and now they’re just making those scans available to its consumers.

When you sign up for the service, you’ll get a physical letter in the mail with a verification code you need to enter in before the service starts. You won’t actually know what’s inside any of this mail, but you will at least know it’s on its way. You can check to see if your address is applicable over on the Informed Delivery landing page. It covers a pretty wide area right now and is set to expand even further on April 14.


Informed Delivery