Imagine a world where your snail mail would be converted to digital form before cluttering up your mailbox, allowing you to trash those coupon and credit card offers with a single click while having the important stuff forwarded directly to you. If you live in Switzerland, this dream is even closer to a reality thanks to a partnership between the Swiss Postal Service and a startup called Earth Class Mail.

First, an explanation of what Earth Class Mail does. The company allows customers in 170 countries (including the US) to sign up for an address where they will have their mail delivered. When the mail starts coming in, its outer packaging/envelopes are scanned—without being opened—and an image is e-mailed to you. From there, you can decide to recycle the junk (according to the New York Times, Earth Class Mail customers recycle 90 percent of their mail), have the mail forwarded, or have it opened and the contents scanned.

All the images are encrypted, and you can even request that mail that contains personal information (such as bills or credit card offers) be shredded. This is all done with your authorization—if you're in the US, you must file a form with the US Postal Service so they know someone's not just trying to steal your mail—and the company promises the utmost privacy and security with your documents.

Now, the Swiss Postal Service has opened Swiss Post Box, its own branded version of Earth Class Mail. Not only can Swiss citizens access the service, people can set up addresses in Germany as well, with addresses in Austria, France, and Italy coming in July. All documents will be scanned in the same facilities where the real Swiss Post handles sensitive banking materials, according to the website, and will make it available to subscribers for 19.90 francs (or roughly US$18.35) per month.

We here at Ars think this service is pretty cool for numerous reasons. Not only can it reduce the amount of physical junk you get every day (I dunno about you guys, but I get an entire armful of mail every day and maybe one item a week is something real that I want), it can also be useful while you're traveling. Waiting for certain documents and find out at the last minute you're going on a week-long business trip? No problem. Have it scanned and e-mailed to you or simply wait until it arrives and have it sent to wherever you are.

There are few differences between Swiss Post Box and a standard Earth Class Mail service except that the former is being used by the Swiss Postal Service itself. (We're trying to decide whether it would be better or worse if this was adopted by the US Postal Service and processed in its own facilities.) If you're curious to learn more about how this system and the company works, it turns out that the entire first season of the TV show Startup Junkies is about Earth Class Mail, and it's all currently on Hulu.