Modern Mail Problems

I was re-reading David Allen’s Getting it Done: The Art of Stressfree Productivity — because that’s what a Classic Freedom (ISFJ) Professional Organizer like myself does for fun on the side — and had a deep thought that so much of modern stress is due to the fact that we now all have not one, but a PLETHORA of mailboxes in our lives. In days of yore, we each got mail once a day and then dealt with it once a day. Now, we not only have multiple mailboxes — personal email, work email, home mailbox, work mailbox — we get inundated with mail throughout the day. Oy vay. So, I was intrigued by a new service still in its infancy called Outbox, which essentially turns ALL of your snail mail into email.

At first, I was intrigued by Outbox’s service because a private company is developing it instead of, oh, say, the US Postal Service! How is it that this venerated organization didn’t experiment with a similar idea — converting snail mail into emails — when they first experienced the severe drop-off in US mail over the past decade is beyond me. Perhaps this lack of entrepreneurship is why the USPS has to borrow $15.9 Billion a year from taxpayers to stay afloat despite its monopoly on mail. But, this is not some MBA libertarian article, my reason for writing about this potential new service is what it could do for everyone’s daily productivity.

One of the toughest things for natural born pilers (versus filers) is dealing with snail mail because it’s a bit relentless and lends itself so easily to piling it up. We always counsel pilers — Organics (NF) and Smarts (NT) — to throw out junk mail before it gets into their piles as this one step limits the height and volume of their mail pile and ultimately other piles. But Outbox’s service takes our advice to a whole new level. Here’s an excerpt from the article I read about Outbox and how it works:

… Three times per week, Outbox collects your actual mail from your actual mailbox. (This works only with locked boxes. Interestingly, the company makes a copy of your key based on photos supplied by you.)

That mail gets opened, scanned, and stored. (Packages are delivered outright to your front door.) You can then view it via the Web or your iDevice, where you have options for organizing, archiving, searching, and so on. You can also e-mail your mail and create tasks based on specific mail (like, say, a bill or an invitation).

If there’s a piece of mail you decide you want in the flesh, so to speak, just submit a request and Outbox will (re)deliver it. Anything left unrequested for 30 days gets shredded and recycled, though you retain access to the digital version unless you delete it.

Of particular interest in Outbox’s method for dealing with junk mail: one click and you can unsubscribe from the sender, meaning no more unwanted catalogs and similar junk.

Following an alpha test with some 500 users, Outbox is rolling out in San Francisco on March 25. The first month is free; the service costs $4.99 per month after that.

The fly in the ointment with this service is that private citizens (Outbox Employees) have access to your mail because they open it and scan it. The author of the above article felt safer having government employees doing so. I’m more in the “no way would I ever want a US government employee reading my mail” camp. I guess you would just have to pick your paranoia — companies selling information about you or the government maintaining a file on you. I bring up this point because you need to ignore the meddlesome detail of the security aspect of this service (someone will find a way to make you at ease), so you can focus on the fact that it would be pretty fantastic to have no more snail mail.

Think about it, no junk mail at the click of a button and everything in your life being dealt with in one area. No mail bin to collect mail, no opening said mail, throwing away the detritus after opening it and most importantly dealing with it all in one central mailbox. Of course, digitized snail mail means organizing your email box better. But emails are simpler than paper. For pilers, just keep a main inbox with one or two folders on the side, “Do Today” and “To File or Keep” and then use your search function to find things in your massive e-pile as if you were Mary Poppins placing a finger on top of a pile to find a document. Classics (SJ) and Funs (SP) can continue to have LOTS of e-folders. And again, the robotic search function would be infinitely better when I’m at a loss for where I put a document than say racking my brain.

Outbox isn’t just about digitizing. They send you RSVP reminders, bill payment reminders, Mail To-Do lists — Funs (SP), Organic Freedom (NFP) and Smart Freedoms (NTP) do great with reminders. For me the main selling point was that if I forget to pack a Wedding invitation with all of the information for the weekend, I could easily look it up on my email. Now, that’s not personality type but probably my A.D.D. and why I think this service has so much promise. Until Outbox makes it big, follow my email advice above, try to get bills digitized directly from providers and enter those RSVP reminders manually into your computer calendar.