Why Mail Forwarding To Your Online Mailbox Is A Two Step Process

Some people might start investigating mail forwarding services and then just stop when all they can find is post office stuff. But the post office is really the old school way to take care of your mail while you're away. The new school of thought is that your mail doesn't really need to follow you wherever you go, as long as you know what is coming in.

That's where the new concept in scanning mail through a mail forwarding service comes into play. There are now companies that will receive your mail (you do still need the US postal service to forward it to them), they will then scan it and put it into your personal account to review. You don't even need to go out your front door anymore to pick up your mail, it's all right there on your computer - just like your email is.

There is one additional step you need to take when using a service like this though. Because scanning the contents of an envelope can get expensive, you will be presented with a scanned image of the envelope first. Then you can see what's come in, and let the Service know what to do with it.

If you recognize it as junk mail that accidently got forwarded, just click on the option to throw it away or recycle it. If it's a bill, you'll definitely want to have the contents scanned, but political ads - probably not!

However, don't worry that you'll be sifting through a bunch of junk mail from your computer. The mail forwarding service has been in business for a long time and can recognize a piece of junk mail when they see it. Unless you tell them differently, you will never have to sort through all that third class mail again! It's a time saver for you - not to mention a money saver because you will only have a limited number of scanners included in the basic charge.

That being said, most people find that after the junk mail is removed, and they have set up online bill paying, there's not that much mail left. If you have a plan that will scan forty pieces a month, that will probably do nicely. If you find that you are receiving much more than that, you have two choices. Either upgrade to a plan that allows more mail to be scanned, or carefully investigate what you are receiving and see if you can stop some of it from coming.