Earth Class Mail

It's easy, convenient, mobile, and fun -- like email or a cell phone, you can now manage your mail from anywhere in the world, at any time. After you sign up, you decide what sorts of mail to redirect to our Remote Addresses (as well as which mailers to inform of your new address). We receive the mail every day, scan the outside of the envelopes, and await your online command for what to do next. Your options are to:

Forward-ship mail (whether already opened and scanned or still unopened), by U.S. Postal Service or private courier. . . to yourself or any other person or location (like the home or vacation residence of another family member).

Shred or recycle your mail (customers love how easily and conveniently they can get rid of unwanted mail!)

Safely and securely archive mail -- let us safely store for you the physical document, a digital copy or both.

Shift responsibility without leaving your chair -- effortlessly transfer mail to other users in your household or organization. It's just like forwarding email!

Only when you ask us to. We start by scanning the envelope, without opening it. If you want us to shred, recycle, or forward-ship the envelope, we'll never need to open it. But most of our customers love the convenience and cost savings of having us scan the contents of some of their mail. When you ask us to scan the contents, we do so in a high-security environment (click to see the security page on the Earth Class Mail corporate website).

Scanning is often cheaper than forwarding, you get your mail faster, you can be anywhere in the world where there's a computer and an Internet connection (rather than having to be at a particular place just to get your mail), and delivery is even more certain and secure than the already highly reliable postal mail or overnight carriers. Whatever the reasons, our clients choose to have us scan their letter mail more often than they ask us to forward-ship it (packages not included, of course).

The current turnaround time for mail scanning is one business day from the time of your request.

Yes, unless such forwarding is prohibited by international law or treaty. Some countries also prohibit shipping of certain kinds of goods within their borders; be sure you do not attempt to ship goods in violation of national laws.

Any mail piece, parcel, or package may be forwarded using the either the lowest-cost or fastest shipping method — it's your choice. A handling fee is assessed to shipments.

As a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency (your agent for receiving your mail), we are obliged by law to re-envelope all mail that we forward. That means that we cannot merely put a stamp on a letter and re-forward it. (There are other reasons to re-envelope, including for security, tracking and loss-prevention, and in order to allow fast automated retrieval.)

As of Oct. 11, 2008, we offer shipping via FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service. Our preferred carrier is FedEx and we are pleased to be able to pass along our volume discount to our customers. For international shipments, we use USPS by default, but if you wish to use FedEx for these shipments, please contact our Customer Support team for information.

The cost for shipping will depend on the dimensions and weight of the package, the location to which it is being shipped, and your chosen method of shipping (which determines how quickly it will be delivered). We will always give you an estimated cost online prior to every shipment.

We can shred it or recycle it (we recommend recycling, which is far more environmentally friendly).

When you click on the “Shred” or “Recycle” button, we don't actually destroy the designated mail immediately. All deleted mail gets moved to a different storage area from active mail and is guaranteed to remain in our storage for another 24 hours, during which time you may decide to “undelete” any item.

For example, if you request mail be destroyed, but after reviewing the scanned image you decide you'd like to keep the original, you can undo the request in your "Pending" folders. There is no extra cost for this convenience.

Quite simply, our service allows all your communications to become as advanced (convenient, mobile, fast) as the email and the cell-phone revolutions have made most of your communications.

Earth Class Mail™ combines a degree of privacy and security superior to any mailbox or corporate mailroom, with the added convenience and mobility of the Internet – we deliver your family's or organization's postal mail online, to each and every recipient individually!

When you get an Earth Class Mail account for your family or organization, you can start having selected categories of inbound mail (or even all your mail) sent to any of our "Remote Addresses" around the country, and if you actually want the original, paper version of your mail, you can have it forward-shipped anywhere.

When we receive mail addressed to a recipient at your residence or organization, we immediately scan the front of every envelope. The addressee can then log in to his or her account on the Internet from anywhere in the world, any hour of the day, to see what mail has arrived. Then that addressee can choose whether to group the mail piece together with other items and forward-ship it, to shred or recycle it, or to have the item opened and its contents scanned to a PDF file. You can also archive important mail you'd like to save, and even search through it later. .

• You have many field employees, branch offices, or telecommuters -- or other road warriors
• You don't have as many remote workers as you'd like to have in order to cut down on real estate, construction, and leasing costs
• You are trying to go green or otherwise promote an image and reality of social responsibility
• Your employees process a lot of documents that arrive by mail
• Documents you receive by mail typically get routed, duplicated, filed or shredded
• You have a corporate campus bisected by a public road, and pay tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in private express statute taxes
• Your organization has looked at other “digital mailroom” options and realized their excessive costs outweigh the benefits

Government:  Governments create, receive, store and manage immense volumes of paper documents and remittances – a perfect task for Earth Class Mail. Government operations are also infamous for frequent personnel movement and changes – something Earth Class Mail handles extremely well.  No matter how many times employees may be departmentally or geographically transferred, their mail will always find them; residual mail from their last position can be easily transferred to the new person in that position.  Earth Class Mail will provide co-located services to large institutions with sufficient mail volume to justify it.

Military:   The cost of moving mail around to active-duty personnel is immense.  Paper mail is often delayed in its delivery, with high costs to morale.  Earth Class Mail is the perfect solution for military and paramilitary personnel who are frequently moved, or on the move.

Higher Education:  Colleges and universities have a more difficult time with mail than anyone. Students are notorious for not picking up their mail and for changing addresses frequently without notifying the school.  The task of handling mail forwarding for former students or students and faculty on sabbatical or vacation is often staggering.   By offering Earth Class Mail accounts to students and/or faculty members, schools can free themselves of much of the cost of their mail operations while improving communications time.

Other business services include:

• Remittance or check processing via “Check 21” interface .
• Returned Mail Processing
• Mail Order Processing
• Document Storage and Archiving

We guarantee that your mail will be more secure with us than it is today, in your home or office.

Earth Class Mail Corp.'s patent-pending technology and superior business processes guarantee that no document or piece of mail entering our facility will be lost, and that the confidentiality of our clients' materials is absolutely assured.

To read more, review our document and mail security information.

DISASTER RECOVERY

No building can keep out Mother Nature. That's why we begin by recommending that you create a digital copy of all paper that you store.

Our digital archive databases are stored in encrypted form at a highly reputed offsite hosting facility, with a second copy stored at a different disaster-resistant facility on the other side of the country. Even if our entire central processing facility were wiped out, there would still be two safe copies of all your data located elsewhere. Our systems store an outside image of every piece of mail that enters the building, and have record of every document pouch that has arrived – even if it hasn't been fully processed yet – so in the event of a disaster our systems will automatically notify all customers of what inventory we had in our possession that was received but not yet scanned. We have complete “hot failover” computer systems in place so that a bad component doesn't take down our website or database servers. And of course we have extensive fire protection systems running all through our facilities.

We invented truly online postal mail, and we've been providing this service longer than anyone else. If you're considering anyone else, be sure to ask them how much experience they have offering the service, what security they employ, how they cache mail (while awaiting your instructions) in a secure manner that also prevents loss, theft, or damage, how many employees they have, whether their technology is guaranteed to be non-infringing of others and therefore unlikely to be abruptly withdrawn, and in what way they are financially stable.

There are a few services we are similar to, such as post-office boxes or mailboxes and mail-forwarding services. The main way we are different is simply that because we invented the concept of remotely accessible postal mail, no one else comes close to offering the features, service, security, scalability, and pricing that we do. We also allow several household or business members to use the service for the same low price.

Post- office boxes comprise 20 million addresses in the United States. Unfortunately, the U.S. Post Office has run out of them in most locations. And of course a post-office box doesn't let you know whether it is worth driving to -- until you're already there. Nor can you receive courier packages at post-office boxes. (Our customers can use both a street address and a post-office box.) Finally, a post-office box address cannot follow you around like an email address, but with Earth Class Mail you'll be able to keep the same address forever! No more changes of address!

Traditional mail-forwarding services are offline. You have no control over your mail, and they charge very high rates for forwarding -- including forwarding your unwanted mail. It's like having a stranger manage your email account, and charge you for forwarding your spam.

There are some mail-forwarding services that operate online. One first notices how expensive they are. They lack the features of Earth Class Mail:, the service offerings, the reasonable prices, and the ability to scale with volume and still maintain great customer service and secure operations (beware of small "suites" or mom-and-pop shops offering to scan your mail in their kitchen).

If they have copied the features of Earth Class Mail, they have two problems. The first is that providing remote, secure access to postal mail is much more technologically complex than most people think, and copy-cats are generally not well-suited to provide a high-level service for very long. The second is that they are likely patent-infringers, and risk being shut down. Unfortunately, this uncertainty of future operations becomes the problem of any customer who risks dealing with them.

Good question. The answer is the same as why anyone didn't start a revolution in technology and communications sooner than they did: the technology wasn't ready, the market wasn't ready, or they didn't know how. In the case of Earth Class Mail postal mail, we developed the technology (and filed patents on it); the market has been made ready by cell-phone, email, fax, and consumers' own pain; and we brought together the right team of know-how.

Earth Class Mail is the first service ever to allow users to see their postal mail online before deciding what they want to do with each envelope – whether to shred, recycle, forward, open-and-scan, or archive it. To achieve this we needed to invent new automation technology for caching millions of pieces of mail -- and for retrieving a single piece of mail, or single document (yours) out of a sea of millions. Only with such exclusive technology can we offer online postal mail quickly, securely, and cost-effectively.

In fact, the “robotic storage vault” in our central processing facility (Beaverton, Oregon) is a building in itself – over 2.25 million cubic feet – able to store over 50 million pieces of mail and 300 million inches of documents behind steel walls.

Developing the systems behind Earth Class Mail and the other Earth Class Mail services required a confluence of notable talent in areas that don't commonly overlap – from robotics and mail-stream automation to massively-scaling IT systems and advanced security systems. It also required the convergence of newly available technologies to make it cost-effective so that our customers could also save money over alternative methods and become more productive.

Earth Class Mail has uniquely combined the best elements of traditional document outsourcing (e.g., scanning, confidential shredding, archival storage, mailroom management, etc.) under one roof and along a single automation pathway. The savings in transportation between multiple vendors alone would explain our significantly lower prices, but the convenience and security of a single vendor, and a single Internet interface for all of these services, simply cannot be matched by any other company at any price.

That does not prevent some companies from trying. You will occasionally find inferior knock-offs out there. Aside from the risk of casting your lot with a company whose patent infringements could get it shut down, the knock-offs are simply not scalable, meaning that as they approach a certain volume their service will degrade quickly, and they cannot guarantee the security we can.

Most importantly for organizations, the knock-offs cannot enable an organization or a third-party working on its behalf to receive and process mail onsite, without leaving its own premises. Only Earth Class Mail can do that.

Not at all. YOU are in control. You can always continue to receive selected mail at your own address. You have the full choice of when to give out our address to someone (a credit-card company, an online company that will probably sell your address to other companies, bills, etc.) and when to keep the mail coming to your own address. It's not all-or-nothing!

If your preferred city is not among our Remote Addresses, keep in mind that we're adding new cities all the time -- and it's worth the wait. But you can certainly look around. We're so confident you won't find superior service that we invite you to search for similarly powerful features at a similar price. But there are a number of reasons that our customers prefer Earth Class Mail Mail, and the vast majority of our customers live all over the United States.

Going Mobile. People are realizing that just as you can use an area code on a mobile phone that doesn't necessarily correspond to where you live, and that email addresses don't care about geography at all, postal addresses are becoming more and more mobile.

Second, we continue to add addresses all over the United States. Why start with services inferior to our p.o. box or mail forwarding services only to have to switch to the far more powerful and convenient (and inexpensive) Earth Class Mail Mail service later? The whole point is to change your address less often (such as never again), not more!

As of June, 2008, we have addresses in 20 cities in North America, including new street addresses in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. See our Remote Addresses page for a full list. Please note that there is an additional monthly charge for a street address; see our Pricing Plans page for the specific amount charged for each of the five street-address cities. As we add cities, we will notify account holders. If you require an address other than those we currently have, please let us know your needs by contacting inquiries@earthclassmail.com. Tell us the city in which you want an address, and we will keep you posted.

A key benefit of using Earth Class Mail is our ability to expand our technology around the world. That means that you will be able to use your Earth Class Mail number with the Remote Address in any city! This is ideal for residential customers who live in two or more cities or businesses with operations in multiple cities -- or for anyone who moves a lot (the average American moves 11 times in a lifetime, though our customers are a mobile bunch and move far more).

While our central processing facility is in Oregon, we are establishing other Remote Addresses in other cities for customers who would prefer to use an address closer to them.

You can use different Remote Addresses for your convenience. For example, you might list our Beaverton, Oregon street address as your address for people who send you bills (because you don't really care where Visa sends your statements) and use another address close to you for what you put on your business cards (if appropriate). Some people put two or more addresses on their cards and letterhead.

One reason to use a PO Box address: Many direct (i.e., bulk or so-called "junk") mailers avoid renting addresses with PO Boxes because response rates from PO Box holders are generally lower. So when you are doing business with companies that might be renting out their mailing lists for extra income (a very common commercial practice), if you want to reduce the amount of inevitable unsolicited advertising mail you receive, list our PO Box address instead of our street address.

Our 24-hour central processing facility is located in Beaverton, Oregon. For the fastest and most economical service, and the ability to receive non-USPS courier packages, we recommend selecting the following street address as one of your Remote Addresses:

Your Name
14525 SW Millikan Way #___
Beaverton, OR 97005-2343

If you expect to have packages or mail from couriers like FedEx, UPS, or DHL shipped to one of our Remote Addresses, be sure to choose a street address as one of your preferred Remote Addresses. (Packages from carriers other than the U.S. Postal Service will not be delivered to po box addresses ).

We weigh packages and scan the outside. If the package is forward-shipped outside the U.S., we are required to open and re-pack the package before forwarding outside the U.S. See the User Agreement for more details.

Forward to us:

Your mail is forwarded to our Beaverton, Oregon, secure mail-processing facility where it is barcoded, scanned and delivered to your online mailbox using our patent-pending automated systems. We are adding secure storage and processing capabilities to our remote street addresses over the coming months in order to provide will-call services.

Legal entities like businesses, law firms, universities, non-profit organizations, hospitals, and government agencies, to name a few, should sign up by selecting "business use." However, even an individual who intends to use the same account for personal mail and to receive mail on behalf of a sole proprietorship or home-based business (where the company is analogous to the individual and has the same address) should sign up by listing both his or her business and personal names.

Individuals using the service only for themselves, or who sign up their families, will normally want to sign up for the personal service alone.

There is no limit to the number of users in each account. See the pricing plans for the number of addressees whose mail receipt under each type of account is included in the monthly fee. Current plans for non-enterprise users (such as personal and small-business users) provide for 1, 5, and 12 addressees per account opened, while additional users cost a nominal monthly fee.

The primary account registrant, or administrator (the person who opened the Earth Class Mail account and is responsible for payment), is the person who controls the access rights of each user sharing the account.

When you set up your account you will enter information about yourself. When you log in to your account for the first time, we will ask you for additional information (billing information, trustee appointment, etc.) about you. After you complete this, you will have complete access to your account and be able to add users, such as household members or employees.

No.

Yes, as long as you are receiving your mail at one of our street addresses and have completed a USPS Form 1583 and submitted it to us. See Redirecting Mail.

Yes, but only if you are receiving your mail at one of our street addresses. Express-delivery carriers such as FedEx cannot deliver to P.O. Boxes.

Introductory instructions can be found if you go to Redirecting Your Mail, or you are welcome to contact our Customer Support team with questions. They can be reached by phone at 1-866-625-MAIL (6245), or 971-250-5000 if you're calling from outside of the United States. We're available Monday through Friday, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Pacific time, and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Or you can always email our Customer Support team at support@earthclassmail.com.

Step 1. First, sign up. For tips on which service to sign up for, see "Should I sign up to use the service for residential or business (organizational) use?" above. You'll be asked for credit card information and your choice of Remote Addresses, among other things.

Step 2. You will receive another email with a link to instructions for letting others know about your new Earth Class Mail account number, how to begin redirecting your mail to your Earth Class Mail account (usually by notifying mailers, not by a global change of address with the U.S. Postal Service), and how to fill out a Form 1583. For more information, go to Redirecting Your Mail.

Step 3. Log in to your account at the Earth Class Mail customer-account website and view your mail! When you log into your account, you'll be able to add the names of other people in your account who will receive mail at your address.

It's that simple!

Your basic options with any piece of mail are to (1) have us ship the mail to you, either by itself or grouped with other mail, (2) click the “Shred” or “Recycle” button and we'll take care of it, or (3) have us scan and show the contents of your mail to you online, in PDF format.

You will need to send to Earth Class Mail at least one completed and notarized 1583 form for each Earth Class Mail address in your account. An additional 1583 form is needed for each recipient at an Earth Class Mail address who is not an employee (for business accounts only), a spouse, or a minor son or daughter living at the same residential address. Likewise, an additional 1583 form is needed for each business name that will receive mail at an Earth Class Mail address. (Customers outside the United States who are using our Portland or Beaverton addresses do not need to have their forms notarized.).

Please note that filling out the Form 1583 alone DOES NOT result in your mail being automatically redirected, or forwarded, to us. The Form 1583 is only your authorization for us to receive your mail. To have your mail redirected to us, you MUST also notify mailers of your new Remote Address. For more information, go to Redirecting Your Mail.

We want to ensure that your customer experience is the best possible and that you enjoy full functionality and high performance in your Earth Class Mail account. To help us deliver the best experience to you, we recommend that you use a web browser that has been verified by our engineering group to be optimal for using our account website.

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