New USPS tool could help fight chronic mail theft

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The United States Postal Service last year rolled out a new service to make life a little easier and now it's available for most people in all of Bakersfield's zip codes.


People who get registered for "Informed Delivery" get email or smart phone alerts about the content of their mailbox before it arrives. All letter-sized mail (no magazines just yet) are scanned during the sorting process and those scans are then sent to the consumer.

Customer Service Supervisor Lynette Olsen says the post office wants residents to get in the habit of checking their community mailboxes daily.

"If you know you're having a check coming in the mail that day or important business documents, you're more likely to go out and pick up your mail as soon as you get home or as soon as the mail is there, rather than leave that mail languishing in your box," she said.

To get started, go to usps.com and hit the "Informed Delivery" tab in the upper right corner. You'll need an email address and a phone number to verify your identity.

The service was introduced last April and slowly rolled out to all zip codes throughout the year. It's for residential customers only.