Digital Postal Mail

USPS: National Dog Bite Prevention Week May 19-25

ajolls — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:13:37 +0000

Seems the USPS is very focused on Dog Bite Prevention Week. Here are just a few of their tips and facts. The DPM team would like to think that the migration to a digital mailbox might lead to fewer dog bites.

From WMBF News

The USPS released the following statements and tips:

The Victims

More than 4.5 million people are bitten annually.
Children are the majority of victims and are 900 times more likely to be bitten than letter carriers.
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) report that small children, the elderly, and letter carriers, in that order, are the most frequent victims. Dog attacks are the most commonly reported childhood public health problem in the United States.
The AVMA also reports that the number of dog attacks exceeds the reported instances of measles, whooping cough, and mumps, combined.
Dog bite victims account for up to 5 percent of emergency room visits.
Many attacks reported by letter carriers in 2011 came from dogs whose owners used those famous last words, “my dog won’t bite.”
According to the AVMA, as many as 800,000 people annually are admitted to U.S. emergency departments with dog bite–associated injuries, and countless more bites go unreported and untreated.

How to Avoid Being Bitten

Don’t run past a dog. The dog’s natural instinct is to chase and catch you.
If a dog threatens you, don’t scream. Avoid eye contact.
Try to remain motionless until the dog leaves, and then back away slowly until the dog is out of sight.
Don’t approach a strange dog, especially one that’s tethered or confined.
While letter carriers are discouraged from petting animals, people who choose to pet dogs should always let a dog see and sniff them before petting the animal.
If you believe a dog is about to attack you, try to place something between yourself and the dog, such as a backpack or a bicycle.

How to Be a Responsible Dog Owner

Obedience training can teach dogs proper behavior and help owners control their dog in any situation.
When the letter carrier comes to your home, keep your dog inside, away from the door, in another room, or on a leash.
Dogs can be protective of their territory and may interpret the actions of letter carriers as a threat.
Please take precautions when accepting mail in the presence of your pet.
Dogs that haven’t been properly socialized, receive little attention or handling, or are left tied-up for long periods of time frequently turn into biters.

Ace is the place for your … USPS mail

ajolls — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:27:02 +0000

With the USPS losing money at a larger pace, they have looked for ways to reduce their costly real estate footprints by closing down locations. Most of these moves have been to close down and consolidate operations, and in many cases, consumers are paying an “inconvenience fee” by having to travel to a further location to get mail services and move to delivery services like Digital Postal Mail. However, in a smart move to avoid service disruptions, the USPS has started to give up the real estate without the service disruption be creating “Village Post Offices” like the one featured below. Now, Ace is not only the place of the helpful hardware man, it’s also the place for your post office.

From the Livingston County News:

It’s been 2-1/2 years since the Caledonia Post Office closed. Caledonia customers were directed to the Mumford Post Office for mail services and retail products. As the United States Postal Service continued to lose money, many small post offices, including Mumford, had their counter hours reduced, which is inconvenient for many customers.

Last month, a Village Post Office opened in Caledonia’s Ace Hardware, 229 North St., one block from the former Caledonia Post Office. While word of the VPO is still getting around, Scott Ward, vice-president at ACE, said customers are pleased to have a post office back in Caledonia.

“The response has been very positive so far,” he said.

Western New York District Communications Coordinator Karen Mazurkiewicz said the U.S. Postal Service announced the concept of the Village Post Office in July 2011 as a way to continue providing convenient access to postal products and services in more rural communities across the nation. They are an option in locations where there is no Post Office or that has one with reduced operating hours, and where an alternate access site will benefit the community and the Postal Service. The Caledonia VPO is the only one in Livingston County.

“The Caledonia VPO is a win-win for the community, the business and the Postal Service. It allows customers additional access to postal products and services and it drives customer traffic through the retailer, in this case, William Hamilton Ace Hardware, and hopefully strengthening their business in the community,” Mazurkiewicz said.

Just in case you don’t remember the jingle. Watch this.

Modesto Blue Mailbox Stolen…Cut from Bolts

ajolls — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:55:25 +0000

MODESTO, Calif. (KCRA) —Brian Cannell dropped off his mortgage payment Wednesday night into the big blue mailbox outside the post office on Kearney Avenue in Modesto.

When he drove by Thursday morning, he noticed the entire mailbox was gone. Sure enough, it had been cut from where the bolts held the metal box to the ground.

Cannell said he went into the post office and told an employee. The worker had no idea the mailbox was even missing this morning.

Maggie Potter said she dropped off a bridal shower invitation in the now-missing mailbox Wednesday night.

Now, she told KCRA 3, she can’t trust dropping off mail after something like this has happened.

Twitter Update: @Zumbox is now @DigitalMailbox

ajolls — Mon, 06 May 2013 22:20:43 +0000

Change is good! On Friday, May 3rd, we changed our twitter handle to match our recent name change of the service from Zumbox to Digital Postal Mail. We did run into a little challenge though. Twitter restricts the handle names to 15 characters. That would have left us with “DigitalPostalMa”. So, after some searching and internal voting, we settled on @DigitalMailbox .

Several months ago, in response to both partner and consumer feedback, we decided to change the name of our service from Zumbox to Digital Postal Mail. This more descriptive moniker has allowed us to expand our footprint to new users who craved a better name to go along with their paperless crusade.

If you haven’t followed us already, there is no better time. Click the image below!

Manufacturers That Make Paperless Manuals Will Win Marketshare

ajolls — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:29:52 +0000

Caption: “Yellow Pages Onslaught Inside the Museum at Ali‘iōlani Hale”, Credit: edkohler

I can only think of one manufacturer whose manual I ever keep: Ikea. Since I was introduced to Ikea so late in my life, the sanctity of the manual was never ingrained me in, and therefore I’ve had many a panicked moment trying to intuitively put together a Jokkmokk. Most other home decor is usually pretty straightforward to put together, yet Ikea’s design and price keeps me coming back.

Luckily, Ikea has gotten smarter in the past year and now has an assembly instructions section of their website. It’s still under construction but is comprehensive and a great resource.

If all manufacturing companies provided manuals to all of their products online in such a way, the need for providing paper manuals would be eliminated. The ideal situation would be for a digital version of a manual and receipt to be sent to consumers like me during in-store check-out.

What are four reasons to move from paper to digital?

Cost-savings: Elimination of paper, ink, and printing.
Green-living: Elimination of paper waste.
Convenience to buyers: Having a digital resource at their fingertips — searchable, savable.
Outreach: Create a line between you and your customers, so you can inform them of updates, deals and news about your business.

Sustainability and green-initiatives are on the upswing, and manufacturers need to embrace the change. Cost savings and being green are two great reasons for moving to digitizing manuals, but the convenience and ease of locating information may be the biggest. Here are a few examples:

1) Football teams are digitizing their playbooks and handing out iPads. Using digitized versions of playbooks allows for better organization of plays. And why not move away from paper versions of playbooks when most players grew up on video games?

2) Tablet use among doctors grew 62% over 2011. They are used to quickly update patient data and stay informed about current information. No paper doctor’s manual can update automatically.

Ikea and other house decor companies aren’t the only types of companies with manuals. Some manufacturers provide manuals the size of yellow pages. Consider car or microwave manuals. It would be much more convenient to perform a search through a digital manual rather than have to scan through the pages of a paper manual.

The Digital Postal Mail team is hopeful for the reduction of paper waste and increase in digitizing of documents. We know that there are risks with digitizing documents: from increased energy consumption to hackers, but with technological efficiency and digital safeguards we hope we can help lower everyone’s paper footprint.

eMoney, DPM partner to offer digital mailboxes to clients of financial advisors

ajolls — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:18:58 +0000

eMoney Advisor and Digital Postal Mail are partnering! eMoney Advisor is a software platform used by financial advisors to help their clients track all of their financial positions in one secure place. eMoney has enterprise relationships with 9 of the 15 largest insurance companies, over 100 of the nation’s most successful broker/dealers and many of the nation’s leading advisory firms. Consumers use the eMoney platform to monitor their financial lives on a daily basis. Soon, those same consumers will be able to check their digital mailboxes in the same place.

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eMONEY AND ZUMBOX ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP TO OFFER DIGITAL POSTAL MAIL TO CLIENTS

Industry-Leading Financial Planning Platform and State-of-the-Art Document Delivery and Storage Service Provide Clients with Unparalleled Organization and Management of Information

CONSHOHOCKEN, PA. – April 30, 2013 – eMoney Advisor (“eMoney”), the only wealth-planning system for financial advisors that offers transparency, security, mobile access and superior organization for everything that impacts their clients’ financial lives, has announced a strategic partnership with Zumbox to offer Digital Postal Mail to clients whose advisors use the eMoney platform.

Digital Postal Mail is an exact facsimile of paper mail delivered through a secure electronic service void of email spam and paper junk mail. It is the first digital postal system providing an online account based on a street address for all of the important mail received by consumers residing at that address. Digital Postal Mail makes it easy for companies to send, and consumers to manage, their mail in a digital format. It is revolutionizing the mail industry by providing online and mobile services to view, set reminders, archive and search digital postal mail and documents in a single, secure online environment.

“Our commitment to providing advisors with innovative value-added services has naturally led us to the integration of Digital Postal Mail,” said Edmond Walters, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, eMoney. “Clients can now experience the benefits of paper-free lives through the ability to pay bills, view their investment statements and archive critical financial documents through our client portal that can be securely accessed at any time, from any device.”

eMoney’s industry-leading financial planning interactive tools already allow clients to independently organize every dimension of their financial world, while creating the most engaging and empowering experience to foster a deeper partnership with their advisor. With the Digital Postal Mail integration, clients can now bring an enhanced level of organization to elements that extend beyond their financial lives through a single destination. Clients also gain peace of mind knowing that their information is secure, with Digital Postal Mail recognized by the Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standard (PCI- DSS) as the most secure offering in its class.

“Our partnership with eMoney is one of a shared philosophy to meet the needs of clients who have struggled with securely organizing information and managing accounts from many different sources,” said John Payne, Chief Executive Officer, Zumbox. “The integration of Digital Postal Mail within the eMoney platform combines two transformational technologies that will both elevate the practices of advisors and provide their clients with a way to achieve complete control over their information from the most client-centric, secure destination in the marketplace.”

About eMoney Advisor, LLC

eMoney Advisor, LLC, (eMoney), based in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, is the only wealth-planning system for financial advisors that offers transparency, security, mobile access and superior organization for everything that impacts their clients’ financial lives. Our award-winning, web-based services and resources are designed to transform the advisor’s ability to implement comprehensive financial plans and prepare clients for a secure financial future.

eMoney’s suite of solutions is used by leading financial services firms around the country, including TD Ameritrade, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, LPL Financial, Mass Mutual Financial Group, RBC Capital Markets, Lincoln Financial Advisors Corporation, MetLife, New York Life, Northern Trust, Securian Financial Services, and Allstate Financial Services.

As a partner to advisors, eMoney’s services are designed to meet their unique and evolving needs, allowing them to focus on client retention and practice growth.

For more information, visit www.emoneyadvisor.com.

About Zumbox and Digital Postal Mail

Digital Postal Mail powered by Zumbox, Inc. is leading the global migration of traditional postal mail to the digital cloud. Based in Los Angeles, the company operates a system with reach to 120 million U.S. consumer households and operates around the world via licensing and joint venture arrangements through Zumbox Software Inc. Visit the Apple Store to download the Digital Postal Mail iPad® app or connect with us on Facebook (Facebook.com/DigitalPostalMail) and Twitter (@Zumbox).

For more information, please visit www.digitalpostalmail.com. ###

Recycling Ink Cartridges is Good; Printing Fewer Documents is Even Better

ajolls — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:15:34 +0000

Over 1.8 billion ink cartridges were dumped into landfills in 2012, according to a new infographic from inkjetwilly.com. Sadly, over 90% of the materials used in these cartridges are recyclable. Here at DPM, we think consumers need to do more than just switch to recycled cartridges. The DPM team wants all of us to print fewer documents, so the impact to the earth is even less. We understand that there will always be instances where the printed copy will be needed, but we believe a digital mailbox would help prevent senseless over-printing.

Computershare Unites Strategic Partners Zumbox and INVeSHARE to Offer Shareholder Communications

ajolls — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:08:42 +0000

More news from Computershare! Today, Computershare announced they are bringing together INVeSHARE and Zumbox, two companies it has investments in, to further the electronic delivery of shareholder communications into digital mailboxes. Company representatives will be present at the 2013 SIFMA show in Boca Raton, FL on Monday and Tuesday, April 29-30 to discuss it further. Visit us at the INVeSHARE booth #503.

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NEW YORK, April 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Computershare, (ASX:CPU) the world’s foremost provider of transfer agency and shareholder communications services to companies and investors, announced today that it is bringing together its strategic partners INVeSHARE and Zumbox to help ensure that US financial intermediaries gain full access to state-of-the-art electronic distribution channels.

Zumbox’s long-standing partnership with Computershare will enable new partner, INVeSHARE, to utilize Zumbox’s Digital Postal Mail delivery service, increasing the security and speed of electronic communications to investors via financial intermediaries.

“Innovative financial services organizations clearly appreciate the benefits these new technology platforms can bring,” said Paul Conn , President, of Computershare’s Global Capital Markets group. “These unique strategic partnerships allow us to offer an integrated solution to the market.”

Computershare’s existing partnership with Zumbox which spans the US and Australia can already connect approximately 1,000 companies to the digital mailbox service, enabling them to more efficiently and cost effectively communicate with potentially millions of investors over time.

“We’ve seen significant growth and adoption rates of Digital Postal Mail amongst Computershare’s global clients since September 2012,” said John Payne , CEO of Zumbox. “We look forward to expanding our combined offerings to broker dealers, clearing firms and financial institutions with INVeSHARE and Computershare.”

Davidi Gilo , CEO of INVeSHARE noted “We are already seeing the strong capabilities that Computershare brings to our partnership; and the opportunity to expand our reach via Digital Postal Mail now broadens the solution that INVeSHARE can deliver to financial intermediaries. We’re excited about the prospect of rolling out this integrated service to our clients.”

Computershare holds significant minority interests in Zumbox and INVeSHARE. Each company plays a key role in extending Computershare’s service capabilities to financial intermediaries, companies and investors alike.

About Computershare Limited

Computershare (ASX: CPU) is a global market leader in transfer agency and share registration, employee equity plans, proxy solicitation and stakeholder communications. We also specialize in corporate trust, mortgage, bankruptcy, class action, utility and tax voucher administration, and a range of other diversified financial and governance services.

Founded in 1978, Computershare is renowned for its expertise in high integrity data management, high volume transaction processing and reconciliations, payments and stakeholder engagement.

Many of the world’s leading organizations use us to streamline and maximise the value of relationships with their investors, employees, creditors and customers. Computershare is represented in all major financial markets and has over 12,000 employees worldwide. For more information, visit www.computershare.com

About INVeSHARE
INVeSHARE is an Atlanta, Georgia based company providing state-of-the-art and traditional solutions for shareholder communications. Our innovative approach to the delivery of regulated shareholder communications is both scalable and affordable, providing the lowest cost delivery option in the industry and benefitting financial institutions, brokers, investors and issuers alike. For more information, please visit www.INVeSHARE.com

About Zumbox and Digital Postal Mail
Digital Postal Mail powered by Zumbox, Inc. is leading the global migration of traditional postal mail to the digital cloud. Based in Los Angeles, the company operates a system with reach to 120,000,000 consumer households in the United States and operates around the world via licensing and Joint Venture arrangements through Zumbox Software Inc. Digital Postal Mail is available on the web at www.digitalpostalmail.com and the Digital Postal Mail iPad® app can be found on the Apple Store athttp://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id517438820?mt=8

For more information, please contact:
Rachel Hamilton-Wilkes
Computershare
+1 310 751 1817
rachel.hamiltonwilkes@computershare.com

Broadridge Partners with Digital Postal Mail to Transform the $20 Billion Financial Services Firms Spend Annually on Customer Communications

ajolls — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:13:14 +0000

Earlier today, we announced a great partnership with Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR). Broadridge’s infrastructure underpins proxy voting services for over 90% of public companies and mutual funds in North America. Our partnership will allow consumers to receive a vast array of investor documents via their digital mailboxes. In essence, we just took one more giant step in getting every essential document into Digital Postal Mail.

Here’s our press release:

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Apr. 22, 2013 – With pressure increasing on financial markets firms to transform business models and reduce costs, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) announced a strategic partnership with Zumbox intended to dramatically reduce the $20 billion that financial services firms spend annually1 on printing and distribution of paper-based customer communications. Under the terms of the agreement, Broadridge is adding the Digital Postal Mail service powered by Zumbox to the set of channels supported by Broadridge FluentSM, a communications exchange that centrally manages communications across customer-preferred channels and provides a more efficient way to deliver digital communications easily and cost-effectively. The partnership will further help firms redirect physical mail into interactive digital communications delivered to investors and shareholders.

On an average per unit basis, digital mail costs less than half as much as a paper-based mailing. A recent survey by InfoTrends showed that over 70 percent of consumers under the age of 35 were willing to try digital mail1. Digital Postal Mail is a secure, web-based postal system that offers a digital alternative to physical mail.

“With increased usage of tablets, mobile devices, and applications, consumers are accessing information in ways that weren’t feasible just a few years ago,” said Doug DeSchutter, President, U.S. Regulatory and Digital Communications, Broadridge. “As a result, consumers have higher expectations for ease of use and how they obtain and digest information. Services like Zumbox Digital Postal Mail offer a rich user experience for consumers, and can result in significant cost savings for firms. It’s a win-win.”

Offering the Digital Postal Mail platform as an additional channel on the Fluent platform enhances the consumer experience and engagement by allowing customers of financial firms to choose the communications channels they prefer. All communications delivered through the platform support the brand standards of individual firms.

“Broadridge is at the forefront of a movement to provide consumers choice in communication channels,” said John Payne, CEO of Zumbox. “This strategic partnership provides Fluent with an important new channel for the communication of proxy documents and other important shareholder communications.”

The Digital Postal Mail service provides customers with a free, cloud-based mailbox linked to their residential street address and delivers exact facsimiles of paper mail. With it, people can receive, view, archive, and search through their digital post in a single, secure online environment.

About Broadridge

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) is the leading provider of investor communications and technology-driven solutions for broker-dealers, banks, mutual funds and corporate issuers globally. Broadridge’s investor communications, securities processing and operations outsourcing solutions help clients reduce their capital investments in operations infrastructure, allowing them to increase their focus on core business activities. With 50 years of experience, Broadridge’s infrastructure underpins proxy voting services for over 90% of public companies and mutual funds in North America, and processes more than $4.5 trillion in fixed income and equity trades per day. Broadridge employs approximately 6,200 full-time associates in 13 countries.

For more information about Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com. About Digital Postal Mail and Zumbox

Digital Postal Mail powered by Zumbox, Inc. is leading the global migration of traditional postal mail to the digital cloud. Based in Los Angeles, the company operates a system with reach to 120,000,000 consumer households in the United States and operates around the world via licensing and Joint Venture arrangements through Zumbox Software Inc. Digital Postal Mail is available on the web at www.digitalpostalmail.com and the Digital Postal Mail iPad® app can be found on the Apple Store at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id517438820?mt=8 .

Webinar: A Multi-Channel Approach – The Only Path to 100% Paperless Adoption

pvelusamy — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:59:29 +0000

Each year, over $30 billion is spent on printing and distributing customer communications. With the increasing costs associated with paper-based communications, it’s time for businesses to be aggressive in their paperless initiatives. A recent study by InfoTrends reports that businesses average a paperless adoption rate of 23% today with the goal of increasing paperless rates to 64% in the next five years. The reality is: paperless growth rates have plateaued for every vertical using existing channels.

When: Thursday, April 11, 2013 at 10:00am PDT

Register now

You should attend if:
- You need to jumpstart your paperless initiative
- You are just starting a paperless initiative but looking to accelerate your growth
- You want to learn how you can reduce customer support costs

In this webinar, you will learn:
• About these different approaches to driving paperless adoption and what approaches are the most effective when resources are tight
• Why the address-based model will accelerate your paperless suppression
• How you can improve your current direct channels for paper suppression
• The keys to continuity in customer communications and how to reach 100% of your online and offline customers

Register now to save your seat.