We’re delighted to announce that Zumbox is now available to anyone in the U.S. who wants to use our secure paperless mail service. Zumbox has been in development for more than a year, so this is a tremendous milestone for the company. The big news, of course, is that we’re announcing today that Zumbox is for free for all qualified mail senders.
This is significant because it not only represents the first viable alternative to paper mail—and by “viable” we mean secure, accountable, efficient, and paperless—but Zumbox also enables companies, government agencies, nonprofits, and other organizations to quickly save costs while reducing their environmental impact.
We made this announcement today through the “proper channels.” I’d now like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the Zumbox blog (welcome to all) and to talk a bit more about how Zumbox works and what it means.
Zumbox truly is a platform. It represents the first secure online medium for sending and receiving digital mail. Of course, the question I typically get is, “Hasn’t this already been invented? I believe it’s called e-mail.” Though I do appreciate the subtle sarcasm, the reality is that while there is some overlap in terms of the utility, Zumbox is vastly different than e-mail. The differences are remarkably greater than the similarities, and that’s really where we find the value of Zumbox.
The Zumbox Alternative
The most striking difference is that your Zumbox is based on your actual, physical mailing address. This notion may not be entirely clear at first, since Zumbox essentially merges the physical and online worlds. It’s best to think of your digital Zumbox mail as running in parallel to your physical paper mail. They are two independent systems that do not intersect. Rather, Zumbox offers those who send you physical mail the first viable alternative to have it sent and received digitally, effectively migrating from one system to the other. Zumbox doesn’t replace or interfere with your physical, paper-based mailbox. We have no affiliation with the United States Postal Service (USPS), and claiming your Zumbox will have no affect on your current USPS mail delivery. Again, Zumbox operates independently and in parallel to the USPS. We just happen to use the same addressing method: name, street address, city, state, and zip code. This opens many new possibilities while presenting several advantages.
Suppose your dog or cat (perish the thought) goes missing. With Zumbox, you can send a notice with a photo (and video, if you like) to all of your neighbors…digitally. You don’t have to know their email addresses, and you don’t have to walk house-to-house. And since Zumbox is a closed system—mail is sent from one Zumbox to another—it provides total accountability. You know precisely where all of your Zumbox mail is coming from. If your neighbor sends an overwhelming number of missing pet notices or Bar-B-Que invites (it can happen), you can opt to block mail from that sender. In this sense, Zumbox represents a new way to communicate and connect with your community (or not).
Zumbox is also highly secure. Most companies do not send sensitive information via e-mail. You don’t get your bank statement via e-mail; you get a notification that your statement is ready to view through the bank’s secure website. You then have to login to their website to view or download your statement and pay your bill…all within that secure environment. Zumbox is a similarly secure environment, meeting or exceeding PCI, HIPAA, and BITS standards. In other words, it’s banking-level security, and we take it very seriously.
Lastly, e-mail does you no good if you don’t have someone’s e-mail address. There’s a certain irony in the fact that spammers somehow have your e-mail but people or companies from whom you might want to get electronic mail do not. These might include the schools where your children attend or the local theater. By using the street address system, Zumbox enables people to reach you through a secure, paperless medium. And unlike paper mail and e-mail, Zumbox users can easily and effectively block unwanted mail.
The Zumbox Platform
While the announcement that Zumbox is free for all qualified mail senders is good news for pet owners, it’s tremendous news for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits. We have a number of solutions available that enable organizations of any type to seamlessly migrate their costly paper mailings to digital. As a company’s customers or a nonprofit’s supporters realize they have this option—the option to receive the same piece of mail digitally, from anywhere at anytime—the choice should be obvious. By migrating paper mail recipients to digital (via Zumbox), the cost savings on paper, printing, and postage will quickly add up.
We do feel that Zumbox is a revolutionary idea. As a platform, it represents a radical shift from the waste and inefficiency of paper mail. The transition itself, though, will largely be evolutionary. There are 150 million Zumboxes that need to be claimed and activated, and everyone has a role to play. The platform itself will continue to evolve, and we’ll use this blog to announce and discuss new developments. We look forward to engaging in a fruitful dialog with you about them.
If you live in the U.S., then you have mail waiting in your Zumbox right now. Just type in your address to check it!
Yours truly,
Glen Ward, President
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Great to see the progress that you are making.
Pls enable full content feed. Make it easier for your clients to read your product announcements (in their feed reader). People might not want to make the extra click to come read a product announcement.
I don’t get it. What if my recipient hasn’t subscribed to the service? Are you going to print and deliver a paper copy? I know the USPS is a bloated dinosaur and that it doesn’t really cost 40 cents (or whatever postage costs these days) to handle a letter, but how is Zumbox’s model viable?
And if you aren’t going to print and deliver paper copies to people who aren’t registered then you’ve got an uphill battle ahead of you. My neighbors aren’t likely to sign up, nor is my mother for that matter. So I’ll just have to stick to the traditional methods for them. In that case, what’s my incentive to join?
What am I missing?
Rachel: There is never any paper involved. It’s all digital. If you send something to someone’s Zumbox, it gets delivered there. If that person hasn’t claimed their Zumbox, you’d have to let them know to check it. They’d do this by going to Zumbox.com and entering their address. They’d see it in the mailbox and proceed to claim it, where the PIN is sent.
There are a number of scenarios where people will sign up for Zumbox and make use of it. The most common will probably be a company, nonprofit, or government agency adopting Zumbox. They’ll send you the typical paper version and a digital version (for free) to your Zumbox. The paper version will have a message that says, “This is also available in your Zumbox.” You’ll go to Zumbox.com and see that it’s there. You’ll claim your Zumbox. The company, nonprofit, etc. will continue to send both a paper copy to your mailbox and a digital copy to your Zumbox. That way you can access it anywhere, anytime.
You can, however, click “Do Not Papermail” from your Zumbox. This notifies the sender that you only want the digital version and automatically updates their database. They’ll no longer send you paper. Going paperless for you and the company is as simple as that. The company saves money, while you reduce the hassle and waste of paper mail and make checking your mail more convenient.
I’m eager for this to catch on.
Is there a way we can get search for those who HAVE enabled their zumbox.
Walter Reade (from Wisconsin)
I am also eager for this to catch on. I probably spend $800 annually in envelope postage. I would love to be able to cut that in half.
I have little hope for people over 45 years old to adopt this service.
Best of luck, I will tell all my friends to join.
Walter: Thanks for your feedback and support. We won’t make that info publicly available. But a Zumbox exists for every street address, and you can send mail to them today. Until those recipients “claim” and “secure” their Zumbox, we’ll have to find other ways to let them know that they have mail there, whether through e-mail, paper mail, or trusted word of mouth. When they do finally sign up, they’ll be happy to find that they have personalized mail waiting.
Marcus: The potential for cost savings is tremendous. Also, recent Pew research shows that the median Twitter user is 31. We know from experience that there are quite a few Twitter users 45 and over. So it’s not a stretch to imagine those also using Zumbox.
If a company that regularly sends you paper mail lets you know (via that paper mail) that they’ve also sent a digital version to your Zumbox, it’s pretty straightforward. You just go to Zumbox.com and enter your address. There it is. So it’s quite accessible with a minimum of tech savvy.
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1117/twitter-tweet-users-demographics
Using the example of Twitter which has been around for a few years, it is far from being mainstream. I talk to people daily and people still look at me funny when I mention it.
What relevance is there in sending mail to my entire street if I am unsure if they are signed up on the service or not? Having to go and ask everyone – I might as well give them a printed lost dog sign instead. Most “normal” streets in America will be filled with people who will not utilize such services for at least a few years if it ever catches on with the tech-savvy crowd.
Why would you charge a business 5 cents to send mail to a list if the person is unsure if the list even has Zumbox?
I think that it might be useful to make some kind of paper postcard to send to people who get Zumbox mail so they at least might be curious enough to check it and increasing the possibility of sign up.
After just sending a few postcards to some friends using Zumbox, it makes me feel dumb now knowing that I have to e-mail them letting them know they have “digital mail.” Am I totally offbase?
Chaz: Twitter was not used as example of something that is widely adopted in the mainstream but rather an example of a very new technology that’s being used by people in their 30s and 40s. Many believe that these things are just for young people, and it’s not the case. If it works, anyone with a computer and Internet connection will use it and find value.
That said, Twitter was the fastest growing site last year and has about 7 million monthly users. CNN uses it routinely, so that’s pretty mainstream. I believe it launched in 2007 at the Web 2.0 Expo.
You’re not offbase. There is a ramp-up period. Companies who send a lot of mail have a tremendous financial incentive to use Zumbox and to encourage their customers to use it…not to mention the environmental benefits. So we’ll be counting on the rapid adoption by companies, nonprofits, and government agencies to ultimately drive adoption by people. As we like to say, Zumbox is pro-business, pro-consumer, and pro-environment. Everyone wins.
The scenario you suggest with the postcard is right on target. But it won’t be Zumbox who sends it. Companies who want to get their customers to use Zumbox and go paperless will simply include that message on the paper mail they are already sending. That is the most efficient way to go about it for everyone. It’ll take some time, but we’re working around the clock to make it happen.
Could you explain this?
12. Do Not Paper Mail Program
12.1 While a subscriber of the Services, you agree to support the Do Not Paper Mail program promoted by us and will assist us in encouraging your mail senders to send billing statements, correspondence and other media to you through http://www.Zumbox.com .
12.2 You agree to permit us to identify you in a listing to vendors and other commercial, governmental and non-profit senders (collectively, “Senders”) as a “Do Not Send Paper Mail” subscriber.
12.3 You agree that we are permitted to send to Senders, as and when applicable, your change of address information.
ALSO: I’m pretty sure on your site it says that you can send actual physical mail from your zumbox. Are you now saying you cannot?
How did the term “Zumbox” originate?
I’m confused, you state above:
“If you send something to someone’s Zumbox, it gets delivered there. If that person hasn’t claimed their Zumbox, you’d have to let them know to check it.”
It kind of defeats the purpose if I have notify my recipients that I sent them something via zumbox and now they have to register and wait for PIN number to be sent to view my mailing. If I send a mail through zumbox to someone who hasn’t signed up yet, does Zumbox send a letter or postcard via USPS to the recipient informing them they have received a piece of mail through zumbox and include a PIN for them to sign up?
Bob: If someone hadn’t claimed and secured their Zumbox, you would have to notify them only once via other methods that you had sent mail to their Zumbox. If you already send them paper mail, then that can be the way you notify them. Zumbox won’t send a notification via USPS.
Can I download this mails to my computer? If so, are they in pdf format?