Outbox turns your snail mail into email

Let’s face it, most mail we get physically is not stuff you care about. The postal service is largely an advertising medium at this point, whether they want to admit it or not. There’s very little we get that we actually care about, and unlike avoiding spam, unsubscribing from crappy flyers and credit card solicitations is an involved process.

Outbox

Unless, apparently, you use Outbox.

It’s pretty simple: The company grabs your snail mail, scans it, and sends it to you via browser or app. Unsubscribe from the stuff you don’t care about, like credit card ads, and they go straight to the shredder. And if you want that piece of mail, Outbox will physically send it back to you if you so desire.

Outbox has some pretty serious flaws, it must be said, and the company admits that right up front. If you don’t have a locked mailbox, or aren’t comfortable with potentially very personal material being handled by total strangers working for a for-profit company, this probably isn’t the service for you.

On the other hand, if that isn’t a problem and you’re just worried about intercepting the occasional birthday card from a constant flow of junk, Outbox seems pretty great.

Outbox starts in San Francisco March 25th.

Outbox [Official Site]