(MYFOX NATIONAL) – You say can goodbye to snail mail for good thanks to a new paperless postal service called “Zumbox.”

To cut down on his mail, Ryan Mickle of San Francisco has been paying his bills and keeping in touch with friends and family online. Now he is also using Zumbox , a new Web-based postal system that uses his street address for e-delivery.

“With just one click, say I want this [letter] paperless in the future please,” said Mickle. “And I’ll never see a paper copy ever again.”

Rob Reed, vice president of marketing at Zumbox, explained, “We’ve created a digital mailbox for every street address in the U.S., so now all mail can be sent online the same way it’s sent on paper.”

Sending mail online can save a lot of money on printing and postage, which caught San Francisco’s attention. Last year the city sent 7 million pieces of mail at a cost of over $3 million. That is money Mayor Gavin Newsom would like to spend on other things.

“It’s a nice thing … Take advantage of technology, go paperless,” said Newsom. “I think this is unquestionably the future.”

The mayor used Zumbox to notify residents about a new composting ordinance. The letter contained hyperlinks to other eco-friendly programs.

“We’re really trying to encourage residents as well as businesses to cut down on the amount of paper that they’re sending to the landfill,” said Lawrence Grodeska, of the San Francisco Department of the Environment. “Certainly, recycling, but if they can reduce the amount of paper they use up front, that’s the best possible scenario.”

Because Zumbox allows for geo-targeting, users can alert neighbors about a missing pet or other local events.

“The potential for Zumbox is to build and strengthen communities by enabling electronic communication that didn’t exist before,” said Reed.

Cities across the United States are embracing the system’s digital delivery. New York City, Minneapolis and Newark are also using Zumbox to some extent, and with every address in America already on the system, more cities are expected to give this paperless postal system a try.

Also posted in Atlanta, Detroit, Maine, Tampa Bay, Twin Cities, Wausau, Austin, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Boston, Charlotte, DC, and New York

We are concept testing a new feature we call the virtual Zumbox Kitchen Drawer. Every registered Zumbox user has received this Special Offer mailer that includes three tabs: Coupons, Menus, and Shopping Lists. As the feature suggests, these are things you typically keep in an actual kitchen drawer. The problem is that these drawers tend to be overrun with expired coupons, outdated menus, tools, batteries, change, keys, sunglasses, pens, and so much other stuff that they become unmanageable. Indeed, keeping these drawers organized is next to impossible. Our fully developed Kitchen Drawer feature will address this problem while adding tremendous ease and efficiency to grocery shopping, ordering food, and getting automatic discounts.

This very early concept version includes a SmartSource coupon feed that lets you search, select, and print coupons. The idea is that you can find the coupons you want for the products you need at stores nearby. Far from a finished product feature, this is meant to serve as a demonstration. And this blog post is meant to offer the full vision and big-picture view in an effort to gain feedback and insights from the Zumbox community.

By integrating coupons, menus, and shopping lists together and then associating them with your verified street address, the virtual Zumbox Kitchen Drawer can become a time- and money-saving tool for grocery shopping and ordering take-out/delivery, two of our most common tasks.

Suppose you’re in the mood for Italian food. You search for local restaurant menus in this category and find one you like (or select from your favorites), which happens to have a real-time coupon offer associated with it. You place your order through the menu itself, selecting whether you want delivery, pickup, or dine-in, and then pay for your order. The restaurant receives the order, complete with your verified street address, and sends you a confirmation. No more digging for the menu. No more repeating the order and delivery address. No more fumbling with payment options. And if you don’t know how to get there, turn-by-turn directions are just one click away. You’re saving time and saving money. The possibilities are quite compelling we think.

Next, suppose you have to do some grocery shopping. You create a new Zumbox shopping list and start to fill it out with things like peanut butter, bread, diapers, tooth paste, and bananas. If there are valid coupons available for any of these items, they will be dynamically inserted next to each item on your list. You type “tooth paste” on the list, and coupons for tooth paste appear. More than one coupon option? Select as many as you want or your preferred brand. Furthermore, local grocery stores—Vons, Albertsons, Ralphs, Whole Foods, or even the local farmers market—can offer additional incentives to shop with them. When your personalized shopping & coupon list is complete, print it out and present it to the cashier, who scans each of the coupons. Again, you’re saving time and saving money. You’re also reducing waste by printing only coupons you’ll use, and this can be eliminated through a mobile option.

The virtual Zumbox Kitchen Drawer feature will clearly be more than a Special Offer. It will be an integrated part of the Zumbox platform, complete with dedicated tools for restaurants, grocery stores, and those providing the coupons. We hope it will become an integral part of how you shop, order food, and save.

Let us know what you think about this new feature concept in the comments. You can also take a more detailed survey about the virtual Zumbox Kitchen Drawer.

As paperless mail starts to come online, we’ll keep you posted about select, non-confidential pieces being sent from our partners and how it’s unique and relevant to the Zumbox experience.

Below are two promotions that were sent for the holiday season. You had to have a registered Zumbox to get them, so register your Zumbox if you haven’t already and tell your friends and family about Zumbox so they, too, can be eligible for great deals.

GNC: Our most recent special offer is from GNC. Save on stocking stuffers and other in-store-only deals. Where is the closest GNC to you? Each mail piece includes a dynamic Google maps mashup to show you the way.

Saks Fifth Avenue: Zumbox delivered this 10% – 20% off coupon to all registered Zumbox users to help with their holiday shopping. The offer was only valid on December 10th, after which this “Special Offer” mail piece was recalled and removed from any Zumbox that had not opened it. Because you should never have to open irrelevant or expired mail in Zumbox.

We welcome your feedback about these promotions and the overall Zumbox experience. Please leave them in the comments below.

Previously, as you may have noticed, there could only be one Zumbox for each U.S. street address. Any mail sent to that street address via Zumbox would go there, regardless of the actual name to which it was addressed. This mimicked the physical world, where all paper mail is received in one USPS mailbox and then hand-sorted by recipient if necessary. With Zumbox, paperless mail is now pre-sorted by name and delivered exclusively and securely to the actual recipient. With a Zumbox personal mailbox, your roommates, kids, parents, or tenants will no longer be able to see who is sending you mail, let alone giving them the option to open it. This significantly enhances the security, privacy and functionality of the Zumbox paperless postal system.

Registering a personal Zumbox is simple. First, note that your current Zumbox has already been “personalized” according to the name you have on the account. To register additional Zumboxes, go to Zumbox.com and enter a new name with the same street address. You’ll be immediately notified that a Zumbox is already registered at this address (see photo), and a new security code will be mailed to that person via the USPS. This code has to then be entered at Zumbox.com to secure that mailbox and create a new account. The original Zumbox user at that address will be notified each time a new Zumbox is registered for that address.

One of the major benefits of Zumbox, in particular with this system upgrade, is that you only deal with your mail. A significant part of the so-called junk mail problem is the overwhelming nature of it. You go to your USPS mailbox each day, and it’s a physical chore to sort through everything. This is magnified several times when you have multiple people at the same address receiving mail. It’s very 19th century. In the 21st century, when you open your Zumbox, the only mail you’ll see is your mail. Whether it’s a bill, statement, newsletter, public notice, or special offer, 100% of that mail is intended for you. We see this as a significant improvement on the overall postal mail experience. It is truly Mail 2.0.

Yesterday we launched the fourth major city of our national rollout: Minneapolis, Minnesota. The launch event was marked by a welcome letter sent from the Mayor and City Council via Zumbox. Residents also found the City’s annual snow removal notice and will soon start receiving paperless mail in parallel via Zumbox. Those who wish to opt out of the paper version and receive mail exclusively via Zumbox will soon have that choice.

Consistent with other municipal partners in our national rollout, the City of Minneapolis is able to send mail for free via Zumbox in an effort to help them save taxpayer dollars on printing, paper, and postage costs while reducing the City’s overall waste stream and providing a new way to communicate with residents. Regular mail senders are charged five cents per address, considerably less than traditional paper mail but significantly more than e-mail, which encourages relevance and eliminates SPAM. We are also excited that the City is including Zumbox on its homepage as one of three, complementary digital communications mediums alongside Twitter and Facebook:

The City of Minneapolis issued its own press release and will include Zumbox messaging in its water bills starting in January. This method of notification is one of the most efficient and thorough ways to alert residents and businesses about the City’s intent to transition a portion of its mail stream to Zumbox i.e. a no-cost and zero-waste paperless system.

Residents of Minneapolis should be aware that they can now take control of their mail through two primary features: the Paperless Please and Block buttons. By clicking Paperless Please, a request is sent to the mail sender with a preference for exclusive paperless delivery via Zumbox. By clicking the Block button, the mail sender will no longer be able to send mail to one’s Zumbox.

If you’ve ever subscribed to a print magazine, then you’ve received renewal notices in the mail. If you miss or ignore these notices, you’ll get additional notices. Wouldn’t it be great if these could be sent paperless? We’re happy to report that Mother Earth News is the first magazine to send paperless renewal notices via Zumbox.

If you’re a Mother Earth News subscriber, then you now have the option to receive renewal notices in your Zumbox and ultimately choose to go paperless. This is the official press release:

Zumbox today announced that Mother Earth News, the nation’s largest sustainable lifestyle magazine, became the first magazine to deliver paperless renewal notices to its subscribers via Zumbox. Ogden Publications, parent company of Mother Earth News, is thereby giving subscribers the ability to go paperless with their renewal notices and renew subscriptions directly from their Zumbox.

“In addition to clearly reducing environmental impact, Zumbox represents a powerful way for us to communicate with our subscribers,” said Bryan Welch, Publisher and Editorial Director of Mother Earth News. “Our audience has already started to embrace this paperless postal system, which could become another content distribution channel for us as well. Considering we send out between 30,000 and 40,000 renewal notices in a typical month, the cost savings of transitioning even a portion of that to Zumbox would be tremendous.”

Zumbox has created a web-based platform that powers the world’s first paperless postal system. For every U.S. street address, there is a corresponding Zumbox – a digital mailbox – which enables postal mail to be sent as digital files and received online with no paper and no scanning. This new category – paperless mail – represents the first practical alternative to traditional postal systems.

Zumbox also represents an important alternative to commercial e-mail. Because it is based on street addresses (and is independent of e-mail addresses), publishers like Mother Earth News, as well as all other senders, can utilize it to deliver paperless mail based on the information they already have on file. What’s more, Zumbox enables optimum targeting and segmentation – which e-mail can’t do – and is both secure and spam-free.

With Zumbox, publishers can immediately start delivering paperless renewal notices in parallel to the paper versions because the Zumbox platform uses the same street addresses. Subscribers can access this mail by going to Zumbox.com, at which point they can make the choice to go paperless through a “Paperless Please” button that sends a request back to the publisher to stop the paper. Each renewal notice can also include a “Renew Now” button that will take the subscriber to the website of the publisher where the renewal can be completed.

“Not only does the Zumbox platform offer publishers an exciting new channel through which to reduce renewal costs,” said Zumbox CEO Donn Rappaport, “but it can help to maximize their renewals as well. Research has shown that the rich media capability of our system leads to higher involvement, engagement, and response rates. Plus, Zumbox demonstrates an important commitment to responsible environmental practices. It’s not surprising that the company behind the longest running sustainable lifestyle magazine is the first publisher to embrace Zumbox.”

Ogden has already been working to establish the Zumbox channel by promoting it to the Mother Earth News audience through e-mail and its website. By making subscribers aware of this new channel, the publisher can save on printing, paper and postage costs while providing a more convenient, earth-friendly and dynamic way for interested subscribers to receive mail.

Today we announced a partnership with Greenopia, a company that rates and reviews local green businesses including retailers, restaurants, service providers, and other organizations. These green listings—more than 14,000 and counting throughout the U.S.—can be accessed on the Greenopia website in conjunction with a broad range of original, green-living content. In addition, the company publishes printed guides (think Michelin guides for green) for the cities of Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco i.e. two of the three cities where Zumbox has officially launched.

This partnership combines the local relevance of Greenopia’s content with the precise, geographic nature of the Zumbox platform in an effort to better connect people with their neighborhood green businesses. We’re doing this in several ways.

First, we worked with Greenopia to develop a simple “paperless mail” application designed specifically for the Zumbox platform. It is packaged in a paperless mailing, and when Greenopia sends this piece of mail to you i.e. to your Zumbox, it automatically displays the closest and highest-rated green businesses in your neighborhood. For our launch events in San Francisco and New York, Greenopia sent these to every address in each of the two cities—to more than 3.5 million in all. Zumbox has thus become a geographic filter for Greenopia’s substantial database of information, which makes the content more valuable and relevant for you.

The second part of our partnership involves offering Zumbox to Greenopia-rated businesses in San Francisco and New York, such that they can utilize the platform to connect with local customers directly. We are providing a free trial that enables these businesses to send several paperless mailings via Zumbox to every street address within a one-mile radius of their location. This mail can include menus, coupons, and special promotions—promotions that can be offered exclusively to those fortunate enough to live within walking distance of a given restaurant or hardware store. Because it makes sense to support our local economies, especially when a business has taken steps to operate more sustainably and earn a Greenopia rating. This is made possible by the unique combination of Greenopia data and the Zumbox platform.

Greenopia is a superb example of how the Zumbox platform and geographic filter can add value to content and other types of data. As Greenopia Founder and CEO Gay Browne puts it, “Zumbox can truly become the backbone of the buy local and shop local movements.”

PRESS RELEASE

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA – October 27, 2009 – Zumbox and Greenopia today announced a strategic partnership that includes providing local, green-business information to consumers while helping Greenopia’s rated green businesses to utilize Zumbox as a method for reducing their environmental impact, saving money, and better connecting with neighborhood customers. The initiative is initially focused on the cities of San Francisco and New York.

Greenopia publishes local guides to green businesses, organizations, and service providers for San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles. Each listing features a detailed rating and review based on Greenopia’s sustainability criteria. Greenopia also maintains an online community at Greenopia.com that features daily editorial content and reviews for more than 14,000 green businesses nationwide.

“Zumbox is the solution that Greenopia and our merchants have always needed but wasn’t available,” said Greenopia CEO and Founder Gay Browne. “For those who send paper mail, it’s an easy way to reduce their environmental impact by transitioning to a paperless system. And for reaching local customers, there is no more efficient way than sending paperless mail to a mailing list or geographic radius via Zumbox. This can include menus, coupons, and other types of offers that a local business can make available to its immediate neighbors on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis. So we are very enthusiastic about making Zumbox available to merchants as a revolutionary new marketing tool. Zumbox can truly become the backbone of the buy local and shop local movements.”

Zumbox has created a web-based platform that powers the world’s first paperless postal system. For every U.S. street address, there is a corresponding Zumbox – a digital mailbox – which enables postal mail to be sent as digital files and received online with no paper and no scanning. This new category – paperless mail – represents the first practical alternative to traditional postal systems. Local businesses can use Zumbox to send mail, including special offers, to every street address within a very small geographic area for a fraction of the cost of sending it on paper and with zero waste. Consumers can control the mail they receive via Zumbox, which leads to greater efficiencies for all parties.

“This partnership makes sense in many different ways,” said Zumbox Vice President of Marketing Rob Reed. “First, Zumbox launched in two of the three cities where Greenopia has its greatest presence – San Francisco and New York. Which means that Greenopia can deliver its locally relevant content via Zumbox to those who will find it most useful and valuable. Zumbox also offers a more sustainable mail solution for Greenopia-rated businesses, thereby enhancing their green score. Finally, Zumbox provides a one-of-a-kind marketing channel for local businesses.”

As part of the partnership, Greenopia is delivering locally relevant content to residents in San Francisco and New York City via Zumbox. The company is also promoting Zumbox to consumers on its website and via e-mail to its merchants. In addition to rating, reviewing, and promoting local green businesses, Greenopia provides additional services that help these businesses and organizations succeed in the new digital economy. Zumbox represents a new service offering, which includes a free trial provided exclusively through this partnership.

Following is the official press release:

Zumbox today announced the addition of Peter O. Price to its executive team. Mr. Price will lead the company’s media division and will focus on developing partnerships with major print and electronic media companies. Mr. Price will maintain his current role as Chairman and CEO of Premiere Previews.

Zumbox has created a web-based platform that powers the world’s first paperless postal system. For every U.S. street address, there is a corresponding Zumbox – a digital mailbox – which enables postal mail to be sent as digital files and received online with no paper and no scanning. This new category – paperless mail – represents the first practical alternative to traditional postal systems. Zumbox also provides a compelling new channel for distributing and accessing multi-media content including live broadcasts. Specifically, Zumbox enables the efficient delivery of local and hyper-local news on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis while offering interactivity and participation for consumers.

“Peter Price brings to Zumbox a lifetime of success and experience as a media executive, public servant, and entrepreneur,” said Zumbox CEO Donn Rappaport. “We’d be hard pressed to find an individual who is better suited or more qualified to lead our media division and develop this key area of our business. This represents a significant win for the company.”

Mr. Price has served as Director of Corporate Development for Time Inc., President of Media Networks, Publisher of the New York Post, President of the National Sports Daily, President of Liberty Cable, and President of Television USA. He is currently Chairman of The Avenue Association, a director of RKO Pictures and USFR Media, a Commissioner of the Latin Entertainment and Media Commission and President of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation. In 2009 Mr. Price assumed additional responsibilities as Chairman of MediaNYC2020 and a board member of Reporters Without Borders.

“The Zumbox online platform offers exceptional value for consumers and media companies alike,” Price said. “Consumers can be overwhelmed by the increasingly noisy and competitive media landscape. As such, they’re seeking greater relevance and a more active role in the media they consume. By the same token, media companies want to provide greater relevance while engaging better with their audiences. The Zumbox media solution addresses each of these issues together with a host of other challenges facing the news and entertainment industries.”

Zumbox is currently distributing content from FOX, NBC, the New York Daily News, the New York Post and the New York Times to Zumbox users in New York City. Formal announcements regarding Zumbox media partnerships are forthcoming.

This is our first Paperless Please Newsletter. It is an exclusive way for us to communicate with the people of Zumbox using the exciting new medium we’ve created—a secure, online communication channel based on your verified street address.

ZUMBOX CITIES

Zumbox officially launched its public beta in February. We recently exited beta and launched our national rollout in the Cities of San Francisco, CA; Newark, NJ; and New York City, NY with support from Mayors Newsom, Booker, and Bloomberg respectively. If you know people in these cities, please let them know to claim their Zumbox in order to view that mail and much more.

Our national rollout will continue with the addition of other major cities and regions and will include mail from municipalities, non-profit organizations, local businesses, media companies, utilities, and national billers. This mail will be focused in the launch cities; however, several of our partners will be mailing on a national scale. Indeed, the paperless revolution has begun.

ZUMBOX FEATURES

In addition to mail, we will be adding new features and applications that will enhance the Zumbox experience and make it more useful on a day-to-day basis. As you can imagine, the possibilities for building on the Zumbox platform are quite limitless, and we look forward to having you involved as these become available.

PAPERLESS PLEASE

In September, we launched the beta version of PaperlessPlease.org, the campaign for paperless mail. This is based on the Zumbox feature and button of the same name, where you can (politely) request exclusive paperless mail delivery…which is to say, please stop sending the paper.  Many of you have asked how you can get more involved with Zumbox and how you can let companies know that you’d like to have your mail delivered in parallel via Zumbox.

The answer is to join Paperless Please and the campaign for paperless mail by entering your e-mail address at PaperlessPlease.org.

You can recruit all of your like-minded friends using this simple e-mail invitation tool. Be sure to also support the campaign at Facebook and Twitter if you participate there. Next, add the Paperless Please badge to your networking pages or blog. Finally, you can send official Paperless Please request letters to companies like Verizon, DIRECTV, and Pottery Barn via Zumbox and then notify them via Twitter that the request was sent.

This is just the start for Paperless Please. There is much more to come for the campaign for paperless mail, and we’ll be certain to keep you posted.

ZUMBOX IN THE NEWS

We’ll keep you posted about how Zumbox is being covered in the news. Our San Francisco launch was covered by a range of local media:

NYC’s Zumbox Paperless Mailing System

San Francisco Examiner

“Newsom is promoting the idea. He hopes residents will voluntarily ask that certain government mail be sent only via the online service. That would save on some of the massive amounts of paper The City uses daily for mailing, which is good for the environment and the budget.” Read more…

San Francisco Chronicle

“If the experiment catches on with even a fraction of the population, San Francisco could save a chunk of the $3 million it spent last fiscal year on postage and associated labor costs. The other selling point is the environmental benefit: no paper to recycle. Last year, the city sent about 7.5 million pieces of mail, according to its mail department.” Read more…

Mother Nature Network

“Kudos to Zumbox for moving so quickly into the public sector. While their work in transitioning people onto paperless mail is only just beginning, this is a major step in the creation of what could be the USPS of the 21st century.”

From NYC.gov: Delivering on a promise made in his 2009 State of the City Address, Mayor Bloomberg launched the New York City IT Infrastructure Services (NYCitiServ) initiative, an ambitious effort led by the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) to unify the City’s information technology operations for the first time.  Today, there are more than 55 data centers across 42 City agencies, which make management of facilities and services expensive and inefficient.  A consolidated environment will improve the resiliency, security and recovery capability of the entire system – while helping to green the City’s IT infrastructure and make it more energy efficient.  The first consolidated data center will be in operation in early 2010. Through NYCitiServ’s combined efforts the City could achieve significant IT infrastructure savings over the coming years.

City agencies conduct countless mailings every year encompassing everything from water bills to changes in recycling guidelines. Starting today, the City will begin sending mailings through a pilot program with Zumbox, a secure electronic mailbox company that creates individual accounts assigned to a street address. This service allows City agencies to create communications specifically tailored to them, including mailings about promotions, events, or City work that is going on in their neighborhoods; citywide notifications and PSAs including recycling guidelines or locations of City facilities; and home and business-specific government notifications like property tax notifications. Depending on the success of the pilot, the City may reduce paper mailings, which will reduce paper waste, reduce mailing costs for City agencies, and provide targeted, real-time information to New Yorkers.

Update: Also see the Press Release

Update II: Following is the transcript from Mayor Bloomberg’s speech in which he references the City’s use of Zumbox:

“We all know that we cut down too many trees; we all know that we then have recycling problems and waste problems. And if we can do some of these thing electronically, it is much better for the environment.

To get the ball rolling today, we are joining with San Francisco and Newark in becoming one of the first cities in the nation to use a new, secure electronic mailbox company that provides new ways for governments to communicate. It’s called Zumbox, and it will give us the potential to communicate a wide range of notices from property tax statements to recycling regulations and business-specific information specifically tailored to the needs and interests of individual New Yorkers.”