What Is Informed Delivery?

Informed Delivery is a free service offered by the United States Postal Service that helps residents in Frisco, TX, and the rest of the country know what's coming in the mail each day. You'll get an email every morning with pictures of the front of each envelope scheduled to be delivered that day.

In some cases, you can also see advertisements or junk mail that'll be delivered, but these can be hit or miss. If you're signed up for weekly store ads that come through the mail, those are generally not available on Informed Delivery.

Informed Delivery can also help you track packages you're scheduled to receive. As soon as the sender enters tracking information attached to your address in the system, such as by printing a shipping label or taking the package to the local post office, information about the package shows up on your Informed Delivery. As the package makes its way closer to your mailbox, your daily Informed Delivery email provides updated expected delivery times.

What Are the Benefits of Informed Delivery for Older Adults?

Informed Delivery offers many benefits for seniors in assisted living at Bethesda Gardens in Frisco or other locations. When you know what's supposed to be in your mail each day, it's easier to determine when something is missing or might have been stolen. This can help you know when to alert the Social Security Office or Medicare that you're not receiving your documents.

Missing mail can also be a sign of identity theft, so getting a heads-up early can let you know you need to check your credit reports or put a fraud alert on your accounts. If you see that you're getting mail under someone else's name at your address, this can also be a red flag for potential identity theft.

While one of the benefits of assisted living is not having to go outside to check a mailbox every day, Informed Delivery can make this an option even for seniors who are still living in their own homes. Because you'll be able to see what you're getting in the mail each day — or whether you're getting any mail at all — you can avoid walking outside just to find an empty mailbox. You can also check Informed Delivery from any internet-enabled device, including a computer, tablet or smartphone.

Best of all, Informed Delivery is a 100% free service that only takes a few minutes to set up online.

How Do You Set Up Informed Delivery?

To be eligible for Informed Delivery, you must have either a residential mailbox or a personal P.O. box. Informed Delivery must be available for your ZIP code and address, and you have to successfully verify your identity with the post office. This ensures no one else can sign up for your address to potentially know what mail you're getting and intercept it.

The process for signing up for Informed Delivery varies depending on whether you already have a USPS.com personal account or not.

With an Existing USPS.com Personal Account

1. Sign into your USPS.com account.
2. Look for the Informed Delivery option in the top right corner of the screen.
3. After clicking on that, click on Enroll on the next screen. This takes you to your preferences within your account.
4. In the My Preferences section, click the Informed Delivery button under Account Management.
5. Read the Terms and Conditions and click Enroll in Informed Delivery.
6. Follow the prompts to verify your identity. You can do so through your smartphone or request that the post office send you a special code through the regular mail. Once you complete the identity verification process, you're signed up and you should start getting notifications soon.

Without an Existing USPS.com Personal Account

1. Go to the Informed Delivery website and click Sign Up for Free.
2. Enter your address to ensure the service is available in your area.
3. Follow the prompts to create a USPS.com Personal Account.
4. Complete the identity verification process either online or by requesting a code in the mail.
5. Follow the steps in the previous section to enroll in Informed Delivery.

If you're not comfortable with computers, ask a family member, friend or team member at Bethesda Gardens to help you sign up. They can also help you implement other technology products that can make your life easier.