Expands the main menu
Pushing the Envelope Blog

Informed on Informed Delivery

Date: 08/24/20 | Category: Products & Services

Say you run a business – a big one – and you come up with a new product, one you believe can benefit millions of potential customers. When it becomes available, you want to make sure your salespeople can tell customers about it…right?

Three years ago, the U.S. Postal Service rolled out Informed Delivery, a free feature which allows customers to digitally preview their letter mail and package delivery via email notifications, online dashboard, or mobile application. Postal Service Headquarters staff from Corporate Communications and Delivery and Retail Operations provided instructions to employees at USPS retail facilities on how to direct customers to sign up. So how did they do?

Pretty well, as it turned out. As we noted in our recent audit report, retail window employees at 33 of 34 of the randomly selected retail units our auditors visited correctly referred us to the Postal Service’s Informed Delivery website when asked about how to sign up. At the one facility where the employee incorrectly responded to our inquiry, local management took immediate corrective actions. Postal Service managers and staff we spoke with at the headquarters, area, district, and local levels attributed these positive results to the quality of communication provided about Informed Delivery.

Have you inquired about Informed Delivery or another USPS product or service at a post office? Did you receive helpful answers? Let us know and comment below!

NOTE: Unfortunately, the OIG cannot help with delayed or overdue stimulus checks. Please address concerns to the Postal Service’s Consumer & Industry Contact Office Locator (formerly Consumer Affairs). Thank you.

Leave a Comment

Your Name
Michael
May 27, 2023
Your Comment
I have informed delivery and on a regular basis my parcel that is said to be there is not. This is happening quite frequently and it's always the same style of parcel from the same place of origin that is getting delayed up to 10 days one time and the only longer delay still hasn't arrived and we'll it's been a couple of months I had to have a new paycheck sent. I know it's capable of being there when informed delivery says but I don't understand the regular occurrence of it not being there. Can you help me figure out what or who is responsible for this problem?
Your Name
Keri A Sabol
May 15, 2023
Your Comment
In the last week and on two separate occasions I've recieved mail that's been cut open. One was my car title from a state agency. The second was a package with an item missing from a delivery of 6 items. What do I do?
  
Your Name
OIG Webmaster
May 16, 2023
Your Comment
Thanks for your message. For mail theft, we recommend filing an online complaint with our Hotline. You can access the online complaint form at https://www.uspsoig.gov/form/file-online-complaint.
Your Name
Sonya Shaw
May 14, 2023
Your Comment
Someone keeps undoing my informed delivery online. Spokane Washington has a USPS mail theif locally
  
Your Name
OIG Webmaster
May 16, 2023
Your Comment
Thanks for your message. For mail theft, we recommend filing an online complaint with our Hotline. You can access the online complaint form at https://www.uspsoig.gov/form/file-online-complaint.
Your Name
Barbara J Miller
May 13, 2023
Your Comment
On May 1, 2023 my U.S. Treasury IRS Refund Check was displayed in my Informed Delivery email. It’s now 13 days and I’ve never received it. I’ve contacted my local PO, USPS Consumer Affairs in Miami, OIG too. People at my local PO haven’t been proactive in any attempt to locate my check. My feeling is that it got lost, misplaced, delivered elsewhere, or stolen.
  
Your Name
OIG Webmaster
May 16, 2023
Your Comment
Thanks for your message. For mail theft, we recommend filing an online complaint with our Hotline. You can access the online complaint form at https://www.uspsoig.gov/form/file-online-complaint.
  
Your Name
Brianne
May 22, 2023
Your Comment
same thing happened to me today. shows in my informed delivery for today but it was not in my mailbox. i called my local post office & was only told to wait a few days & if i dont get it then i need to contact irs. i shouldnt have to have irs reissue a check that was in the possession of the usps
Your Name
Priscilla Caraway-Vinson
May 5, 2023
Your Comment
I never received my stimulus check for March. Lost in the mail or stolen
  
Your Name
OIG Webmaster
May 8, 2023
Your Comment
Thanks for your message. We are an independent agency of the Postal Service and unfortunately can't help with lost or damaged mail. You can file a claim with the Postal Service at https://www.usps.com/help/welcome.htm
Your Name
RW
Apr 30, 2023
Your Comment
We’ve been using ID since it rolled out in 2017.

Despite feedback and requests it has same flaws as then.

Folks who have a street box and POB can’t use a common profile to manage these two boxes. (Let alone folks who have a vacation home.)

So, we, a family of 3, have a street box and POB and in order for each of us to be informed, we each must have to have 2 e/m addresses, 6 in all.

Further, even though both of our addresses are eligible for ID, and we have validated all 6 e/m addresses, we can’t get the online tool or app to sustainably accept the ON setting for our POB. Turning on, it says “change saved” but any return to or refresh to this page shows it has turned itself off.

This has been going in for years. Nobody is fixing anything.

If one is trying to torpedo their customer satisfaction ratings, this is a good way to do it.
Your Name
rigoberto rocha
Apr 29, 2023
Your Comment
to whom is may concern..i have usps informed delivery.. i am not getting all of my mail.. its getting misdelivered.. i am getting other houses mail..up and down the street..i am missing a bank statment..the mail i get is Not even the Right house number..always wrong number..if i am getting wrong house number ..where is my mail ending..i've gone down to the post office santa cruz three times..and called twice and no change..it only started last two monthes..informed delivery lets me know whats comming..a friendly remainder to the person delivering.. to check house number before it gets drop in mail box...i'll give a pass in the name.. but get house number RIGHT..thanks..
Your Name
Sherry Thacker
Apr 21, 2023
Your Comment
Why am I getting notifications about packages being delivered for days and I've never received any?
Your Name
nonya bizzness
Apr 19, 2023
Your Comment
never received certain mail that supposedly will get delivered according to informed delivery. its all first class mail too. and if it were being stolen from my mailbox, like in the past, they'd take everything. not just first class mail. and yes, i reported. whats the point of checking the box on informed delivery website that says i didnt receive this mail piece again?
Your Name
Catherine Papargiris
Apr 11, 2023
Your Comment
I get emails on informed delivery. I am now on my THIRD item that is lost. The first one was my sons paystub from his job the second was a wedding invite and this third one is a $449.00 check. I go to my local post office for help and they could care less. We have three post offices in Easton and I have visited two of them and both said they cannot help. They told me to call Brockton post office and naturally they don't answer their phone. So what do I need to do to get my mail that is scanned in and never shows up at my house. Very frustrating. Especially since no one will offer a solution
  
Your Name
OIG Webmaster
Apr 13, 2023
Your Comment
Thanks for your message. We are an independent agency of the Postal Service and unfortunately can't help with lost or damaged mail. You can file a claim with the Postal Service at https://www.usps.com/help/welcome.htm
Your Name
Amanda Reynolds
Apr 7, 2023
Your Comment
I wanna Know if my package is gonna Come Tomorrow
Your Name
Lorenzo Hill
Apr 5, 2023
Your Comment
I had the daily alert of the mail and packages that would be delivered that day. The last few days I did not get any alerts. Please continue to send the daily alerts. The service is very good.
Your Name
Love
Apr 5, 2023
Your Comment
If I signed up for informed delivery today when it does process will I be able to see old Mail that came before I signed up
  
Your Name
RW
Apr 30, 2023
Your Comment
Never. Only after sign up mail is shown.
Your Name
yvette r Gluck
Mar 31, 2023
Your Comment
My informed delivery showed ONE piece of mail only on 3/30/23. That piece of mail was a check from the Dept of the Treasury for my disabled son. I never have had a problem before with the check arriving, nor with the informed delivery. My local post office on both days (3/30 and 3/31) told me there is nothing they can do. The postal carriers said there is nothing they can do. US Post office customer service says my local post office should help--which they've already said they can't help. The Customer Affairs office also said my local post office should help, but I've already said they can't help. I'm being sent around in a circle, while my son doesn't have his disability check. Did a postal worker steal it? That's what Analyst88 at the Postal Inspector office thinks. He told me to file this complaint. I can provide a photo from informed delivery of the Treasury check that is missing.
  
Your Name
OIG Webmaster
Apr 6, 2023
Your Comment
Thank you for your message. If your issue has not yet been resolved by the USPS Office of Consumer Affairs, please file a complaint with our Hotline. You can access our hotline by visiting our Website, clicking the "Contact Us" tab on the top and selecting "Hotline." This will allow us to look into the matter for you.
Your Name
Tonya Smith
Mar 27, 2023
Your Comment
I need to get informed for my mail before it arrives
Your Name
Clint Anderson
Mar 17, 2023
Your Comment
How do I get rid of informed delivery at my residence to many people have my address and aop on there phones
Your Name
Christopher Davis
Mar 8, 2023
Your Comment
I suggest the Postal Service create an option in informed delivery that delays by one business day the delivery of scanned items so that recipients can mark junk mail as refused so that the Postal Service does not have to deliver unwanted items.