Tech | September 28, 2009 | 12 comments

Gavin Newsom announces a pilot program in the city of San Francisco to move to paperless mail

source: http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/under-the-dome/Newsom-Youve-got-paperless-mail-60321...

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e_young
In a move to cut costs and to reduce the amount of paper the city uses, Mayor Gavin Newsom (who is Gubernatorial candidate in California) is urging San Francisco residents to go paperless and to receive city and county mail via the Internet.

According to Newsom, "A paperless postal system represents a new opportunity for the City and County of San Francisco to reduce The City's overall waste stream and will help in our efforts to reach zero waste by 2020." City officials aren’t suggesting the online postal service will eliminate paper mail. Some residents don’t have access to computers and some mail needs to be hardcopy, said Mark Westlund, spokesman for the Department of Environment.

This is pretty cool - I predict the end of junk mail soon!
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12 comments // Gavin Newsom announces a pilot program in the city of San Francisco to move to paperless mail

  • EmperorThan
    • 0
      EmperorThan  

    • *while at Post Office*

      "Where's the mail box?"

      -Oh we got rid of them we only do paperless mail now.

      "What should I do with this letter I was going to mail then?"

      -Just go ahead and toss that. Then you can tell me whatever was in the letter and I'll pass it along to your friend wherever."

      "I don't really feel comfortable doing that..."

      -Don't worry ma'am we pinky swear not to tell anyone what you say in your paperless mail.

      "Oh, thank heavens. I was about to say 'that's the worst idea I've ever heard in my whole life' Thank god you reassured me with the pinky swear. Now how exactly do you 'repeat' the picture on this Hallmark get well card to them?"

      - I'm really good at descriptions. You'd be surprised...

    • 2 years ago
  • andyjoe
    • 0
      andyjoe  
    • Image

    • http://static.zumbox.com/mk_about_faq.html

      This step might reduce the paper mail sent BY the City and County of SF, but it would not eliminate paper mail delivered IN the city.

      Also, it's not a City-funded project. A company called Zumbox has built the email-like system tied to street addresses. In brief, most direct marketers (and local governments) have a list of street addresses, but they don't have all our email addresses. Anyone registering with Zumbox can have messages (solicited and unsolicited, I assume) sent to this box electronically instead of on paper.

      Reducing the amount of paper the City uses would be great. If I could get jury summons and voter guides delivered to MY email account instead of through snail mail, I'd do it.

      I'm a SF resident, but I'll probably pass on the Zumbox option. Looking at their FAQ page, I get the impression they are building a giant, electronic, direct mail database, and my guess is those who opted-in will be bombarded with more undesirable messages than the stuff they want. Plus, who needs yet another account?

      Paperless systems are great, but let's design them for people rather than marketers.

    • 2 years ago
  • e_young
    • 0
      e_young  

    • s0uthc0ast - Does this idea really have anything to do with taxes? I would think cutting government spending and waste on something "irrelevant" would be something you are all-for.

    • 2 years ago
  • s0uthc0ast
    • 0
      s0uthc0ast  

    • Jeez, another dopey idea from a state sliding into irrelevancy.
      Why not CUT or repeal taxes and eliminate the need for spam or paper bills?

    • 2 years ago
  • CalgarC
  • Buie
    • 0
      Buie  

    • I am not mad at that idea at all. The amount of paper that accumulates during the week from mailings is crazy. A reduction of the city's correspondance is only going to help save money and make that "important doc" that you can never find when you need it easy to file and recall. I may not agree with everything Mayor Newsom base done but this is a strong idea.

    • 2 years ago
  • renbyrd
  • CalgarC
  • Future_America
  • Pawper
  • CalgarC
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