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I may be wrong, but my impression of Outbox has always been that they were designing an impressive solution to the wrong problem. Sorting my important mail fro

I may be wrong, but my impression of Outbox has always been that they were designing an impressive solution to the wrong problem. Sorting my important mail from my junk mail is just not something I need help with. And the extraordinary wastefulness in my mind of paying a company to follow postmen around and take back the mail just delivered to my box seems so ecologically wrong that I couldn't support it on that ground alone.

zyxley 13y ago
This is definitely my view. I'd honestly be happy just to see a service in the "use us as your mailing address" market with lower and less byzantine pricing than Earth Class Mail ($20/mo plus $5/mo for searchable PDFs, $1.50/piece to actually scan mail, $20 to deposit a check, $4.95/mo to shred mail, $0.30/mo/piece to store mail, etc.) and without the subtly deceitful tactics of VirtualPostMail (auto-applied promo codes that hide what the actual ongoing service limits are, big listed pricing that actually doubles after 3 months, etc).
- lhl 13y ago
  zyxley, have you found any other good options? One issue it seems w/ all these services is it seems like it's easy to setup w/ a Form 1583, but none of these guys provide any sort of forwarding options for when you want to cancel!
- dnr 13y ago
  The VirtualPostMail pricing page may be confusing, but I think calling it deceitful is a stretch. I think the prices are reasonable for the service they provide. It may even be cheaper than it looks, as I don't think they enforce the storage limits (I've definitely had stuff sitting there for many months with no fees). It's true that their web app could use an overhaul, but it was nicer than ECM's at the time I compared them. (I have no affiliation, I've just been a satisfied customer for a few years.)
  - zyxley 13y ago
    Well, that's why I said subtly. It's not blatant about it, but it is a deceitful approach. These kind of tactics are familiar to me from previously working in the web hosting industry, where the tricks of "the eye-catching price is actually the temporary one, you have to look in the details for the real price" and "a coupon code makes it look like your service can do more than it can" are very common. So is the aftermath, with many people who are confused and upset when the "temporary" part runs out but not quite confused and upset enough to cancel the service.
    - dnr 13y ago
      The half-price for the first few months is misleading, I admit. I'm a careful reader so it didn't bother me. The coupon code thing is a little weird, but I don't see how you can complain about it: it only increases your limits. It's just a way for them to offer two types of plans: one for people who like to scan most mail, and one for people who don't.
- morganm 13y ago
  I've been using Traveling Mailbox (travelingmailbox.com) for about a year and they've been great. First class customer support and very reasonable prices. My only complaint would be that using the NV satellite address introduces some lag as they forward items to NC for processing. Their web interface is functional and easy to use. I used to be an ECM customer way back when, before they tripled their pricing as you mentioned.
acjohnson55 13y ago
I agree 100%. It's a pretty epic idea they had, but I know few people who need it. I also found the government bashing at the end to be pretty weird, given that they failed to explain why the USPS should want to partner with them, let alone how the entire government is backwards.
jkestner 13y ago
I'd agree on the surface, but I thought I'd support a fellow Austin startup and try the experience anyway. The manual labor I knew was a hack. Beyond that, it's been really nice. Just lower cognitive load - I used to just pile mail when I came home, not interested in sorting through it. If email spam filters were a paid service, that would totally be worth $5 too. Pushing all those big images around must've been taxing for the app, though - its sluggishness took away some of the fun of pushing my physical mail around on a touchscreen. Good luck with the next thing, guys! Glad you tried for a big problem.

zyxley 13y ago

This is definitely my view. I'd honestly be happy just to see a service in the "use us as your mailing address" market with lower and less byzantine pricing than Earth Class Mail ($20/mo plus $5/mo for searchable PDFs, $1.50/piece to actually scan mail, $20 to deposit a check, $4.95/mo to shred mail, $0.30/mo/piece to store mail, etc.) and without the subtly deceitful tactics of VirtualPostMail (auto-applied promo codes that hide what the actual ongoing service limits are, big listed pricing that actually doubles after 3 months, etc).

lhl 13y ago
zyxley, have you found any other good options? One issue it seems w/ all these services is it seems like it's easy to setup w/ a Form 1583, but none of these guys provide any sort of forwarding options for when you want to cancel!
dnr 13y ago
The VirtualPostMail pricing page may be confusing, but I think calling it deceitful is a stretch. I think the prices are reasonable for the service they provide. It may even be cheaper than it looks, as I don't think they enforce the storage limits (I've definitely had stuff sitting there for many months with no fees). It's true that their web app could use an overhaul, but it was nicer than ECM's at the time I compared them. (I have no affiliation, I've just been a satisfied customer for a few years.)
- zyxley 13y ago
  Well, that's why I said subtly. It's not blatant about it, but it is a deceitful approach. These kind of tactics are familiar to me from previously working in the web hosting industry, where the tricks of "the eye-catching price is actually the temporary one, you have to look in the details for the real price" and "a coupon code makes it look like your service can do more than it can" are very common. So is the aftermath, with many people who are confused and upset when the "temporary" part runs out but not quite confused and upset enough to cancel the service.
  - dnr 13y ago
    The half-price for the first few months is misleading, I admit. I'm a careful reader so it didn't bother me. The coupon code thing is a little weird, but I don't see how you can complain about it: it only increases your limits. It's just a way for them to offer two types of plans: one for people who like to scan most mail, and one for people who don't.
morganm 13y ago
I've been using Traveling Mailbox (travelingmailbox.com) for about a year and they've been great. First class customer support and very reasonable prices. My only complaint would be that using the NV satellite address introduces some lag as they forward items to NC for processing. Their web interface is functional and easy to use. I used to be an ECM customer way back when, before they tripled their pricing as you mentioned.

acjohnson55 13y ago

I agree 100%. It's a pretty epic idea they had, but I know few people who need it. I also found the government bashing at the end to be pretty weird, given that they failed to explain why the USPS should want to partner with them, let alone how the entire government is backwards.

jkestner 13y ago

I'd agree on the surface, but I thought I'd support a fellow Austin startup and try the experience anyway. The manual labor I knew was a hack. Beyond that, it's been really nice. Just lower cognitive load - I used to just pile mail when I came home, not interested in sorting through it. If email spam filters were a paid service, that would totally be worth $5 too. Pushing all those big images around must've been taxing for the app, though - its sluggishness took away some of the fun of pushing my physical mail around on a touchscreen. Good luck with the next thing, guys! Glad you tried for a big problem.