Going Digital with DocuSend's Online Postal Service

For generations, the traditional way of sending by USPS has been the communication backbone for people and businesses around the United States, helping us exchange crucial documents and messages. But with tech charging ahead, we all want something new: faster, more efficient, pocket-friendly, eco-friendly. Today everything’s going digital, and the United States Postal Service is leveraging cutting-edge technologies to upgrade the way mail is processed and delivered.

As part of its strategic initiatives, the USPS has already phased out air transportation, and although it is facing some criticism for this decision, it was made with a forward-thinking objective. The initial steps toward implementing a more efficient technological solution for managing long-distance mail are already underway. This article will tell you about it.

As the major force driving innovations in postal processes, the Post Office is actively engaged in optimizing cross-country transportation for first-class mail. One significant stride involves eliminating the need for trucking mail across the country.

Ever heard of DocuSend? We are collaborating with the Post Office to facilitate the realization of this goal, by presenting solutions that work from anywhere in the United States. It addresses the issue of spending excessive time and money on mail processing and transportation to the benefit of both the USPS and its clients.

Are you wondering, “So, what is the modern way to send US mail?” Or if you live somewhere outside the US, your question may be, “Then is there an easy, online way to post letters to America?” Yes, there is, and we will tell you all about it.

The Evolution of Mailing

Specialized digital services offer the remedy for a smooth transition from doing your own printing, buying and stocking materials, and investing manual labor to the new way of doing things: sending physical USPS mail from your desktop, wherever in the world that may be, for businesses of any size and individuals alike. We’ve all been there: the last-minute panic of realizing you forgot to mail an important document. Now imagine that with a few clicks of a mouse, voila! Your document is on its way without the stress of rushing it to a post office.

Or maybe you are a business owner with a batch of invoices ready to send. Traditionally, you might have printed them manually, collated them into envelopes, and addressed and stamped them, taking hours. Now machines and software can do it all much more efficiently and at less cost, and the invoices are on their way, leaving you with time to focus on other tasks. Welcome to the future!

DocuSend’s online print-to-mail platforms are making the whole mailing process a breeze – from getting documents printed out automatically with the help of professional high-speed machines and software to getting them into the USPS mail stream, then providing reporting and tracking, while users spend only a few minutes on the entire process.

Through an online interface, everyone can effortlessly send PDFs from their desktop in any quantity – invoices, statements, marketing communications, and so on – and get them transformed into physical mail. What’s not to like about saving hours of your time while significantly reducing your mailing budget?

Cutting Down Delivery Time in Line with the USPS Vision for Modernization

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year modernization plan is embracing a multifaceted approach. One side of this approach is establishing printing facilities in different strategic areas of the United States. For instance, right now, if you live on the East Coast and have to send mail out West, say, to California or Arizona, your letters enter the local post office and are trucked all the way across the country. Future locations of the new printing facilities that utilize the PDF technology will reduce cross-country mail transportation and enable not only those in the USA but also individuals or businesses all over the globe to get their mail printed and distributed right from localized facilities. The Post Office is working with DocuSend’s technology to reshape the logistics and significantly decrease delivery times and transportation costs, and this strategy is expected to be implemented within the next few years.

The Positive Environmental Impact

Here's the eco-friendly aspect: When you go for online services, it’s a win for Mother Nature. You can contribute to a more sustainable and eco-friendly approach to communication bby reducing the need for transportation associated with traditional mail. Instead of individual businesses and people handling transportation, making regular trips to buy materials and dispatch their letters, we consolidate tens of thousands of pieces of mail from businesses all over the US, as well as from Canada and the rest of the world, and print and pass them to the USPS all at once. Consider the positive impact of that on reducing the worldwide carbon footprint.

By choosing to outsource handling your communications, you become an active participant in promoting environmentally conscious practices.

So, how do you mail a document online?

Steps to start using an online service

1. Choose the right platform:

Select a reliable provider that aligns with your needs. Make sure it offers all the necessary features for a seamless experience, like document tracking, quality assurance, reporting, certified and foreign options, address cleanup and NCOA service, and HIPAA compliance. It should offer a free sample so you can see if communications sent through the service arrive in a timely manner as well as review the quality of the materials. You can mail your trial document to yourself to find out.

2. Upload your document(s):

To accomplish this step, you need to have your preaddressed documents printed to PDFs. Some providers, like DocuSend, support a variety of setups, like color/black and white printing, perforated paper, bottom stub, duplex, adding flyers, making it easy to send different types of documents: invoices, statements, event-triggered customer notices, marketing materials, and others.

3. Select delivery options and features:

Choose the preferred delivery options offered by your mailing service. This may include standard or expedited delivery, depending on your urgency and your budget. Also look for features such as color printing and including a flyer, payment stub, certified, or remittance envelope. You may not need these now, but a complete service will offer options for the future expansion of your business.

4. Review, confirm, and pay:

Before processing your online payment, make sure the selected options and features are accurate, then your document or batch is ready for dispatch. Evaluate how much you saved compared to traditional mailing. The digital method can slash expenses on materials, printing, postage, transportation, and manual labor. With our cloud-based mailroom, for example, the final price is about half your usual mailing expenses.

5. Track your communications:

If the chosen provider offers tracking, you stay informed about where your documents are until they reach the final postal facility. Using DocuSend, you can track each piece in your personal portal at no extra charge.

Our Key Features

• Cloud-based management: Our service enables users to efficiently organize their business mailing, eliminating the need for physical space for materials and printing equipment. Your personal portal gives you quick access to your files whenever you need to resend your documents as email or physical mail, generate reports on your expenses, track your mail, or review dates when it was sent.
• A pay-as-you-go system: You don’t need any initial investment, setup fees, contracts, or software to install – this fully automated mailroom is always available online, and you pay only for the documents you download and mail.
• Address verification, NCOA, and address clean-up services: We minimize the risk of mail being returned due to inaccuracies or recipient address changes with its address clean-up and National Change of Address update software.
• Integration options: Seamlessly integrate this digital mailroom with your existing systems with the help of our REST API, enhancing workflow efficiency. It will allow you to automatically send mail right from your company’s software.
• Expedited mail processing and delivery:Benefit from accelerated mail processing and get it delivered faster due to Intelligent Mail barcodes we put on each document. This contributes to improved cash flow for businesses, since faster deliveries mean quicker receipt of payments and feedback from clients.

What's in the Future?

Even without looking into a crystal ball, it’s clear that this is the future as more businesses choose digital transformation instead of tedious manual work. Cloud-based innovations have already saved thousands of businesses from stuffing envelopes, and the development of these technologies continues. We debunk the misconception among small mailers that high volumes are necessary to qualify for automated bulk services. You are welcome if you mail tens of thousands or even if you have only one envelope to send.

And if you're wondering about other USPS plans that are in the works, its process will continue evolving even more, with the implementation of new ideas and initiatives. As part of DeJoy's 10-year Delivering for America sustainability plan, the Post Office is actively working on rolling out Electric Vehicles (EVs), as well as upgrading and updating their mail processing equipment. By 2028, it is planned to incorporate a minimum of 45,000 battery-electric delivery vehicles, increasing the overall count of electric vehicles to more than 66,000. The EV fleet is going to become the nation’s largest one and will be powered by the hundreds of charging stations installed at hundreds of new sorting and delivery centers.

According to the electronic newsletter issued in Jan 2024, 31 new sorting and delivery centers have been launched around the nation, and the Post Office plans to continue expanding these locations throughout 2024. The new machines are being put in these new distribution centers that allow scanning mail and tracing it efficiently, increasing on-time performance, and achieving same-day/next-day delivery within the region from a single convenient location.

All these exciting changes are aimed at processing and moving your communications around even faster! The future is here, and it's sparkling and inspiring!