Snail Mail Gets Net Speed Boost

The internet has revolutionised the speed at which people communicate. Now the Swiss postal service is hoping to do the same for regular snail mail. The company offers a service called Swiss Post Box to customers wanting to receive their physical letters over the internet.

This system was first developed by the Seattle-based company Earth Class Mail, which has its own subscribers around the world. For $20 a month, letters are redirected to a secret location in Zurich where the envelopes are scanned and an image is e-mailed out to customers. They can then decide whether letters should be opened and scanned by vetted personnel sworn to secrecy, or simply shredded.