iPostal1 vs. Earth Class Mail
Considering iPostal1 over Earth Class Mail?
This guide will help you decide which virtual mail service best fits your needs.
What’s the Difference?
Earth Class Mail
Earth Class Mail is a leading, trusted virtual mailbox provider that has been in business since 2004. We’ve processed over 18 million pieces of mail and served more than 60,000 customers. We offer a best in class virtual mailbox service to individuals and businesses—small and large—alongside dedicated, US based customer support.
iPostal1
iPostal1 is a virtual mailbox software provider founded in 2015. They offer a network of over 2,000 partner mail centers that process and deliver postal mail on behalf of their customers. Their decentralized approach to mail processing enables them to compete at low entry prices, though their standard of service can differ between third-party providers.
We can guarantee delivery of ultra high-quality scans because we use commercial-grade scanners.
How Does iPostal1 Compare?
Similar to Anytime Mailbox, iPostal1 is a software provider that licenses its platform to third-party mail centers who actually receive, scan, and deliver postal mail on behalf of their customers. This helps them decrease costs, can help speed up online mail delivery, and enables local mail pickup for their customers. While these are great benefits, third-party processing also has some significant trade-offs.
The scan quality of your documents can differ between partners based on their in-house equipment, which is something iPostal1 can’t control directly. That can be a non-starter for businesses. At Earth Class Mail, we guarantee delivery of ultra high-quality scans and we only use commercial-grade scanners. Another downside to iPostal1 is that service issues may need to be resolved with the third-party mail center operating your mailbox rather than iPostal1 directly. This can be a frustrating experience for expats and other individuals like RVers that travel often. iPostal1 does provide a support team to help mitigate these types of issues.
We do things differently at Earth Class Mail. You can be assured that your mail will not be opened by a third-party partner or contractor. Customer mail is handled at one secure, centralized facility by trained employees that have passed a background check. Since we don’t use third-party mail centers, Earth Class Mail plan pricing is simple, consistent, and easy to understand. Should you ever need support, you can have the peace of mind knowing that it will be 100% delivered by U.S. based Earth Class Mail employees.
What Can You Expect from Earth Class Mail?
1. Unparalleled expertise
Earth Class Mail has processed over 18 million pieces of mail and scanned over 38 million pages since 2004. Given our extensive experience, you can have confidence that your mail is in good hands.
2. Security and confidentiality
Your privacy and your mail’s security are our number one priority. Our facilities are monitored 24/7, access controlled, and all facility employees undergo background checks and training. Our security standards meet the strict demands of large corporations and government agencies, and our compliance is verified by 3rd parties like AccountableHQ.
3. High-resolution mail scanning
You’ll get true high-quality images of all your mail—you don’t have to think twice about grainy PDFs. We use advanced commercial scanners to convert your mail to PDF images enabled with full-text search. That way, you can manage and search your postal mail as easily as email.
4. Control over your mail
You’ll benefit from built-in automations that cut down on your personal and business administrative tasks. With Earth Class Mail, it’s easy to automate tasks such as mail scanning, forwarding, uploading to cloud storage like Google Drive and Dropbox, depositing checks, and more.
5. True month-to-month billing
No contracts. No setup fees. Move between plans easily or cancel anytime—no questions asked.
6. Dedicated customer support
Our support is delivered by experienced Earth Class Mail employees based in the United States, which means we are easy to get a hold of and quick to resolve issues.
What About Pricing?
Depending on their choice of address, individuals will end up paying between $10 and $70 per month with iPostal1. It can be easy to overlook that iPostal1 plans do not actually include mail content scans—meaning each piece of mail you open will cost you money. Unlike iPostal1, our subscription plans include mail content scans so you don’t feel penalized when you want to actually open your mail. Earth Class Mail’s individual plans start at $19 and include 50 mail item scans per month. Businesses with more recipients or higher incoming mail volumes will find plans starting at $79/mo at Earth Class Mail and as high as $89/mo at iPostal1.
Our subscription plans include mail content scans so you don’t feel penalized when you want to actually open your mail.
TL;DR
iPostal1 is a good option for cost sensitive individuals that do not mind the use of third-party processing. Still, individuals may want to opt for Earth Class Mail since our plans are priced similarly and include mail content scans at no additional cost. Businesses and individuals who strongly value the security, consistency, and dedicated customer support may want to choose Earth Class Mail since mail and support are handled by employees and never third-parties.
