Earth Class Mail Corporation is a Kirkland, Wash.-based provider of hosted postal mail services. Similar in concept to a hosted e-mail service, you can have your postal mail forwarded to a street address at Earth Class Mail’s facility in Beaverton, Ore., or to a post office box at a number of locations around the United States. Each envelope is then scanned and its image is posted to a secure Web site for your review. After reviewing the image of each envelope, you can direct it to be opened and have the contents scanned into a PDF file for your review online. Alternatively, you can have unopened mail delivered to you, archived (physically and/or digitally), recycled or shredded.

Pricing for Earth Class Mail’s services ranges from $12.50 to $49.95 per month depending on volume and the number of recipients. Plus, starting this month, the company will offer an electronic check processing service in which checks you receive via postal mail will be scanned and deposited in your account(s).

Most of the company’s employees are handicapped veterans, almost all of whom have high-level security clearances. Plus, the company picks up its customers’ mail at the post office instead of having it delivered, providing additional security.

The notion of having postal mail available online is a novel way to provide more comprehensive unified communications capabilities, since it makes individuals even less dependent upon being in a particular location to do their work. Coupled with a unified messaging system that incorporates e-mail, voice and fax, Earth Class Mail’s offering can allow an individual to be away from their office indefinitely and still process all communications that come their way.

Michael Osterman is principal analyst of Osterman Research.