Computerworld – Comparison with USPS

Turn Important Email Into…

By Mark Hall

…… legally valid registered mail. Not every missive you send is worthy of registered mail, but for some documents and messages, you want proof that the recipient got what you sent. The U.S. Postal Service charges $8.77 for a 3-ounce hard-copy letter sent via registered mail. What do you do if you want to ensure that your electronic messages get through?

Zafar Khan, CEO of RPost U.S. Inc. in Los Angeles, says his company will transmit an email and any attachments for about 60 cents and give you the same delivery guarantees as the Postal Service. RPost doesn’t store any of your data, but it gives you a receipt number that can reconstruct the communication chain and the content of messages.

The online service, which works with Outlook, Notes and GroupWise as well as BlackBerry and Treo devices, was audited and accredited by the Postal Service in 2002. It primarily has had government clients until now. But next year, Khan says service providers of various stripes will offer it as a premium service for their corporate customers. And next week, RPost will add a feature that lets end users turn any Microsoft Office document into a PDF file.