The United States Postal Service （USPS） is offering a way for people interested in seeing tomorrows mail today.

The postal service will send customers images of all their letters， magazines and other mail before they arrive.

The new service is called Informed Delivery. It is an attempt by the US government agency to remain competitive in an ever-changing world.

Postal service officials say the increased use of email， digital messaging services and social media have made it difficult to stay relevant.

David Rupert is a media relations specialist with the postal service who spoke about all the competition the agency now faces.

“Whether you turn on a television， or your computer， or people come to your door with different products and services， all of those are competing for the consumers time and energy，” he said.

Interested users are first required to sign up for Informed Delivery. The service is not available in all areas. Once registered， the consumer receives a daily email with virtual images of letters and other things to be delivered.

The USPS says giving people the chance to see their mail before it arrives can be useful for planning purposes. It can especially help those who have a mailbox at their local post office so they know when to go and get their mail.

Jocelyn Coatney of Los Angeles thinks Informed Delivery is a good idea.

“I think I would like that a lot， especially with checks and things coming in， and things coming in from grandkids. That would be a nice service，” she said.

Another postal offering is a service that seeks to make advertising-related mail—often called junk mail—more fun. The service uses virtual and augmented reality to let consumers interact with their junk mail.

Many companies put special coding on their advertising. These images can be scanned with a mobile device to give users an interactive experience. Some companies even put virtual reality eyeglasses in the mail to make their ads come to life.

Consumers have mixed reactions to the virtual and augmented reality advertising. Postal service user Victor Teah said he does not consider all ads junk mail.

“You can find some good things within junk mail. Its a good idea. Well see how it works out，” he said.

But Jocelyn Coatney does not think it would change her mind about junk mail. “For some， that might be fun. But for me， I wouldnt have any use for it，” she said.

有興趣的用戶首先需要注冊“遞送隨知”。該服務(wù)并非在美國各地適用。一旦注冊，用戶每天會收到一封郵件，其中附有即將送達(dá)的信件及其他配送物品的虛擬圖片。

郵政管理局稱，用戶有機(jī)會在郵件送達(dá)前一覽郵件的動態(tài)，這有利于他們制定計(jì)劃。這一服務(wù)對在當(dāng)?shù)剜]政局有郵筒的用戶來說尤其有用，他們能夠獲悉何時去取件。

來自洛杉磯的喬斯林·寇特妮認(rèn)為“遞送隨知”是個好主意。

“我很喜歡它，尤其是在支票以及孫輩們的新事物不斷涌入的情況下。這將會是一項(xiàng)不錯的服務(wù)?！彼f。

美國郵政管理局正提供一種方式，讓對運(yùn)輸途中的郵件感興趣的顧客一飽眼福。

郵政管理局將在郵件送達(dá)前向顧客發(fā)送信件、雜志等郵件的照片。

這一新服務(wù)名為“遞送隨知”。此舉是美國郵政管理局為在瞬息萬變的世界中保持競爭力而進(jìn)行的一種嘗試。

郵政服務(wù)的工作人員表示，由于電子郵件、數(shù)字通信服務(wù)和社交媒體的使用越來越頻繁，導(dǎo)致郵政快遞難以站穩(wěn)腳跟。

大衛(wèi)·魯珀特是郵政服務(wù)的媒體關(guān)系專家，他談到郵政管理局如今面臨的競爭。

“不管是打開電視、電腦還是上門推銷不同的產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)，這都是在為消費(fèi)者的時間和精力而競爭?！彼f道。

另一項(xiàng)郵政服務(wù)力圖讓與廣告有關(guān)的郵件——通常被稱為“垃圾郵件”——更加有趣。該服務(wù)通過虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)和增強(qiáng)現(xiàn)實(shí)技術(shù)來幫助用戶與垃圾郵件實(shí)現(xiàn)互動。

很多公司在廣告中添加特殊編碼。這些編碼的圖像能夠被一種移動裝置掃描出來，從而使用戶實(shí)現(xiàn)交互體驗(yàn)。為了讓廣告更加生動，一些公司甚至將虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)眼鏡放進(jìn)郵件里。

用戶對虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)和增強(qiáng)現(xiàn)實(shí)廣告有不同的看法。郵政服務(wù)用戶維克多·迪亞表示，他認(rèn)為并非所有廣告都是垃圾郵件。

“你可以在垃圾郵件中獲取一些有用的信息。這一主意不錯。我們會繼續(xù)關(guān)注這項(xiàng)服務(wù)的進(jìn)展?！彼f。

而喬斯林·寇特妮則認(rèn)為，這項(xiàng)服務(wù)不能改變她對垃圾郵件的成見?！皩τ谝恍┤藖碚f，這項(xiàng)服務(wù)或許很有趣。但對我來說，卻沒有什么用?！彼f道。

attempt /?'tempt/ n. 嘗試

She passed her driving test at the first attempt.

relevant /'rel?v?nt/ adj. 有價值的；有意義的

Her novel is still relevant today.

register /'red??st?（r）/ v. 登記；注冊

Have you come to register at the school？