Integrated physical and electronic mail delivery

1. A method performed by a mail processing system, the method comprising:

receiving at least one of a portion of contents of a mail piece and a description of a subject matter of the mail piece at a mail processing system prior to receiving the mail piece;

storing in a sender and virtual mail database virtual mail piece data that includes the at least one of a portion of contents of a mail piece and a description of a subject matter of the mail piece prior to scanning an image of the mail piece;

storing in a recipient database subscription preferences for a recipient, the subscription preferences subscribed by the recipient to include the subject matter of a mail piece to be delivered as a virtual mail piece and how and/or when the virtual mail piece should be delivered;

receiving the mail piece at the mail processing system, the mail piece having machine-readable indicia on an exterior surface;

processing, by the mail processing system, the mail piece to read the indicia on the exterior surface of the mail piece;

decoding the indicia to produce a mail piece identifier;

identifying a recipient of the mail piece and virtual mail piece data using the mail piece identifier;

retrieving the subscription preferences from the recipient database according to the identified recipient;

retrieving the virtual mail piece data from the sender and virtual mail database using the mail piece identifier;

determining whether to send the recipient the virtual mail piece data based on the retrieved subscription preferences of the recipient;

electronically sending a virtual mail piece to the recipient, the virtual mail piece corresponding to the mail piece, the virtual mail piece data, and the subscription preferences;

delivering the virtual mail piece to the recipient prior to delivery of the mail piece to the recipient; and

informing the sender when the virtual mail piece has been accessed by the recipient, the virtual mail piece including more or different information than contained in the mail piece.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recipient is identified by using the mail piece identifier to retrieve the recipient from the virtual mail piece data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indicia also identifies the virtual mail piece to be electronically sent to the recipient.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mail processing system notifies a sender that the virtual mail piece has been electronically sent to the recipient.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mail processing system receives the subscription preferences from the recipient.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the mail piece to read the indicia further comprising:

scanning an image of the mail piece after storing the virtual mail piece data in the database.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

sending an automatic notification of the mail piece in transit for delivery in a specified time period to the recipient based on the machine readable indicia.

8. A mail processing system, comprising:

at least one processor;

a storage device; and

mail processing equipment, the mail processing system configured to:

receive at least one of a portion of contents of a mail piece and a description of a subject matter of the mail piece at the mail processing system prior to receiving the mail piece;

store in a database virtual mail piece data that includes at least one of a portion of contents of a mail piece and a description of a subject matter of the mail piece prior to scanning an image of the mail piece;

store in a recipient database subscription preferences for a recipient, the subscription preferences subscribed by the recipient to include the subject matter of a mail piece to be delivered as a virtual mail piece and how and/or when the virtual mail piece should be delivered;

receive the mail piece, the mail piece having machine-readable indicia on an exterior surface;

process the mail piece to read the indicia on the exterior surface of the mail piece by scanning an image of the mail piece after storing the virtual mail piece data in the database;

decode the indicia to produce a mail piece identifier;

identify a recipient of the mail piece and virtual mail piece data using the mail piece identifier;

retrieve the subscription preferences from the recipient database according to the identified recipient;

retrieve the virtual mail piece data from the sender and virtual mail database using the mail piece identifier;

determine whether to send the recipient the virtual mail piece data based on the retrieved subscription preferences of the recipient;

electronically send a virtual mail piece to the recipient, the virtual mail piece corresponding to the mail piece, the virtual mail piece data, and the subscription preferences;

deliver the virtual mail piece to the recipient prior to delivery of the mail piece to the recipient; and

inform the sender when the virtual mail piece has been accessed by the recipient, the virtual mail piece including more or different information than contained in the mail piece.

9. The mail processing system of claim 8 , wherein the recipient is identified by using the mail piece identifier to retrieve the recipient from the virtual mail piece data.

10. The mail processing system of claim 8 , wherein the indicia also identifies the virtual mail piece to be electronically sent to the recipient.

11. The mail processing system of claim 8 , wherein the mail processing system notifies a sender that the virtual mail piece has been electronically sent to the recipient.

12. The mail processing system of claim 8 , wherein the mail processing system receives the subscription preferences from the recipient.

13. The mail processing system of claim 8 , wherein the mail processing system sends an automatic notification of the mail piece in transit for delivery in a specified time period to the recipient based on the machine readable indicia.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium having program instructions stored thereon executable by one or more processors to:

receive virtual mail piece data of the mail piece at a mail processing system prior to receiving the mail piece;

store in a database the virtual mail piece data of the mail piece prior to scanning an image of the mail piece;

store in a recipient database subscription preferences for a recipient, the subscription preferences subscribed by the recipient to include the subject matter of a mail piece to be delivered as a virtual mail piece and how and/or when the virtual mail piece should be delivered;

receive the mail piece, the mail piece having machine-readable indicia on an exterior surface;

process the mail piece to read the indicia on the exterior surface of the mail piece by scanning an image of the mail piece after storing the virtual mail piece data in the database;

decode a machine-readable indicia on an exterior surface of a mail piece to produce a mail piece identifier;

identify a recipient of the mail piece and virtual mail piece data using the mail piece identifier;

retrieve the subscription preferences from the recipient database according to the identified recipient;

retrieve the virtual mail piece data from the database using the mail piece identifier;

determine whether to send the recipient the virtual mail piece data based on the retrieved subscription preferences of the recipient;

electronically send a virtual mail piece to the recipient, the virtual mail piece corresponding to the mail piece, the virtual mail piece data, and the subscription preferences;

deliver the virtual mail piece to the recipient prior to delivery of the mail piece to the recipient; and

inform the sender when the virtual mail piece has been accessed by the recipient, the virtual mail piece including more or different information than contained in the mail piece.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the recipient is identified by using the mail piece identifier to retrieve the recipient from the virtual mail piece data.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the indicia also identifies the virtual mail piece to be electronically sent to the recipient.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , further including instruction to notify a sender that the virtual mail piece has been electronically sent to the recipient.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the virtual mail piece data of the mail piece includes a portion of contents of the mail piece.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the virtual mail piece data of the mail piece includes a description of a subject matter of the mail piece.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the virtual mail piece data of the mail piece includes partial or entire images of the contents of the mail piece.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the virtual mail piece data of the mail piece includes a link to a sender website.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the virtual mail piece data of the mail piece is determined by a sender.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the virtual mail piece data of the mail piece is determined by a recipient.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , further including instruction to send an automatic notification of the mail piece in transit for delivery in a specified time period to the recipient based on the machine readable indicia.