If you didn’t hear yet about Zumbox, you need to recheck your news resources.

In the last couple of weeks you hear about them everywhere - from an announcement on two new clients: the cities of San Francisco and Newark (NJ) that will start using their web-based mail delivery system to an announcement on a partnership with New York City for Five Borough Pilot Program.

So what is exactly Zumbox? according to their website “Zumbox delivers paperless mail online – from street address to street address. What used to only be sent as paper mail can now be sent without the paper. How? We’ve created a nationwide paperless postal system with a Zumbox for every street address in the United States, including yours.”

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We installed our grid-tied 10kW Bergey Excel in May, 2003, and — other than a blade switch-out in 2005 to boost production (which it did by more than 30 percent) — we’ve encountered no mechanical or electronic failures or issues. It’s a testament to how reliable some of the wind turbines and inverters have become. Since its installation, we’ve already generated over 48,000 kWhs (kilowatt hours) of renewable energy, presently averaging about 10,000 kWhs/year. Yep, our utility, Alliant Energy, then buys our surplus electricity back from us (it amounts to about $400 a year). According to calculations at Bergey Windpower Co., our 10 kW Bergey GridTek system will offset approximately 1.2 tons of air pollutants and 250 tons of greenhouse gases over its 30-year operating life.

This past September, we hired Kettle View Renewable Energy LLC to complete the replacement of leading-edge tape on each of the blades, tape which was pealing back or slid off altogether. The leading-edge tape helps protect the perfectly balanced fiber reinforced plastic blades — offering about twice the strength of low carbon steel. These Bergey Excel blades have a swept area diameter of 23 feet. Kettle View Renewable Energy, LLC is one of the hundreds of new companies that have started to meet the growing need of servicing renewable energy systems, completing renewable energy site assessments, grant writing and system installations.

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But I don’t want to support the landfill economy. I want to support the restoration economy and, when I need to purchase things, support companies that care about the planet the way I do. Some of these companies break from this planned obsolescence mentality and profit obsession, companies like REI, or Recreation Equipment, Inc., where your love of the outdoors actually pays dividends to you, as a customer-member of the cooperative enterprise.

REI, the nation’s largest consumer cooperative, got its start in 1938 when a bunch of climbing buddies got together to buy some gear to explore the great outdoors. They support people, their community and the environment on which their enterprise is based. And they guarantee that their products last and perform as expected.

A couple years ago, for example, I purchased a pair of sandals from REI.  After limited use, my sandals had an ankle strap that broke. The brand is well known and adventure proven: Teva. Since I live in a four-season climate, they should have lasted longer than they did. Walking into the REI retail store in a much older pair of Tevas I wore when traveling to South America, I talked briefly with a salesperson in REI shoe department who found a replacement pair of a different model for me in minutes. No hassle. No runaround. Try that at a big box retailer or chain.

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Okay, so we’re at nearly 10 percent unemployment nationally (if you believe the Federal numbers), so many people are without a steady stream of bi-monthly paychecks. Yet, 90 percent of Americans who had a job when the economy tanked, still do. But for some that means being a wage serf, cubicle clone or working in the Dilbert world of dysfunctional corporate America – working hard to make someone else richer (and often, with ecological impacts). There’s too many CEO bonuses and none for the employees who clean the counters, work on the assembly lines (ideally making hybrid vehicles), or take care of customers. The vast majority of education system continues to be committed to helping people find jobs, not make a sustainble life, especially one that doesn’t destroy the planet or exploit people (though more are starting “sustainability curricula”).

What we need is less of an emphasis on transforming less-green jobs to more-green jobs for the plethora of job seekers. There’s nothing wrong with getting a job (there are a few great companies, some that even offer employee ownership and stock, in addition to addressing the development needs of their workforce).

But if you want to gain an upper hand on life, more self-employed or self-owned enterprises are discovered that you can keep more of your hard-earned money by working for yourself. As I write about in ECOpreneuring, doing so allows you to also reinvest our profits in ways that either restore the planet and/or improve the well being of people living in our community, nation and planet. These businesses have a triple bottom line and many have ditched the commute to some office, working, instead, from a home office.

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Located in Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, about an hour from St. Paul-Minneapolis, this Travel Green Wisconsin and Green Routes certified enterprise launched by John Huffaker and Charlene Torchia in 2006 artistically crafts a peaceful refuge to enhance our experiences with nature and allow our inner beings to breathe. Journey Inn is part restoration enterprise and part center for recreating our human soul in more meaningful ways.

I had the opportunity to stay at Journey Inn for a couple days this past September with my family, since we prefer ecotravel-oriented accommodation options. We hiked some of the abundant hiking trails on their sixty-six acre property that includes a spectacularly restored prairie and garden labyrinth. We sipped tea while relaxing in their gardens. We even shared a few of our cucumbers and tomatoes from Inn Serendipity with a couple celebrating their honeymoon there.

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Where comfort meets sophistication, the mom-to-be is happy in these great designs.

Kai Kids, a Toronto-based online boutique from parents, Nancy De Hart and Peter Chin, sells eco-friendly clothes, bedding and products aimed at babies, toddlers and pregnant and nursing mothers.

Constantly on the hunt for well-crafted, reasonably-priced organic and non-toxic clothing and accessories, Kai Kids is a great resource for parents who want to dress themselves and their kids in clothing that is healthier for them and the environment.

They are also a member of 1% for the Planet as well as Green Enterprise Toronto.

Are you planning to have a rewards program similar to RecycleBank’s one in the future?
We’re not planning to offer points for using Zumbox. Instead, we’re focusing our efforts on continuously enhancing the user experience through our relationships with third party mail senders and content providers as well as the development of new features within Zumbox. While reducing paper waste is a key goal for us, we want that to only represent one of many benefits associated with Zumbox.

In the cities where we’ve now launched – San Francisco, New York and Newark – mail is currently being sent from the local governments and other organizations, giving people there the ability to start receiving, organizing and storing their mail online. We’re essentially offering everybody a paperless mail option that’s convenient, secure and environmentally responsible.

What’s your comment on the findings presented in the New York Times by Prof. Randall Stross about the effectiveness of using the stick approach to converting customers to paperless billing?
Well, I think that was a very interesting piece, as it underlined the challenge faced by most billers. Incentivizing people to go paperless has not really moved the needle, but apparently a company can get people to convert faster when a paper bill fee is introduced. However, the stick approach doesn’t always stick (pardon the pun). And as the article points out, T-Mobile had to quickly respond to pressure by putting an end to the paper bill fee, and the company has since gone back to the carrot approach or simply the voluntary approach.

But the real issue here is that the voluntary approach does not work for a reason. Current paperless options are just not cutting it for most people. The notifications that are sent via email typically only include a link to the bill, and having to go to different websites and keep track of numerous usernames and passwords just to view bills is highly inconvenient.

Personally, I think people would respond better to the idea of going paperless if there was a better way to go paperless. With Zumbox we’ve created a secure environment where bills and statements (and all other mail) can be sent as digital files and presented online exactly like they appear on paper. In that way, Zumbox mirrors the experience of receiving paper mail; the bill is actually delivered to a customer and appears the way we’re all used to seeing it, only without the paper.

While the stick approach may work temporarily for some, I believe the real solution to the challenge of getting people to go paperless is to create a better option than what has been pushed on people up until this point, which is a big part of what we’re trying to do.

What’s the percentage of paper mail you think you can eliminate with Zumbox?
We have not done any calculations on this.

How do you see junk mail? Will you provide businesses sending it to use Zumbox instead?
First of all, we define junk mail as irrelevant mail, and we have built our system to increase the relevance and reduce the waste associated with paper mail. Having said that, Zumbox is an agnostic delivery platform, which means we offer all mail senders, including marketers, the ability to send paperless mail.

But Zumbox offers a unique kind of control that lets recipients decide what mail they want to receive. Specifically, if you receive a special offer in your Zumbox from a business you do not care for, you can permanently block that mail sender so we will ultimately only receive the offers that are relevant to us.

What is your plan - are you going to focus in the short-term on collaborations with municipalities (such as San Francisco and Newark) to get people use Zumbox and then move over to the business sector?

After a successful pilot in a smaller market earlier this year, we started the first stage of our national rollout in September, with San Francisco and Newark being the first cities. Over the next weeks and months, we will announce other cities that will be a part of this stage of our rollout, and the municipalities themselves will be involved in most cases.

Simultaneously though, we are talking to several national businesses and non-profit organizations about sending paperless mail to their customers and supporters in these markets, and we are also inviting local businesses and other organizations to participate. The goal is to create eco-systems, if you will, in the rollout markets so there are enough senders and recipients of paperless mail to make it meaningful for both sides.
Meanwhile, Zumbox is already available nationwide so anybody can start using the service right now.

What is the required penetration rate of Zumbox to make it work?I’m not sure there is a general penetration rate required for Zumbox because these eco-systems can be created anywhere, all with different levels of participation. For instance, a community may embrace the service even if there are only a few critical mail senders initially, and most businesses will find Zumbox meaningful as long as they can start reducing their paper usage and the cost associated with that.

What will happen with USPS if you guys win?
While Zumbox is the first paperless postal system and clearly the first all-digital alternative to traditional postal systems, it is not the first competitor the USPS has ever seen. FedEx, for instance, started offering speedier delivery, but the Postal Service still offered a valuable service. Our service obviously represents a more dramatic shift, as we offer digital delivery, but we do not aim to replace the Postal Service and we certainly do not expect to do that. All we want to do is offer people a paperless alternative. We expect the world to be big enough for both paper and paperless mail.
Thank you Joergen!