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According to Zumbox's website, every home street address (over 150 million) has a corresponding private and secure web page. After you enter your home address with Zumbox (you can do it for free), you can send mail electronically to any person or establishment that has a valid street address. Mail shows up as envelopes on the screen and you simply click on an envelope to open it up and read the contents.

How is this different than email? Well, Zumbox relies upon street addresses (which most businesses have) rather than email addresses (which they often don't have and usually only get after a special request). Individuals, households, certain businesses, non-profits and government entities can send mail for free, while advertisers and marketers will be charged $0.05 per street address.

Sound kind of crazy? I think so, too, but there is something appealing in it. When you consider that over 15 billion pieces of paper mail are sent each month, it's a shame this hasn't happened sooner. Read more and check your mail for free at Zumbox.

But then again...

With everything becoming digital —news, letters, books, television — I start to get nostalgic. I don't think it will be the same in 40 years when, instead of rifling through a trunk of yellowed hand-written letters and journals, I'll be searching through my hard drive.

What do you think?