Postman enters the cyber age

The internet is dragging old fashioned post in to the 21st century and solving a problem for companies posting staff abroad.

MFExpress.com is a totally new and secure way of forwarding post around the world at the touch of a button cutting out any delay.

It means business people who spend extended time away for their office, can see their letters within hours of the postmanís delivery.

It is also proving popular with large companies who relocate staff and want to make the move as simple as possible. People moving house, expats and pensioners spending winter abroad are also signing up to the service as they can see their post within hours of it arriving in the UK.

The system has been trialled for six months and has now gone fully operational.

Post is opened for you and then scanned on to a secure web page only the subscriber can access. Access can be made from any computer with an internet link letting you read the letters within hours of the UK delivery.

The web pages use the same security as the major banks and all staff opening the letters have been vetted. Subscribers can sign up via the website.

MFExpress.com has won a 5000 grant from the Department of Trade and Industry because of its innovative use of the web to provide a whole new service.

Neil Jenkins, a Berkshire small business owner who runs a post services shop in Maidenhead, thought up MFExpress.com when he found it impossible to keep up with his letters and bills during trips away on business.

Most subscribers use the MFExpress.com address in Berkshire as their UK base finding it the quickest way of seeing mail, although any address in the UK can be used with the service.

The DTI grant was awarded to market the innovation to expats in the Middle East.

Neil, 45, who has based the service in Maidenhead, said: ìThe best internet ideas are the ones that simply provide a new service.

ìI know how stressful it is when you are not seeing important letters. One client would have missed a wedding of a close friend if he had not seen the scanned invite, another was working on a project 300 miles from his office for a month and found out he was due a large tax rebate but he had to respond that week..î

Neil, who travelled around the world as an engineer for O2 added that part of the service means any junk mail is put to one side and not scanned in.