Commercial Couriers in Place of Certified or Registered mail

Commercial Courier Services Equivalent to Registered/Certified Mail

      Under amendments made by the 2012 Kentucky General Assembly and effective July 12, statutory references to either “certified mail” or “registered mail” are defined as including certain commercial courier services. 2012 Ky. S.B. 160 (chapter 139), § 2, amending KRS § 446.010.

·         Under the revised statute, references to “certified mail” shall mean:

[A]ny method of governmental, commercial, or electronic delivery that allows a document or package to have proof of:

(a) Sending the package or document;

(b)  The date the document or package was delivered or delivery was attempted; and

(c)  The signature of the recipient of the document or package.

·         The new definition for “registered mail” provides that it means:

[A]ny governmental, commercial, or electronic method of delivery that allows a document or package to have:

(a)  Its chain of custody recorded in a register to enable its location to be tracked;

(b)  Insurance available to cover its loss; and

(c)  The signature of the recipient of the document or package available to the sender.

      Now I will not claim to have any knowledge of an electronic delivery system that meets these requirements, but clearly any number of commercial courier services such as FedEx and UPS will now be viable options for transmitting what previously required the trouble of a trek to the post office.  Further, completing delivery of notice likely will be easier; as a certified letter seldom conveys good news, few rush to retrieve, and many make efforts to avoid receiving, them.