P.O. Boxes

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Posted By: Tim

Does anybody have their cards shipped to a P.O. Box?

I currently have all of my cards shipped to my house but I'm rarely home during the day when the mail comes so I end up with those little slips in the mail box. I go to the post office, wait in line, and sign for my package.

Today I went through this process only to have the post master come out and tell me they couldn't locate my package. They had put a call into the carrier and would call me at home when it has been found.

Would getting a P.O. Box for $20 or $30 a year help eliminate some of these headaches? Do people have a problem shipping to P.O. Boxes?

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Posted By: Chris Counts

I have everything shipped to a P.O. Box ...

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Posted By: Steve

The PO Box is the biggest scam perpetrated on the American public since one-hour Martinizing.

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Posted By: leon

I am curious as to why you say that? They seem to work for most folks...or is there something I am missing...

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Posted By: jeffdrum

I always liked 1 Hour Martinizing.

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Posted By: robert a

Tim,

I got my PO box for some of the exact reasons you've mentioned.
I used to have to wait a day or two and then drive to the post office and wait in the line.

No lines. You can choose the location where you want your PO Box.
My regular Post office is too far away, but the box is very close.
If I have an oversized package they throw it in the locker right in the lobby.

rob

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Posted By: jay wolt

I have 99% of my incoming packages sent to my PO Box
the 1% is from auction houses and such who use FedEx
or UPS and they cannot deliver to a PO Box.
The PO Box is great, my packages are safe & secured
awaiting for me to pick them up at my leisure, which
is great when I'm out of town.
Lots dlvd at my house can be left at a doorstep where
the elements or neighborhood kids can cause problems.
And if a signature is needed, FedEX/UPS will leave a note
on the door stating you must call to arrange for delivery.
My PO Box has been worth every dime.

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Posted By: Rick McQuillan

There is another advantage to a PO Box. The mail is delivered to my home between 4:30 and 5:00. The PO closes at 4:30. Most PO Box mail is in the boxes by 10:00, so I can get my packages much earlier. Also, the lobby hours are generally longer than the window hours, so small packages that fit in the PO Box can be picked up earlier or later.

Rick

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Posted By: Tim

The post office told me if I get a smaller box and a package won't fit in it, it will be put into a parcel box and the key left in my P.O. Box.

So far I haven't heard any real negatives.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Steve was making a Seinfeld reference.

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Posted By: Fred C

Ok Barry, who said it and to whom did they say it?

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Posted By: barrysloate

Kramer complained that when Martin tried to commit suicide, he neglected to first return to him his vacuum cleaner. Newman offers to lend Kramer his carpet sweeper, to which he replies: "carpet sweepers are the biggest scam since one hour martinizing."

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Posted By: Andy Cook

I've had my PO Box for over 10 years and never had a problem. My PO Box is 1/2 mile from my house while the post office serving my house is 7 miles away through terrible Northern Virginia traffic. No contest.

Andy

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

Unabashed plug for the UPS Store........

Mailboxes are street addresses, not PO Boxes
Call in mail check.....if you don't have any, you don't have to come in.....just call in
Mail forwarding if you're on extended vacation
24 hour access in most stores
Receive and sign for all USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL and other shippers


Cost a little more......but they're worth it.

Only thing post office offers is receive for USPS.....and 24 hours in MOST locations.......


There's a couple other people here that have them.........

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Posted By: paulstratton

Steve needs an intervention.

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Posted By: Rob D.

About a year-and-a-half ago I started renting a box at a UPS store about 2 miles from my house, and it's one of the best things I've done in regards to collecting (hmmm, I must be making a lot of bad decisions).

All of the delivery services will deliver to a PMB box, and there's always someone there to sign for a package. Plus -- and I'm guessing all UPS stores offer this service -- I also can call and see if I have mail or a package, saving me a fruitless trip.

The guys who work at the store I use are great, but there is one thing to be aware of: When you pick up a package, there's no record of you picking it up. They keep it behind the counter, obviously, but they just hand it to you and that's it. So one day when I was in the midst of receiving a bunch of shipments in a span of a few days, I got to thinking: What if someone dishonest at a store signed for your package and then kept it? If you're picking up a bunch of shipments, and there's no record of what you've picked up, how could you prove you didn't take possession of a package?

I hated asking them this question, because I was basically hinting that if they were dishonest, there would be no way a customer could prove he or she didn't receive a package. Fortunately they understood the point I was making and said they might start having people sign for packages when they pick them up. But that was a year ago, and there's been no change.

But even with that caveat, I've been really happy. (I don't know off-hand the exact cost for the box rental for the year, but I do know it's more than a P.O. box.)

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Posted By: Joe D.

PO Boxes are great.

I have everything go there.

.... I don't have to worry whether or not someone is home to sign for a package.

.... When selling/buying on eBay - I'd rather not give out my home address. Twice as a seller (because of the correspondence with the 'buyers' who renegged and were strange) I was wishing my home address wasn't used. The second time cured me and I went out and got a PO Box.

Its a great thing.

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Posted By: doug goodman

My post office used to hate me.

After standing in line to pickup my mail they were constantly giving me grief for receiving more mail than would fit in my box. When I commented that a good portion of it was junk mail and I wished I could put a spam filter on my regular mail they told me that junk mail helps keep the postage rates down. Which doesn't mean that I don't still want a spam filter for my snail mail.

A couple of years ago I started sending all of my mail to a mom & pop mailbox store. Wow, what a great move that has become.

Now the lines are virtually non existent. They keep my over flow in a box in the back. They actually seem to appreciate my business. I send my fedexes from their store (they get paid a dollar each). I use their notary service. I gave their 8 year old a few thousand cards from before he was born (since I don't have any as young as he is) and now I'm his favorite customer. I have given them my top deck of Dodger Stadium season seats a few times (only cost me $4 each, the best deal in the majors). They like me, I like them, and no more grief from miserable postal employees who think that I should be honored to stand in their lines, while the dorks in front of me make "going postal" an arguably valid option.

My post office may like me now, but I never go there anymore, so I don't know.

Doug

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Posted By: cmoking

Rob, I had a lost package at a Mailboxes Etc. a few years ago...I think around $250 worth. The owner paid me and said his insurance would cover it if I gave him paper work from the seller. A few weeks later, he told me the claim went through without a problem.

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Posted By: boxingcardman

I practically live there anyway...

Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc

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Posted By: Steve

Leon, I should have used quotation marks... As mentioned above, it was a cheap opportunity to use a "Seinfeld". I'm starting to understand why my wife put the kibosh on those reruns.

Nothing against the post office here. They have always given us 110% service. Now FedEx, "...those bastards"

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Posted By: Marty Ogelvie

I have everything delivered to the house and I get anywhere from 20 to 30 packages a week, sometimes more.  I buy a lot of low end (new) stuff for my web sites.  After reading this, I am seriously considering getting a box. There is a mailbox etc place withing walking distance of my home. 

martyOgelvie
New York Yankee cards

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Posted By: Mike

If you have a very good reputation in the industry and some references, or you only buy lower end stuff, go for it.

I personally will NEVER ship anything to a Mailboxes etc. or UPS store if the buyer has anything but a stellar reputation. I also won't send a check to those addresses. It's a scammer's paradise for obvious reasons and I've seen some good scams and been personally involved in an FBI investigation of a scam involving these addresses.

Anyway, if your plan is to get a non-post office mail forwarding box to make your life easier - be aware that people might not be as willing to buy and sell with you as you think.

It raises a flag every time I see an address with a number at the end: "1234 Street Name Road, #16".

Mike

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Posted By: cmoking

"Anyway, if your plan is to get a non-post office mail forwarding box to make your life easier - be aware that people might not be as willing to buy and sell with you as you think."

I've never had a problem with buyers or sellers with a mailboxes, etc, UPS Store or # after a street address. Not once did any one even question it, even if I didn't know the guy.

I think you are off your rocker for thinking its an issue at all!

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Posted By: barrysloate

In Brooklyn I get my mail delivered to my door. In Sag Harbor I have a post office box. Each works, each has its drawbacks. If I am home I appreciate having a registered package delivered to my door; if I am out it's easier if I find the note in my PO box, because the package will be in the adjacent room. If I find a missed delivery note in my Brooklyn mailbox I then have to walk downtown to get the package.

It's a trade off.

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Posted By: Rob D.

Mike,

Would an address like this prevent you from selling to a potential customer:

John Smith
12 Main Street
Suite 128
Cleveland, OH 43219

The folks at the UPS store have said it's fine to use "Suite 128" instead of "PMB 128." And like Tom said, the mailing address is a street address. So do you eliminate addresses like this, which easily could be an office building, apartment complex, etc.?

Yours is the first opinion I've heard that won't ship to a UPS store and the like. Not saying it's wrong, I'm just really surprised.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I have had a PO Box for several years. Positives are you don't have to give or list your home address to strangers, your PO can safetly accept mail when you're out of town (you don't even have to inform anyone you'll be out of town) and the PO handles packages that don't fit in your box. Any time you have something too big for your box or something you have to sign for, they leave a notice in your box and you go and pick it up. And if you don't like auction winnings box being left on your home front step three hours before anyone arrives home, with your PO Box the same box would be safetly held inside the PO building until you pick it up. Negative is UPS (I think) doesn't deliver to PO boxes. Another not so big negative is if you're using a PO just to get normal mail and magazines, it's not as convenient to go to the PO daily as get the mail at home. I'm not going to stop by my PO Box daily.

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Posted By: Tim

I like the idea of having an actual street address when using The UPS store, and that you can get UPS, FedEx, and USPS all delivered to one place. However I just called the store closest to me and it's a big price difference from a P.O. Box.

$20, $30, or $50 for the P.O. Box for the year depending on desired size.

$204 for the year for The UPS Store service.

I'm not saying the benifits aren't worth it.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

It'll depend what kind of mail you'll be expecting. If 1/3 of your mail will be packages from UPS, then a USPO Box would be an issue. If you want a box only to get your Popular Mechanics subscription, the UPS store wouldn't be needed. I have a PO Box and have UPS packages sent to a different address. Much of my PO Box is for business paperwork and related, not packages, and I use a PO Box so I don't have to advertise or list my home address, such as if I were list an address on my website. Obviously for this this purpose, I would not need the full service of a UPS Store-- but others may have different purpose.

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Posted By: fkw

I have to have a PO Box because we dont have home mail service here in the jungle

I like it, thought it took a while to get used to going and picking up all my mail every couple days.

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

they realistically should have some type of log for reportable mail....that is insured mail, delivery confirmation and UPS/FedEx/DHL packages where they log in tracking numbers and have you sign for them. That's as much for their protection as yours.

$204 is not out of the question for a UPS Store mailbox. As with many things, you get what you pay for and if you ask you might get 3 months free for a year rental. We have $15, $20 and $30/month mailboxes at my store. Rent 6 months, get one free, rent 12 months, get 3 months free. Lots of stores will do that if you just ask for it or they run specials.......supply & demand though.....if they're all rented at the store, you may be paying a little more.

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Posted By: Red

Any ID needed to open a "suite" at the UPS store?

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

IDS required...........at least one a photo

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Posted By: Tim

I'm not sure if it's the same procedure at all stores but my local UPS store said if a package arrives that requires a signature from them, then they require a signature from the person picking it up.

I know this was a concern someone had in an earlier post.

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Posted By: Anonymous

"Would an address like this prevent you from selling to a potential customer"

No address would "prevent" me from selling to a customer - their lack of feedback, aversion to giving me a phone number to contact them, and ultimately the type of payment they sent would prevent me from selling to them. But I'll look a whole lot closer at the other things if I get an address with a suite number in it.

Just telling you guys that I had a bad experience with UPS stores from a seller standpoint... take it for what you will.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Many upscale law, doctor and accountant offices are in suites, so suite in an address shouldn't in and of itself be worrysome. Don't know that he's upscale, but M.D.'s address is Suite 106. In the floorspace sense, I think a suite means a large portion of an office building floor or otherwise a large office.