PO Box cost and other questions

[spaceman]

How much does it cost to have a standard PO BOX?(are there any different type?)
I am moving in 20x days and rather than have a mail box per se,the preference would be a PO Box.
One less thing to worry about if i relocate.
Can a person do a joint PO Box(my girlfriend and I)?
Do online vendors such as newegg etc. take issue with shipping to a PO BOX.?

Any special type of rules for the PO?

advice is appreciated.

 

[bozo1]

Last time I had one (about 7 years ago) it was about $18 for the year for a small box - you pay more for a larger one.

UPS, FedEx, etc. will not ship to a PO box. Only the USPS will.

You can get a box at a Mailboxes, Etc. like place and they will let you use their street address to ship packages to but you pay about twice for a box there than you do at the post office. Of course then you run into the problem of Newegg and the like refusing to ship to an address other than your credit card billing address unless you have your shipping address on file with your credit card company (many won't do it) or unless you fax them a bunch of info ahead of time (copy of your credit card, drivers license, signed authorization letter, etc.)

 

[RossMAN]

PO Box costs

You can have up 3 names (personal or business) so having a joint PO Box is ok.

However FedEx, UPS, Airborne Express and other couriers will not ship to a PO Box. AFAIK NewEgg usually ships FedEx.

 

[vegetation]

Most locations don't even have larger style PO boxes available, they're all taken. Due to government red tape, it may take like 10 years before they add new boxes when capacity is reached. So unless you are fine with a small box just for business envelopes, you should forget the idea. Third party boxes are the way to go.

 

[kranky]

I have the smallest PO Box you can get (= cheapest). When I get a package that doesn't fit in the box, one of two things happens:

1. They put a notice in my box that I take to the counter to get my package. I can get them up until 6PM weekdays and until 2PM on Saturday.
2. They put a key in my box which opens one of the dozen large "temporary" PO boxes. I get my package out of the big box, and the key is retained in the lock.

That happens about twice a month. As long as they don't think I'm abusing it (renting a small box when I really "need" a big one), I can keep the small box. So far, no problems after a year.

I can get to my box 24/7 for $58/year. It's true that FedEx, Airborne, etc. can't deliver to a PO Box, but that's not been a problem for me because I just ask people to ship Express mail or Priority Mail.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: kranky
I have the smallest PO Box you can get (= cheapest). When I get a package that doesn't fit in the box, one of two things happens:

1. They put a notice in my box that I take to the counter to get my package. I can get them up until 6PM weekdays and until 2PM on Saturday.
2. They put a key in my box which opens one of the dozen large "temporary" PO boxes. I get my package out of the big box, and the key is retained in the lock.

That happens about twice a month. As long as they don't think I'm abusing it (renting a small box when I really "need" a big one), I can keep the small box. So far, no problems after a year.

I can get to my box 24/7 for $58/year. It's true that FedEx, Airborne, etc. can't deliver to a PO Box, but that's not been a problem for me because I just ask people to ship Express mail or Priority Mail.

So your Hustler magazines don't fit either? Isn't that damn annoying?

 

[Relayer]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: kranky
I have the smallest PO Box you can get (= cheapest). When I get a package that doesn't fit in the box, one of two things happens:

1. They put a notice in my box that I take to the counter to get my package. I can get them up until 6PM weekdays and until 2PM on Saturday.
2. They put a key in my box which opens one of the dozen large "temporary" PO boxes. I get my package out of the big box, and the key is retained in the lock.

That happens about twice a month. As long as they don't think I'm abusing it (renting a small box when I really "need" a big one), I can keep the small box. So far, no problems after a year.

I can get to my box 24/7 for $58/year. It's true that FedEx, Airborne, etc. can't deliver to a PO Box, but that's not been a problem for me because I just ask people to ship Express mail or Priority Mail.

So your Hustler magazines don't fit either? Isn't that damn annoying?

I pay $38 a year. I had to go to the counter to get an AOL disk once. Idiots!

 

[MaxDSP]

Originally posted by: kranky
I have the smallest PO Box you can get (= cheapest). When I get a package that doesn't fit in the box, one of two things happens:

1. They put a notice in my box that I take to the counter to get my package. I can get them up until 6PM weekdays and until 2PM on Saturday.
2. They put a key in my box which opens one of the dozen large "temporary" PO boxes. I get my package out of the big box, and the key is retained in the lock.

That happens about twice a month. As long as they don't think I'm abusing it (renting a small box when I really "need" a big one), I can keep the small box. So far, no problems after a year.

I can get to my box 24/7 for $58/year. It's true that FedEx, Airborne, etc. can't deliver to a PO Box, but that's not been a problem for me because I just ask people to ship Express mail or Priority Mail.

same here, except my cost for the past year has been $90.... When I first got it like 2 years ago, it was $64 (2 $32 payments/6 months), but they changed the rate to $45/6 months. I asked the guy how often they change the rates, and he said that almost everytime they increase the cost of stamps, they raise the rates for the boxes also. I forgot what size box I have though, might be the smallest one or the second smallest one.

 

[RossMAN]

The USPS has raised their prices which sucks, I used to pay a lot less 10 years ago