P.O.Box owners

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A post office box (often abbreviated P.O. Box or PO Box) is a uniquely-addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office station. Why do you have one? What do you do with it. What is the advantage? How does yours look like?

Members: 38
Latest Activity: Nov 21, 2023

In many countries, particularly in Africa, and the Middle East there is no 'door to door' delivery of mail. For example, should one post mail to a street address in Namibia, it will be returned to sender as undeliverable.[1] Consequently renting a PO box has traditionally been the only way to receive mail in such countries, although some, like Jordan, are now introducing home delivery.[2]

Generally, post office boxes are rented from the post office either by individuals or by businesses on a basis ranging from monthly to annual, and the cost of rent varies depending on the box size. Central business district or CBD PO boxes are usually more expensive than a rural PO box.

PO Boxes in the United States can now also be rented and renewed online at http://www.usps.com/poboxes. There is an online PO Box locator that allows users to find available PO Boxes in their local Post Office.

In the US, the rental rate used to be uniform across the country. Now, however, a postal facility can be in any of seven fee groups by location; in addition, certain customers qualify for free box rental.

In the United Kingdom, Royal Mail PO boxes are often little more than pigeon holes in the secure section of a Sorting Office, and are only accessible by staff. In such cases, the renter of the PO box will be issued with a card on which is written the PO box number and post office name, and must produce this to the desk staff when collecting mail. For an additional fee, the Royal Mail will deliver received items to the renter's geographical address.

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Comment by KOZY on August 9, 2011 at 10:16am: It is almost free in Turkey: Yearly cost equals only 3 poststamps to foreign countries. It used to be more before. I hold the POB for almost 30 years I can say.

Comment by Ruud Janssen on August 9, 2011 at 7:05am: There used to be a time when a P.O. Box was free in the Netherlands.Now we pay a lot just to have the mail collected. Some manager sure did something wrong.

Comment by andytgeezer on July 1, 2011 at 11:23am: OUCH! UK PO Box prices up from £125 to £240 in the snap of some managers fingers.

Comment by Cuan Miles on June 13, 2011 at 10:29am: My local post office (Vincent, East London, South Africa) is in a shopping mall and the PO Boxes are situated in the underground parking lot. The pic show my postal buddy sorting and putting mail in the boxes. The banks of metal boxes are unlocked and swivel away from the wall. He sorts mail every day and fills the boxes every morning at about 10am. He knows me because I receive all the "funny post" and I'm often eagerly waiting for him.

Comment by andytgeezer on November 16, 2010 at 4:47pm: Haha! Katerina I love your PO Box! It's the only happy one there!

Comment by Olivia Arrow on August 3, 2010 at 1:06pm: Wow, that is a really great light fixture!

Comment by Ruud Janssen on July 25, 2010 at 9:46am: Can we get a glimpse of that chandelier (a photo?).....

Comment by Olivia Arrow on July 19, 2010 at 4:40pm: Grigori, what an amazing PO Box and post office. Mine is not decorative like that but the building has a great Deco feel to it.
I got a box to avoid putting my home address (which changed too often) in my zines or on my mail. It's steady. Also, delivery is so terrible at my home I am almost shocked by how bad it is sometimes. At least my box has no problems like that. (They said on the news that it is one of the worst mail services in the country!) The only problem with my box is that I can't check it daily and sometimes they cram my mail inside and bend/crush it, which sometimes ruins it! Other than that, I'm a fan of the P.O. Box.

Comment by Ruud Janssen on May 29, 2010 at 5:48pm: Just received the bill. The P.O. Box itself costs 151 Euro's for a year. It used to be free years ago..........

Comment by King Shane on February 19, 2010 at 8:09pm: I got a PO Box not long before I started participating in mail art, the purpose being to prevent an internet full of intelligent, bold, insane to various degrees from finding out where I live and making my life hell. Since then, I renewed my yearly use of it, and since I had renewed it, I figured, hey, I might as well use it for mail art too. Since then, I've just been renewing it, and likely will every year, just because I'm afraid that people might send mail art there, and it will just be thrown out if I don't pay that yearly fee!

As for the appearance, it's just like every other PO Box I've ever seen in the Continental US. They've all looked the same, sort of like a card catalogue like they once had in libraries, only with numbers instead of letters, and keyholes instead of handles.

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