Get a Private Mailbox

For over 15+ years, I've used a private mailbox and I highly recommend them to everyone. There are several benefits of having a private mailbox, especially if you operate a business, but they're good to have in general for a variety of reasons. In this post, I'll cover a few of the reasons  why I personally have one.

Better Than a P.O. Box

I live in the United States, and here, we also have the option of getting a P.O. Box through the post office. I don't recommend this for a number of reasons but the most obvious is that a P.O. Box only accepts mail from the United States Postal Service (USPS). Mail that comes from other carriers are not accepted (such as FedEx, UPS, etc.).

Another reason to consider a private mailbox is because private mailboxes offer street addresses rather than an obvious P.O. Box address, which is useful for places that don't accept P.O. Boxes as an acceptable address for primary use.

Moving

Over the years, I've moved a lot. And each time I do, it would have been a painful process to update my mailing address everywhere. Instead, because I have a private mailbox, I simply change the forwarding address through my private mailbox provider. It makes this process quick, painless, and easy.

Privacy

For a number of reasons, particularly if you operate a business, and don't want to give out your home address (especially if you don't have a professional business address), having a private mailbox address helps protect your privacy.

If you do any email marketing, it is legally required that you include a physical address in your marketing emails and having a private mailbox address also protects you in that way.

While most domain registrars include private whois for free, some still charges extra for using their privacy service and having a private mailbox means you don't have to worry about paying extra for each domain if your registrar does this (you should actually switch registrar if you're with a registrar that does this).

In any case, privacy is a huge factor.

Accept Mail Anytime

I never have to worry about needing to be around to accept mail. While I still have most packages shipped to my house (say if I buy something online), occasionally I may have stuff shipped to my Private Mailbox if I want to ensure the package can be received (in cases where you don't feel safe having the package left at your door step or it requires a signature and you're not home). Sure, there is an additional forwarding fee if you need them to forward a package, or you have to go pick it up if the private mailbox service is local, but its nice to have the option.

Additional Services

My private mailbox service scans my mail ahead of time letting me know and each every letter or package I get and I can request they shred or recycle any junk mail remotely. This way I can set it up such that only mail I want gets forwarded. In fact I do everything via a mobile app (including updating my forwarding address should I move or making payments). It is extremely convenient.

Conclusion

If you haven't considered getting a private mailbox before, I can't recommend it enough. You can research local private mailboxes near you or if you prefer an online option as well, the service I use is Anytime Mailbox. This isn't sponsored by them and that's not an affiliate link. I'm just happy with the service.

UPDATE

Since the original published date for this post, Anytime Mailbox now have a developer API. I haven't had the chance to play with it yet but I'm a big fan of services that offer API access.