PO Box/Mail Box Address. Any Suggestions?

usalim

Hi,

I am looking to rent a PO Box or a Mail Box (not quite sure what the difference is anyway) but Royal Mail charge £170 per year.

Can anyone recommend any cheaper service/company please?

Thanks,

Salim

raineshoe

Wow that's gone up somewhat. I used to pay £52.00 for the whole year for a PO box. That was a while ago I have to say, but that seems rather a lot.

steve1980

Have you looked at a virtual office address? Where you have all your mail sent to which is then sent through to you?

Might be slightly cheaper.

usalim

I have googled and found a few results but I am looking for a word of mouth advice here. Anyone who has used a cheaper service and would happily recommend it

Premier_2

It depends what you want, why you want it, what you plan to use it for, how much mail you will receive, whether the mail is urgent etc.

A R.M. P.O. Box is great for lots of mail that gets delivered to your door (or you can collect ftrom the local sorting office). It can also allow for a brief address too, so maybe useful for advertising reasons.

A vitual office address is great if you want to suggest you have a Mayfair office ... but really live in Hackney. The issue here is the delay caused in the mail first going to the virtual office and then being forwarded to you.

If you are prepared to go and pick your mail up, then a Mailboxes etc (or similar) mailing address might suit.

In all cases, it is easy for a customer to identify such addresses, and depending on what you are using it for, may make your business look dodgy.

Owain_Moneysaver

With PO Boxes you can only receive post delivered by Royal Mail - no couriers. On the other hand you can receive Recorded and Registered to a PO Box, which some mail box providers won't allow.

Savvy_Sue

usalim wrote: »

Hi,

I am looking to rent a PO Box or a Mail Box (not quite sure what the difference is anyway) but Royal Mail charge £170 per year.

Can anyone recommend any cheaper service/company please?

Thanks,

Salim

Is that including the cost of re-delivery? I know we were confused when first looking at the options because it seemed to be twice as much as expected, until I realised that they weren't making it clear you could have a PO Box and pick it up for about half the price of using a PO Box and getting things delivered.

DemiDee

The cost of a PO Box not so long ago was just £52 per annum. Then it went up just a little, but this month, as stamps went up, the PO Box prices more than doubled! Incredible, especially considering there is no real work involved for the Royal Mail in delivering the mail. In fact, those who have a PO Box help to reduce the level of work for RM!

Savvy_Sue

DemiDee wrote: »

In fact, those who have a PO Box help to reduce the level of work for RM!

Only if they don't want it delivered to a street address. But thanks for explaining, I will look out for our renewal!

custardy

DemiDee wrote: »

The cost of a PO Box not so long ago was just £52 per annum. Then it went up just a little, but this month, as stamps went up, the PO Box prices more than doubled! Incredible, especially considering there is no real work involved for the Royal Mail in delivering the mail. In fact, those who have a PO Box help to reduce the level of work for RM!

not quite. PO boxes must be maintained
the mail is separated at the IPS(inward primary sorting) and then must be sorted to the PO boxes
you also need to staff the door for added collections
however I dont see the justification for such a massive rise when RM are cutting staff levels in every delivery office

usalim

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Is that including the cost of re-delivery? I know we were confused when first looking at the options because it seemed to be twice as much as expected, until I realised that they weren't making it clear you could have a PO Box and pick it up for about half the price of using a PO Box and getting things delivered.

no its not with re-delivery.
I am not expecting much courier deliveries so a PO box or Mail box would be fine. but cant afford the Royal Mail one. Any alternatives?