I Figured Out How The USPS Is Planning To Solve Its Financial Problems...

Here the USPS and UPS deliverers ring the bell but the FedEx guys don't do anything. We're retired so normally we're home anyway to get the packages quickly. It also helps that we are in a gated community with a manned guard gate so people can't just follow the deliverers. But a lot of folks in our general area are complaining on our local social media about porch pirates.

I've had the same PO box for 25 or so years. Here's the progression during the last 10 billing cycles. This works out to an average increase of 6.4% (although 9% over the last 3 years). Just "slightly" higher than the official inflation rate (CPI) of 1.2%, LOL.

2020: $168.00
2019: $154.00
2018: $140.00
2017: $132.00
2016: $130.00
2015: $130.00
2014: $128.00
2013: $124.00
2012: $120.00
2011: $96.00

I have the smallest sized box at a PO near my house.

2021 $106
2020 $92
2019 $82
2018 $76

I guess the USPS has to replace a lot of equipment that went out of service in 2020.

For those of you who don't have the option of staying home all day, you can have FedEx hold your package at a nearby FedEx location and pick it up at your convenience. I'm rarely at home to accept deliveries during normal business hours, so I usually do this when I'm expecting a FedEx package.

https://www.fedex.com/en-us/shippin...ocation.html

Received my annual PO Box receipt today.

2022 $166



$106 to $166 in one year is quite a jump.

I guess I get to look forward to better service now, right?

2023 update:

Received a letter last month advising me PO Box rates were increasing effective 22 Jan. So I renewed my box early at last year's "lower" rate of only $166.

No indication in the letter of how much the new rate would be, but I wasn't taking any chances on another $60 increase. For the smallest sized box by the by.

2023 $166 (renewed early prior to price increase)
2022 $166
2021 $106
2020 $92
2019 $82
2018 $76

I was able to find the new 2023 cost on the USPS website at $176 per year... So at least I saved $10 by paying early.

My PO box is provided by the USPS for free. The tradeoff, they will not deliver mail to my home address. I would love to pay $166 or more for the PO box and also get mail delivered but the local postmaster has decided that option is not available. Fedex and UPS also do not deliver after the postmaster's decision.

Fedex and UPS also do not deliver after the postmaster's decision.

I wonder if this is because they want to deliver only to USPS verified addresses so your physical address would not be in the database.

or they decided if the USPS thinks it is too expensive/impractical for them to deliver there, they should bail too

I picked up a package (stamp catalog) at my post office yesterday. The lady in front of me in line was trying to send a certified letter to the Colorado Tax Dept, using the pre-printed envelope from the state agency.

The clerk said she couldn't accept it because the address wasn't listed in her system. The elderly lady was quite confused and kept pointing to the preprinted envelope. In the end the system didn't list the exact box number at that zip code, and so the clerk wouldn't take it...

If it was some rando address, I can understand, but a pre-printed envelope from a State Tax Dept is probably a pretty safe bet.



By the by: The catalog I received was Gregg Greenwald's "Catalog of Puerto Rico Revenues", and it is excellent! While I don't collect all PR revenues, I do collect some and I highly recommend the catalog for those interested in Puerto Rico!

I seem to recall being told an address wasn't in their system (despite having successfully sent something there before) and I think the clerk was either able to override it or bypass it, but of course you will get a different result with a different clerk.

That is strange given that neither one relies upon the USPS database to verify addresses. You can go on the UPS website and validate your address yourself.

I asked ChatGPT to write about UPS delivery and received the following:

I have had a medium size (5"x10") PO box since 1967, at a series of post offices as I moved around the country. I have no recollection of early costs, but for the past years, my history is (annual fee)

2013 $256
2014 $266
2015 $266
2016 $280
2017 $282
2018 $296
2019 $308
2020 $326
2021 $388
2022 $404 (paid September)

Wow! what a jump. I think they air conditioned the building this year and I get to pay for it.

For many years, I had a "Signature on File" option for the box, that allowed the box clerk to deliver signature items to my PO box directly, and I avoided the window. I recently had to pick up an item at the window, and when I asked, they simply claimed they had no idea I had agreed to the service, and claimed they had no record.

I returned with the form executed in 2014, they apologized (reluctantly) and they gave me a new form, which I executed.

On the same application: "Customer Agreement for PO Box Service Enhancements", there was a second option that allows me to use the street address of my post office as a street address. It says ..

"You will also be able to use the street address to receive most packages and deliveries through private carriers, such as UPS and FedEx."

I would then simply address mail as follows:

Customer Name
101 E McKinney # 2024 [PO street address and my box]
City, State, ZIP

There are restriction on what can be delivered: like wine, alcohol, or over 70 lbs, or other things not allowed by the postal service, but most normal items allowed.

Anyone with a PO box interested in such a service should check with their local post office. I suspect that for small post offices with limited service hours, this might not be an option. I don't know how much effort a UPS or FedEx driver has to exert to meet delivery hours. I would hate for them to abandon a package at the front door of my post office building during a late at night delivery.

I checked online and found the following information.
https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing/...itivepoboxes

The service is available at some 6400 post offices.

If anyone checks on this for their location, I'd be real interested in reading about their experience.