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

... by raising PO Box rates by INSANE amounts.

I got the notice for my 6-month box renewal in my box today, and I did a double-take. Between the time of my last payment in June and now, they have increased the rental rate by 30% (THIRTY freaking percent!!!).

That is unconscionable... and it's not like the rate had stayed the same for years and they're just catching up.

I expect it to go up a few percent a year, heck even as much as 10%.... but 30???

Australia PO Box c6" x 5"
2019 $135 immed pymnt discount $130 (c$100 US)
2020 $139 immed pymnt discount $134

Very little fits now, excepting advertising and political flyers.
and of course PO ticket "you have a parcel" cards.

15 years ago they doubled my USPS PO box rate, I paid up.
The very next year - doubled again. That's when I gave up my box.
At $200/mo 15 years ago - I was paying 2X what I pay for a full storage unit.

$200 a month? How freaking big was this PO Box?... drive in?

Heh, it was the smallest size that could let a priority or express mail envelope sit flat. Also auction catalogs. So it wasn't tiny, but not giant either.

I was really surprised at that. I had had the box for 10+ prior years at a reasonable rate. I was sorry to have to let it go.

I had been secretary for the Classics Society, so it was handy for that as well. Nothing like getting 100 dues renewal checks one day, followed by a bunch the next. I had it down, though; fun times.

Post office real estate per sq. Foot is some of the most expensive space to rent.

There is no standard rate for a PO Box. It is all about location, location, location. $21-$75 for an extra small PO Box for a 6-month period. A small PO Box is $28-$150 for the same time period. The PO Box price for a medium-size box is $42-$250; large is $62-$400; and an extra large PO Box costs between $109-$625 for six months. Different post offices have different price codes depending on whether your area is considered "competitive" or "market dominant."

Comparatively speaking, looking at those ranges, I guess I shouldn't complain then. For a medium (5.5 x 11 x 14) I'm now paying $97 per 6 months, up from $75. I guess that's cheap compared to urban areas... it's just the 30% increase that is jarring.

Don't you chaps have neighbours to take in your deliveries if you're out?

Mine went from $168 11/30/20, up from $154 on 11/30/19. That 9-ish% in one year. About 5"x6". Big enough for letters and junk mail, but not big enough for Priority Mail (auction catalog size). God bless them, though, they sure get about half the catalogs all folded over on themselves to get them in there - along with the "You Have A Package" notices for things too thick to fold over, so I have to go to the window, anyway.

Happy Holidays!

ETA: GeoffHa - In my town, there are hordes of people following the UPS/FedEx/DHL/whatever trucks, and load up there cars with recently delivered packages. When this happens, packages LITERALLY don't sit on the doorstep for more than 60 seconds. Now with the COVID, and these people unemployed AND all kinds of Christmas presents being left on doorsteps, it's getting really bad! Delivery companies now simply drop packages at the door, take a picture, and leave. They no longer wait for signatures for standard delivery AND they have proof (the photo) that it was delivered. What a racket. [/rant]

Yes, I'd heard about that here too. The norm for Royal Mail and responsible drivers for other delivery companies is to leave parcels etc with your neighbours - at any one time, hallways are replete with packages for other people. But the lazy drivers do dump things in the front garden.

The "lazy" drivers are under serious performance measurement constraints and thus the hurried pace. Getting signatures only adds to the problem. My UPS driver averages between 120-150 stops per day in my rural route area no matter what the weather. Long driveways and gates and maybe snow only make things harder. Add in that maybe the stop has five bulky boxes of heavy dog food and it becomes a real slog. Rarely will UPS add a truck to the route and only around Christmas will they assign a helper.

Things being bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated to get crammed into the box was what ultimately prompted me to upgrade to the Medium size. It's large enough for multiple magazine-sized items to be laid in flat. I had revenue documents ruined by being creased in an attempt to cram them into the box, even after I had them post signs next to my box (on the PO side) to NOT ever fold items for my box number. I finally said eff it and paid the extra freight for the box upgrade.

We don't pay anything for PO boxes here in my small town (Canada), but probably that's because we don't have house delivery. Picking up the mail at the PO boxes is one of the main social activities here, and usually takes 3 times as long as expected due to obligatory socializing :). End up going into the office most days anyways, important to have a good relationship with the Canada Post local folks because they have helped me out many days and don't fuss about items being slightly overweight/size.

Delivery work is a tough job, hard on the body and the companies monitor everything their employees do with vehicle tracking. Most still knock on the door to let us know a parcel is being dropped but no signatures at the moment - our goldendoodle really misses the one Fedex driver that always brought her treats.

Wow that's insane

Like gmot we don't pay anything here.

Dianne

I paid $150 for my one-year PO Box renewal at the beginning of November. That's $10 more than last year. I can handle an increase of less than a dollar per month.