PO Box vs alternatives

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redeem_ct
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Joined: Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:45 pm

PO Box vs alternatives

Post by redeem_ct »

I have a blind aunt in assisted living, and I need to have the mail to her condo (where she was living before) forwarded to me.

I'd like to have her mail and mine separated, so I'm thinking of getting a USPS Post Office Box. I'm also considering alternatives like a UPS Mailbox or similar services from other private companies.

What do you recommend?
Silk McCue
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Re: PO Box vs alternatives

Post by Silk McCue »

I would go with the smallest USPS PO Box and then setup informed delivery on it. That way you can see what mail of importance is arriving without making unnecessary/more frequent visits.

Cheers
123
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Re: PO Box vs alternatives

Post by 123 »

From my experience the PO Box will be much less expensive, more secure, and likely more accessible (hours of operation) than an alternative like an address at a UPS Store or similar. If the UPS Store is walkable and has a 24 hour box lobby (usually with an access code tied to your box) it might win out but it likely at a cost that is much higher (in my neighborhood it costs 4X what a similar PO box costs). The main limitation of a PO Box is that in most locations the box lobby is not available on Sundays, whereas if the UPS Store lobby has an access code lock that's not an issue.

Edited to add:
Be aware that the new mailing address (like a PO Box) is not in the same geographic service area as her former condo address it may cause an issue with her healthcare plan if they don't service that zip code (like a different state). Healthcare plan could end up being notified when their mail is forwarded (those "address correction requested" notations) or if healthcare is tied to a pension any pension mail that gets forwarded could end up with same consequence. Normally you can resolve it with a phone call but its something to be aware of.
Last edited by 123 on Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Mike Scott
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Re: PO Box vs alternatives

Post by Mike Scott »

Why would the mail need to be separated? She will probably need a physical address also. Will that be your address? Are you just collecting mail for her or do you need a POA as well?
Topic Author
redeem_ct
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Re: PO Box vs alternatives

Post by redeem_ct »

Mike Scott wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:27 pm Why would the mail need to be separated? She will probably need a physical address also. Will that be your address? Are you just collecting mail for her or do you need a POA as well?
I live over 400 miles away from my aunt, and I have POA over her because of her blindness. Forwarding the mail to her at the assisted living center is not an option, because she is unable to read it.

I recently found out that her mail is being returned to the sender. Due to the pandemic, it's not really safe to travel. (And even if the pandemic really were over, I wouldn't have time to go to her condo that often anyway.)

I could have my aunt's mail forwarded directly to me, but for security reasons, I'd rather use a PO Box or something similar.
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GeraniumLover
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Re: PO Box vs alternatives

Post by GeraniumLover »

Consider Traveling Mailbox. They will send you a scan of the outside envelope as it arrives and you can request that the contents be scanned, that the letter be forwarded to another address, or that it be shredded. They will even send checks to a bank to be deposited. There are several vendors that provide this type of service. I am on a $15/mo plan.
Mike Scott
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Re: PO Box vs alternatives

Post by Mike Scott »

What security concerns do you have about her mail that you don't have about your own mail? What physical address will she use (even if the mailing address is different)?
Katietsu
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Re: PO Box vs alternatives

Post by Katietsu »

In your case, as long as a USPS box is convenient and available, it sounds like it will meet your needs. I have used a private company before. The biggest advantage of the private company is that you get an address that be used for delivery from all services including FedEx & UPS. USPS is only USPS. However, it sounds like this is probably not a need for your use case. The other advantage of some private companies is the ability to get the mail to you either by scanning or shipping it. Again, not your use, I don’t think. Looks like a previous poster called this a Traveling Mailbox. If you view this as an option, I would try to this with a location in the same delivery area as aunt’s old address.
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JoeRetire
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Re: PO Box vs alternatives

Post by JoeRetire »

redeem_ct wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 12:53 pm I'd like to have her mail and mine separated
Why? What unique security reasons are associated solely with her mail and not yours?
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Pyramid44
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Re: PO Box vs alternatives

Post by Pyramid44 »

We had a similar problem with an elder relative who could not get to the gang mailbox in their condo development due to mobility issues. We are over 2000 miles away.

Since my spouse had POA for all financials, all recurring bills were set to automatic payment and electronic notification. Then all the paper mailings were turned off. The bank account (of which he was listed as secondary person) also had automatic bill pay set up for anything that needed a check (the bill pay would either do an ACH or print/mail a check as it was able).

This reduced the amount of physical mail down to a couple of magazines and junk mail going to the condo. An agreement was set up with the local postmaster to bring her mail to her condo door once a week.

So in order to deal with mail and billing for someone you may want to.

1. have an email account where both parties can login. Use this address to send all the billing/etc email to from all businesses, utilities, insurance, etc.
2. If you have POA for finances, get organized with the financial institutions for online access, bill pay, debit card (use to set up auto-magic payments)
3. Get list of all recurring bills (in assisted living you won’t have utilities or property taxes, so the list should be smaller)
4. Get together over the phone with your relative regularly to review.
5. Arrange for someone in the area (does she still have friends who visit) help review the remaining mail and let her know what she might need your help with.

There are so many things that can go sideways by having mail forwarded out of the local area. It would have prevented our elder from staying in their Medicare Advantage plan since they would have dropped them as soon as their zip code changed. My spouse spent a couple of months on the phone to every entity that needed payment to figure out if it was possible to just change the mailing address and there were many little things what would have caused great grief. So the make it all electronic for payment and notification was the way to go.

I’m sure your relative would enjoy getting cards and gifts and other things still sent to her rather than to be forwarded to you. Her new address should be that of her new home.

You will also have to check on their voting rights as based on address. That was one of the things that we would mess up since an absentee/mail in ballot needs to be sent to where the elder is physically located and would not be sent to our address 2000 miles away.

It takes a lot of time, patience, and fortitude to work through all the details but once you do, it beats chasing down all the paper.
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Pyramid44
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Re: PO Box vs alternatives

Post by Pyramid44 »

In reading the initial description of the OP’s aunt moving from a condo into assisted living and is blind, I am going to take the tact that the blindness is a new issue and has initiated the move to assisted living.

Going blind after being sighted is a huge life change. Our household has worked with family and friends work through issues of reduced vision and loss of sight. I am going to keep on going as if the OP’s aunt would be able to take care of their mail if they could see it.

Consider adaptive devices such as this reader ( “a camera that talks”), a handheld device, that can be used to “see” printed material and read it to the user. This type of device could be of great use in everyday living at assisted living so that she could “read” the bulletin board, menu specials, and other things around her new home. And there are many other solutions out there besides this example.

http://www.medicineworld.org/cancer/lea ... eader.html

If she enjoys books and magazines, consider switching to electronic versions and getting a tablet that will read them. I use and iPad with iBooks to listen to books on airplanes. There are many solutions in this arena.

If you can reduce the overall amount of mail via some of the tactics in my prior post, consider just letting her mail go to her new home. Assisted living usually winds up with a group of ladies swapping news via photos of family and friends, birthday cards, etc. People tack up stuff on their doors, cork boards in their rooms, etc. It’s hard to be the odd person out without having things to share. And if she cannot read them, she will probably have a group of volunteers willing to read them to her. And as part of her hours of service, maybe someone could read off the outside of her mail and then let her decide if she wants it opened for further reading.

All states, counties and many cities have some type of association to work with blind people. Engage them. Let them see what can be offered for support.

I grew up near a school for the blind when I was a kid. I got chided once for not sending a birthday card to a friend. I was gently but forcefully reminded that just because someone might need to read it to them (this was the 60’s), the friend wanted to be treated just like everyone else.
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mdavis6890
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Re: PO Box vs alternatives

Post by mdavis6890 »

I've been using virtualpostmail for years and it's really great. I get a non-PO box, which is nice because it's more flexible than an official USPS PO Box would be. And at a glance it's just an address like any other and could be my apartment or something. People who care (like banks) would quickly see it's not an actual residence though, so you can't really "get away" with anything here.

They receive all my mail and scan it for me automatically, including OCR. They have a very nice, modern web UI and I can simply view mail in a browser or download a PDF if I want to. On occasion I have them mail me the physical item, for example a credit card or paper check that I've received.

I gradually ramped up my level of trust with them over years, starting with inconsequential mail. Now they get basically everything, including what most would consider "sensitive" mail. Unless they are running a super-duper long-con they have earned my trust. Of course this doesn't mean they won't hire a bad apple tomorrow, so keep that in mind.

I can't recommend them enough.
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galawdawg
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Re: PO Box vs alternatives

Post by galawdawg »

Silk McCue wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 12:59 pm I would go with the smallest USPS PO Box and then setup informed delivery on it. That way you can see what mail of importance is arriving without making unnecessary/more frequent visits.

Cheers
This will meet OP's needs perfectly.
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