No mailbox, PO Box is $42 a year......

[paysensmom]

We just moved to an area that most houses don't have mailboxes. We were told we had to get a PO Box. We were charged $42 for the box for a year (the smallest they have) and $6 deposit for two keys. My friend also had to get a PO box in the next town over and told me hers was free.

Am I entitled to a free PO Box??

 

[starry_solo]

usually not, depends on the postmaster.

People can usually address letters/packages to General Delivery with your city state and zip.

 

[sissy_ib]

We just moved to an area that most houses don't have mailboxes. We were told we had to get a PO Box. We were charged $42 for the box for a year (the smallest they have) and $6 deposit for two keys. My friend also had to get a PO box in the next town over and told me hers was free.

Am I entitled to a free PO Box??

I don't understand this as I have never lived anywhere without a mailbox. Is there no mail delivery? I know I am probably wrong but my first thought is go buy a mailbox!

 

[Cindy B]

If it is a rural area, there are RR or RD mail routes. (rural road or rural delivery) . I grew up in a very remote area that had RR or RD delivery.

At first the town tried to get us to come to the tiny general store/post office every day to pick up the mail. My mom didn't like that so my dad put out a mailbox and we got mail. It was a rural carrier--which meant an older lady with her own station wagon and she had a huge route. Some days it came late but it did come.

As I was in college, the RR/RD route changed to an actual house number.

I would contact the post office. There is no reason you should have to resort to a box.

 

[Anna_Marie]

We get our PO Box free. Every year we have to bring in proof of our address (mail, etc) and they re-new it.

 

[Alexander]

There are some small towns that do not have home delivery. We live in one of them. We have to have a PO Box. The USPS does not even recognize our street address. If you choose to get a PO Box you have to pay for it. However, if you cannot have home delivery, you are entitled to 1 free PO Box. Usually the smallest sized one.

 

[PatsMom]

When we first built our house, we didn't have an address. When someone insisted on one (like my brokerage account) we just used Jenks Hill Road with no number. Or Forest Road 27 which is really what we were on since Jenks Hill Road ended at the national forest line and we were past that.

No mail delivery available in our area. We have to go to the local post office to pick it up. We get a free small PO Box. Since we built the house we have gotten E911 and now have an address. But the post office still won't come up our road. So we still have our PO Box. We have to sign something anually to keep it.

I would push harder for home delivery but I think it is the highlight of my retired husband's day to go pick up the mail and the newspaper.

The one thing it is a real pain with is mail order prescriptions, which we are required to do. One of mine has to be refrigerated. So when I order that, I have to change my address to the street address temporarily as it comes UPS.

 

[scrapquitler]

We just moved to an area that most houses don't have mailboxes. We were told we had to get a PO Box. We were charged $42 for the box for a year (the smallest they have) and $6 deposit for two keys. My friend also had to get a PO box in the next town over and told me hers was free.

Am I entitled to a free PO Box??

Maybe. We own a home in a rural area, and the PO does not deliver to most areas of town. Anyone who lives in one of the areas where there is no delivery, gets a free PO Box, with two keys (no deposit, either). We just have to sign a form every year.

I think that the USPS can't deny service to you, so they have to provide it some how. If I were in your shoes, I'd be googling to see if there is some regulation about this.

 

[LoriKutchey]

This article may be of interest to you.

http://broadlandsspectator.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/free-po-box/

 

[SandrA9810]

I know some one who lives up a mountain road, which they don't deliver to, just UPS and FedEx. Their home address is one zip code and private street name, while at the main road it's a different zip code and state. Plus a different PO delivery. It's possible to get PO delivery, but it's a bigger pain in the rear. So they have a box for regular mail, and use UPS for home delivery.

Totally possible to not have a mailbox out in the boonies and mountains. Especially when there's a lot of home addresses on private road names, and the post office only delivers to the main road.

 

[LilyWDW]

We just moved to an area that most houses don't have mailboxes. We were told we had to get a PO Box. We were charged $42 for the box for a year (the smallest they have) and $6 deposit for two keys. My friend also had to get a PO box in the next town over and told me hers was free.

Am I entitled to a free PO Box??

Okay... so you say "most" houses do not have mailboxes. Does this mean some do? Do they deliver mail at ALL to your area? If they do, then you have to pay for a PO Box because you would have the option of home delivery. If you do not, then I believe you would be allowed a single free box (though these are usually the small ones).

 

[mickeym96]

Maybe. We own a home in a rural area, and the PO does not deliver to most areas of town. Anyone who lives in one of the areas where there is no delivery, gets a free PO Box, with two keys (no deposit, either). We just have to sign a form every year.

I think that the USPS can't deny service to you, so they have to provide it some how. If I were in your shoes, I'd be googling to see if there is some regulation about this.

This is correct. If there is rural delivery but the carrier does not travel on your road you get a free po box (the smallest available) because you do not have the option for free curbside delivery. If the carrier travels on your road and you do not want curbside delivery but want a po box, or you want a box bigger than the smallest box, you pay for the box.

Example. Where I work, there are two roads of the town that we do not travel on, those on those two roads get free small post office boxes. There are another two roads that we do travel on and those on those people on those two roads that want po boxes, pay for their boxes because they do have the option of free curbside delivery

 

[mickeym96]

Okay... so you say "most" houses do not have mailboxes. Does this mean some do? Do they deliver mail at ALL to your area? If they do, then you have to pay for a PO Box because you would have the option of home delivery. If you do not, then I believe you would be allowed a single free box (though these are usually the small ones).

This

 

[foltzy]

We have the same thing and we live in town. Here's what we were told by the post office. Our borough will not allow us to put a box out front of our house into the side walk. Our post office has someone go by and so the mail can be delivered to our house if we have a mail box. Because the mail can be delivered they say we have to pay for the box. We don't have walking carriers so therefor they'd have to drive up to it but since the borough says no, we pay for it. Stupid, stupid, stupid.