We researched the costs of safe deposit boxes from branches at the top 20 U.S. Banks and found that they can be as small a 1-inch by 5-inches to as large as 10-inches by 24-inches. Note: This article is part of our Basic Banking series, designed to provide new savers with the key skills to save smarter. We spoke with numerous banks around the country and found that annual safe deposit box prices can range from as low as $49 for a 3-by-5-inch box to as high as $360 for some 10-by-10-inch options.
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Post office boxes PoBox (P.O. box) With a post office box you can keep your mail safe and collect it whenever you want.
Benefits
•Keep your mail secure under lock and key
•Ensure you receive your mail in rural or remote areas by using a private bag
•Protect your privacy by not revealing your street address
•Collect your mail whenever you want at participating Post retail outlets with 24-hour PO box access
•Keep a consistent postal address, even when you change your street address
•Be alerted by email or SMS when you have mail to collect via Mail alert service
How to apply
It's easy to apply for your P.O. box. Just follow these simple steps:
1.Find a Post Office retail outlet near you that offers post office boxes
2.Completed form in person at any retail outlet, along with proof of identity that shows your name, residential address and signature (this can be your driver's licence or 2 other documents such as a utility bill and bank statement)
3.Pay your fee when lodging your application - by cash, cheque, credit card.
Rent in United States Pobox: Find a USPS Post Office Location for United States Postal Service: Rent a Safe Deposit box at a USPS Post office. Get shipping rates, buy stamps, print postage, track a package, look up a ZIP Code? - Find the mailing products and services you need at USPS.com.
Rent in Australia PoBOXhttp://auspost.com.au/
Accessing your post office box
Most outlets offer 24-hour access to post office boxes, so you can pick up your mail whenever it's convenient.
How much is a safe deposit box at the post office.
The price of Post office boxes depend on the size. You can choose a post office box that suits the amount of mail you receive:
•Small box: 90mm x 130mm, ideal for personal mail
•Medium box: 135mm x 130mm, suits most small to medium businesses
•Large box: 275mm x 130mm, designed for medium to large businesses
You can double check price and conditions with your local postal officer.
Until recently only items mailed or shipped via USPS could be received at a USPS PO Box address, though a new service called Street Addressing is beginning to change this. Once a permission form is completed by the box holder, Street Addressing allows private shippers, such as United Parcel Service (UPS) or FedEx, to ship items to a modification of the actual street address of the Post Office where the PO Box is located. The Post Office accepts the item and places it in the PO Box or, for larger items, handles them the same way they would a package sent via USPS. However, only certain Post Offices offer Street Addressing and even for ones that do, it may not be available to all of its PO Box customers (e.g. boxes without a fee). Other restrictions also exist, including the same limitations on items that cannot otherwise be mailed though USPS. In some cases, the package may require one additional business day for delivery, and the service was never intended for overnight delivery from private shippers. The last four digits of the zip code +4 are in sequence with neighboring buildings along the same street as the post office, and not '9998,' which is reserved for USPS business matters only. This even applies to larger post offices that give a unique zip code to its PO Box holders. Using Street Addressing, all box holders will use the same zip code, and the first five digits will be that of the community, and not the one used exclusively for PO Boxes.
A Private Mail Bag, Locked Bag or caller service is a term for a special form of postal delivery in some countries, usually a government department or large private company, which receive large volumes of mail.
Examples and variants
Like PO Box addresses, Private Mail Bag addresses omit the name of the building and street, and include only the number allocated to the user.
In some cases, a Private Mail Bag may not have a number:
It differs from PO box delivery in that whereas the holder of a PO box has to go to the Post Office in order to collect mail, the mail sent to a Private Bag is dispatched to the holder by a mail contractor.
In Australia and Singapore, a Locked Bag is similar to a Private Mail Bag, but the holder must collect the mail at the Post Office, like a PO box. In the United States, this service is called caller service, although mail to a caller number is typically addressed as though the caller number were a physical PO box, as seen in the following example:
Commissioner for PatentsPO Box 1450Alexandria VA 22313-1450
In other countries, particularly South Africa and New Zealand, the term Private Bag is also used.
University of AucklandPrivate Bag 92019AUCKLAND 1142
In South Africa, the Private Bag number may also contain letters.
Department of Home AffairsPrivate Bag X114PRETORIA 0001
Private Mail Bag addresses are often used in countries in Africa where there may be no street delivery service. In Europe and North America, where street delivery is more commonplace, large users may be allocated their own postal codes, and consequently need only use their physical address in correspondence; the postal code implies that the recipient receives mail by caller service.
Many major newspapers in large American Cities have their own postal codes, and as a result large newspapers can be sent mail without the street address of the newspaper. For example, the Washington Post has the unique ZIP code 20071.