Low-cost virtual mailboxes
A cheap virtual mailbox that stays cheap
A low-cost plan can be all a small business needs, or it can turn into a bigger bill once the extras arrive. This site looks at what the cheaper plans include, what they charge for on top and where they cut corners.
What a budget plan handles
Open each door before you sign up
A virtual mailbox does a handful of separate jobs. The cheaper plans tend to differ in which of them they include and which they leave to an add-on.
-
Receiving the mail
A street address where letters arrive and are logged in your name, so nothing lands on your own doorstep.
-
Scanning envelopes
A picture of the outside of each piece, so you can decide what to open, forward or throw away.
-
Opening and scanning
The letter itself, opened and scanned for you to read online. Often the first thing a basic plan rations.
-
Forwarding
Sending the paper on to wherever you are. Postage and handling are usually the parts to look at closely.
-
Parcels and packages
Boxes, courier deliveries and anything needing a signature, which can be handled on different terms from letters.
-
Using the address
Whether the address can go on a website, an invoice, a bank form or a state filing for your business.
On the route
The subjects this site covers
- Cheaper plans compared
- What separates a low-cost plan from the next tier up.
- Charges on top
- Extra scans, forwarding, storage and other add-ons.
- Where corners get cut
- Limits and trade-offs that only show up later.
- Addresses for an LLC
- When a mailbox address can stand in for a business address.
- Keeping a home address private
- Taking a house off invoices, websites and public records.
- Switching providers
- What moving your mail to another service involves.
Articles on these subjects are on the way.
Before you pick the cheapest
Four questions for any low-cost plan
The answers change from one provider to the next, and they say more about the real cost than the headline price does.
What is included each month?
How much mail the plan covers, and what happens once you go past it.
What costs extra?
Opening and scanning, forwarding, parcel handling and storage are worth asking about one by one.
What can the address be used for?
Some uses, like a bank account or a state filing, may ask more of an address than a mail drop gives.
How easy is it to leave?
Notice periods, mail held after you cancel and how forwarding ends all matter once you move on.
Who a budget mailbox suits
Cheap works best when the mail is light
How much mail you get, and what you need to do with it, decides whether a basic plan is enough.
A business run from home
Mostly wanting a public address that is not the house, with a modest amount of post.
An owner who travels
Needing to see mail from anywhere, where scanning matters more than forwarding.
A new company
Watching every monthly cost while the paperwork of starting out is still arriving.