private mailbox or PO Box?

[Grassyknoll]

Originally Posted by michelle_island

I went ahead and chose a paid PO box in MT. View. It didn't say anything about a waitlist or being unavailable so I'm assuming I'll have a PO box waiting for us when we arrive(?). Thank you all for your advice!!

Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
Often your expectations of what a company or service would do (such as inform you of a lack of availability), are the opposite of what happens here.
If it's important, I would try and confirm with someone that you do or do not have a po box waiting.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Agree with GK. I assume that you chose a PO box on-line. Until you actually talk with the Postmaster/Postmistress in person, there is no guarantee that there is a box waiting for you. This is based on personal experience -- I've found in our post office in Na'alehu that they don't always get information submitted on-line.

[terracore]

Originally Posted by steiconi

Informed delivery wasn't available in mountain view when I checked a few months ago. I get the impression that it often isn't available for p.o. boxes.

Go to https://informeddelivery.usps.com/bo...o/start.action put your zip code in and click to get notified when the service is available.


It is available for PO Boxes. In fact I think when it started it was available only for PO boxes.


When I worked for the PO almost 20 years ago, the backbone for the informed delivery technology was already in place, there just wasn't a lot of people with email addresses, and smart phones hadn't been invented yet. The technology was used at the sorting centers to scan the mail that couldn't be read by machines and then transmitting that image to a central location where a person would see the image on the screen, manually decipher the address, and then enter it into a computer and the mail would get a tiny barcode that the machines could read and automatically route it. I don't know this information first hand, but had been told that the images could also be used to track the type of correspondence that people were getting.


Fast forward to the future, and nobody sends paper mail any more, and they have all this scanning technology at the sorting centers sitting there doing nothing so somebody finally decided that they could send the images to the recipients (and not just the government) and add value to using the mail with very little cost because the technology being used was already decades old.


The point is, there isn't anything at the Mountain View post office that has anything to do with this technology or service and your mail has been getting scanned for years. The nearest sorting facility is in Honolulu. If the service is not yet available in your zip it must be because they are rolling out new "subscribers" at a rate commensurate with the system's ability to handle the added users.



I guess the Hilo post office was one of the pilot areas for this service because I've had it for years (they stuck a flyer in my box inviting me to sign up for it). It has been moderately useful. One time I was buying something from an online retailer and before I did I got my daily email with the "informed delivery" images and one of the scans was a postcard from the same retailer with a coupon code I was able to apply to my online order- without ever physically getting my mail.

[michelle_island]

Originally Posted by Grassyknoll

Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
Often your expectations of what a company or service would do (such as inform you of a lack of availability), are the opposite of what happens here.
If it's important, I would try and confirm with someone that you do or do not have a po box waiting.

Thank you for everyone's advice! PO box confirmed and waiting for us!

[nwcountrygal]

That is amazing as when I go in there no boxes.

[terracore]

"That is amazing as when I go in there no boxes."


There might be a differential between no free boxes for locals due to no local mail delivery and those willing to pay for boxes. You can probably check and see.