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In my experience, a "real" address is needed somewhere. PO Boxes are fine for many things, but for process service, etc. the part of your state government that

In my experience, a "real" address is needed somewhere. PO Boxes are fine for many things, but for process service, etc. the part of your state government that is responsible for business entities will want a real address.

Scoundreller 5y ago
It’s more expensive, but a lawyer can serve that role.
technofiend 5y ago
So you've never heard of competitive addressing, then. Instead of PO BOX 1234, Anytown, ST USA you use Street Address of Post Office, Unit # PO BOX Number, Anytown ST USA. In addition to giving you a "real" street address, it works for any services unable to otherwise deliver to a PO BOX like UPS, Fedex or DHL, because as long as they deliver during business hours, the post office will sign for your package. I use this to great effect as package theft is so rampant in my area. It does add a one day delay since the package is signed for by my post office and not delivered into my po box until the next day. And I've had to call and complain to Amazon a few times until they stopped trying to use their vans to deliver to that address. The drivers rarely read the instructions that say "You must deliver during business hours as this is a post office." When Amazon actually ships via USPS to my po box I get the packages same day as delivery so it's the best of all scenarios. Really I don't know why people have a such hate on for the post office. I love it. https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing/competitivepoboxes https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing/competitivepoboxes But yeah most likely a process server will leave the post office frustrated. I'm not sure if that's a bug or a feature. :-)
- skak 5y ago
  The only reason people on HN have hate for the post office is they are influenced by capitalists who want another industry to “disrupt.” American oligarchs have been declaring war on public services since the New Deal, and over time American workers have sadly been propagandized to buy into it. As a result, the U.S. Post Office is not what it used to be (it used to offer banking services!!!) but it’s still one of the best things we have left. Not to mention its glowing record of equal employment.
  - handrous 5y ago
    Someone on HN once mentioned that anti-USPO plays are likely aimed at "freeing up" all the prime real estate the USPO owns in cities all over the country for private buyers, which was the thing that finally made some people and groups' evident hate and ill-wishing for the post office make sense to me. I'm sure killing some competition is also a factor for certain interests, but that was never enough, I thought, to explain all the forces working against them.
    - skak 5y ago
      The real estate effort makes sense because it gives an objective to organize around. In the case I made, I should probably elaborate. I don’t think there are many groups of people wanting to take over mail delivery for profit, or that those groups are terribly committed. I think it more often serves as an ideological punching bag that represents public services in general. The USPS is often cited in arguments for why public healthcare supposedly can never work, for example, despite it’s success in most developed nations. This depends on attacking public services in general. Currently, maintaining this sentiment for the private sector against the public sector is important to the effort to withhold IP of the coronavirus vaccine from the third world. IP laws are often complained about by HN readers, but IP itself is not. This conflict between regulation and anarchy is an eternal contradiction in the entrepreneurial pursuit, but public services which serve working people equally are ideologically beyond the pale, enemies of the entrepreneurial spirit.
      - zentiggr 5y ago
        The inherent contradiction between -- "let me do anything I want, I want to succeed and be huge!" -- "make sure I can stop anyone that wants to do the same thing, I want to be the only one to succeed and be huge!"
  - pjc50 5y ago
    Don't forget the people trying to destroy it so they can prevent postal voting in certain counties.
  - 5y ago
- dimva 5y ago
  the USPS consistently has the highest favorability rating of any government agency, at 91%: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2021/04/usps-earns-91-approval-in-ig-survey-despite-pandemic-challenges/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2021/04/usps...
  - treeman79 5y ago
    Impressive. Grew up when “Going postal” was a popular expression due to how often postal workers went on shooting rampages. I recall efforts to reduce stress as apparently managers were tired of being murdered. Maybe new phrase will be “Going Amazon”
    - btilly 5y ago
      The reason for that was that the US government tried to guarantee jobs for veterans. The one government task that could use relatively uneducated but fit people no matter where they happened to live was postal delivery. So a lot of veterans with PTSD and weapons training wound up as postal delivery workers. Veterans with PTSD and weapons training sometimes flip out and shoot people.
- OldHand2018 5y ago
  > But yeah most likely a process server will leave the post office frustrated. I'm not sure if that's a bug or a feature. :-) It’s probably one of those things that starts as a feature and quickly morphs into a really, really big bug.
- sneak 5y ago
  The part of this that is news to me (I have long known about using the street address of the post office with #BOXNUMBER, and used this to get driver's licenses in the past) is that they will now accept UPS/FedEx shipments to a PO box when addressed in this manner. For a long time, the USPS would simply refuse to accept deliveries from competitors, which always struck me as the utmost in anticompetitive, non-interoperable-by-design bullshit. I'm glad to hear they have stopped.
- IG_Semmelweiss 5y ago
  Be careful. There are services companies use to detect if they are delivering to a PO Box or not. It basically blacklists any po box- hosting address.
treeman79 5y ago
A bus stop is a valid address for some things.

Scoundreller 5y ago

It’s more expensive, but a lawyer can serve that role.

technofiend 5y ago

So you've never heard of competitive addressing, then. Instead of PO BOX 1234, Anytown, ST USA you use Street Address of Post Office, Unit # PO BOX Number, Anytown ST USA. In addition to giving you a "real" street address, it works for any services unable to otherwise deliver to a PO BOX like UPS, Fedex or DHL, because as long as they deliver during business hours, the post office will sign for your package. I use this to great effect as package theft is so rampant in my area. It does add a one day delay since the package is signed for by my post office and not delivered into my po box until the next day. And I've had to call and complain to Amazon a few times until they stopped trying to use their vans to deliver to that address. The drivers rarely read the instructions that say "You must deliver during business hours as this is a post office." When Amazon actually ships via USPS to my po box I get the packages same day as delivery so it's the best of all scenarios. Really I don't know why people have a such hate on for the post office. I love it. https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing/competitivepoboxes https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing/competitivepoboxes But yeah most likely a process server will leave the post office frustrated. I'm not sure if that's a bug or a feature. :-)

skak 5y ago
The only reason people on HN have hate for the post office is they are influenced by capitalists who want another industry to “disrupt.” American oligarchs have been declaring war on public services since the New Deal, and over time American workers have sadly been propagandized to buy into it. As a result, the U.S. Post Office is not what it used to be (it used to offer banking services!!!) but it’s still one of the best things we have left. Not to mention its glowing record of equal employment.
- handrous 5y ago
  Someone on HN once mentioned that anti-USPO plays are likely aimed at "freeing up" all the prime real estate the USPO owns in cities all over the country for private buyers, which was the thing that finally made some people and groups' evident hate and ill-wishing for the post office make sense to me. I'm sure killing some competition is also a factor for certain interests, but that was never enough, I thought, to explain all the forces working against them.
  - skak 5y ago
    The real estate effort makes sense because it gives an objective to organize around. In the case I made, I should probably elaborate. I don’t think there are many groups of people wanting to take over mail delivery for profit, or that those groups are terribly committed. I think it more often serves as an ideological punching bag that represents public services in general. The USPS is often cited in arguments for why public healthcare supposedly can never work, for example, despite it’s success in most developed nations. This depends on attacking public services in general. Currently, maintaining this sentiment for the private sector against the public sector is important to the effort to withhold IP of the coronavirus vaccine from the third world. IP laws are often complained about by HN readers, but IP itself is not. This conflict between regulation and anarchy is an eternal contradiction in the entrepreneurial pursuit, but public services which serve working people equally are ideologically beyond the pale, enemies of the entrepreneurial spirit.
    - zentiggr 5y ago
      The inherent contradiction between -- "let me do anything I want, I want to succeed and be huge!" -- "make sure I can stop anyone that wants to do the same thing, I want to be the only one to succeed and be huge!"
- pjc50 5y ago
  Don't forget the people trying to destroy it so they can prevent postal voting in certain counties.
- 5y ago
dimva 5y ago
the USPS consistently has the highest favorability rating of any government agency, at 91%: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2021/04/usps-earns-91-approval-in-ig-survey-despite-pandemic-challenges/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2021/04/usps...
- treeman79 5y ago
  Impressive. Grew up when “Going postal” was a popular expression due to how often postal workers went on shooting rampages. I recall efforts to reduce stress as apparently managers were tired of being murdered. Maybe new phrase will be “Going Amazon”
  - btilly 5y ago
    The reason for that was that the US government tried to guarantee jobs for veterans. The one government task that could use relatively uneducated but fit people no matter where they happened to live was postal delivery. So a lot of veterans with PTSD and weapons training wound up as postal delivery workers. Veterans with PTSD and weapons training sometimes flip out and shoot people.
OldHand2018 5y ago
> But yeah most likely a process server will leave the post office frustrated. I'm not sure if that's a bug or a feature. :-) It’s probably one of those things that starts as a feature and quickly morphs into a really, really big bug.
sneak 5y ago
The part of this that is news to me (I have long known about using the street address of the post office with #BOXNUMBER, and used this to get driver's licenses in the past) is that they will now accept UPS/FedEx shipments to a PO box when addressed in this manner. For a long time, the USPS would simply refuse to accept deliveries from competitors, which always struck me as the utmost in anticompetitive, non-interoperable-by-design bullshit. I'm glad to hear they have stopped.
IG_Semmelweiss 5y ago
Be careful. There are services companies use to detect if they are delivering to a PO Box or not. It basically blacklists any po box- hosting address.

treeman79 5y ago

A bus stop is a valid address for some things.