A mail service can help your business become more efficient, reduce manual tasks, and enhance security.

There are a range of mail management services for both businesses and individuals but it is important to choose the right one for your needs.

A mail management service helps to simplify your processes and reduce manual, repetitive tasks, allowing you to focus on what’s important.

There’s a lot of benefits your business could gain by outsourcing your mail management, including:

You can streamline remote operations with a centralised mail management account. This saves time on dealing with mail in multiple locations.

Human errors can be common especially when doing manual, repetitive tasks.

By streamlining your processes, you can save money on returns and provide improved customer service.

Your customers are entrusting you with possibly confidential material. You need to make sure you are following your legal obligations by making sure customers information is secure. If you are using our fulfilment services, our warehouse is a gated facility with 24/7 security.

You can keep your own address secure, especially when you are working from home.

With the MyMailbox app, you can stay updated with your mail management at all times.

You are notified when you receive mail and manage your mail by having it forwarded worldwide, shredded, or any other activity you wish.

There are a variety of mailbox options to choose from including a physical mailbox, a PO Box, and a virtual digital mailbox.

A physical mailbox or post-box is typically located at your home for personal deliveries, but you can set up this service with a third party. The third party will have a physical mailbox to receive your mail and parcels instead.

A physical mailbox can be for both personal and business use. 

Royal Mail has reported significant losses on their home postal rounds and is seeking to reduce the amount of deliveries to certain areas where the volume of mail doesn’t justify the cost.

With the increase in online shopping, thieves are aware that larger volumes of people are getting items delivered to their homes which are often left when no one is around.

Having a physical mailbox means you have access to locations you are not physically in.

With the ever-increasing popularity of online shopping, the courier market recognizes that individual deliveries to homes is an unsustainable solution. The last mile delivery accounting for over 60% of the carbon emissions associated with online shopping deliveries.

With a third-party physical mailbox, you don’t have to worry about staying in for deliveries.

If you work at home, having your address on your business website can look unprofessional and would likely lead to consumers questioning your trustworthiness.

May be slightly less convenient as you will have to go and pick up your mail or parcel at the mail management company instead of it being delivered direct to your property.

Having a third-party physical mailbox will come with a cost, but this could be void by taking into account the cost of theft or missed deliveries that slow down your customer service.

A PO Box, or Post Office Box is another type of mailbox typically offered by a third party at a different location than the customer’s home.

Most people would be familiar with this type of service which provides a secure, private, and lockable box for letters to be sent to.

A PO Box is secure as it is locked and ensures if you are in a property with multiple tenants, that your mail is kept private.

Having a PO Box means all your mail is one place and saves you from having to be at your property to receive it.

Typically, you will be able to access your PO Box at any time although this isn’t always the case depending on the location.

Generally, mail can only be collected form a PO Box by a keyholder. This can cause problems if the keyholder doesn’t regularly check the PO Box or becomes unavailable through sickness or other factors.

There may be no flexibility in how your mail is processed and you may not receive a notification when mail arrives in a PO Box.

It can often be expensive compared to other options.

A PO Box for business is a fixed size, so parcel deliveries to this type of service will be more problematic.

Planned changes introduced through the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act will mean that companies can no longer use a PO Box as their Registered Office Address.

And many businesses or other institutions such as banks don’t allow the use of PO Boxes to open accounts.

A virtual mailbox is a digital version of the mailbox that you normally have at your home.

It works by giving the customer access to an online account and when mail or parcel items are received, a scanned image of the outer envelope or packaging is taken.

It is then uploaded to the online account, and you have several options in how you would like the item processed.

You will have easier access to your mail no matter where you are. You can log in from anywhere and arrange to have your mail items opened, scanned, and uploaded to the platform or arrange to collect them at a time that suits you.

Or you can have them forwarded, recycled, or confidentially shredded.

Your items are securely stored until you are ready to collect them. You can have peace of mind that your mail can be safely disposed of for you, so you don’t need to worry about anyone finding sensitive information in your waste or purchasing a shredding machine for your home.

With a virtual mailbox, you can see and keep track of all your mail and parcels.

It avoids the mess associated with storing mail items in drawers in your home which can be disorganised and unsecure.

You can set up folders on your PC to arrange to download and save local copies of the items from your virtual mailbox to keep everything in one place, making it easier to find.

With a mail management company dealing with all your mail, there can be a lack of ownership amongst employees to deal with the mail.

Make sure someone is assigned to actioning anything that is processed by your mail management company.

Mail forwarding is when your mail is delivered to a third party such as a virtual office provider and forwarded or redirected to a location of your choice.

A post forwarding service includes mail being sent to a third party that then forwards your mail to your chosen location.

If you are moving house, in temporary accommodation, or working from home, a mail forwarding service means you can provide a proper address which looks more professional.

A mail forwarding solution isn’t necessarily the most efficient option, as the customer won’t be aware of any mail or parcel items received until it physically arrives with them at their chosen forwarding address.

You may have limited processing options such as opening, scanning, and emailing mail items which may not be a secure option if it isn’t properly protected or encrypted.

Mail can sometimes take days or weeks to be delivered after the item has first been received.

There can be a lot of confusion surrounding a virtual mailbox and what it includes, and many businesses say they offer a virtual mailbox facility when in reality it is more like a mail forwarding facility.

With a virtual mailbox account, you receive notification on the same day as the item arrives in the building, so you can decide how to manage more urgent or important items and discard any junk mail.

A virtual mailbox facility also gives you the option of setting up as many different forwarding addresses as you like, whereas more traditional mail forwarding facilities only offer the ability to choose one or two forwarding addresses.

At My Mailbox Services, we offer a variety of different Virtual Mailbox plans, suitable for both businesses and individuals.

Take a look at our mailbox plans.