In 2022, 127.3 billion pieces of mail were delivered by the United States Postal Service (USPS). While many of these were sent with the standard USPS service, others send via certified mail.
Certified mail is a great solution that allows you to better track the mail you send and get confirmation of delivery. If you’re thinking about sending certified mail, however, one of the things that you may be wondering is whether you can successfully send it to a PO box.
Fortunately, we’re here to help. In this guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about sending certified mail to a PO box.
What Is Certified Mail?
With the certified mail USPS service, you can send mail while getting verification that it was delivered successfully. You’ll be able to get an online verification and a mailing receipt and can request a signature confirmation if needed.
Certified mail allows for better tracking and is very useful for certain situations. There are many benefits of certified mail and companies and individuals send it for a variety of reasons. For example, they may send certified mail if they’re sending sensitive information or if they simply want to have a record of sending the mail.
How to Send Your Mail to a PO Box
If you’re sending certified mail and want to get a signature upon delivery, the process of sending it to a PO Box becomes a little bit more complicated.
When sending to a PO Box, it’s not always easy to get a signature. When you send certified mail to a PO box, a notice (PS Form 3849) will be left inside the PO box instead of the letter itself.
This notice will tell the recipient to pick up the certified mail at the front desk of the post office. Once the recipient goes to the front desk, they’ll need to sign for the certified mail.
If the recipient doesn’t pick up the certified mail within a 15-day time frame, it will return to the sender. It’s a good idea to let the recipient know that the mail will be arriving so that they can pick it up in time.
If they choose to do so, a sender can attempt to send the mail again and there will be another 15 days for the recipient to pick up the letter.
A sender can get a refund for the certified mail service fee if the letter isn’t delivered successfully. The sender won’t be able to get a refund for the postage, however.
Sending Certified Mail to a PO Box
If you need to send certified mail to a PO box, you should have an idea of what to expect from these mail delivery options. Sending certified mail is still a simple process. However, the recipient will need to visit the front desk of the post office and give their signature before receiving the certified mail.
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