Private mailbox is a specific service offered by postal companies. You can hire a private mailbox to direct all your correspondence and packages which will be safely kept while you are busy at work or traveling. They are useful not just for busy individuals, but also for small companies which do not have a reception desk – guaranteeing the safe receipt of important documents and deliveries.
For home-based business owners, a private mailbox is a must-have service. We have discussed in several articles before that it is very important to keep your business as separate from your private life as possible. You should have separate bank accounts, separate invoices for equipment and supplies you buy for your business, separate insurance and now we add the separate mailbox to this list.
Here are the most valid and logical reasons why you should go ahead and rent a private mailbox for your home-based business:
1. It Guarantees Your Privacy
Do you really want all your customers to find out where you live? Every time you deliver a package, you have to specify the business address for returns, if the client is not happy with the products. The address must also be found on the invoice of the products and on any contract you sign, even the public ones which anyone can find on the internet.
For example, when you buy the domain name for your website, the address of the owner will be publicly visible in the WHOIS register. This means that your personal home address will become known to anyone doing a simple internet search. We are sure that you and your spouse are certainly not happy with this perspective.
2. It Gives Your Business Legitimacy
All right, you do not want to share your home address with everyone, so why wouldn’t you rent a postal box instead? The problem with PO Box addresses is that they are not reliable anymore. So many scammers have used PO Box addresses, that people are very suspicious of doing business with a company or individual hiding behind an anonymous PO Box. A private mailbox will give you a full street address, as legitimate as any business addresses of large companies with office spaces.
3. It Is a Safe Option for Receiving Valuable Packages
Many home-based businesses rely on supplies and raw materials they purchase from other companies in making their products or supplying their services. But what happens if an expensive package is delivered while you are away and there is no one at home to receive it? Most delivery companies simply leave it in front of your door. The package could easily get damaged or stolen.
With a private mailbox, the packages are safely kept for you and handed over only to authorized persons whom you selected and included on the list when you signed the lease agreement. Thus, there is no chance for any important package or document to get lost.
4. It Helps You Get Listed on the Internet
Online listings are a new and efficient way for businesses to find potential customers. These listings are organized by location, so that when a person searches for a product, the first results will be those of businesses nearby. By hiring a private mailbox, you can start listing your home-based business to Google Local, without actually exposing your home address.
What is more, if you want to target customers who live in a larger city close to you, you can hire a private mail box in that city and get listed online for that specific location.
5. It Is Affordable
All these benefits are not as expensive as you may think. On the contrary, monthly leases for private mailboxes are very affordable. Plus, this is a deductible expense for your home-based business. It is the least expensive way in which you can give your business a professional address, the other option being renting an office space (which is really not an option for start-up home-based businesses).
As you can see, there are so many benefits to hiring a private mailbox. Let us add a new one: once you home address is publicly listed, your mailbox will be flooded with unsolicited mail, catalogs, offers, invitations to business events, etc. Are you sure you want to deal with this extra junk mail? With a private mailbox, you can quickly sort mail in their office and dump anything you don’t want in the nearest paper recycling bin.