Not every business owner is an executive with a suite of offices and a warehouse and dozens of workers at their beck and call; sometimes they are a mum who makes her clothing on her off days and sells them online to interested customers, who works out of her own home in London perhaps. Her business operations are very different from those of a large company, and her requirements are much more modest too, doing more with less. One investment you can and should make is getting a PO box for your small business, for reasons we will get into in this little article.
What Is A PO Box?
So what is a PO Box exactly? PO Box is short for Post Office Box, a mailbox service provided by the Royal Mail in the United Kingdom. They are highly convenient for businesses because, unlike physical addresses that are tied to a specific location, PO Boxes let individuals and businesses receive parcels and mail at a separate address, tied to the local post office. It is also pretty easy to set up a PO box, as you can just head to the internet and choose the most convenient location near your home or place of business. Before you do so, though, you should probably figure out the basics and some factors that will affect your decision.
Professionalism
You probably do not want your business mail and deliveries delivered to your home, the same address that receives your packages. Not only is it easier to separate and filter out when you have a separate mailing address, but it also has a very positive effect on your business’ image, elevating your professionalism and giving your customers and business partners a physical location. Having a PO Box also helps to showcase your commitment to having a reliable and formal presence. Especially if you are just running a business from home and do not have an established brand image already, a PO Box will help give your clients a positive impression of you.
Privacy
If your business is registered to your home address, a PO Box gives you a separate mailing address you can share with your customers and is very useful for maintaining a healthy, comfortable balance between your work and home life. This can be incredibly beneficial for when you have children and constant stress in your life and receive stacks of bills, adverts, and packages. The last thing you want to have to happen is to accidentally throw important business mail into the trash with your junk mail. Privacy is another advantage here; your home address is not available to random clients, and you have a healthy boundary between your home and your business, your family, and your customer base. Privacy, especially in the modern world, is of paramount importance, and when you deal with strangers every day for a living, you need to do all you can to ensure your privacy is intact.
Mail Security
Your PO Box is located inside your local post office, locked and inaccessible to everyone except you if you have the right lock combination or key. Some post offices have longer business hours or even 24/7 lobby access so you can come pick up your mail whenever you want or need. Mail inside your PO Box is also significantly more secure when compared to mail left inside your home mailbox. These home mailboxes are often left unlocked and any random stranger can just rummage through them. That obviously will not do, so get a PO Box for your business.
Quick Delivery
The mail system on the islands is already pretty quick and convenient, but your mail will get delivered even quicker to a PO Box rather than if it were delivered to a business or home address because the Post Office hosts it. Your new mail will usually be available before noon, which can be particularly convenient if you need to pick up a particular package that requires same-day mail-out.
Affordable
In business, you often need to make investments, sometimes expensive ones, but when you are just running a small business from home, you typically can not afford to sink a significant percentage of your pay-check into services you do not require every day. Luckily, PO Boxes are quite affordable, and depending on the box size and location, a six-month term starts for as low as $10. Before you sign anything, though, make sure you get a box big enough to fit all the important mail you will be getting. If you pay more, you can also choose to have your mail securely forwarded to you, so you do not even have to go to the PO Box to get your mail.
How to Get One?
Again, getting a PO Box is pretty straightforward. First of all, you settle on which post office you want to utilise for your PO Box. Keep in mind, if you are using Royal Mail, not all post offices feature this service, so check with them first, or just head to the Royal Mail website to find a location that works for you and offers the services you need. After that, you just need to fill out some forms and applications, giving your full name, address, and accurate contact information. Proof of identity is also necessary, so do not forget your passport, driver’s license, and/or another valid form of ID. You will also need to specify how long you will be renting the PO Box, and generally, you can start from three months and go up from there, depending on your budget and requirements, whether you meet your goals or not. Some post offices also offer additional services, such as package acceptance or mail forwarding, for an extra fee, of course, so be sure to check that.
In the shifting and dynamic world of business, a PO Box address can serve as your beacon of reliability and professionalism, an asset that is not just highly practical and useful when it comes to receiving your business mail and other deliveries but also improves your brand image and level of commitment to your business.
