Perhaps it's part of an effort for the USPS to get over operating in the red. I wouldn't necessarily believe the reasoning provided by the local postal worker.

Most of the residents in town have to have a P.O. box for regular mail, and their address for packages. I guess it saves the PO money so they don't have to hire more carriers.

As for me, I can't even fathom having to drive to town every day, even though it's a six minute drive, especially for important stuff and packages, over having a large mailbox. I've noticed that even the nicest of homes in towns and cities have this lavish brick surround around their mailbox, but the mailboxes are so tiny nothing bigger than an envelope can fit inside. Why do they do that?

Plus, if we're sick or the roads were icy, I will not drive to town. It's nice to have our mail delivered, and the mail carriers always put packages that are too big for the mail box, on our porch.

Tina, after ten years we lucked out. Our mailbox had to go across the road and during harvest it;'s a very dangerous road because there's a hill behind our house and we can't see vehicles coming. Eventually it dawned on our PO that we are last on the route so the carrier said we could move the mailbox to our driveway. The new and big mailbox was up the next day. :)

I don't have one, but am a treasurer for a non-profit and we have one that I renewed in February for $78. It went up slightly from the year before when it was $70. We also live in a desirable area, but it is rural.

My plan for the postal service to operate in the black is to reduce home delivery of mail to 2x per week. Most of what we get goes straight to the recycle bin as bills are mostly online and there is rarely personal correspondence...nothing urgent. I guess they charge what the market will bear...but they will likely lose money delivering to your home now. It is a system due for an overhaul!

@3katz4me if that were the case, I would think fees would average out more??? The info came from the Postmaster, so I would think she knows. She told my husband she was giving up her box too LOL.

@Oakley we live in a small city. The PO is very close to us and my husband has a 4x4 truck, so no issues. We are happy the box will be on the other side of the road and not in our yard. : )

@jmck_nc Yes good idea! Another plus to a po box is we have never gotten all the junk mail that many people do. It kills me that the post office has two big trash barrels for discarded mail and they do not recycle! We have asked. It's trashed.

@lyfia we are a small town, rural also.

We like having a po box when traveling (which is more often now), but of course, we can have mail held. I also like not having certain items sitting in a box (at the house), if we are not there. I feel like it's safer in the PO Box. Oh well, it won't kill us! LOL

My father's PO box rental increased significantly last year to $390 and he decided not to renew. I just checked to see what the same size would cost me in another state and it is $332/year. I guess location has a lot to do with the pricing.

I'm fortunate as I have a good postal carrier (right now) and neighbors who will pick up mail when I am out of town. Even with a hold in place, I will still get some mail delivered for some reason.

Definitely no need for mail delivery six days a week these days but the USPS is run by politicians whose other interests are more important to them than the USPS operating efficiently and in the black. I get the email notification of what's in the day's mail. Sometimes I don't get it for days because it's nothing but junk mail which goes directly in the recycling bin without even coming in the house. I don't have all my bills sent electronically but I should. I got burned once when Comcast sent bills to SPAM so I backed off on doing that. We have a locked mailbox where we live now and I do like that.

The price is determined by demand and availability, which are affected by location.

No PO Box here and I wouldn't want one. Parking is very limited at our post office. DH will take outgoing mail there but early morning hours when few are around.

I don't want a street side mailbox either, my driveway is more than 300' long. Our mail is delivered after dark many winter weeks.

I have a mail slot in the wall of my attached garage where the mail drops into a built in wooden box inside. I keep a spacious mailbox under the slot for those packages that wont go through the slot but are small to be leaving at a door. This house is one of those with two front doors, one to the hallway to my office and a main nicer entrance. Both are protected from weather.

When we bought this house, our carrier agreed to use the slot even though he could just as easily have insisted on a streetside box. DH made himself his most charming and begged. They grandfathered us in, but its a circular drive, I am adamant no one parks to block the carriers way and they don't have to take more than about half dozen steps. DH will often watch for them and meet them at their trucks door and they don't get out at all.

Wow, they have gone way up. I renewed my mom's in 2019 and it was around $80, now it would be $332. That is crazy.

Tina, we've been driving 4wd's since 1989. I can assure you they are not guaranteed to keep you safe on ice.

This is a good article. Besides, who wants to put on heavy clothes and shoes just to get mail when dangerous ice is there instead of snuggling by the fire? :)

The Top 7 Icy Road Myths

From what I have read... yes all of their prices are going up to help improve USPS finances.

Yes, the rates vary by location (and the size of the box and the term of the contract), but AFAIK it does not relate to "desirability" of location.

The prices vary by locations because, in some locations a certain service (like a PO Box) might only be offered by USPS, meaning it is a "market-dominant service." For market-dominant services, price increases must be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission and they usually track the rate of inflation.

But, if a service is offered by competitors in your area (like UPS offering mailboxes), then USPS has a lot more pricing flexibility for that service and that is why, in those areas, boxes are more expensive.

Here is a link to the pricing. You may have to go to another page to determine zipcodes for competitive areas. It looks like there are 5 sizes of boxes.

We dont pay anything for our PO Box…maybe because there is no home delivery available at our address?

The price is determined by demand and availability, which are affected by location.

This is what I was going to say. Since you are small town, there might not be a UPS store nearby, but they have PO boxes.

The only bills I get in the mail are from doctors. Everything else is e-mail. There are many companies you can unsubscribe to snail mail, and just get emails (or not). I tend to unsubscribe to almost everything that sends more than one a month or just during sales.

As far as junk mail and catalogs, I go to website and get taken off their mailing list. I cannot stand getting a bunch of crappy cataglogs before the holidays. But this can take some time to do. :-/

One of the first things I did when we moved this last time was buy a larger mailbox that smaller packages (or multiple packages) will fit inside. It is located across the street, but it's a small street and not dangerous. I also bought a "thank you" sticker that goes on the inside of the door for the mail carrier since they bring larger packages to the house. The previous owner had painted a very tiny mailbox with fish. Let's just say she was not an artist.

Thanks for all your input! I'm guessing by "desired area" they are also talking about supply/demand. There is one post office in my city. There is a UPS Store right down the main highway in the next big city, but that does not interest us. @OllieJane my husband also has a business, but honestly, we don't receive a lot of mail for that. The business reports, taxes, etc. are all set up online, so at least I don't have to worry about that. @Oakley if there was ice that bad, we would not be concerned with mail. Someone mentioned the "informed delivery" which is where you get an email showing you what is in your mailbox that day. I do use that. We have a regular size po box but our po either puts packages in a locker (leaves key in your box), or holds behind counter for you. That is probably what I will miss the most because I order everything I can on line. I hate shopping!! The po folks get a laugh out of my deliveries. Last week it was a box of Charmin! Imagine the laughs from that. haha!! So yes, our mailman will get alot of thank-yous and treats/gifts. We bought a larger size mailbox that will hold some items I order but other items he will bring to the house. He's a very nice man (we have met him). We have a long, somewhat steep driveway (we overlook our little city) so I hate that part for him - but we have a turn-around and I'm sure he is used to that and much worse. For the few checks we write/mail, we will mail those at the post office. We will get used to it, I'm sure! Thanks for your input.

Thanks for that info @Mimou-GW! @ajuju I've never heard of that, but it would be nice.

I've never had a PO Box, but was interested in finding out the cost in my area after reading this conversation.

This page from USPS will help you locate one and shows the prices in your area.

https://www.usps.com/manage/po-boxes.htm

In our previous town, we had a PO box and it was free of charge because there was no delivery service available. In our new town, we have a mailbox in front of our house, but we opted for a PO box because we like the security they provide. The box serves both hubby's business and our personal mail. The fee is $300+ per year; I don't recall the exact figure.

Mail theft, both from boxes and porches, is a big problem where we live, although so far not in our neighborhood. I like that I can have packages sent to our PO box where they are safely secured until one of us picks them up. And, hubby likes that the mail sent to his business is also secure as he receives a lot of checks for payment of the work he does for clients. For us, the peace of mind is worth it.

I pick up the mail when I run errands, usually once or twice a week, so it is not at all inconvenient.

Thanks for all your input! I'm guessing by "desired area" they are also talking about supply/demand.

Not exactly.

There are some areas where, for some services, the USPS is essentially a monopoly. Generally monopolies of all sorts are regulated and cannot set their own prices. The regulators, it seems to me, have set the prices for the USPS' monopolistic products way too low, for a long time. They are slowly working their way out of that, but slowly.

But if you live in an area where the USPS does not have a monopoly on PO Boxes, and there are other suppliers you could use for that service, than the regulators essentially say, fine, let the market decide price. If the USPS charges to much, people will switch to UPS or whatever, and vice versa. Like the rest of our economy, we allow market forces to set prices.

We had a po box from 1977-2007 because our mail wasn't delivered. Then they started delivering mail and it is so much nicer. We had to pay for our PO box even though they didn't deliver. I don't know what the prices are now. Back then I got so many magazines that they wouldn't fit in the box and I would have to go to the counter with very limited hours.