Post office box

[citation needed] Consequently, renting a PO box has traditionally been the only way to receive mail in such countries.

Generally, post office boxes are rented from the post office either by individuals or by businesses on a basis ranging from monthly to annual, and the cost of rent varies depending on the box size.

In the United Kingdom, Royal Mail PO boxes are often little more than pigeon-holes in the secure section of a sorting office and are accessible only by staff.

For an additional fee, the Royal Mail will deliver received items to the renter's geographical address.

In the U.S. since the 1980s, in cities and large urban areas, post offices have tended to close box lobbies overnight because of the tendency of homeless people to use them for sleeping quarters.

As a result, some box lobbies are accessible after hours by customers who are provided a code to a door keypad.

In addition, some post offices are located in rented facilities, such as shopping malls.

Notes will also be left in the PO box in respect of cash on delivery (COD) and registered mail that has to be signed for.

In 2011, the United States Postal Service (USPS) began a pilot program with a computerized parcel locker kiosk system, called "gopost"[2] which installed larger boxes to handle package pickup from an unstaffed station.

[3][4] Until 2012, package delivery to USPS post office boxes was not available from private carriers like UPS, FedEx and others.

"[8] Users receiving very large quantities of mail can use "locked bags", which are numbered like PO boxes.

In the United States, two forms of identification are required when signing up for a PO Box; one of which must be a photo ID.

In Windhoek, capital and the only large town, blocks of PO boxes are scattered all over the city and not necessarily located at post offices but at shopping malls, in pedestrian zones or on public places.

Therefore, renters must receive at least one postal item every day and are expected to visit and retrieve mail regularly (daily, in principle) from the box.

Application is only available at post office with valid ID, seal for receiving registered mail, and key fee (usually around 10,000 won).

In Serbia, anyone can apply for Post Office Box (in Serbian: Поштански фах) for very small yearly fee (currently, cost is two standard postal stamps).

In the United Kingdom, anyone applying for a Royal Mail PO box must produce documentation to verify their home or business address.

[17] Once a permission form is completed by the box holder, Street Addressing allows private shippers, such as United Parcel Service (UPS) or FedEx, to ship items to a modification of the actual street address of the Post Office where the PO Box is located.

Other restrictions also exist, including the same limitations on items that cannot otherwise be mailed by ground service though USPS.

If an item is shipped using Street Addressing in which the box holder did not properly sign up for, it will be returned to sender.

In Australia, wall-mounted PO boxes come in five sizes: small, medium, large, jumbo and A4.

[18] In New Zealand, customers have the option to select between two sizes of PO Boxes: small and large.