As a Traveling Mailbox customer for almost a decade now, I’ve become intimately familiar with how it works and the different features it offers. There are quite a few virtual mailbox services on the market today, so in this Traveling Mailbox review, I’m going to explain exactly why I’ve been using this particular company as a personal and business account.
Key Takeaways
- Traveling Mailbox provides a real street address to use as a virtual mailbox for receiving mail digitally. This allows privacy and convenience.
- The service scans incoming mail and packages, allowing you to view and manage it all through an online portal. You can then choose to have mail forwarded anywhere.
- The main downside to premium addresses is that they take extra time as they route through their headquarters. But the elevated security and reliability make it worth it.
- Top alternatives like iPostal1, Anytime Mailbox, and PostScan Mail offer different locations and features. Conduct your research to find the best virtual mailbox for your needs.
Traveling Mailbox is a North Carolina-based company that started operations in 2011 . As with most mail forwarding and virtual mailbox services, the company provides a real street address for either business or personal mail. It is a place to receive mail, have the mail scanned, and then forwarded.
In other words, you can create more privacy for your home address by using a virtual mailbox for incoming mail.
A virtual mailbox makes your physical mail digital.
This kind of service is used by all sorts of people:
- People who value privacy;
- RVers
- Digital nomads who travel the world;
- A small business owner who needs a virtual address to register an LLC
So what differentiates each virtual mailbox service on the market? I’m going to do my best in this Traveling Mailbox review to explain the features as well as what I’ve liked and not liked over the past decade of using the service.
Note: Some of the links in this Traveling Mailbox review may be affiliate links, which means that at no extra cost to you, I may be compensated if you choose to use one of the services listed. I only recommend what I personally have used, and I appreciate your support!
Features and Benefits | Travelling Mailbox
While many of the features I’m going to mention in this Traveling Mailbox review can be found with a number of virtual mailbox providers, I’ll do my best to note whenever there’s a unique feature you won’t find elsewhere.
Virtual Address Options
Traveling Mailbox offers one 1 standard mailing address in North Carolina and 54 premium addresses at an additional cost, all within the continental United States. Each of these addresses is a valid address, not PO boxes.
All postal mail, even what gets sent to a premium address, is sent to and processed at the NC address. We’ll go a little more in-depth with this in a moment.
The most important thing to note here is that Traveling Mailbox does not offer international locations at this time.
Traveling Mailbox does not offer international locations at this time.
All my scanned letters are forwarded and process at their headquarters in North Carolina.
Mobile App for Virtual Mail
Traveling Mailbox was one of the first digital mailbox services to offer a mobile app, and it’s exceptionally easy to navigate and use. You can view and download important documents, make scan requests, and use the check deposit among other additional services.
Package Forwarding Services
Once you’ve scanned the mail, you have the option to have that mail forwarded to any address in the world. This is something that a PO Box from the post office doesn’t offer.
This is a great feature that I’ve used multiple times as I live overseas and it works really well. You have the option to combine multiple letters or packages into one package to be shipped to any address you’d like. If you’re waiting for other pieces of mail or to combine into one package, you can even take advantage of their mail storage (free for 30 days).
Check & Fax Services
Not every virtual mailbox service offers check depositing, and even fewer provide a working fax number.
PRO TIP: Using check deposit isn’t nearly as important now that most banks allow for mobile check deposits. Instead of paying the hidden fees to have a check sent to my bank, I simply scan the check and then deposit is via the camera on my phone.
For those who still require fax services, Travelling Mailbox allows you to send and receive faxes. You can even request a custom fax number for your business if you need it.
Letter Services
If you’re located outside the United States and you need to mail a physical letter, Traveling Mailbox offers a unique service on their website where you upload a PDF and they’ll print it off and mail it wherever you want.
This is the opposite of mail forwarding, and although I haven’t used this feature much at all, it isn’t something you’ll find with most of their competitors.
Pricing (versus the competition)
The three most popular plans that they offer are the Basic Plan, the Extended Plan and the Small Business Plan.
The biggest difference you’ll see between each of these plans is the number of incoming envelopes, the number of page scans and the number of recipients that you are allotted.
You can always pay for more, but if you have Traveling Mailbox receiving a lot of mail, it ends up being cheaper to upgrade to something like the Extended Plan than to pay for additional scans. It just makes sense.
For most individuals (including myself) the Basic Plan offers more than enough, including unlimited cloud storage access for all the digital copies of your mail.
When I compare this to other virtual mailboxes, this pricing is on the lower end. You could find something for a couple dollars cheaper, but most of the other options start at $25-$30/mo.
Pros and Cons: Traveling Mailbox Review
I have absolutely loved creating a permanent address that doesn’t change every time I make a move or travel around. I’m able to control all of my mail and packages without the worry of somebody leaving it on a front porch.
And for those who wonder if virtual mailboxes are safe – I’ve never had any issue with mine.
Now that I’ve been using it for almost a decade, the next portion of this Traveling Mailbox review is what I’ve really liked and not liked about the service.
What I like about Traveling Mailbox
Ever since I started using the app, I’ve become addicted to managing my physical mail in a digital format as well as hiding my home address for privacy. Every scan I request gets processed in less than 24 hours (except on holidays) and I love that the unlimited cloud storage and integrations with services like Google Drive that allows me to keep a record of my mail similar to my secure email archive.
Once people purchase a virtual mailboxes and experience the decrease in junk mail and the increase in control, the costs seem entirely justified and it’s very difficult to go back.
I’ve also really enjoyed their customer support team. The one time I had an issue with receiving my mail, the live customer support was able to find the problem and sent me an email notification when it was resolved.
What I don’t like about Traveling Mailbox
Traveling Mailbox works a bit differently from other virtual mailbox services in that they use a central headquarters to process all incoming and outgoing mail.
By contrast, most of their competition tends to rely on small mom-and-pop mail centers to not only receive the mail but also to open, scan and forward it when requested.
While I prefer a process that limits who touches my postal mail, the downside is that if you use a premium address, your mail usually takes an extra few days to get processed. The reason for this is that mail gets delivered to the premium address and is then forwarded to the headquarters in Sanford. That extra forwarding adds a few days and some customers have complained about the time it takes to receive their mail.
Honestly, it hasn’t affected me much, but it’s worth noting for those who need to have mail efficiently delivered at all times.
Is Traveling Mailbox Safe to Use? (privacy concerns)
The number one question people ask me about this kind of service is this: is a virtual address safe to use?
In some ways, I would argue that there’s a greater risk of your mail being stolen if you have it sitting in a mailbox outside your home for anybody to take. And it’s especially true of porch pirates who take packages off your from door.
I’ve actually had the opportunity to visit a virtual mailbox facility and was pleasantly surprised to see just how serious they take security and privacy.
The facility is kept under video surveillance, nobody is allowed in except employees, your online mailbox is encrypted and Traveling Mailbox is even HIPPA complaint to handle any sensitive health data. There’s no misleading advertising as far as I can see.
Traveling Mailbox Alternatives
There are a number of virtual mailbox alternatives, many of which offer different features that might appeal to your needs. Here are the top three alternatives:
Traveling Mailbox vs iPostal1
iPostal1 is different from Traveling Mailbox in that they have significantly more addresses to choose from, including international addresses in places like Canada, the UK, Singapore and many others.
Pricing for iPostal1 is slightly cheaper, but they also contract most of their addresses through independent mail centers who handle your new mail.
Traveling Mailbox vs Anytime Mailbox
Anytime Mailbox also offer more new address options than Traveling Mailbox, but again, these are all independent 3rd-party postal centers. This doesn’t automatically make it the worst mailbox service, but it does mean that they don’t offer standard pricing – each location carries a different cost.
The most interesting thing to me is that Anytime Mailbox isn’t nearly as focused on the end consumer (you and me) as they are on signing up other companies to use their services as a white label.
Traveling Mailbox vs PostScan Mail
I really like PostScan Mail and truth be told, I have an account with both companies. PostScan Mail has an advantage over Traveling Mailbox in that they have a number of different “headquarter” locations across the country that process the mail.
They also give you the option to go in-person to pick up your mail if you like, which is helpful if you want to save money on forwarding costs.
Is Traveling Mailbox the Best Option for YOU?
Ultimately the decision is up to you, but I will say that I’ve been very happy with my purchase of a Traveling Mailbox account. You are welcome to visit their website to get additional information, but hopefully this Traveling Mailbox review was able to provide a good overview of the pros and cons.
The main thing you need to remember is that it is a hassle to change addresses, so you want to make sure you do your homework to choose an address and a service that fits your needs.
Get Your Own Address!
See what’s available:
FAQ | Traveling Mailbox
Yes, it is. You will be required to fill out a USPS form to legally allow Traveling Mailbox to receive mail on your behalf, and they run all your mail through their secure facility in Sanford, North Carolina.
Traveling Mailbox is owned by Travis Poole, a graduate of East Carolina University in the United States.
No. Traveling Mailbox is better than a PO box from the USPS because it accepts mail from all postal carriers (FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc.).
Yes! Virtual addresses are often used as a registered business address for official documentation. You will need to keep that address active for as long as that business is in operation.
