USPS PO Box Shipping: Rules and Tips

Over 20 million Americans rent PO Boxes, and if you sell anything online, a percentage of your customers use them. PO Boxes create a unique shipping challenge because USPS is the only major carrier that delivers directly to them. UPS and FedEx cannot deliver to a PO Box address — packages get returned or rejected. Knowing how PO Box shipping works prevents failed deliveries and keeps those customers happy.

Why People Use PO Boxes

Most PO Box holders rent one for security, privacy, or necessity. People in rural areas without home mail delivery rely on PO Boxes as their only option. Small business owners use them to keep a consistent business address separate from their home. Others want the security of a locked box at the Post Office rather than packages sitting on a porch all day.

PO Boxes come in five sizes, from an extra-small box good only for letters (about $30 to $75 for six months) up to extra-large boxes that handle full-size shipping boxes ($170 to $490 for six months). Pricing varies dramatically by location — a PO Box in Manhattan costs several times what the same size costs in rural Montana. Many Post Office lobbies are open 24 hours, giving PO Box holders round-the-clock access to their mail.

The Carrier Problem

This is the single most important thing to understand about PO Boxes: USPS delivers to them, and virtually nobody else does. If a customer with a PO Box address orders from a retailer that ships exclusively through UPS or FedEx, the package cannot be delivered. It either gets returned to the sender or sits in limbo at a UPS/FedEx facility with no way to reach the PO Box.

This causes more customer service headaches than you'd expect. A PO Box customer enters their address at checkout, the order ships via FedEx Ground, and a week later they're asking why they never received it. Some shipping platforms flag PO Box addresses and prevent non-USPS service selection, but many don't.

UPS does offer a service called SurePost that hands off the final delivery to USPS, which means those packages can technically reach PO Boxes. FedEx SmartPost (now FedEx Ground Economy) works the same way. But these are specific services — regular UPS Ground or FedEx Ground won't work. If you ship via multiple carriers, you need logic that routes PO Box addresses to USPS automatically.

Street Addressing: The Workaround

USPS offers a program called Street Addressing that gives PO Box holders a physical street address format. Instead of "PO Box 1234, City, State, ZIP," the address becomes "123 Main Street #1234, City, State, ZIP" — where 123 Main Street is the Post Office address and #1234 is the box number. In this format, the address looks like a regular street address.

Street Addressing was designed to solve the UPS/FedEx delivery problem. In theory, packages addressed to the street format get delivered to the Post Office, and the carrier hands them off to USPS for placement in the PO Box. In practice, this works inconsistently. Some Post Offices accept packages from UPS and FedEx through Street Addressing, while others refuse them. Whether it works depends on the individual Post Office, local agreements with carriers, and whether the package requires a signature.

If you're a PO Box holder relying on Street Addressing for non-USPS packages, test it with a low-value shipment before counting on it for important deliveries. If you're a seller, don't assume Street Addressing will work — the safest approach is routing PO Box orders to USPS.

Shipping to PO Boxes as a Seller

Every USPS shipping service works with PO Boxes — Priority Mail, Ground Advantage, Priority Mail Express, and Media Mail all deliver without issue. The packages go to the Post Office, and if they fit in the box, the clerk places them inside. If they're too large, the clerk leaves a notification slip and holds the package at the counter for pickup.

The key challenge for sellers is detecting PO Box addresses and routing them correctly. If you offer both USPS and UPS/FedEx shipping, you need your system to identify PO Box addresses and restrict them to USPS services. Most addresses are easy to detect — they literally say "PO Box" — but Street Addressing formats can slip through because they look like regular street addresses.

Address validation APIs help here. USPS's address validation system identifies PO Box addresses even in street-address format and flags them accordingly. Shipping platforms like atoship handle this automatically: when a PO Box address is detected, only USPS services appear in the rate comparison. You never accidentally try to ship a PO Box order via FedEx.

Shipping FROM a PO Box

If you run a small business and use a PO Box as your return address, you can absolutely ship via USPS with your PO Box listed as the sender. Priority Mail and Ground Advantage labels with PO Box return addresses work fine.

However, some platforms and carriers require a physical street address for the ship-from location, separate from the return address. This is because carriers use the origin address for zone calculation and pickup scheduling. If you need to ship via UPS or FedEx, you'll need a physical address for those shipments even if your business mailing address is a PO Box.

Tips for PO Box Customers

If you're a PO Box holder who shops online, a few habits prevent delivery failures. Always check whether the retailer ships USPS before ordering. If the site only offers UPS or FedEx, contact them before purchasing to ask if they can ship USPS, or provide a physical address instead. When filling out shipping addresses, use the standard "PO Box" format rather than abbreviations like "P.O. Box" or "POB" — while USPS recognizes all variations, some online forms reject non-standard formats.

If you frequently order from retailers that use UPS or FedEx, consider using a private mailbox service (like The UPS Store) instead of a USPS PO Box. Private mailbox services accept packages from all carriers and give you a street address format that works everywhere.