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What is a digital mailbox?
Also known as a virtual or cloud-based mailbox, a digital mailbox is a solution where startups can track and organize their mail from anywhere in the world, with the only prerequisite being a working internet connection. Efficient digital mailbox solutions resemble an email inbox where you can take care of all shipping, forwarding, and mail management with just a click.
Why do you need a digital mailbox?
The need to use a digital mailbox arises out of the benefits it provides:
- No limitation of a geographical location: Digital mailboxes allow you to receive and manage your mail from any part of the world because they operate on virtual mailing addresses. They enable you to easily use mailing services even if your startup's location changes. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work culture gets a significant boost from digital mailbox solutions.
- No need to worry about different physical office locations as you expand: A digital mailbox can eliminate all the expenses associated with branch offices. The virtual mailing address remains the same for you to manage your mail anywhere.
- Security: There is no requirement of a middleman in using a digital mailbox. Your mail is safe from theft or any unauthorized activity and is sent directly to your box.
- Convenience: If your startup has remote employees, a digital mailbox will work best for you because you can send mail to all locations without having to move to a P.O. box. The same is also valid for receiving mail.
- No hindrance to your travels: If you need to travel frequently for your business, you are likely to miss your mail when you're not physically present, which can impede operations. A digital mailbox allows you to receive your mail from anywhere.
- Additional services: Several mailbox providers allow you to deposit checks, so you don't have to go to the bank. Besides, a virtual mailbox scans and consolidates your mail to a PDF which comes with flexible storage. Several providers offer to shred services so that trash mail can be taken care of, maintaining your security and privacy.
What should you look for when choosing a digital mailbox provider?
- Useful features
- Does it offer a free demo?
- Does it forward mail/parcels?
- Document scanning
- Document shredding
- Check deposit capabilities
Top 10 Digital Mailbox Providers for your Startup in 2022
Earth Class Mail
Description: Virtual mailbox solution that manages your mail to keep it secure and paves the way for a hassle-free paperless office
Best for: Individuals, small offices, startups with employees in multiple locations, large businesses, and enterprises.
Pricing
Different rates for Mailbox and MailRoom plans:
Mailbox Plans (for individuals and small offices)
Personal Mailbox: $19/month for one recipient
Shared Mailbox: $29/month for five recipients
Premium Mailbox: $79/month for 20 recipients
MailRoom Plans (for businesses and enterprises)
Startup Mail Room: $139/month for 100 pieces of mail
Business Mail Room: $229/month for 250 pieces of mail
Enterprise Mail Room: Custom solution starting at $1,029/month for high-volume mail scanning
Evaluation of key criteria:
Some essential features include:
- HIPAA-certified mail operators provide a top-notch approach when it comes to cybersecurity.
- Integration with several business platforms like Bill.com, Box, Dropbox, Xero, QuickBooks, and Google Drive.
- Does it offer a free demo? Free trial available
- Does it forward mail/parcels? Yes
- Document scanning: Available
- Document shredding: Available
- Check deposit capabilities: Available
Pros:
- 80+ U.S. addresses available to choose from
- Pay-as-you-go option available
- User-friendly
Cons:
- Customer service may be required at times to use the check deposit feature
- can take time to load occasionally
iPostal 1
Description: Mailbox service that provides mailing solutions and more according to your needs and has hubs all over the U.S.
Best for: Startups, entrepreneurs, and home businesses
Pricing: Different rates for:
Virtual Mailing Address
Green: $9.99/month or $99/year for 30 monthly mail items
Blue: $14.99/month or $149/year for 60 monthly mail items
Silver: $24.99/month or $249/year for 120 monthly mail items
Gold: $39.99/month or $399/year for 240 monthly mail items
Virtual Business Address
Same pricing tiers and options as in Virtual Mailing Address.
Virtual Office
Office 60: $39.99/month or $399/year for 60 monthly mail items
Office 120: $49.99/month or $499/year for 120 monthly mail items
Office 120 Toll-free: $59.99/month or $599/year for 120 monthly mail items and toll-free fax
Office 240 Toll-free: $69.99/month, or $699/year for 240 monthly mail items and toll-free fax
All Virtual Office plans provide phone, voice mail, personal greetings, and fax.
Evaluation of key criteria:
- 4 recipient names and one company name per address
- 30-day storage available for all mailboxes under 1728 cubic inches
- A single, compact package for letters that need to be forwarded
- 2 G.B. free cloud storage available for scanned PDFs
- Does it offer a free demo? 2 months free with the yearly plan (virtual mailing address, virtual business address, and virtual office)
- Does it forward mail/parcels? Yes, forwarding of mail or packages to any address with the carrier and service level of your choice is available
- Document scanning: Available
- Document shredding: Available
- Check deposit capabilities: Available
Pros:
- Unlimited online address book available for friends and family; customer shipping addresses worldwide
- 1000+ real street addresses
- Quick notification of incoming mail because of iPostal1's several mail management hubs spread across the U.S.
Cons:
- There are additional costs on all plans.
- The app needs improvement.
Anytime Mailbox
Description: True to its name, this cloud-based platform allows you to access mail virtually from any place, at any time, and from any device.
Best for: Businesses of all sizes
Pricing: It starts at $4.98. Contact Anytime Mailbox for more details
Evaluation of key criteria:
- Ticket/barcode scanning is available
- Integration with CRMs and email, among other vital platforms
- Intelligent mail support is available
- Does it offer a free demo? No
- Does it forward mail/parcels? Yes
- Document scanning: Available
- Document shredding: Available
- Check deposit capabilities: Available
Pros:
- Onboarding is easy.
- Streamlined overall mail handling process enabling founders to concentrate on scaling the business and improving revenue
Cons:
- It needs more customization options
- A free trial is required to understand how Anytime Mailbox works
P.O. Box Zone
Description: Advanced virtual mailbox service with flexible plans to suit your needs
Best for: Startups and frequent travelers.
Pricing
Three mail forwarding plans are available:
The lowest-cost per year plan: $99/year ($8.25/month), billed annually
Moderate-use-mail-forwarding plan: $150/year ($12.50/month), billed annually
High-use-mail-forwarding plan: $250/year ($20.80/month), billed annually
Prices for scanning start from $1 to scan a 1-10 page piece of mail
Evaluation of key criteria:
- Integration with Dropbox, Google Drive, and One drive is available.
- Users can accept mail from companies like FedEx, DHL, etc.
- Provision to add multiple users to the virtual mailbox
- Does it offer a free demo? Free trial is available
- Does it forward mail/parcels? Yes
- Document scanning: Available. Automated Scanning (for all letters) and Select Scanning (for letters you select to be scanned)
- Document shredding: Available
- Check deposit capabilities: Not available
Pros:
- Mail can be received for up to six names
- A free mobile app is available.
Cons:
- P.O. Box Zone's service locations are limited to Nevada and Wyoming only.
- The check deposit capability would be an added advantage since P.O. Box Zone's area of operation is limited.
Mailbox Forwarding
Description: Virtual mailbox solution that provides quality services ranging from mail storage and virtual mailbox post to secure document shredding and check deposit capabilities
Best for: Startups
Pricing
Three plans are available at varied prices:
Basic: $14.95/month
Professional: $24.95/month
Premium: $49.95/month
Evaluation of key criteria:
- Mail and package storage are free for the first 30 days.
- Scanned copies have a resolution of 300 dpi, making them easy to read and save
- Flexible switching between plans according to the startup's needs
- Does it offer a free demo? Free trial is available
- Does it forward mail/parcels? Yes
- Document scanning: Available.
- Document shredding: Available
- Check deposit capabilities: Available
Pros:
- Ease of use
- Per-month billing available, with no hidden or additional fees
Cons:
- Storage fees are a bit high after the first 30 days.
- Needs to have a more robust address selection
Physical Address
Description: Virtual mailbox service that efficiently handles your mails across all physical address locations
Best for: All businesses and individuals
Pricing
Four plans are available at varied prices, with 20% off on annual plans:
Plan 30: $7.98/month
Plan 50: $10.98/month
Plan 100: $16.98/month
Plan 200: $26.98/month
Evaluation of key criteria:
- Virtual mailbox comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Allows you to use your new address instantly.
- There is no sign-up fee.
- Virtual mailbox comes with Evernote Integration.
- Does it offer a free demo? 30-day money-back guarantee
- Does it forward mail/parcels? Yes
- Document scanning: Available
- Document shredding: Free shredding is available
- Check deposit capabilities: Available, but no check handling fee like some other mailbox solutions offer
Pros:
- There is no additional cost for local pickup, regardless of the plan you choose.
- Beyond a plan, additional scans cost only 0.20.
Cons:
- Occasional inconsistency in the scanning quality
Traveling Mailbox
Description: Virtual mailbox providing services in 47+ countries and excelling in scanning capabilities
Best for: Individuals and startups
Pricing
Three plans are available at varied prices:
Basic Plan: $15/month
Extended Plan: $25/month
Small Business Plan: $55/month
Evaluation of key criteria:
- Integration with Evernote, Dropbox, Bill.com
- Unlimited cloud storage for scanned mail and PDFs
- Attractive shipping discounts
- Live customer support is available throughout the week
- Does it offer a free demo? No
- Does it forward mail/parcels? Yes
- Document scanning: Available
- Document shredding: Available
- Check deposit capabilities: Available
Pros:
- Free mail shredding
- No inclusion of junk mail
- Flexible switching between plans
Cons:
- There could be delays because a sorting facility is unavailable at all locations.
Virtual Post Mail
Description: Digital mailbox service helping startups to further remote work through overall management of mailboxes
Best for: Startups, travelers, professional services
Pricing
Four plans are available at varied prices:
Premium: $90/month
Business: $60/month
Best Value (Plus): $35/month
Starter: $20/month
Additional charges in each plan for extra scans, check deposits, shipping
Evaluation of key criteria:
- Option to get a permanent commercial address to receive postal mail
- Simple installation process to get your mailbox online
- User-friendly interface replicates an email inbox
- Does it offer a free demo? Contact VPM for more informaiton.
- Does it forward mail/parcels? Flexible forwarding options are available
- Document scanning: Available
- Document shredding: Available
- Check deposit capabilities: Available
Pros:
- Provision to open bank accounts
- Comes with a Free Registered Agent service for intelligent business mail solutions
Cons:
- Scans take too long to load
PostScan Mail
Description: Cloud-based virtual mailbox service that simplifies the process of scanning and uploading mail and parcels.
Best for: Businesses of all sizes
Pricing
Three plans are available at varied prices:
Starter: $15/month
Standard: $20/month
Premium: $30/month
Additional fees apply for scanning and shredding.
Evaluation of key criteria:
- Environmentally friendly mail recycling is available
- Flexible mail archiving at no cost
- Free storage of mail for the first 30 days
- Unlimited cloud storage, along with 24/7 online access to your mail items
- Does it offer a free demo? Free trial is available
- Does it forward mail/parcels? Available
- Document scanning: Available
- Document shredding: Available
- Check deposit capabilities: Not available
Pros:
- A mobile app is available that is compatible with Android and iOS.
- Indexing of sender information is available
Cons:
- Customer service is not available on weekends.
U.S. Global Mail
Description: The ideal tool to manage mail online with a host of other features.
Best for: Startups, travelers, retirees, expats
Pricing
Three plans are available at varied prices:
Basic: $9.95/month, billed annually; $14.99 billed monthly
Plus: $14.95/month, billed annually; $19.99 billed monthly
Business: $29.95/month, billed annually; $34.99 billed monthly
Evaluation of key criteria:
- Environmentally friendly recycling of junk mail
- The virtual mailbox allows you to have your mail stored for free (for a certain number of initial days based on your plan).
- There are enormous shipping discounts from shipping carriers like FedEx, USPS, and UPS because of the sheer volume of mail being handled by U.S. Global Mail over the years.
- Does it offer a free demo? U.S. Global Mail offers to refund your money back without any question after the first 30 days of activating your account if you don't like the service.
- Does it forward mail/parcels? Yes
- Document scanning: Available
- Document shredding: Available
- Check deposit capabilities: Available, at no cost for all plans
Pros:
- Consistent performance
- Fair, transparent pricing
- Safe deliveries
Cons:
- Some users find the shipping charges to be comparatively high.
- Occasional errors in loading pages
Learn more with us
- 2021's Top Virtual Mailbox Providers for your Startup | AbstractOps
- Product Reviews for Startups | AbstractOps
- Vendor Reviews | AbstractOps
Access our Knowledge Base for Startups.
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We can help you decide which digital/virtual mailbox to use for your startup! Learn more.
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