Traveling Mailbox Review: Pros, Cons, & Alternatives

BY Basma F, Nov 05, 2023


Traveling Mailbox Review
Review Summary

Service Name:


Traveling Mailbox

Service Type:


Digital Mailbox Service

Monthly fee:


Starting from $15 per month

Summary:

Traveling Mailbox provides virtual mailbox services to individuals who travel a lot and small businesses without office space.

Rating:

Traveling Mailbox is a company that provides online mailbox services (a virtual address). The service is perfect for individuals and businesses who need a real street address to handle their physical mail efficiently from anywhere in the world. From frequently traveling to relocating, many people nowadays prefer reading and managing their postal mail online.

Here, you'll find a complete Traveling Mailbox review that covers who the service is suitable for, the pros and cons of the services, details about their most prominent features, what others say about the service and a comparison between their services and some of their major competitors in the market. Let's get started with the Traveling Mailbox review.

What is Traveling Mailbox?

Traveling Mailbox (TM) is among the many virtual mailbox service providers that help you manage all your mail efficiently. Like many service providers, Traveling Mailbox helps individuals and businesses view their mail and manage it through an online application from anywhere in the world. Traveling Mailbox offers addresses in the US, mail scanning, mail forwarding, and toll-free numbers for sending and receiving faxes.

Although they offer many perks, Traveling Mailbox has a few disadvantages: a few addresses and only in the US. In addition, they are not suitable for large businesses, and their maximum packages don't cover several incoming mail items. Let's find out more details about this service.

Who Would Benefit from Traveling Mailbox?

Traveling Mailbox is a service that benefits a lot of people and businesses. Anyone who frequently travels wants to keep their address private, or wants better mail management can benefit from Traveling Mailbox. Let's see in detail who would benefit from Traveling Mailbox services.

  • Frequent travelers and digital nomads who need a virtual mailing address to receive their mail
  • Those who live outside the US and run a business in the US
  • Home businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs who don't have office space
  • Small businesses that want professionals to take care of their physical mail
  • Freelancers can also benefit from a virtual address to keep their real address private

What are the Services that Traveling Mailbox Provides?

  • Virtual Addresses
  • Virtual Mailbox Solutions
  • Integrations
  • Virtual Office
  • Check Deposit Services

Traveling Mailbox Services in Detail

Virtual Addresses

Traveling Mailbox provides several physical addresses all across the US. Traveling Mailbox doesn't provide addresses outside the US. TM offers physical street addresses that one can use to receive packages and mail from different carriers. You can use the Traveling Mailbox address to receive bank statements and IRS documents.

A Virtual address from Traveling Mailbox is a great solution for those who want addresses in the US and want to handle their postal mail remotely.

Traveling Mailbox offers standard and premium addresses. Premium addresses are in bigger cities and cost more money to operate. You pay for the additional costs when you pick a premium address.

Virtual Mailbox Solutions

One of the perks of virtual mailboxes is your ability to handle your physical mail remotely. Let's see what Traveling Mailbox offers.

View and Manage Mail (Online Postal Mailbox)

You can easily decide what happens to each mail item you receive if you have a steady internet connection. When your mail arrives, TM scans every envelope so you know about all the mail items you receive. Through mobile apps, customers get to decide whether they shred their mail or keep a digital copy of it.

Mail Scanning

Postal mail scanning is an integral part of the virtual mailbox services. With every plan from Traveling Mailbox, you get a specific number of open and scan requests.

TM offers a quick scan through which you get your mail items scanned within 10 minutes of your request. The "Auto open and scan" option means you'll have your mail scanned after it reaches the facility. There is also flex scan, which allows you to scan mail as needed.

Mail forwarding service and package forwarding

You can request to have your mail forwarded or your packages forwarded from your application. Customs preparation is free with Traveling Mailbox. TM guarantees low shipping rates, and you can choose from multiple carriers. You can forward mail and packages without worrying about the cost.

Cloud storage and no junk mail

Having your physical mail delivered, you can manage it. You can forward items you need. You can save a digital copy of what you want to keep and shred other unimportant letters or junk mail. Traveling Mailbox offers free unlimited cloud storage and free junk mail shredding.

Integrations

Traveling Mailbox integrates with valuable services to offer a good experience for all virtual mailbox users. Traveling Mailbox integrates with Dropbox, Google Drive, One Drive, Evernote, and Box. You can securely transfer and save scanned mail items to those tools (Google Drive or your chosen tool).

Virtual Office

With this service, you get a toll-free number to send and receive faxes directly from your Traveling Mailbox.

Check Deposit Services

A check deposit service is a perfect service from virtual mailbox service providers. Traveling Mailbox will easily mail your checks to the bank and have them deposited. Traveling Mailbox charges around $4.95 per check for this service.

Pros

  • All features are available for all addresses.
  • A check deposit is available.
  • Plan limits don't include junk mail mailed to your virtual mailing address.
  • Any unused number of scans can be used in the following month (Scans Rollover)
  • Unlimited cloud storage and free mail shredding
  • You can organize your inbox with the Folders feature.
  • Virtual office services include a toll-free number to send and receive faxes for free.

Cons

  • Virtual addresses only in the US
  • Expensive basic plan ($15 per month)
  • Not suitable for large businesses as their maximum plan targets small businesses and has a limit of 200 incoming mail or envelopes per month.

Traveling Mailbox Pricing Plans

Traveling Mailbox offers three plans. Each plan has limits as to the number of incoming mail, mailbox recipients, or free open and scan requests. All Traveling Mailbox plans, however, come with free mail shredding and unlimited cloud storage. Also, junk mail is not included in plan limits, and that's for all plans.

Basic Plan

$15 per month

  • 40 Incoming Envelopes / Month
  • 35 Scans / Month
  • 3 Mailbox Recipients
  • FREE Mail Shredding
  • Junk mail doesn't count!
  • Unlimited Cloud Storage

Extended Plan

$25 per month

  • 100 Incoming Envelopes / Month
  • 80 Scans / Month
  • 5 Mailbox Recipients
  • FREE Mail Shredding
  • Junk mail doesn't count!
  • Unlimited Cloud Storage

Small Business Plan

$55 per month

  • 200 Incoming Envelopes / Month
  • 180 Scans / Month
  • 10 Mailbox Recipients
  • FREE Mail Shredding
  • Junk mail doesn't count!
  • Unlimited Cloud Storage

What Do Customers Say About Traveling Mailbox Services?

On TrustPilot, Traveling Mailbox has a poor rating. 2.5 stars out of 42 Traveling Mailbox customer reviews. One customer said the service could be perfect or unreliable, depending on the customer support team member helping you. Another customer mentioned in his Traveling Mailbox review that the service is "perfect for mail, not the best for large packages."

On TrustPilot, various unhappy customers complain about many issues like high extra service fees, slow delivery of relevant documents, and problems handling issues that arise.

On Yelp, Traveling Mailbox has 47 reviews and a rating of 2.3 stars. Some unhappy customers said they were being "charged for unexpected items," and others said service was more expensive than advertised. One said the NC address was okay, and everything went wrong with the California address. One customer complained about losing mail. Others had no issues with the service and recommended it.

Traveling Mailbox FAQs

How does Traveling Mailbox work?

It's simple. After you sign up and complete form 1583. At Traveling Mailbox, they receive mail on your behalf, scan the envelopes, and through a mobile app, you can view and manage mail items.

Are Virtual Mailboxes Legal?

Yes. Virtual mailboxes are completely legal and registered Commercial Mail Receiving Agencies (CMRA) with the USPS.

Are Virtual Mailboxes Safe?

Yes. Virtual mailboxes are safe because companies with secured facilities by repeatable companies offer them.

Do Banks Accept Virtual Mail Addresses?

Yes. Most banks and credit card companies allow virtual mail addresses to be used as your personal address on the account.

Can I Use a Virtual Address for My LLC?

Yes, you can use a virtual address service for your LLC. Virtual business addresses are real physical addresses; you can register your LLC or any business at that location.

What is a Traveling Mailbox form 1583?

Form 1583 is a USPS form you should complete to use the virtual mailbox services of any service provider and not just Traveling Mailbox. This completed form permits service providers to receive your physical mail on your behalf.

Does Traveling Mailbox accept packages?

Yes, Traveling Mailbox accepts packages from shipping carriers and companies like Amazon and forwards them to any address you pick.

Traveling Mailbox Alternatives & Competitors

Our Traveling Mailbox review won't be complete without mentioning how their services compare to their main competitors in the market (iPostal1, Anytime Mailbox, Virtual Post Mail, etc.).

iPostal1 logo

iPostal1 offers addresses in the US and outside it. In addition to the virtual mailing address, iPostal1 provides business phone and fax services and check deposits. All virtual mailboxes start at $9.99 monthly, and the virtual office package starts at $39.99 monthly and includes voicemail.

In addition to the regular virtual mailing address, iPostal1 provides a virtual business address for businesses. With this business address, business owners can register their business. Overall, iPostal1 offers more business services than TM.

Pros

  • Check deposit service is available
  • Cloud storage is unlimited
  • Mobile app to manage your postal mail online.
  • Pricing is competitive compared to other providers.
  • Various addresses
  • Virtual addresses for businesses
  • iPostal1 includes phone, fax, and voicemail
  • Plans start at $9.99 per month

Cons

  • No packages suitable for mailrooms with large volumes of mail
  • Cloud storage is limited to 2 GB
  • No business formation or registered agent services

Anytime Mailbox is the only service provider that helps mail center operators digitize their services and offer digital mailboxes. Anytime Mailbox is an affordable solution for users, as pricing starts at $6 per month.

Anytime Mailbox services vary based on the virtual address itself. Some virtual addresses offer check deposits. Other addresses don't. Local pickup is also not available at all addresses. Also, pricing varies for check deposits and local pickup if available from one address to another.

Pros

  • Affordable pricing
  • Addresses everywhere (in the US and around the world)
  • Only service provider to offer support for mail center operators
  • Customers get rewarded when they recommend the service to their friends

Cons

  • Check deposit and local pickup are not available at all addresses
  • No business phone and fax services

PostScan Mail offers enterprise mailroom packages with up to 3000 incoming items. TM packages only target individuals and small businesses. PostScan Mail packages start at $10 per month. PostScan offers addresses in the US and worldwide, but unfortunately, PostScan Mail doesn't provide check deposits or phone and fax services. Local mail pickup is available for all physical addresses.

Pros

  • Packages for mailrooms
  • Affordable pricing at $10 per month
  • Addresses in the US and outside it
  • Local pickup is available for all addresses
  • Virtual addresses for LLCs

Cons

  • No check deposit service
  • No registered agent services
  • No business phone or fax services
PhysicalAddress com

Physical Address offers only eight addresses in the US. Prices start at $8 per month. Physical Address provides several perks with all their plans, like an unlimited number of mail recipients, free local pickup, and a free registered agent.

Physical Addresses also provides a 30-day money-back guarantee if you don't like the service. Physical Address is not for large businesses. With their packages, you can receive up to 200 incoming items only.

Pros

  • Free registered agent in all plans
  • Free local pickup
  • Unlimited mail recipients

Cons

  • Few virtual addresses, and only in the US
virtual post mail logo

Virtual Post Mail (VPM) provides various services for businesses plus virtual addresses. Among the services that Virtual Post Mail provides are a virtual assistance team, LLC business formation, registered agent services, check deposits, and virtual business addresses. VPM provides street addresses only in the US.

VPM provides five mailbox addresses in the US and three TruLease addresses in the US. TruLease address is perfect for creating a business bank account. It's also perfect for Amazon stores and Shopify payments.

Pros

  • Registered Agent
  • Virtual assistance team
  • LLC business formation
  • TruLease addresses are perfect for creating a business bank account

Cons

  • VPM services are expensive and start at $20 per month
  • Expensive check deposit service

Final CONCLUSION

Traveling Mailbox provides virtual mail service with some perks: the availability of features for all packages (check deposit and local pickup), unused scan rollover, and junk mail, which don't add to the plan limits. However, some disadvantages are the expensive and limited plans that make the service unsuitable for large mailrooms.

Depending on your needs, some alternatives might be suitable: PostScan for those looking for large mailroom solutions and VPM for those looking for addresses for creating business bank accounts or Amazon stores. When it comes to the virtual mailbox industry, there are many perks and many choices.