by Joseph Ashburn
So you’ve been curious about FedEx PO box shipping and how you can utilize FedEx smart post to deliver packages to your and others’ secured PO boxes? Well, then you’ve found a helpful resource that can help guide you and take the guessing game out of the equation so let us dive right in shall we?
With the meteoric rise of online shopping and the large scaling of eCommerce business growing every day, getting goods from point A to point B has turned the shipping industry into one of if not the largest industries in the world.
So with this massive demand for delivery services and the convenience of having anything you could ever possibly want to be delivered to your front door an unfortunate side effect is that thieves or “porch pirates” have become a major nuisance. Costing the American public an estimated 5.4 billion dollars in stolen items in 2020-2021 alone.
Thankfully FedEx shipping services now are able to have the final delivery of your packages delivered to your secured PO boxes using the post office to complete the final leg of the journey.
Does FedEx Deliver To PO Boxes?
So normally when the question is asked does FedEx deliver to PO box locations? The answer has always been no, Even if you attempt to select a PO box address in an online order form such as Amazon or eBay you will get a warning message or pop up indicating that a PO box is not a valid option.
This is due to it not being legally permittable for an outside carrier such as FedEx, UPS, etc. to walk into the local post office and open your PO box to make a delivery. So without direct access, FedEx has had to get a little creative with its shipping options and use the USPS system to its advantage.
With the FedEx Smartpost shipping option it is now possible to deliver your packages through its shipping services to your PO box and here is how.
How To Arrange For FedEx Po Box Shipping
As stated earlier FedEx Ground now has the shipping solutions required to make post office deliveries to your secured PO box possible and here is how you’ll be able to arrange this for yourself.
First, when ordering or sending out a package using FedEx ground or FedEx express you’ll want to fill in the delivery destination using the local post office address and the PO box number as the apt. number. So an example of the different address format you’ll want to use it instead of writing “PO Box 627” you’ll need to write 307th ave. NW #627 instead.
When you do this FedEx smart post will actually drop the package at your local post office and they (the post office) will then put the parcel into your PO box for them. Sounds pretty simple right? Well, that’s because it pretty much is although there are some restrictions that do still apply.
- They do not pick up shipments that have originated outside of the lower 48
- FedEx does not perform evening deliveries to USPS locations for PO box destinations
- They will not deliver hazardous materials to PO boxes
- Signature proof service is not available for FedEx PO box shipping
Why Does The Local Post Office Allow This PO Box Loophole?
This is all kind of neat right? It certainly is and you may be wondering why the post offices would be allowing this so blatantly to happen especially for no extra charge to the shipper or the recipient? This is because in larger post offices such as ones found in major metropolitan areas the price of their post office boxes is much higher than let us say an area of 30,000 people.
So by allowing this on the surface “free service” on their part they encourage and give an incentive for customers to purchase a PO box for their use as a delivery destination for online shopping packages that normally get delivered by FedEx or UPS.
This mutually beneficial interconnected web of FedEx shipping solutions and the USPS is a great example of how we can benefit from large organizations like these working together and how we can take advantage of some cool loopholes such as one with their PO box delivery service.
