PO Box vs. Home Address

[Andrea]

My PO Box place is going out of business, and I'm wondering how crazy it would be to start using my home address for my distro. Part of me feels that it's not such a great idea to have my address floating out in the world, but maybe I'm paranoid? Does anyone have an opinion on this? Thanks!

[Colin Tedford]

I do know some zinesters who use their home address, but I think a PO Box is preferable, both for safety / privacy and also keeps a more stable address if you move around in the same area.

[NicoleIntrovert]

I know i feel much better using a PO Box... for safety issues. I have had random letters from prisoners and such, and just feel better knowing they are goint to a PO Box. I use a box at the Post Office... not one of those shipping type places.

[Andrea]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'm going to look into getting a PO box from the post office; there was a waiting list last time I checked, but maybe it's worth the wait. I'll also keep looking at PO box shops. I was trying to convince myself the box was a waste of time/money, but maybe it's a small price to pay for peace of mind.

[Erica S.]

I use my home address because none of the post offices are very convenient for me. I will probably get a PO Box once the orders start coming in on a regular basis, but with the distro being so small right now, it barely seems worth it. I'm not too too worried about stalkers and such, but maybe I should be? Plus boxes are $48 at a minimum which is a lot to spend at one go, and that's at a PO that is very inconvenient for me. It's definitely on my list of things to get, but it's not a priority yet.

[ciaraxyerra]

i use my home address because i live in boston & have moved around a lot within the city since i started the distro. it can take as long as an hour by train to get from one side of the city to the other. for a while, i was using post office boxes, but i had to close them anyway every time i moved because i wasn't going to take three buses across town to get from jamaica plain to brighton just to check my mail. i am probably moving to kansas at the end of the summer, & maybe i will get a post office box then, since it will be a smaller town, likely only served by one or two post offices anyway. there are dozens in boston, so it's easier for me to have my mail delivered to my house, & then to mail packages from whatever post office is most convenient for the rest of my errands that day.

[False Start Distro]

I'm looking into a PO Box right now, but I'm unsure of what size to get. The smallest is 3 x 5.5", which sounds tiny, but the next size up is $20 more. Thoughts? I haven't had a PO box for years, but I assume they hold packages that are too big at the counter for you, so the smallest size should be ok, right?

[Colin Tedford]

Yeah, I rent the smallest size & get my packages at the counter.

false start said:

I'm looking into a PO Box right now, but I'm unsure of what size to get. The smallest is 3 x 5.5", which sounds tiny, but the next size up is $20 more. Thoughts? I haven't had a PO box for years, but I assume they hold packages that are too big at the counter for you, so the smallest size should be ok, right?

[Andrea]

I guess I should have followed up -- I ended up getting a new box. It's actually double the cost of the old box, which was super cheap (and I'm assuming at least part of the reason the place went out of business...). I decided that the cost was worth the peace of mind that my home address is not floating around the net. :-)