Mimito2

I lived in Atlanta for 15 years. Had the house with the burglar bars and the security system. It was still broken into and we spent a month in a motel. I now live in a double-wide in the middle of a pasture field. (my gated community but I have to open the gate, lol). Most windows don't even have curtains on them. Doors are never locked. Point is that you can try to "secure" everything but if someone wants to know something about you bad enough they can and will find it with a few simple searches and very little money. Living in fear is a life not lived.

Janet Espeleta

After my dh & I moved in to the duplex we are currently renting we discovered that this little house in the alley behind us has the same address we do except with the letter "r" for rear attached to the address. We are constantly getting that person's mail, pkgs delivered by UPS or Fex Ex, etc. There used to be young women living there who never paid their bills so we would get people showing up as collectors as early as 8:00 in the morning. We were so happy we also have a PO box because Lord only knows how many people would have had access to our bank acct & other info. It only cost $40 a yr for a small box & well worth it. Plus this duplex only has those little boxes attached to the house. Birds build nests in there & rain & snow gets in there. Not conducive for mail delivery that is for sure! I have not applied for a credit card in yrs so I wasn't aware some of them will not accept a PO box. I'm sure that is so they can hunt you down easier if you don't pay your bill.

Traveler from MA

Hi I have a P O Box. It is great except for UPS, FED Ex etc.
Then they only deliver to your home. So we are right back in the same sitution. Person to Person sales will do Post Office, companies do UPS etc as they have a deal with them.
Good luck

luvTooQuilt

How do you live life with this 'fear' over your head? I understand the need for safety but anyone can get any info on anybody..

illinois

I have seen mail boxes on the market that the owner needs a key to get into. The mailman can drop your mail through the slot but then nobody but the one with the key can retrieve it. If you have trouble with theft, it might be worth investigating this sort of box. Drop outgoing mail at the post office or put it out for the mailman shortly before his probable arrival.

LAB55

I have all mine sent to the house, I don't want to drive 2miles (one way) to the PO unless I really have to. They will pick up my packages & deliver them, if they think we are not home they leave a card to pick up or bring it the next day. Our PO use to be the smallest in the US back in 1966.

cbuchanan

I just refuse to live that way. Maybe I'm too trusting but I trust until there is cause not to. I will continue to believe the good in most folks. I try to be careful in my dealings with people but I'm not going to waste too much time hiding...Life's just too short to worry about someone stealing my identity, which I know can happen but so far, people have always treated me professionally...My Mom wants everything with her address shredded (which I do for her) but I tell her...you're listed in the phone book. Anyone can look that up. If someone is determined to fine me or who I am, there's a million ways to do it. To each his own, but it's not for me. I have given my address to over a dozen people on this board and have only had wonderful experience writing and sharing with those folks. I wouldn't change it for the world. I've made some wonderful friends on this board.

misseva

Like Marlys - we have no home mail delivery in our town. But I live out in the county so we have to either have a mail box or rent one from PO. As others have said - you can go on line and find out where someone lives - I just googled my dtr who has an unlisted phone and got her address and approximate age. Some companies I buy from only ship via USPS so I give them my company's PO box number just so I can pick it up when I go daily to pick up our mail. That way they don't have to leave me a note that says come to the PO. I just received a package yesterday that our mail carrier actually put on my front porch & left me a note telling me it was there. Our postal employees really go out of their way to help.

The only important mail I get is two utility bills and one for trash pick up. All other bills/checks are direct deposit/withdrawal.

ejudy

We have both rural route delivery and PO Box delivery.

Being treasurer for a couple of organizations and having the mail stolen, we decided to go with a PO Box years ago. Then we moved to the country and lived in town so it worked well.

Now my husband retired and gets his mail delivered to the house, and I still use the PO Box. The dentist office asked me last time I was there if we got a divorce!?! Not sure what we'll do when I retire.

I did tell him it wasn't very wise to put mail in the rural box the night before and put up the flag. That's just an invitation to come see what's in the box. He'd never thought of it.

wichypoo

I am so sorry people have had bad things happen to them because mail comes to their home. but honey, I would sure
love that. we live at the end of the Holler in West virginia and we are darn lucky to have a post office here and a PO box is all that is available. But now you have to have a Actual home address to get a drivers liscense and voters registration and you have to be registered with 911 here too. So if someone comes into this town and think Wow they have good stuff to steal.....as it is a severly depressed area, well it just won't happen. :-D What is here in abundance is falliing down homes and cars on cinderblocks. lol
I would love a real address instead of PO. :mrgreen: