Not just a mailbox for if you’re homeless, but also if you’re a traveller or have a small business.
So you’re on the streets now and have no place to get your mail, huh?
“Just use a PO (Post Office) box with Canada Post”, I hear from one person in the crowd.
Have you seen their prices?! Like, holy shit!
That’s a lot to ask upfront.
When I lived in Levack (Greater Sudbury) with my ex, we got a postal box for free. However, that’s also because we lived in a rural location.
We didn’t even have a mailbox on our property, which is why I bought us a deck box (and delivery sign) to make it convenient for us, and the folk who deliver our packages, to put our parcels in.
Now in the city, you’ll most likely have a mailbox, whether for your home or the apartment you rent. However, post office boxes seem to be more of a luxury.
But I’ll be damned if that stopped me from finding an alternative!
So now, that leads me to Anytime Mailbox (affiliate link to help me out)
How much do I pay for it? $11.29 per month, after taxes.
I’ve tried it myself and it works just as you’ll expect it: Get mail sent to the address in the city, and then pick it up at your convenience (depending on your plan, you should keep an eye out on your usage with regards to small storage fees).
And sure enough, it worked for me just fine:
Personally, I feel it’s better than a traditional mailbox because you get alerted about every parcel/letter you get.
“And why is that better?”, you say.
Imagine it from the perspective of us disabled folk: It’s already stressful or painful to plan a day to go outside, so knowing that there is mail available for pickup instead of hoping or guessing when something arrives gives you foresight on how to plan your day ahead of time.
Now I think a more important question would be: Can I use my PO Box location to open a bank account?
From my experience, yes. But hold on a minute.
Both Canadian Tire Bank and Neo Financial (another affiliate link), banks I was already a part of, gave me options for sending my new cards to the PO box location.
Now with regards to signing up for a new bank account, I had the opportunity to try this with Simplii Financial. When you’re signing up, it says I have to put the address that’s on my government ID. 
Now with the situation with my ex breaking up with me, it meant that my old address was still on my government ID.
And surely enough, they sent my new card to my old address without asking if that’s where it should go.
So I called Simplii Financial and explained my situation and they helped me send my bank card to the PO box, but that was after I went through a process of verifying my identity and waiting a bit for them to call me about it later with an approval.
This means that newcomers/refugees, like I was four years ago, who have little to no identification documents, may find it unfortunately difficult to do so. Just like when I tried to sign up for internet service with Eastlink in Sudbury, but was denied when I didn’t have valid enough ID (so my Canadian partner, now ex, did it on my behalf).
In a case like that, you’ll have to go with more traditional banks like TD, CIBC and Scotiabank, who have in-person branches.
For now, I’ll give it a cautiously optimistic ‘yes’ regarding using a virtual mailbox to open a bank account.
Recommendation: HELPFUL
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