PO Box vs Locked Bag
Post Offices are systems of delivery of mail in all parts of the world, though there are differences in features or facilities provided by this institution in different countries. It is interesting to note that there are countries in Africa that do not provide door to door deliveries, which means that people need to take PO Boxes on rent that are kept on the premises of the post office and people go there and open the lock to check if there is any mail or not. However, PO Box is popular in most countries as there are people and companies who prefer to have a special box to receive mail. Locked Bag or Private Mail Bag is a special feature of postal services in some countries where this facility is provided to people or companies that receive a lot of mail (volume is high). Despite ostensible similarities, there are many differences between PO Box and Locked Bag that will be discussed in this article.
When it comes to differences between PO Box and Locked Bag, a PO Box remains in the vicinity of the post office just like your locker in a bank and you have access to this box whenever you check if some mail has arrived in your box. On the other hand, a locked bag can be handed over to the owner, and owner can carry it to his premises to check mail. However, he has to handover another such bag to the post office and this is why he has to pay a fee for 2 locked bags. In some countries, the services of locked bag and PO box are similar as even locked bags are not allowed outside the premises of the post office.
Another difference pertains to size of the locked bags which are larger than PO boxes. This suits well those people who are running campaigns and competitions to select winners and thus, receive a lot of mail. Like PO box, locked bags also have a number though there are cases where not even a number is required and just private mail bag or locked bag after the name of the company is enough to find the right destination. In US, a similar service is referred to as caller service while in SA and NZ, this service is called private bag.
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What is the difference between ? • Locked bags are larger than PO boxes and are thus, useful for customers who receive huge volumes of mail • Though, both PO Box and locked bag can be accessed any day during business hours, it is possible to take home the locked bag to check mail, which is not possible in case of PO Box. However, for this feature, owner has to keep one such locked bag at the post office when he is taking a bag to his place. This costs him extra. • There are two sizes of locked bags, small (760x460mm) and large (900x740mm). On the other hand, there are medium (135x130mm), large (275x130mm) and jumbo (A4) PO Boxes • Locked bags require padlock that has to be provided by the owner and one duplicate key has to be given to the post office • It is possible to have a combined facility of a PO Box and a Locked Bag
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