Checklist

Form 1583 checklist

No mailbox store in the United States can release a box to you until it holds a completed, witnessed PS Form 1583 and has seen two forms of identification. That is a postal requirement, not a store policy, and it is why walking in with only a driver licence usually ends in a second trip. Work through this before you go.

The form itself

PS Form 1583 is published by the Postal Service and is free. The requirement, and the list of what a commercial mail receiving agency has to do with the form once it holds it, sits in the Domestic Mail Manual, section 508. The blank form is at about.usps.com/forms/ps1583.pdf.

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Before you go

Fifteen minutes at a kitchen table saves a second trip. The form itself is free from the Postal Service and most stores will also hand you a copy.

Download and read PS Form 1583The application for delivery of mail through an agent. Read the whole thing once, including who is allowed to receive mail at the box.

List every name that will receive mail at the boxYour legal name, a spouse, any business names, any trading names. A piece of mail addressed to a name not on the form can be refused or returned.

Have your current home address to handNot the box. The form asks for the physical address where you actually live, and it has to match one of your identity documents.

If mail is for a business, know its type and registrationSole proprietorship, LLC, corporation. Some stores ask to see the registration or the filed articles as well as the form.

Identification

Two forms, and they have different jobs. One proves you are who you say you are with a photograph; the other proves the address you wrote down.

Primary ID with a photograph, unexpiredA state driver licence or ID card, a passport, a military ID, a passport card. It must not be expired, and the name has to match the form.

Second form of identificationCommonly a vehicle registration, a voter card, a lease, a utility bill, an insurance policy, or a home or vehicle insurance card. Ask the store what it accepts before you drive over.

Check that one document shows your home addressThe single most common reason an application is bounced: both IDs show a former address, or a PO Box, or no address at all.

Expect the store to keep a copyA CMRA retains the completed form and identity records for as long as you have the box, and for a period after you close it. That is a postal requirement, not a store policy.

Witnessing and signing

The form has to be witnessed. In person at the store is the usual route; a notary is the usual route when you are signing up remotely.

Sign in front of the store, or in front of a notaryDo not sign it at home and hand it over. The witness has to see you sign, which is the entire purpose of the step.

If signing remotely, arrange notarisationMany print and ship counters have a notary on staff. Remote online notarisation is accepted in a growing number of states and is how most virtual mailbox signups are handled.

Anyone else on the box signs tooEvery adult who will receive mail at the address has to be listed and, in practice, has to present identification of their own.

After the box is open

Three things people forget until the mail stops arriving.

Write the address in the correct formatThe PMB number belongs on the delivery address line. Leaving it off is the commonest reason mail to a private mailbox is returned.

Update the form when anything changesNew home address, new name on the box, a new business trading name. The store has to hold a current form.

Give notice and file a forwarding order when you close itMail arriving after the box closes goes back to sender unless you have arranged forwarding with the store. That arrangement is with the store, not with the Postal Service.