Venting >:(

Y’all, I’m upset right now.

I’m in the final stages of actually launching my business (finally). But to finalize the shipping service, I need to put a return address on file to ship my packages. Well, I absolutely do not want to use my home address so, I wen to the US Postal Service to see if I could get a PO Box. Before I actually went in, I went to the USPS website and found which locations had available PO Boxes. My first option. the closest location, didn’t have any boxes available, so I applied to be on the waitlist. The second closest location I went ahead and purchased a PO Box for but I then realized the location was in a area I honestly didn’t want to go to (it was kind of sketchy).

In order to activate the PO Box, you have to go in person. I purchase the PO Box yesterday and had intention of going to the sketchy location today. But the my mom reminded me that there was a USPS close by and I decided to drop in there to see if there were any available PO Boxes.

When I got there, the parking was pretty easy (a plus!). There were PO Boxes available!! Yay! Not sure why the location didn’t show up on the USPS website, but whatever. I wait in line. Five minutes in a woman gets in line behind me. Shortly after I turn to see she’s like ONE foot behind me. Even before COVID, I didn’t like it when people stepped into my personal space. I step forward a bit. Two minutes later a glance back and she’s close to me again with her mask off. I kindly ask her to step back to the square she’s supposed to be standing on and she had the nerve to flounce y’all. I can’t with people.

Anyway, 25 minutes later, I’m still waiting in line. An attendant finally comes back to the counter and I ask if there are PO Boxes available. She says yes, at the other window.

What???

Did I really just stand in the wrong line for 25 minutes? Ugh!

I get to the other line and luckily there are a bunch of people still filling out the addresses on their package. I get to the counter (35 minutes later) and ask to purchase a PO Box. The first thing she says is that I need two forms of ID. Ok cool; I have my Driver’s license and my social with me. She says, “No” and proceeds to tell me a list of non phot ID documents that I would need to present in order to get a PO Box. They include:

a.) Voter or vehicle registration card

b.) Current lease, mortgage, or deed of trust

c.) Home or vehicle insurance policy

a.) I’m a Permanent Resident, I don’t own a car as yet (but I’m close!)

b.) I’m not able to afford living on my own as yet

c.) Again, I don’t have these two since I don’t have a car or my own place

All of this just for a PO Box. I was so upset. I feel like I wasted all that time standing in line in front of a dingbat who couldn’t comprehend what social distancing was. So I just wanted to share this in case anyone else somehow ends up being in a situation like mine: trying to start a business and all they want is a PO Box to use as their return address but they can’t because they’re a non-citizen who isn’t in the position to move out or purchase a car. Even if you are a citizen, you would still need to have registered to vote to have a voter registration card.

All for a PO Box y’all.

In order for it to work for me, I either have to have my parent create their own PO Box and add me as someone who could receive mail there. Needless to say,  I cancelled the PO Box I originally reserved in the sketchy location and I’m currently looking elsewhere for a business address (like UPS). I just felt that I needed to share this because when starting up a business, you need to expect unexpected hiccups. But something like this just bummed me out.