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More and more people are ditching the obligations of a permanent address to travel the world or work as digital nomads. Once the reservations have been made and they're ready to set off, they often overlook one question: "How do I get my mail?” While it's true that most things can be set to electronic-only - bank statements, bills, and so forth - there's still a need for some kind of physical address, from refund checks to Social Security statements and then some.
That's where mail scanning services come in. Wherever your travels take you, you can have all of your postal mail - and packages too - sent to one location. Services vary by provider, but most will give you access to a dashboard where you can see what's come in and indicate what you want done with it: shred, open and scan, or forward to your current location.
Friday, October 4th
There's no mail scanning service with greater reliability than US Global Mail. Clients have entrusted their mail handling to this company for more than two decades, taking advantage of unlimited envelope scans and free check deposits even on the $9.99/month plan. Be aware that any actual content scanning is priced a la carte here, but that's one very minor downside to a service that earns numerous five-star ratings and enthusiastic praise, particularly from expats needing a way to handle their stateside mail and packages. US Global Mail continues to be our top pick among mail scanning providers.
If you were to go strictly on first impressions, you might overlook Physical Address as a mail scanning provider. The site isn't exactly cutting-edge or mobile-responsive, and it looks somewhat amateurish. And yet, since 2013 this company has helped over 80,000 clients located in 50+ countries, earning a 4- or 5-star rating from a whopping 99% of them. So, we invite you to look past the less-than-slick "exterior” of Physical Address and see if it's the right mail scanning service for you too.
Docufree calls itself "the nation's leader in enterprise digital mail” - and we agree. If you're trying to save your company time and money by removing the need to physically handle and distribute paper mail, this is the solution for you. Over 1,000 organizations and corporations successfully use Docufree to streamline and scale their operations. This is our preferred service for business-focused mail scanning.
You'll really like Post Scan Mail if you're a traveler, digital nomad, or small business owner. Choose from over 400 address locations nationwide (or pick a global location if needed), with prices starting at $15/month. This mail scanning service offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, and they help you resolve any issues with the third-party mail center that processes your mail. With thousands of five-star client reviews, Post Scan Mail is a reliable provider of mail scanning services.
Virtual Post Mail offers some nice benefits compared with many mail scanning services: they handle every piece of mail personally on the day it was received, never through a third-party service that passes your mail along to them (with corresponding delays). Services start at $20/month for two recipients, and all addresses are an actual physical location and not just a box number. But, you're limited to just three states for your mailing address, and there's not a ton of client comments to go by. Virtual Post Mail is decent at what they do, but you'll get a wider range of services and addresses with a bigger mail scanning service.
Search for iPostal1 and you'll quickly spot thousands of five-star client reviews. We'd be impressed, except that most of them seem to come from people who had just barely signed up for this mail scanning service. Digging a little deeper doesn't reveal anything novel or noteworthy here: you'll choose your address from among thousands of third-party mail center partners, who may or may not include the services you need in your monthly pricing. iPostal1 is "just average” in our book.
At first glance, Anytime Mailbox is an exciting option among mail scanning services. Over 1700 addresses within the US and globally? Yes please. And, with thousands of positive reviews, this company sounds pretty good. However, Anytime Mailbox is essentially a software company that refers clients to mail center operators who use their program to scan mail: this platform doesn't provide you with any services beyond making the "introduction” to the address and mail center of your choice.
Sasquatch Mail is one of the newest mail scanning services in our review, getting its start in 2018. You might like the simple approach offered here: $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year to receive and scan an unlimited number of envelopes, and you pay per use for scanning the contents or forwarding the physical copies. You won't get many bells and whistles beyond that, and customer feedback for Sasquatch Mail is both limited and underwhelming. Keep this mail scanning provider as a last-resort choice.
Earth Class Mail works with big businesses and everyday consumers to offer mail scanning services: over 18 million pieces of mail and $2.4 billion in check deposits since 2004. We're pleased that this provider has simplified its pricing, especially for clients who just need to receive a few pieces of mail every month. But, you may wind up paying a lot more than you expected here, and recent feedback from clients indicates a consistent downward trend in customer service. Earth Class Mail's rating has fallen since our last evaluation, and we suggest you look elsewhere for mail scanning.
Traveling Mailbox used to get high marks for its mail scanning service. Unfortunately, that's no longer the case: even though this company still had an "A+” from the BBB at the time of this review, we found numerous complaints from customers saying that it can take weeks for their mail to get scanned here, and that Traveling Mailbox's reps are less than helpful. Try a different provider to get affordable and timely mail scanning.
Just be aware that every feature comes at a cost; you could pay quite a bit to have every page in a mailer scanned or to have a big bundle of mail sent along to where you are at the moment. Be sure to choose a mail scanning service that meets your anticipated needs at a price you can afford.
Another way to use mail scanning services is to keep your residential or business address private, without having to use a PO Box. After all, some mailers and packages require a physical address for delivery, and a PO Box doesn't really convey a strong brand image if you're running a small business. Also, if you're running your company from overseas, you can use a mail scanning service with an address in the state of your choice - which might help reassure prospective customers or clients that you have a presence stateside too.
No matter the reason for choosing a mail scanning provider, you'll likely have to fill out USPS Form 1583. This authorizes the service to act as your agent for receiving mail. Although you'll have to get it notarized, many providers will help you take care of that remotely if necessary.
There are at least a dozen mail scanning services you could choose from. Which one is the right one for you? It's a good question to ask, because setting up your service (or changing if you don't like the one you select) can be time-consuming. Here are some criteria to keep in mind as you compare your options:
To help you get your mail wherever you are, TopConsumerReviews.com has evaluated and ranked the most popular mail scanning services available today. We're sure this will make it easy to choose the right provider for your needs!
Select any 2 Mail Scanning Services to compare them head to head