If you’re looking for a digital mailbox or a virtual address, you have options. One that consistently places high on most lists is iPostal1.
iPostal1 offers an attractive service and has a large footprint, but is it the best virtual mailbox service for your needs? Our complete look at iPostal1 will show you everything this service has to offer.
iPostal1 is a way for individuals and businesses to get a physical address, other than the one where they actually reside or do business. It’s also a method of digitally accessing postal mail and having control over which correspondence gets forwarded to the real physical location(s) you choose.
The core offerings within iPostal1 include virtual addresses from over 2,500 locations in the U.S. and internationally, along with mail scanning, forwarding, package consolidation, and more.
Here’s an example of how a virtual mailbox could help a business in its early stages.
Let’s say you’ve just started a software business out of your garage in Des Moines, Iowa. There are all sorts of reasons you might not want to list your business address as your garage. For one thing, you don’t want a ton of business mail and junk mail flooding your home mailbox.
But even more importantly, you know that an address in Silicon Valley would get potential customers and investors to take you more seriously.
A digital mailbox service like iPostal1 can get you that prestigous “location.” And you never even have to leave Des Moines!
iPostal1.com is similar to other services, including Stable, Anytime Mailbox, and a ton of other alternatives and competitors.
So what exactly does a digital mailbox service like iPostal1 offer? These are some of its key features.
Customers with iPostal1 can choose from over 2,500 real street addresses, both domestic and international. For businesses with a global footprint (or those trying to establish one), the international component can be a big benefit.
iPostal1 offers plans that include dedicated business phone support, as well as business fax support. These options aren’t all that common among iPostal1 alternatives.
This is the core feature of iPostal1: receiving and digitizing your mail so you can view and manage it online. With a digital mailbox, you can access your mail from anywhere and make decisions on which pieces need to be forwarded to your actual physical address.
All sorts of businesses benefit from digital mailboxes, but they can be especially valuable to small businesses and sole proprietors with no physical location. When your business address is your home address, it can create some issues around image and professionalism. For example, Cottonwood Lane or Vista Heights Court are great places to live, but they don’t scream “business.”
If requested, iPostal1 can open your mail and scan its contents. All scanned documents are stored in the cloud. One nice touch is that iPostal1 provides unlimited cloud storage for scans.
With mail and package forwarding, businesses can have any physical mail they receive at their virtual address (including packages) forwarded to whichever location makes sense. Forwarding material incurs additional costs, which can be considerable when shipping internationally.
Mail and package forwarding is ideal for people who move around frequently but need reliable access to their mail.
Most of us have had the experience of ordering multiple items from one retailer, only for them to show up in separate boxes.If you’re paying by volume to forward these packages, those additional packages all cost money. Package consolidation solves this problem.
iPostal1 customers can elect to have multiple packages consolidated into one shipment, saving on shipping and receiving costs.
When you set up your digital mailbox provider, you’ll have the option of giving them the power to deposit checks into your bank. iPostal1 does this by mail, not digitally, so be aware of the chance of mail-related delays.
Use the contacts manager to store contact information for everyone that sends you mail. With all this data in one place, you’ll know where to look when you need it.
iPostal1 offers three service categories: virtual mailing address, virtual business address, and virtual office. Within each are multiple plans, which we’ll explain below.
Any individual, family, or business can get a virtual mailing address with iPostal1. These are available in four plans:
Note that these plans do not include business phone or fax. To add those elements, you’ll need to upgrade to a virtual office plan.
In the parlance of iPostal1, a virtual business address is essentially the same thing as a virtual mailing address, just targeted toward business customers.
In fact, the pricing and features of iPostal1’s virtual business address service are identical to those listed above for virtual mailing addresses.
You can choose from the same four plans (Green, Blue, Silver, or Gold) and get the same service at the same prices. Business phone and fax also aren’t included here. To get them, upgrade to the next option: virtual office.
Virtual office plans add business phone, fax, and voicemail service. These plans come in four varieties:
One more note on pricing: Everything we’ve described above assumes you choose a standard location. That $9.99 lowest tier jumps to $19.99 for Select addresses, $29.99 for Premium, and $39.99 for Prestige.
There are plenty of options at the lowest tier, such as a Staples store in Manhattan, for example. But if you want a virtual address at a prestigious location like the LOVE building or Rockefeller Center, you’ll pay a prestigious price.
Even though we offer a competing product here at Stable (one that we believe is better), we want to be fair to the competition. So instead of jumping straight into why we’re better, we’ll show you how iPostal1 stacks up on three reliable third-party review sites.
Trusted third-party review site G2 includes a listing for iPostal1, which shows a 3.7 average rating as of May 2023.
Granted, G2 is primarily a software review site, so iPostal1 isn’t frequently mentioned on the platform. There are only five reviews, which is a really small sample.
Here are a few points of praise and criticism you can find on G2:
Trustpilot is another well-regarded third-party review site; it has over 4,000 iPostal1 reviews. As of May 2023, the average rating (or TrustScore) was 4.3 out of 5 stars.
Note, however, that a TrustScore is not a simple average: Trustpilot says it weighs the age of reviews, the response time from the company, and even whether the company pays for or incentivizes reviews.
These are a few recent highlights customers shared on Trustpilot:
Sitejabber has over 24,000 reviews for iPostal1 with an impressive average of 4.78 out of 5 stars. This is a noticeably higher average than on Trustpilot or with G2, and with a much higher sample size.
Here are a few comments customers shared on Sitejabber:
Most digital mailbox services offer similar basic core functions. So what sets Stable apart from the others?
Stable offers clients hands-on onboarding. You aren’t just dumped out to whichever third-party shipping store or office storefront you picked. We’ll prefill your USPS 1583 form and guide you through the verification process.
We’ll also provide you with a dedicated team member to walk you through the change of address process. It’s easy to miss a few key contacts when making the switch, which could cause you big-time headaches in a few weeks or months. We prefill paperwork where possible and tailor a checklist to you to reduce the chances of missing a vendor, client, or agency in this process.
Furthermore, we are happy to have transparent pricing. You won’t find any bargain-basement $9.99 plans with Stable, but you also won’t be hammered with surprise fees or upcharges for even basic services like picking up your mail. We provide at-cost forwarding options, and you’ll have access to a quote before we ship a package your way
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All new mail and mail requests are delivered within one business day (under typical circumstances), so you’re not worried about unforeseen delays or a “mail lag” that can sometimes happen with other companies.
Our product is intuitive, too. You can set up mail handling automations, and Stable integrates with dozens of tools you’re already using in business.
At Stable, we take a different approach to the addresses we offer: quality over quantity. We have premium, high-end addresses in major U.S. hubs, including Miami, Austin, San Francisco, New York, and Delaware.
Lastly, Stable focuses on stellar customer service. Our clients trust us to handle business-critical documents and mail, so they deserve to be treated right by a partner they can trust. We provide timely, friendly responses and resolutions if issues do arise.
While iPostal1 offers a valuable product that meets the needs of some businesses, it might not be the best option for you.
Stable offers a superior client experience, better customer service, consistently prestigious addresses, and a transparent pricing system. There’s a lot to love about Stable, and we think you’ll agree if you give it a try!
If it’s time to upgrade to a digital mailbox or a virtual address, then it’s time for Stable. Get started today — explore our plans and features now!
