
If you are a frequent mail user, then you must be aware of using the PO boxes for delivering all your mails securely. Just like every other mail carrier, FedEx also delivers personal and business mails to major cities and even small towns. Most PO box users claim that PO boxes are a secure mode of mail delivery when compared to home deliveries. In fact, every day, more people are signing up for PO box deliveries instead of home deliveries to keep their mails safe. So, what about FedEx? Does FedEx deliver to PO box? And if so, how can you benefit from their PO box delivery service? We have the answer to these questions below.
Does FedEx Deliver to PO Box?

If you are a consistent follower of our blogs, then you must have taken a look at the various topics in which we guide the user on how to solve major delivery and tracking problems. In most of our articles, we have discussed mails being lost despite being delivered at the house addresses due to porch pirates. In other cases, if the recipient isn’t home, the mails will be sent back to the facility so that the recipient can come and fetch their mails. Due to all these major issues, a PO box seems to be a reliable solution. This brings us to the most important question: does FedEx deliver to PO box?
Technically, FedEx is not allowed to deliver to PO boxes within the United States. Even if you somehow end up selecting a FedEx PO box for having your mails delivered, you won’t be able to complete the procedure. Your request for a FedEx PO box will not be processed until you select a valid home address. So, the answer to your question “does FedEx deliver to PO box”, would be a “No” as the company does not allow the employees to place mails in a FedEx PO box at the post office.
What does ‘USPS available for pickup‘ mean?
Can You FedEx to a PO Box in Any Other Situation?
Although delivery to FedEx post office box is not applicable, in some cases, the person can have the mails placed in the FedEx post office box. In specific situations where the PO box address is replaced with the actual street address, mails can be delivered to the FedEx post office box. This is only allowed because owning a PO box at these locations is expensive and hence, the mails can be addressed using the street address of that PO box without referencing the PO box number.
Some people keep also keep asking, ” does FedEx deliver to PO boxes of military bases?”. FedEx does deliver to the PO boxes of the military bases. Another question people commonly ask is “does FedEx deliver to mailbox”. Well, yeah, if the mailbox/PO box is located in a place that is not situated at a post office location, then FedEx can deliver mails to that address regularly.
Common Issue People Face When Delivering Mail to a Po Box
Have you ever wondered why does FedEx deliver to PO box using USPS as an allegiance? Let’s be clear as to why only postal employees have access to PO boxes. Po boxes, technically, are the property of a post office, hence called PO boxes, i.e., PO boxes. As all post offices are the property of the government, only the USPS has access to these boxes(as USPS is owned by the government). Any other mail carrier, be it UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc., is not legally authorized to deliver to this location. So, if you are shipping mails to a PO box using any standard FedEx service(except Smart Post), you cannot have your mails sent to a PO box.
FedEx Smart Post and It’s working
Every day, major business corporation are modifying their services and features to suit the latest trends. In the eCommerce world, businesses and regular customers want their mails and packages in the palm of their hands the very next day after placing the order. Any failure to adhere to these quick demands has a negative impact on the business, as customers easily resort to other popular companies that offer better services.
Since the past few years, e-commerce businesses have seen an increase in the number of PO box users. As these boxes are only accessible by the postal authorities, other non-postal companies have collaborated with USPS to make the delivery possible. One such FedEx delivery which delivers mails to PO boxes is called FedEx smart Post.

Does FedEx Deliver to Po Boxes Through the FedEx Smart Post?
Despite stating above that mails can only be delivered to PO boxes in certain circumstances, there’s still another way to have your mails dropped at the PO box. With FedEx Smart Post, a service that collaborates with another major shipping service, i.e., USPS, you can get your mails delivered to the PO boxes with ease. In this mailing class, FedEx clears the initial shipping mechanism, whereas the final delivery is made using USPS. FedEx Smart Post can also ship to major PO box locations overseas.
How Does FedEx Deliver to Po Boxes Using Smart Post?
The delivery process using FedEx smart post is rather simple. You just need to enter the street address of the post office where the PO box is located. Then you have to address the PO box number without making any direct reference. Simply mention the PO box number as e.g., “Unit 104”.
These mails are fetched, scanned, and later dropped at a USPS location to carry out the final delivery. This final delivery is also known as the last mile delivery. Mail delivery to the PO boxes is made as usual and there also isn’t any change in the tracking system. Sometimes you can use the same tracking information to check for the status on the USPS website, or else a new tracking status is given.
This service is fruitful to not just the user but the company as well. However, there are a few downsides to using Smart Post for last mile delivery. Most of the time, the delivery process is rather slow. Besides slow delivery, customers also have to deal with the tracking updates as USPS tracking information is not that great when compared to FedEx’s. Finally, owning and delivering to a PO box outside the United States is costly.
How Much Money Can You Save by Using Fedex for the Last Mile Delivery?
As FedEx smart Post is significantly cheaper than standard FedEx services, the customers can save a lot more money on the shipping prices. Smart Post is estimated to be 20% cheaper than the FedEx Ground service for delivering mails. However, the user must keep an eye out for the shipping rates before using the Smart Post service. Not only can residential customers benefit from this but helps businesses save a lot more money as they ship multiple mails per day.
The Good and Bad Sides to Using Fedex Smartpost for Po Box Delivery
As every service has some good and bad sides associated with it, FedEx SmartPost also offers some perks along with some downsides. Here is a list of the pros and cons you get with SmartPost:
Pros
- One of the greatest perk with smartpost is that you get to have your mails delivered to any possible location without worry
- You can save a lot on shipping costs if you are a small to medium business owner
- As fedex has a great tracking tool, you can use the same tracking number to tracks mails on the USPS website as well
Cons
- You cannot have your mails picked up for smartpost to certain territories such as Alaska, Hawaii or any other territories
- Mail delivery is rather slow with SmartPost when compared to regular mail services
- Refund is not applicable for SmartPost unlike other fedex services
- You cannot blame fedex if there has been any loss or damages by the USPS
FedEx Vs UPS
Now that you have an idea of FedEx SmartPost, let us jump to UPS, which offers a similar service going by the name of UPS SurePost. If follows the same principle of making the last mile delivery with USPS. Now, there’s a lot of debate as to which service is great. Here are the similarities and differences offered by both these mail services:
Similarities
SurePost and SmartPost offer a lot of benefits to the user in the following ways:
- Both the service are cost-effective
- Saturday delivery is prominent in bot the cases
- Po boxes are delivered to using the help of USPS
- the customers can ask for at home pickup
- Great tracking tools are used, and the tracking number can be used on the USPS tracking page as well
Offering the same set of benefits, these services also have the same amount of drawbacks as well. Customers usually get upset about the slow deliveries and the lack of refunds offered.
What does origin post is preparing shipment mean in USPS? Check it out from here.
Differences
A few differences between SurePost and SmartPost are as follows:
- The major difference between Surepost and SmartPost is that ups drops off the packages to the USPS facility which is closest to the destination. FedEx, on the other hand, drops mails at the closest USPS destination facility instead of the nearest post office.
- Another difference is that UPS check if they already have a post office established in the destination area before handing mails to USPS for final delivery. If the UPS facility is already at the destination, then the mails are delivered through UPS itself. However, this cannot be done if the destination address is a po box.
- Then comes the weight and dimension restrictions. FedEx has maximum weight and dimensions as 70 lbs and 130 inches whereas UPS has many categories of size and weight dimensions

Well, that was the end of our comparison. So, what do you think qualifies for your business demands? Do you believe that the differences between SurePost and SmartPost are noteworthy for the success of your business? Make sure to let us know…
Conclusion
With the end of this guide, we hope you found a suitable answer to does FedEx deliver to PO box. If you think that FedEx SmartPost is not your cup of tea, then you can sign up for a UPS mailbox. The advantage of using a UPS mailbox is that you can receive deliveries from all major carriers such as FedEx, UPS, DHL, and many more. If you still want to carry on with your existing PO box, then there is no harm in that. However, at times, if you are shipping with other mail carriers, you might have to endure some discrepancies in the flow of mails.
How long does parcel select take? Check it out from here.
Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ’s)
No, you cannot send a UPS package to a PO box unless you are shipping using the UPS SurePost service. Any other non-USPS service does not have the permission to legally deposit mail to a PO box.
FedEx can deliver to a PO box only using the FedEx SmartPost service which uses USPS for carrying the last mile delivery.
SurePost is quicker than SmartPost as UPS delivers mails to the closest USPS Post Office for carrying out the final delivery, unlike SmartPost which delivers mails to the closest USPS destination facility.