7

I've incorporated an LLC and do business through it under a pen name. I'd like to receive packages at this LLC, addressed to my pen name, without having them sent to my home address. What's the most straightforward way to do this?

A PO box won't work because UPS, FedEx, et al won't ship to them. Setting up individual drop boxes with all of the different shippers is much too cumbersome.

I've heard that there are dummy officefront services, which give you an address with a reception desk that can accept packages and claim you're out of office to any walk-ins, but don't know what terms I should feed Google to find them.

(To be clear, I am not trying to buy anything shady or conceal my identity from the government or even from the mailbox company. I just want to insulate my home address and legal name from my corporate shell and DBA so that people who want to send me parcels can do so without having to know where I live.)

Improve this question
5

I've done this before for startup companies where I didn't want the mailing address to really obviously be my apartment or home address. Just for appearances.

What you should be Googling are terms like "private mailbox center."

If I recall correctly, I used to do this with Mail Boxes Etc before they were bought by UPS. This seems to be the equivalent offering these days: https://www.theupsstore.com/mailboxes

I haven't looked at a dummy office for receiving mail -- I imagine that is a bit more expensive. Unless people are delivering things in person I think that would be overkill -- the Fedex guy doesn't care if his package delivery is to a UPS mailbox center.

Improve this answer
  • Yes. And can you sign a limited power of attorney so they can receive legal notices on your behalf, too. Many small business receive mail and packages at a UPS Store or similar for precisely the reasons stated by OP. It's very normal. – Rocky Aug 27 '16 at 0:08
  • It will cost you some money, but i assume you expected that. – Aganju Aug 27 '16 at 0:10
  • The problem with a UPS mailbox is that FedEx won't ship there (and vice versa). I've searched for and found an unaffiliated private mailbox center in my town - will come back and accept this answer if they confirm they can get packages from all of UPS and FedEx and NoNamePackageCo. – Crashworks Aug 27 '16 at 0:24
  • 1
    The independent mom-and-pop "shipping center" in my town set me up with a mailbox under DBA name with no difficulty at all. Thank you! – Crashworks Aug 27 '16 at 2:10
  • @Crashworks note that in the US you must provide real identification to the PMB provider, regardless of your "pen name" to appear on the mail box. If they haven't asked for it - they (and you) are breaking the Federal law. – littleadv Aug 27 '16 at 4:34

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.