LetterAgent
Mail physical letters by just asking your AI assistant.
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A virtual mailbox is a service that gives you a real street address, receives your postal mail there, scans the outside of each piece, and lets you decide from your phone what to open, forward, or shred. The operator is called a commercial mail receiving agency. Think of it as a PO box with a camera crew and a forwarding department attached.
You sign up and get an address, usually a street address with a suite or unit number rather than a box number, which matters because some shippers and banks refuse to accept PO box addresses. All your mail goes to the provider's facility. When each piece arrives, staff scan the outside of the envelope and upload the image to your account. You browse the scans like an inbox: for anything worth reading, you request an open-and-scan, which gives you the contents as a PDF. For anything physical, you request forwarding to wherever you actually are. Junk gets shredded, usually after a holding period in case you change your mind.
This is the part that surprises people. In the US, a commercial mail receiving agency must have a notarized USPS Form 1583 on file before it can accept your mail. That form authorizes the company to receive mail on your behalf, and it requires two forms of ID, one with your photo. The notarization exists because the service is a known vector for mail fraud: the form is the paper trail that ties the mailbox back to a real person. Setup takes days, not minutes, and any provider that skips this step is operating outside the rules.
| Option | Address type | You get | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual mailbox | Real street address | Scans, forwarding, shredding, check deposit at some providers | Monthly fee plus per-scan and per-forward charges add up |
| PO box | Post office box number | A locked box you visit in person | Some banks and shippers reject PO box addresses |
| General delivery | The post office itself | Free pickup at the counter | Only works while you are passing through; not a permanent address |
| Friend or family address | Their home | Free, and someone you trust | Burden on them, plus their address ends up on your records |
The classic users are people without a fixed address: long-term travelers, RVers, digital nomads, and expats who need a stable US address for banks, tax agencies, and voter registration while living elsewhere. Small businesses use them too, because a street address looks more established than a PO box on an invoice or a website footer, and the scan-and-forward flow means the founder never has to visit a mailbox.
It is less useful if you mostly receive packages. Virtual mailbox plans charge for receiving and forwarding parcels, and per-package fees can make a busy month expensive. If your mail is 90 percent parcels, a parcel locker or a friend's garage is cheaper. And if privacy is the goal, read the fine print: the provider's staff see the outside of everything, and open-and-scan means they see the inside too. Choose an established operator with a clear retention and shredding policy, not the cheapest listing in an app store.
Canada has equivalents, though the market is smaller and the terminology varies: mail receiving, virtual office, and parcel pickup services. Canada Post's own FlexDelivery gives you a post office pickup address for parcels ordered online, which covers part of the use case for free. For a full scan-and-forward service with a Canadian street address, private operators exist in the major cities, and the same diligence applies: check how long they keep scans, who can request forwarding, and what happens to your mail if you stop paying.
Ready to mail it? Send your letter with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it is printed and mailed.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
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