# Mail.

Ordering items online is an opening to expose your physical location to the entire world. Even a trusted, privacy-conscious retailer can be breached by attackers, and your address could be exposed via an exfiltrated database.

This is one of the easiest ways for your online identity to become tied directly to your real-world location. Once your name, email, phone number, and home address are all attached to a retail account, every order you place becomes one more record that can be sold, leaked, or subpoenaed. People tend to think of privacy as a browser problem, when in reality a package showing up at your front door can be just as revealing.

Whenever possible, avoid handing your home address to random companies unless there is an actual reason to do so. PO boxes, private mailboxes, package lockers, alternate pickup locations, and other forms of indirection are all worth considering depending on your situation. The goal is simple: stop making your residence the default destination for every dumb purchase and newsletter signup on the internet.

If you want a PO box specifically, the USPS process is straightforward:

1. Go to the [USPS PO box page](https://poboxes.usps.com/findBox.html) and search by your ZIP code or address.
2. Choose a Post Office location and a box size based on how much mail you actually expect to receive.
3. Reserve and pay online.
4. Go to that Post Office in person with your completed application and 2 forms of ID to pick up your keys or combination.

Boxes are offered in 3/6/12-month rental terms, and the prices differ based on your location + box size. These were the prices at the last store I checked:

| Size | 3 months | 6 months | 12 months |
| ---- | -------: | -------: | --------: |
| XS   |      $63 |     $108 |      $216 |
| S    |      $80 |     $138 |      $276 |
| M    |     $127 |     $219 |      $438 |
| L    |     $152 |     $262 |      $524 |

You should also be selective about where you buy from in the first place. Every new storefront is another database with your information in it, and many of these sites are run by people who clearly do not give a shit about security. If a merchant looks shady, behaves strangely, or asks for more information than necessary, assume their database will eventually become somebody else's download.

### References

\[1] <https://www.cyberpunks.com/cyberpunk-life-hacks-how-to-receive-mail-anonymously/>