Cannot Deliver a FedEx to a PO Box

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Ever wonder why Federal Express won't deliver your package to a post office box? Because of the law.

If a business lists only a post office box as its address, you may be frustrated to find that you can't have a FedEx package delivered to it.

Post Office Box service is offered by the US Postal Service for a fee to any customer and for no fee to customers who are not eligible for carrier delivery.

Under postal service regulations (which, by the way, are just as exciting to read as you'd expect) a PO box may not be used for a scheme or enterprise that violates any federal, state, or local law. 

Fair enough. But here's the kicker: only mail and official USPS notices may be placed into a post office box.

In other words, if you want your mail delivered by the US Postal Service to the box provided by the US Postal Service, you gotta pay the US Postal Service. Paying Federal Express to deliver a piece of mail is not the same as paying the US Postal Service, unless you utilize a FedEx service like FedEx Smart Post which works with—and pays a fee to—the USPS.

Turns out that being a monopoly has its advantages.