Gentlemen,

I have a question. I just started my home based FFL and I am curious if I should use a P.O. Box or postal service street address service for non-firearm mail. I wanted to know your thoughts, such as would it help me look more professional and allow me to get mail/non-firearm packages more easily? Or it simply not worth it and I should just my house address.

Also, on a related note. Do any of you advertise via social media? I don't use social media in my personal life so I have no experience with it but was thinking perhaps having a Twitter account or  similar accounts to help advertise my business along with my website. Thanks again.

I'm not sure what you mean as non firearm mail etc.

Most if not all distributors will ship only to your premise address. I myself have a po box as  my shipping address on My license. But no one will ship to it. I was only able to get davidsons to use an alternate address for shipping to my home.

So idk about another address. Most Dist will only send anything to premise of your shipping address ON your license. And most do not send anything shipping wise to po box. I do get magazines, flyers etc at mine. So in other words you can have a po box on your license to receive non firearm stuff only pretty much.

Not at all correct.





That's because it's a post office box. USPS won't accept packages from anyone but USPS.
Get a box at the UPS Store, they accept packages from UPS, FedEx, USPS, etc.





I get guns from Sport South, Lipseys, Bill Hicks, and every manufacturer direct to my box at the local UPS store.





If you mean "premises OR shipping address ON your license"...........true.




 
Not shipping guns to a PO box isn't the manufacturers fault.....it's USPS.

The post office could careless what I receive. It's mainly the distributors don't use usps for firearms etc.

Now on the ups store thing. That's NOT a real PO box. Your address is usally 1234 fake street #123(ur box number) soso city xx 123456 zip

That's more of a private box rental where the staff their just sorts the mail yo your correct box number.

I do agree the ups store box idea is best. I just didn't want to change it yet and when I started I just put my po box and found after the fact about the not shipping to USPS po boxes.

The op originally asked about po box so that's what I was addressing. Not ups store type mailing box locations. But I do agree that's the best thing for a home based retailer or if you have a special situation like me where I'm not constantly at my office.


Yes I was referring to Dist only shipping to premises OR shipping address. But I have come across a few who will only ship to your premise address but I believe that's more of a who's your rep to help you on that. Some reps go the extra mile. Some don't give a shit otherwise.

Gentlemen,

Thanks again, I greatly appreciate it.

I guess my question was about a UPS store OR a PO Box. I planned on sending firearms to the address on my FFL but if a distributor was willing to send to a UPS box, even better. My main deconfliction was collecting bulk mail at one location because I often work late at my real job.

Thanks again.

Although I've had a PO box for nearly 30 years because of my LEO job, I never used it in any way for the FFL business.
No need to, as far as I can see.

As far as social media, if you're adept at using that, get your name out there.
Get your name on some general FFL search engines and also on the list of local FFL options that various gun websites like Buds maintain for their customers to pick from.

And while you're at it, so your best to avoid negative word of mouth from past or potential customers. That can sink you quicker than being on all the search engines and social media.

As far as working late, coordinating pickups, etc, get to know your UPS, FedEx and USPS delivery people. Get their contact info for your phone and ask if they'll accept texts or calls if you have some particular delivery issues that you need to coordinate with them. Figure out where your UPS and FedEx delivery hubs are to you and what their late pick up hours and locations are so you can go there to pick boxes up. You might even be able to have the boxes held at the hub for you to pick up during late pick up if you're routinely going to be missing deliveries at your licensed premises. That only works if you're a small FFL guy with an occasional delivery. The hub isn't going to hold 30 boxes a day for you if you're a full service brick and mortar store. Go to the FedEx and UPS websites and set up an account for shipment alerts, estimated delivery dates etc. Your customers are for sure tracking their boxes on-line ( some will call you literally as soon as their package is signed for, or if you've missed delivery they might call to chirp at you about that too )  and so should you. These are all things I do to track shipment and delivery of guns.

Oh, and since it's Christmas, don't forget your delivery person at Christmas. I don't give a damn if there's some corporate policy that says blah blah blah they can or can't do or accept something. They look out for me, I can at least look out for them once a year.

While you're at it, if you have other local gun dealers, get to know them. Network, share advice, help each other out. I am not afraid to refer people to my bigger competitors if I know I can't help them. They return the favor.

Absolutely, 100% wrong.
You need to read UPS & FedEx tariffs as well as USPS regs.
Neither UPS or FedEx will deliver to a PO box......because USPS will not accept their shipments.




Maybe because UPS & FedEx prohibit shipments to a post office box?



Well......DUH. A "PO box" is....wait for it.......a POST OFFICE Box. See where the letters "PO" come from?




No shit?




It's a PMB, or "private mail box".




It's because you didn't do much reading in this forum. it's mentioned multiple times why getting a box at the UPS Store is helpful.




Which is why most on this forum recommend NOT using a PO box.

Well it could work if u received at your premise address and used watever else address for the mailing. But if you don't want to receive at your premise address and utilize a ups store as your shipping address on your license then just send all bulk mail there?

I have purchased from a few ffls locally and the address on their invoice is the local ups store. Not their house address since they were home based.

It's Christmas.

Relax. Geez

Btw ups does does deliver thru USPS. It's called ups mail innovations. USPS is the final deliverer of the package.  FedEx has a similar thing too. I don't know Wat there's is called.

Sorry I don't read 100% everything on arf or any other forum and believe everything on the Internet. I use it more of a question answering. Some research....etc.

Yea I'm sure I'm the only one "breaking" the law becuz I didn't read the tariffs/regs. Because everyone else does right ?

And again yes ups does ship to po boxes.

The only reason I used the po box is I get all my mail there. Anything else goes to my house. I got tired of people stealing packages(before FFL ) at my house. It's rampant.

Stop posting incorrect information and you won't feel butthurt.





Uh....no they don't.
You need to stop posting bullshit. It isn't helpful.





For fucks sake. UPS Mail Innovations is a wholly and completely different service than UPS. Basically UPS picks up the item and delivers it to the USPS. If you knew one fucking thing about shipping firearms you would know why no one uses UPS Mail innovations. You've been a licensed dealer for what.....a month? I've been an FFL for over eight years, received around 14,000 firearms and not a single one was delivered by UPS Mail Innovations. That is a supply chain service that has fuck all to do with firearm shipments.

You need to stop posting bullshit. It isn't helpful.




You might want to start.





This is your stupidest post yet. Whether someone else violates Federal law will not excuse your behavior. Advising another forum member to do something illegal is a dick move.






And, again.....horseshit.
Can I use UPS to ship to a P.O. box?
UPS will only accept shipments to a valid street address. We do not deliver to P.O. Boxes. If a shipper should use a P.O. Box address, the recipient´s telephone number must be included on the label. Your package that is addressed to a P.O. Box may be delayed, will not be covered by any UPS Service Guarantee, and will require an address correction charge. Additionally, Army Post Office (APO) and Fleet Post Office (FPO) addresses are not accepted.

FWIW, I have a box at a UPS store and they accept firearms shipments for me as well.  Make sure ATF adds it as a mailing address on your FFL and you'll have no problems shipping to it.  ATF allows shipments to anywhere, not just your premises.

Address at a UPS Store is something like:

John Doe's Big A Guns
123 Avenue A, Suite 435
Anywhere, XX, 99999

The suite number (or unit number or whatever...) is you box number.

Jeff

BATFE FAQ

May firearms be shipped to a licensee at an address different from the business premises address identified on the license?

Yes. Neither the GCA nor its implementing regulations require firearms be shipped only to the licensed business premises. Therefore, a licensee may lawfully receive firearms at the licensee’s mailing address, storage location, or other address where the licensee intends to ensure safe and secure receipt of the firearms.

Last Reviewed September 23, 2016

FWIW I just do not think adding a layer to equation ie UPS Store or similar is a bright idea, as evidenced by some firearms are very expensive to do you want Magilla Gorilla at the UPS store mishandling a rifle especially one coming in on a transfer to a customer?  But, if it works...well what can be said?

It works and works exceedingly well for me.
The employees at my UPS Store have been beyond awesome in the last seven years.
Their actual handling of a package is limited to scanning it and affixing a label. They most certainly treat every package as if it were their own.