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Enterprise Post Office Boxes Online

Enterprise Post Office Boxes Online, or ePOBOL, is a USPS online service for opening, closing and paying for PO Boxes, Caller Services and Reserves. A business links its boxes to an Enterprise Payment Account, and ePOBOL renews their fees automatically.

Updated October 28, 202634 sources

What it is

ePOBOL is a service for business customers who manage PO Boxes, Caller Services and Reserves. It gives them one central place online for all their boxes. It shows account payments, balances and transaction history, and it sends renewal notices and account alerts.

ePOBOL takes its payments through EPS, the Enterprise Payment System, USPS's payment system for business customers. EPS pays for products and services through an Enterprise Payment Account, funded by ACH Debit or as a Trust Account.

A customer signs in to ePOBOL through the Business Customer Gateway, the single entry point for USPS's online business services. Each linked box belongs to a Business Location, which ePOBOL names by its Customer Registration ID.

ePOBOL handles three kinds of box. Reports show a PO Box by its size, 1 to 5, a Caller Service as C and a Reserve as R. A Caller Service can be attached to a PO Box that gets too much mail when no large PO Box is free. A Reserve needs an active Caller Service in the same ZIP Code.

How it works

A business first needs a Business Customer Gateway account and an Enterprise Payment Account. It then sends a list of its boxes to the Mailing & Shipping Solutions Center, or MSSC, the USPS office that validates each one.

How a business moves its existing boxes into ePOBOL.

  1. Sign up for a Business Customer Gateway account, or sign in to an existing one.
  2. Request access to EPS and create an Enterprise Payment Account.
  3. Choose the PO Boxes, Caller Services and Reserves to link to that account.
  4. Fill in the ePOBOL Migration Sheet with those boxes and their locations.
  5. Email the finished sheet to the MSSC at MSSC@usps.gov.
  6. Use the subject line EPOBOL Onboarding.
  7. In the body, give the company name, BCG username, CRID and EPS account number.
  8. The MSSC validates each PO Box.
  9. The MSSC emails back the validated sheet with the next steps.
  10. Link the validated boxes to the Enterprise Payment Account.

Linking a PO Box enrolls it for automatic fee renewal. ePOBOL then pays the fee on the 15th of the month it is due.

Linking boxes

Link/Add Boxes is the ePOBOL feature that adds a business's existing boxes to its account. It links one box at a time or many at once, from a .csv or .txt file. A PO Box must be active, or issued, before it can be linked.

Linking one box takes five pieces of information. The MSSC returns them on the validated Migration Sheet.

  • Business Location, the CRID
  • Enterprise Payment Account number
  • PO Box number
  • The ZIP Code where the box is
  • The contact's last name, or the business name on the box

The ZIP Code is where the PO Box is, which can differ from the ZIP Code of the Post Office. Linking a PO Box may also link a Caller Service attached to it. Reserves are not linked automatically.

Paying and renewing

On the 1st of each month, the Billing Report lists the boxes whose fees are due at the end of that month. Automatic payment runs on the 15th.

Pay Now is the ePOBOL feature for paying a box immediately. For a box due at the end of the month, it works from the 1st to the 10th. If renewal fails on the 15th, Pay Now works from the 16th to the 10th of the next month. The box closes on the 11th of that next month. A business that links a box in the month its fee is due pays it with Pay Now.

A PO Box or Caller Service can be paid every six months instead of every year. Once chosen, the six-month term stays. A Reserve always has a 12-month term, and every Reserve is due on December 31.

A business with more than one Enterprise Payment Account can move its boxes to another one at any time. Future payments then come from the new account.

True-up

A true-up box is a PO Box or Caller Service whose due date is moved to a new annual date, so many boxes renew together. The business pays a pro-rated price up to that new date. Reserves cannot be trued-up, since they are already due on December 31.

A box due before the true-up month is charged on the 15th of the month after true-up is set. That charge moves its due date to the true-up month. A box due in or after the true-up month is charged on the 15th of the true-up month. That charge moves its due date to the true-up month of the next year.

Opening and closing boxes

New Box reserves a new PO Box, Caller Service or Reserve online. For a PO Box, the customer fills in the PO Box Online Application, Form 1093. The customer then takes the application and two forms of ID to the Post Office within 30 days. The Post Office assigns the box number at that visit.

Attach Caller to PO Box adds a Caller Service to a PO Box already linked to ePOBOL. It needs no printed Form 1093, because it uses the PO Box's application that the Post Office already validated.

Close and Refund closes a PO Box or an attached Caller Service by its box number and ZIP Code. ePOBOL processes the request immediately. Any refund goes back to the original payment method. A box closed in the month its fee is due can stay open until the end of that month. A new box can be closed 30 days after its request date.

Reports

The Box Detail Report and the Linked PO Box Report can be filtered and downloaded as a CSV file.

Billing Report
Billing Report is generated on the 1st of the month and displays all the Boxes for which payment is due at the end of the current month.
Box Detail Report
Box Detail Report contains detailed information of all PO Boxes, Caller Services and Reserves.
Job Status Report
Job Status Report contains the status of all linked multiple Boxes / Callers / Reserves jobs.
Linked PO Box ReportLinked Box Report
contains all active PO Boxes, Caller Services, and Reserves that have been linked to Business Locations using the Link/Add Boxes function in EPOBOL
Delinked Boxes Report
lists all the PO Boxes requested to be delinked or previously delinked from the EPOBOL account.
True-up Reports
View a list of all boxes that have been set up for due date alignment and/or processed.
PO Boxes ServicesEPS PO Boxes Detailed Report
Provides a detailed view of ePOBOL transactions.

Rules

Effective July 1, 2023 customers without an EPS account will no longer be able to apply for or renew Caller and Reserve Services at a retail counter.

Since July 1, 2023, a customer without an EPS account can no longer apply for or renew a Caller Service or a Reserve at a retail counter.

Takes effect July 1, 2023

PREREQUISITES: Customers must have a Business Location and an Enterprise Payment Account with a valid payment method to access ePOBOL

A customer must have a Business Location and an Enterprise Payment Account with a valid payment method before using ePOBOL.

Boxes linked to EPOBOL can only be closed through EPOBOL and not at the Post Office since funds were taken out of your EPA account.

A box linked to ePOBOL can only be closed in ePOBOL, not at a Post Office, because its fees came from the Enterprise Payment Account.

NOTE: Once you have reserved a Caller Services online, you must go to the Post Office where the box is located and present your printed application form and two forms of acceptable identification unless you already have an issued box at this location linked to your EPOBOL account.

After reserving a Caller Service online, the customer must take the printed application and two forms of ID to that Post Office. A customer who already has a box there linked to ePOBOL is exempt.

This will indicate that you must present this application with your 2 forms of ID to the Post Office within 30 days for validation and activation of your reserved box.

A customer who reserves a PO Box online must bring the application and two forms of ID to the Post Office within 30 days.

NOTE: To apply for a new Reserve Service, you must have an active Caller Service in that Zip Code and you must have linked that box to your Business Location.

To apply for a Reserve, a customer must have an active Caller Service in that ZIP Code, linked to their Business Location.

NOTE: Requests to change the true-up month for a box can only be submitted after 36 months.

A box's true-up month can only be changed after 36 months.

What goes wrong

A box links only when its ZIP Code is right and the last name or business name matches USPS's record for it.

A failed payment most often means the Enterprise Payment Account's trust balance is too low.

A PO Box is typically closed for one of four reasons.

  • The box fee is unpaid.
  • The payment information is wrong or out of date.
  • The payment would go over the account's credit limit.
  • The bank rejects or returns the payment.

When a Caller Service closes for nonpayment, its Reserves close too. A Reserve with a future due date can be reactivated through the MSSC once the Caller Service is renewed.

A Caller Service closed for less than 60 days is reactivated, with its due date set from its last one. One closed for more than 60 days needs a new online Form 1093.

A reserved box whose application is not validated is cancelled on the 30th day, and the money is credited back.

Closing an active box without a Change of Address sends its mail back to the sender.

A true-up payment cannot be refunded once it is charged. A true-up not yet charged can be cancelled before the 15th of the month.

What the sources leave out

The ePOBOL documents do not define a Caller Service or a Reserve, and they give no box fees.

Terms

Enterprise Payment SystemEPS, Electronic Payment System, EPS system, Enterprise System
allows customers to pay for Postal products and services through a single account, called the Enterprise Payment Account (EPA).
Business Customer GatewayBCG, BCG (Business Customer Gateway)
where shippers can manage their mailing activity
Customer Registration IDCRID, Customer Registration Identification Number, Customer Registration Identifier, Customer Identifier, Customer Reference ID, Customer Registration Identifications
a USPS-generated numeric code of up to 15 digits that uniquely identifies a business at a specific location
Business Service AdministratorBSA, Business Services Administrator, Business Server Administrator, Business Systems Administrator
a representative within your company, for each service
BSA Delegate
User who has been granted BSA powers for CRID, but is not the actual BSA.
Link/Add Boxes
Link current retail PO Boxes, Caller Services, and Reserves to ePOBOL.
Pay Now
allows you to make an immediate payment on any of your issued boxes due at the end of the month or any delinquent boxes due at the end of the previous month.
true-up box
a PO Box or Caller Services box that has a due date that has been aligned to a new annual renewal date so that customers can consolidate payments among multiple boxes.
Box Notes
Add custom notes to identify PO Boxes, Callers or Reserve Boxes that are in your account.

Documents

User Guides

Fact Sheets

Tools

Contacts

For help with ePOBOL, contact the MSSC at MSSC@usps.gov or (877) 672-0007.

Sources