Original cost research · October 23, 2026
The months you use
are not always
the months you pay for.
Compare the bill for the whole stay—not just an advertised monthly equivalent. A shorter trip can still buy a full annual block, and more scans can change the suitable plan.
Three decisions matter more than the headline fee.
- How much service are you buying? In this example, three monthly payments total $45; a $150 annual block covers 12 months.
- Which allowance fits the mail? More openings or pages can change the suitable tier; annual and monthly columns may use different plans.
- What is still unpriced? A known subscription or first year does not establish larger-document scanning, future renewal or an entire invoice.
At 12 months in the same retained Sanford example, monthly letter charges are $180 versus $150 annual. This is a specific plan/address illustration, not a national saving or cheapest-provider claim.
Three months of use. Twelve months bought.
Traveling Mailbox Basic · Sanford · one adult/login · 30 received, 10 opened, 3 pages each per month.
3 used; 9 additional months bought · Edit this annual example →
Each block is one month. No mail or scans are assumed during unused paid months. Unused time is not an assumed refund or cancellation outcome. Setup, verification, tax, storage, shipping and exit remain separate.
What happens after the first year?
| Months used | Monthly payment | Annual purchase |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15.00 1 paid month Monthly example → | $150.00 12 paid months Annual example → |
| 3 | $45.00 3 paid months Monthly example → | $150.00 12 paid months Annual example → |
| 6 | $90.00 6 paid months Monthly example → | $150.00 12 paid months Annual example → |
| 12 | $180.00 12 paid months Monthly example → | $150.00 12 paid months Annual example → |
| 13 | $195.00 13 paid months Monthly example → | $300.00 24 paid months Annual example → |
The 13-month annual illustration repeats the retained October 23 tariff for a second 12-month block. It is not a guaranteed future renewal price. Compare the known purchase term and notice requirements with your renewal plan.
Mail volume changes the bill—and sometimes the tier.
Each bar uses the same USD scale. These three researched examples use different plans and payment schedules, not every provider in the market.
Light example
10 received / 2 opened / 2 pages each per month
Regular example
30 received / 10 opened / 3 pages each per month
Busy example
80 received / 25 opened / 2 pages each per month
Mailbox Forwarding: Grandville. Traveling Mailbox: Sanford. PO Box Zone: Las Vegas. The busy example selects Professional and Extended for the first two providers; PO keeps Low annual with pay-per-request scans. Tiers are chosen by the unchanged production engine, not commission status. None of these bars is a complete invoice.
A known amount is not always a comparable total.
- PO Box Zone at 13 months
- $229.00 known; renewal unpriced. Only 12 paid months are documented in the retained annual model. Do not read this amount as a priced 13-month purchase. Inspect the partial example →
- A 31-page requested opening
- The documented PO tariff covers 1–30 pages. Beyond it, scan price and service acceptance need confirmation. Neither an invented fourth block nor a definite refusal is assumed.
- PostScan: payment can change the scope
- The retained monthly example needs confirmation for 20-day paper retention; the annual schedule has a different documented allowance. A numerically complete price alone does not establish a confirmed equivalent arrangement. Inspect monthly conditions → · Inspect annual scope →
Other providers can remain useful while prices or requirements need confirmation. Inspect the full provider directory; this research sample is not the candidate scope for your decision.
Download the rows. Reproduce the example.
Download four-provider CSV Download JSON excerpt All 16 modeled providers: CSV appendix Download source-association companion (JSON)
The four-provider excerpt has 120 rows: three workloads × five durations × two requested payment schedules × four providers. The appendix retains all 480 modeled rows, including absent billing, conditional fit and missing prices. Blank money cells mean unknown or unavailable, not zero.
The source-association companion maps all 480 row IDs to retained source URLs and their review dates. It contains no costs or example inputs. Use its complete URL/date pairs with the CSV appendix; the CSV’s separate date and URL lists do not pair by position.
Every example link deliberately opens its stated inputs, exact plan/address and payment in Costs. It replaces mailbox inputs when you choose it; separate package and business work is retained. To keep your own inputs, use Compare my current mail use instead. Current facts may differ from this dated issue.
Method, source dates and limits
Calculated October 23, 2026 with MailboxCompare’s production engine and retained native134 catalog. Three transparent examples—light 10/2/2, regular 30/10/3 and busy 80/25/2—repeat each month used, for 1, 3, 6, 12 and 13 months. These labels are invented workloads, not measured average households.
Each scenario has one adult, no minor or business names, one login, requested contents scans, 20-day original retention, no paper shipments and no coupon or special-benefit eligibility. The engine selects the lowest modeled eligible tier within each provider and requested payment schedule. Missing payment options stay missing; a conditional feature fit stays conditional.
A letter subtotal includes subscription, ordinary receiving and requested contents scanning. It excludes unpriced setup/verification, applicable tax/deposit, original storage beyond the assumption, shipping, other used handling and exit charges. Known initial cash is separate from a complete invoice. This is not a random market sample, service-quality rating, national price or firsthand subscription test.
Retained official source URLs and individual review dates
No merchant tariff was refreshed for this study. The source dates below belong to the retained facts; calculation and design dates do not advance them. Indexed evidence is identified separately.
- www.mailboxforwarding.com/pricing.php ↗ · retained review Oct 10, 2026
- www.mailboxforwarding.com/features.php ↗ · retained review Oct 10, 2026
- www.mailboxforwarding.com/support/knowledgebase.php ↗ · retained review Oct 10, 2026
- www.mailboxforwarding.com/support/knowledgebase.php?article=18 ↗ · retained review Oct 10, 2026
- www.mailboxforwarding.com/terms.php ↗ · retained review Oct 10, 2026
- www.mailboxforwarding.com/support/knowledgebase.php?article=11 ↗ · retained review Oct 10, 2026
- www.mailboxforwarding.com/pricing.php ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026
- travelingmailbox.com/faqs ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026
- travelingmailbox.com/traveling-mailbox-terms-of-service ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026
- travelingmailbox.com/pricing ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- travelingmailbox.com/product/online-mailbox-subscription ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- travelingmailbox.com/mobile-app ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- travelingmailbox.com/addresses ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- travelingmailbox.com/traveling-mailbox-account-closure-membership-program ↗ · retained review Oct 10, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- travelingmailbox.com/change-traveling-mailbox-addresses ↗ · retained review Oct 10, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- travelingmailbox.com/support ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- travelingmailbox.com/check-deposit-services ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- www.poboxzone.com/ ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026
- www.poboxzone.com/mailforwarding-pricing/ ↗ · retained review Oct 19, 2026
- www.poboxzone.com/faq/ ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026
- www.poboxzone.com/terms-and-conditions/ ↗ · retained review Oct 19, 2026
- www.poboxzone.com/virtual-addresses/ ↗ · retained review Oct 19, 2026
- www.poboxzone.com/scanning/ ↗ · retained review Oct 19, 2026
- www.postscanmail.com/faq.html ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- support.postscanmail.com/how-do-i-get-form-1583-notarized/ ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- www.postscanmail.com/features.html ↗ · retained review Oct 10, 2026
- www.postscanmail.com/a/6608-n-western-ave.html ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- support.postscanmail.com/do-you-offer-local-pick-up-at-your-locations/ ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- support.postscanmail.com/do-you-offer-check-deposit-services/ ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- support.postscanmail.com/what-payment-methods-can-i-use/ ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- support.postscanmail.com/how-do-i-cancel-my-post-scan-mail-subscription/ ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
- support.postscanmail.com/whats-the-difference-between-adding-a-user-and-adding-a-recipient/ ↗ · retained review Oct 11, 2026 · official indexed evidence
Cite this modeled study
When reusing a figure, include its scenario, plan/address, paid term and missing charges. Read our comparison method. Source and merchant rights remain separate.
Understand the 32 CSV fields
The full appendix has 480 modeled rows. The 120-row CSV and JSON excerpts are subsets. Money is in nominal US dollars, not cents. Workload counts repeat each month used; paid coverage is a separate quantity.
A blank numeric cell is unknown, unavailable or not modeled—not zero. List cells use “ | ” between entries; a blank list can mean no listed conditions. A zero is only the known modeled line amount: missing charges can still make that line incomplete.
Read the field-by-field data dictionary
idstring · row identifier- Unique scenario key constructed from workload, intended months, requested billing and provider ID. Use the separate columns for analysis rather than attempting to parse all hyphenated provider names from the key.Never blank in the 480 rows.
workloadenum string · invented workload label- Light=10 received/2 opened/2 pages each per month; regular=30/10/3; busy=80/25/2. These are transparent assumed workloads, not measured typical households.Never blank.
monthsUsedinteger · intended months of use- Scenario duration during which the fixed monthly mail workload repeats. It is independent of base months billed or prepaid; no mail/scans are invented during unused paid months.Never blank.
receivedinteger · incoming letter/item count per month- Assumed monthly incoming volume passed to the model. Counted receiving units remain plan-specific; a digitized-item model is not proof that every envelope equals one document in actual use.Never blank.
openedinteger · requested opened letters per month- Assumed monthly letters whose contents are requested. Models that automatically digitize arrivals retain their own allowance/page-count qualifications in conditions and missingLetterCharges; do not reinterpret this input as a universal merchant billing unit.Never blank.
pagesinteger · contents pages per opened letter- Assumed length of each opened letter, not pages per month. Requested monthly page demand is opened×pages, subject to the plan's actual piece/page/block/digitized billing unit.Never blank.
providerIdstring · retained catalog identifier- Machine ID for one of the 16 providers with a numerical model in the frozen issue. The 16-model sample is not the whole provider directory or the whole market.Never blank.
providerstring · provider display name- Retained human-readable name corresponding to providerId. It identifies the modeled provider, not a firsthand review or recommendation.Never blank.
planstring or null · resolved plan label- Plan/tier returned by the retained engine for that provider, workload, duration and requested payment. Tiers can differ between rows; cross-billing differences are not necessarily same-plan savings.No modeled purchase was returned for the requested payment basis. 135 blank rows in this issue.
addressIdstring or null · retained researched-address identifier- Internal address ID from the returned resolved model when supplied. It is not an assigned customer suite or proof of enrollment availability.No address ID was supplied. This can happen for a returned model as well as an unsupported billing row; 210 blanks occur, more than the 135unsupported rows.
addressstring · human-readable address or service/plan and charges- The result's scope string, otherwise provider model scope/location. It can be processing/address narrative rather than a full street. It remains present even when requested billing has no model; it does not establish an assigned street/suite or every-address pricing.No blanks in this issue.
requestedBillingenum string · requested payment basis- Payment basis deliberately requested by the scenario. Every workload/duration/provider has both requested rows; an absent purchase is retained rather than silently changed.Never blank.
billingenum string or null · resolved payment basis- Payment basis of the actual returned model. In this frozen 480-row issue, every nonblank value equals requestedBilling; this separate field records resolution rather than assuming the requested schedule exists.No modeled purchase for the requested payment. 135 blank rows.
paidMonthsinteger or null · documented modeled base-coverage months- Returned billedMonths/knownPaidMonths. Annual blocks can buy12 or 24 months for shorter use; a modeled minimum can exceed monthsUsed. Where renewal is unpriced, it can be less than intended use: PO 13 months retains12 documented paid months.No modeled purchase/coverage count returned. 135 blanks.
featureFitenum string · retained feature-requirement status- Confirmed means required features had no remaining feature-check/failure in this retained scenario; conditional means material required-feature checks remain; unresolved is the generator's fallback when no result/decision was returned. It is not price completeness, reliability, institutional acceptance or a complete-invoice judgment. The broader engine can return failed, but no main 480 row has that value.Never blank; no-result rows explicitly say unresolved.
eligibleboolean or null · retained modeled hard-failure flag- True means the returned model has no recorded hard requirement failure; conditional checks can still remain. False would identify a modeled failure, but the main 480 rows contain no false case. This is not permission to buy or a confirmed suitable-service verdict.No result returned; eligibility was not established. 135 blanks versus345 true rows.
letterPriceCompleteboolean · narrow letter-price completeness flag- True only when no price gap remains in subscription/receiving/requested-scan cost group. It does not establish feature fit, signup cash, storage, shipping, exit, contractual certainty or a complete invoice. 309 true and171 false rows.Never blank. No-result rows are false, so false alone does not distinguish unsupported billing from a returned partial amount.
letterSubtotalnumber or null · USD for the modeled stay/payment blocks- Comparable narrow subscription+receiving+scan total, exposed only when eligible===true and letterPriceComplete===true. A conditional feature fit can still have this amount; 87 such rows exist. This is not a confirmed all-charges recommendation or full invoice.The narrow total is incomplete, unavailable or ineligible; 171 blanks in the main 480 rows. Do not replace with knownLetterCharges without preserving partial status.
confirmedLetterSubtotalnumber or null · USD narrow subtotal with confirmed required-feature status- letterSubtotal additionally restricted to featureFit==='confirmed'. 222 rows have a value. Confirmation applies to the retained required features and narrow cost only; term/notice or other invoice charges can still be unresolved.No complete eligible subtotal with confirmed feature fit. 258 blanks include conditional fit and missing/unavailable prices; a blank is not a zero or service refusal.
knownLetterChargesnumber or null · USD known portion of subscription+receiving+scans- Known sum for the narrow letter cost group, even while a used charge or renewal is missing. For PO 13 months, 229is known but renewal remains unpriced. Use missingLetterCharges and completeness alongside it; it is not a complete total.No modeled purchase/known portion returned. 135 blanks.
missingLetterChargesarray of strings in frozen JSON; pipe-separated text in CSV · reasons the narrow letter price is incomplete/unavailable- Missing-charge or no-modeled-purchase reasons from the subscriptionScanning cost group. It does not list every non-letter invoice exclusion; consult conditions/methods and separate initial-cash completeness.An empty CSV cell represents an empty list, not an unknown numeric value. 309 rows have no narrow missing-charge reason. Unsupported payment rows explicitly say No modeled purchase for this payment option.
subscriptionnumber or null · USD known subscription/base charge for billed blocks- Returned subscription line, including the modeled paid base blocks and applicable modeled subscription-level name/user charges. All fixed study scenarios have one adult/login and no coupon. It is not a monthly rate and is not added again to knownLetterCharges.No result/line returned. 135 blanks in this issue.
receivingnumber or null · USD known receiving-usage charge over monthsUsed- Returned receiving line after modeled plan allowances/rules. Read with missingLetterCharges: USA2Me regular 6 monthly has0known receiving while Ordinary receiving charges remain missing. Zero alone does not prove free receiving.No result/line returned. 135 blanks in this issue; numeric 0must remain distinct.
scanningnumber or null · USD known contents-scan charge over monthsUsed- Returned scan line according to that plan's pieces/pages/blocks/digitized-item rules and allowances. It is not an included scan quota. Missing unpriced page use can coexist with a numeric known scan portion; retain missingLetterCharges/conditions. The 480mainrows use2 or 3 pages only; 31-page stress cases are separate retained cost group evidence.No result/line or no supported numeric scan line. In the main 480 rows all 135 blanks correspond to no returned billing purchase. Do not turn blank into 0 or extrapolate a tariff.
initialKnownCashnumber or null · USD known initial-payment portion- Known initialCash cost group, which can contain the first subscription payment, known setup and/or required funding/deposit according to the model. It is cash due rather than a second service expense and can overlap charges already represented by the letter subtotal. Do not add it blindly to letter charges or assume a complete checkout bill.No result/initial-cash line returned. 135 blanks.
initialCashCompleteboolean · initial-payment completeness flag- Whether the returned initialCash cost group has every mandatory modeled cash charge priced. All 480 rows are false in the frozen issue; verification, tax, funding or another required amount remains unresolved where a result exists.Never blank. No-result rows also default to false; false is not a failed payment or a service refusal.
conditionsarray of strings in frozen JSON; pipe-separated text in CSV · retained qualifications and unresolved checks- Deduplicated union of returned result conditions and decision conditions, including feature, cost, term, verification and service-scope qualifications. These do not collapse to one pass/fail flag.Empty list when no conditions were attached; it can occur on no-result rows and does not prove confirmed fit or complete pricing.
failuresarray of strings in frozen JSON; pipe-separated text in CSV · recorded hard requirement failures- Failure reasons on a returned result. Every main 480 row has an empty list; the separate retained 200-page service-cap cost group example is outside this CSV. An empty list does not prove universal suitability or resolve a conditional check.The empty list serializes as an empty CSV cell in all 480 rows. Unsupported billing also has no result failures, so use eligible/billing/featureFit.
modelPriceReviewedISO date string · YYYY-MM-DD retained model price-review date- provider.priceReviewed from the retained catalog. It is not the calculation/publication date, the newest source date or a new verification of live merchant prices. Values are October 10, 11 or 19, 2026.No blanks in this issue; the generator could retain null if no price-review date were supplied.
sourceDatespipe-separated ISO date list in CSV · YYYY-MM-DD retained source-review dates- Unique nonblank review dates from the row’s retained structured sources. This list is deduplicated independently from sourceUrls; positions do not pair dates with URLs. No source was refreshed for this issue. Retained dates range from October 10 to October 19, 2026.No blanks in this issue; otherwise means no source-review date supplied. This list is deduplicated separately from sourceUrls; positions cannot be paired one-to-one.
sourceUrlspipe-separated URL list in CSV · retained public evidence URLs- Unique source.url values from the retained structured source records. These are evidence references, not a merchant checkout, affiliate entitlement or proof the URLs were freshly fetched. The list is independently deduplicated from sourceDates.No blanks in this issue. Do not zip list positions with sourceDates; consult structured source records for an exact URL/date association where available.
editUrlrelative URL string · fixed-scenario Costs reopening link- /calculator/#state=... encodes this scenario and selected provider; when a result exists, it also carries the resolved exact plan, address ID and billing. It deliberately opens an example and can replace comparison inputs. Current published facts may produce a different result; it is not an archival invoice, merchant quote or order. No private visitor quotes/labels are in the frozen study link.Never blank; 480distinct example links.
Eligibility, feature fit and price completeness answer different questions. A complete letter subtotal is still separate from signup cash, other services and a complete invoice. No modeled purchase for a requested billing choice does not establish that a provider cannot serve the reader.
Source dates and URLs are independently deduplicated lists; their positions do not pair a date with a URL. October 23, 2026 is the original calculation date, not a refresh of those source facts. Method and retained source dates · Downloads and sample scope · Full 480-row CSV
https://mailboxcompare.com/research/months-used-months-paid/