Can You Find Out Who Owns a PO Box? Legal Process and Alternatives

To find out who owns a PO Box, you generally need to fit one of two categories: a government agency acting in an official capacity, or a private party who needs the boxholder’s name and street address to serve legal papers. In the second case, you submit a written request to the postmaster of the post office where the box is located, and USPS releases the name and address at no charge. Outside those channels, USPS will not identify a boxholder, and the workarounds available to the public are limited and unreliable.

Why USPS Keeps Boxholder Information Private

When someone rents a PO Box, they complete PS Form 1093 with their name, physical address, and identifying details, and USPS treats that record as protected under the Privacy Act of 1974.¹ Federal regulations at 39 CFR 265.14 list the narrow situations in which USPS will disclose that information to anyone else.² The information exists. The question is whether you qualify to see it.

The Legal-Process Route for Private Parties

The most common way a private individual identifies a PO Box owner is by needing to serve legal papers on that person. Under 39 CFR 265.14(d)(5)(ii), USPS will release the boxholder’s name and street address to a qualifying requester, without a subpoena or court order.² You send a written request directly to the postmaster of the post office where the PO Box is located. There is no fee. USPS publishes a standard format you can follow.³

Three types of requesters can use this route:

Process servers authorized by law to serve legal papers, who must cite the statute giving them that authority.
Attorneys acting on behalf of a party in the litigation.
Self-represented parties in a lawsuit. A corporation acting on its own behalf must cite the statute authorizing it to do so.

Private requesters receive the boxholder’s name and street address only. Unlike government agencies, you do not get a copy of the completed PS Form 1093 with its additional details.²

What Your Written Request Must Contain

The postmaster will return incomplete requests, so every element matters. A qualifying submission includes:²

A statement certifying that the information is needed solely for serving legal process in connection with actual or prospective litigation.
The statute or regulation authorizing you to serve process. Attorneys and self-represented individuals are exempt from this requirement.
The names of all known parties to the litigation.
The court where the case has been or will be filed.
The docket number, if one has been issued. If the suit hasn’t been filed yet, say so.
Whether the boxholder is being served as a defendant, witness, or in some other capacity.

Your signature certifies under penalty of law that everything in the request is true. If anything is missing or the signature is defective, the postmaster returns the request with a note explaining what to fix.³

Penalties for Using the Process for the Wrong Reason

The request process exists only for serving legal papers. Submitting false information to obtain a boxholder’s identity for debt collection, personal curiosity, harassment, or any other purpose is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, punishable by a fine, up to five years in prison, or both.⁴ The USPS request form prints that warning in bold directly above the signature line.³

When a Protective Order Blocks the Request

A boxholder who feels threatened can file a copy of a protective court order with the postmaster. Once that order is on file, USPS will not release the boxholder’s information through the standard process-server route. Only a court order, a government agency request, or a law enforcement request routed through the Postal Inspection Service can override the protection.² If your request comes back denied for this reason, your next step is to seek a court order.

How Government Agencies Get Access

You should know this exists so you don’t confuse it with what’s available to you. Federal, state, and local agencies can obtain boxholder information by sending the postmaster a written certification, on agency letterhead, stating that the information is needed for official duties. No warrant or subpoena is required, and agencies receive a copy of PS Form 1093, including the names of anyone else authorized to receive mail at that box. Law enforcement conducting a criminal investigation can also make an oral request through the Postal Inspection Service, which verifies that the request relates to an active investigation before releasing the information.² These paths are not open to private parties.

Indirect Options When You Don’t Qualify

If you have no litigation in play and no agency credentials, USPS will not tell you who rents a PO Box. A few indirect avenues sometimes help.

Business Registration Records

Many states require a business to register a physical street address for its registered agent, not a PO Box. If the box belongs to a business, the state’s Secretary of State or business registry site may return the business name and a physical address. This does nothing for a PO Box used for personal mail, but it’s often the quickest route for identifying a business behind a box.

Commercial Mailbox Services Work Differently

Private mailbox services, or commercial mail receiving agencies, are not USPS PO Boxes. Companies like The UPS Store give customers a street address, and customers complete PS Form 1583 with two forms of identification. That form stays on file at the CMRA and must be available for examination by the postmaster and the Postal Inspection Service, not by the public.⁵ So a CMRA address can sometimes be linked to a business through public records, but the individual renter’s identity is protected from casual inquiry.

People-Search and Skip-Tracing Sites

Commercial people-search services claim to link PO Boxes to individuals by cross-referencing address histories and other records. Results are inconsistent. These tools tend to be most useful when you already have a name and want to check whether it connects to a particular box, and least useful when a box number is all you have. Treat any hit as a lead to verify, not as identification.

Street Addressing Doesn’t Reveal the Owner

Some post offices offer a Street Addressing service that lets a PO Box renter receive packages from private carriers like UPS and FedEx by using the post office’s street address followed by the box number, formatted like “123 Main Street #456.” It doesn’t identify the boxholder. USPS also prohibits using that street format as a physical residence or place of business on legal documents, and misuse can result in USPS closing the box and may violate civil and criminal laws.⁶ Seeing an address with a “#” and a number tells you which post office is involved. It doesn’t tell you who’s on the other end.

1
United States Postal Service. Guide to Privacy, the Freedom of Information Act, and Records Management – Section: 2.3 Federal Laws
2
eCFR. 39 CFR 265.14 – Requests for Specific Customer Information
3
United States Postal Service. Change of Address or Boxholder Request Format – Process Servers
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally
5
United States Postal Service. PS Form 1583 – Application to Act as Agent
6
United States Postal Service. Customer Agreement for Premium PO Box Service Enhancements