Not really working when you work at home

Jewelry Discussion
41 
    Anyone care to comment on their use of a PO Box rather than a
street address??

Hi Judy in Kansas :slight_smile:

I got my first PO box after registering to sell on eBay several
years ago. After all, I didn’t want just anyone with Internet access
to know my home address. I no longer buy or sell on eBay, but I do
work at home in a small addition to the back of my house which
actually has its’ own address. That being said, I still use my PO
box as a business address and my cell phone as my business phone,
mostly because I do have a web site (it’s not exactly right at the
moment, so I won’t post the URL just now), and I would still have
the problem of anyone with web access also having access to my home
address and phone. I use the PO and cell phone numbers on my
business card as well as my tax ID.

The positive side is that nobody can find me at all, much less
interfere with my work schedule unless I want them to, except for
family, who also think my work is ‘play’ (Honestly, if I hear “Oh,
you’re playing with your rocks again, that’s nice” one more time,
I’m going to start throwing those rocks :slight_smile:

How much is the PO box used? Well, not very much at the moment.
Mostly because my web site is no longer as functional as it needs to
be for a large volume of commerce. That will change soon,
though…I’m rewriting it as I type this post. However, when I did
have a good bit of e-commerce going, it was not only used often, it
was necessary…and soon will be again, which is why I’ve kept it.
But even now, many of my long-time customers prefer to send a check
or money order, and must do so via the PO box.

A big drawback is that most people just won’t send their hard-earned
money to a Post Office box. I don’t blame them!!! I don’t either,
unless I know to whom I am sending it. Any work I may lose due to
having a PO box as a mailing address, I write off (mentally) as
overhead…in other words, I probably would have gotten their
business if I had a regular storefront and were paying that sort of
overhead. At this point in my life, that is a fair trade-off since I
prefer the privacy my little studio affords me.

Cell phone: For a while, I used what is known to Bellsouth telephone
customers as a “ringmaster number” on my home phone. A ringmaster is
a separate phone number from your home phone that rings the same
phone, but with a distinctive pattern. That was fine for a while
because I could recognize the ring and just ignore it if I didn’t
want to conduct business after hours, or if I was working on a
project, etc. Still, it often rang at all hours and was generally as
much trouble as it was helping. So, enter the cell phone. My cell
number goes on the business card, and is also given to
acquaintances, customers and business contacts. If I don’t want to
be interrupted, I simply turn it off. It has an answering service
that accepts messages, so I don’t miss those. I can also turn the
ringer off and it will show me any calls I missed. If I am out, but
want to take calls, I also “call-forward” my home phone to the cell.
That way, I can get all business and personal calls, or ignore them
at my whim.

The bottom line for me is that the privacy and security that a PO
box and cell phone afford are the way to go for me at this time.
Perhaps someday I’ll decide to open a storefront somewhere but,
until then, the PO/cell phone setup is just what I need.

James in Florida

42 
    if your name is on your card, anyone can look up your address
in a regular phone book unless you're unlisted.  Or in a really big
town/city.

There is an easy answer to that & costs nothing (unlike an unlisted
#). List the phone # under another name in the phone book, or with no
address.

Mark Chapman

43

Same here, I have my phone number on my business card and my website
(from where you can get my P.O.Box address). I am very happy having
this P.O.Box, I can tell everybody a real address without starting
to explain why I wouldn’t give them my privat address and such. It
is very simple. And my Box is used frequently, material,
checks, everything. The best and safest you can have.

Edith
Edith Schneider Jewelry
P.O.Box 52001
Palo Alto, CA 94303
es@edithschneider.com
www.edithschneider.com
(650) 813 9755

44 
Anyone care to comment on their use of a PO Box rather than a
street address??

I’ve been using a PO Box on my business cards for years. It’s
inexpensive ($25/year?) for the smallest size box. The cons to a PO
Box are that I have to check it now and again and deliveries to it
by competing services such as UPS can’t be made. When I order goods I
pick the best delivery service, taking all factors, including
convenience, into consideration.

If there was a way to stop the junk mail and circulars from being
stuffed into it, then the world would be a perfect place, but alas,
that is not possible. The reasons why I have a box with the USPS and
not with a private enterprise like Mailboxes etc., is that the USPS
is more conveniently located and I have the belief (perhaps
erroneous) that the USPS will always be there, and I won’t have to go
through the hassle of changing business cards and forwarding mail
from the old address, whereas the private enterprise might fold. I
don’t really know because I never investigated it, but I think the
advantages to a private enterprise box is that there’s no junk mail,
they offer services that USPS doesn’t (faxing or whatever), and other
delivery services (FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc.) will pick up and deliver to
them. I don’t have my phone number on my business card; I have my
email address. If I want to give a specific person my phone number, I
just write it on the card. I don’t have a cell phone yet but it’s
probably in my future.

Regarding the online directories, you can remove your listing. This
removal appears to “stick,” since we did this a long time ago on
AnyWho and Verizon, and when I just checked, we don’t come up. We’re
still on Switchboard, though. I’m not really concerned with this,
though, since I now have a studio and, in any case, I don’t work
with precious metals or stones!

In regards to the questions about where you work, I like the
“private studio” answer. The word “private” immediately signals that
no details are forthcoming and only a boor would persist in asking
for more.

Christine in Littleton, Massachusetts
No one deserves lung cancer.

45

Hi Judy,

I have a post office box in downtown Melbourne for a few reasons

  • I want a Melbourne address, not the suburb I live in
  • I don’t want findings etc sitting in my letterbox unattended all day
  • I don’t want my home address in public

Because all the suppliers etc I visit are downtown I visit the box
when I visit them.

I also use only my mobile number and web address on my business
cards which means I can feel confident giving them out.

alison
www.alialexander.com.au

46

I got one at first because of the security issue we’re discussing
now–I work from home, and didn’t want anyone to know exactly where
the house was. I soon found the PO box was handier than I’d expected.
I started using it online anytime a website needed a mailing address
for non-shipping purposes, such as ebay. If I request a sample of
something, or a catalog from a new company, I use the PO box because
you know they’re going to sell that address! It keeps the
home mailbox emptier–it’s a LOT easier to toss out junk mail right
at the PO box trash can than it is at home where I tend to set it
aside “until I have time to look at it later”. I check my box about
three times a week (the PO is only a few blocks from home). And if I
get a package that’s too big to fit into my box, the PO holds it and
notifies me to pick it up at the counter–nothing is left on the
porch to be damaged by the weather or stolen by the neighborhood
kids.

–Kathy Johnson
Feathered Gems Pet Motif Jewelry
http://www.featheredgems.com

47

Re the phone number challenge: Please note that omitting your address
or using another name in the white pages listing may not protect
your privacy. I have been told that some reverse look up sites will
also give neighbourhood info on a phone number - including the
addresses of your neighbours! Karen (who thought this a brilliant idea
until a friend told her the name her phone number was listed
under!)

48

Dear friends,

Regarding the security issue of working at home, as well as the
security of being in the jewelry business entirely, please be sure
none of your mailing materials includes the word “jewelry” or
otherwise gives a clue as to your being in a high value business.
Instead of “John Smith Jewelry Designs,” you can just use “John
Smith.” Even some of the biggest firms in the business here in New
York use quote anonymous sounding names on their shipping labels such
as initials only.

Ettagale Blauer
ettagale@aol.com

49

Judy - About 10 years ago I started to use a PO box. It’s a cheap
way to have a mailing address that doesn’t target you and your
location. I use it for my tax license, gemshow mailings and as a
return address on postcards that I send for marketing. I also print
that on my business cards and other contact My phone
number is published but without an address of any kind. When asked
where my studio is, I reply that it is a private studio. If someone
needs to see me about a job, I give them the address when we set an
appointment and only after I have their phone number and I call it
and they answer.

I also use the po box for registration for my website and all the
other detrius that require a mailing address. It is handy to have a
post office box if an important package is sent to have it come to a
secure location rather than to my rural type mailbox.

As for the rest of security - I have an alarm system that calls the
police when set off by either open doors or movement when alarmed.
I may be paranoid - but so far it works and I really don’t think
about it. And so far, no trouble.

Judy Hoch, G.G.
@Judy_Hoch

50

I was so embarrassed when I posted my last clarifying my
original post. I was being so hard on myself that I was feeling very
guilty about even airing my feelings publicly. WHAT SUPPORT YOU HAVE
GIVEN!!

After a week out of state at a show I have had the chance to get
back from the problem and see that I have been allowing my friend’s
life to take precedence over mine. The list of favors I have done
for her is quite long. Sometimes the favors are not just for
necessity–but more because she would really just “feel better” if
this or that were done. An example: A friend has been nursing her in
her own home after this last surgery and she was driving the sick
friend over to her house 5 times a day to see to the dogs! That
opened my eyes. The caretaking friend has quadruplets less than a
year old to take care of. Now that I think of it, all of her other
friends are typical “rescuers” too.

Anyway, thanks for the support. I will continue to help my friend
all I can without jeopardizing my own sanity. I have to say “no.” I
have to have time to do my job. I have to draw limits about what is
and is not reasonable. I feel much, much better and so many of you
helped me get there. THANKS!

J. Sue

51

When I made up my cards this year, I didn’t have more than my email
and website on them…partly because I didn’t want the locals
showing up unexpectedly, and I didn’t want people in the States
calling me when I’m asleep (Central European time here EST+6hrs). I
also didn’t want to make my apartment a target.

But one of the main reasons, aside from security was that I didn’t
want people just showing up at odd times at my home wanting to see my
jewelry…let’s just say, between two kids and that I’m not the
worlds greatest housekeeper, that I don’t like unexpected company. It
also literally puts you on call at all hours if people know where
your workshop is when it is at home.

Jeanne
Jeanne Rhodes Moen
Kristiansand, Norway
http://www.jeanniusdesigns.com

52

Hi Gang

A big drawback is that most people just won't send their
hard-earned money to a Post Office box. I don't blame them!!! I
don't either, unless I know to whom I am sending it.

When I had a PO Box what I did was put my Box Number as a Suite
Number e.g. box 230 becomes Suite 230 at the PO address and no one
was the wiser. I rented from Mail Boxes Etc. as well because at that
time I lived in the country and many couriers would not deliver
there. I even found that some suppliers would not send stock to a
country PO Box. This way I received my post and my deliveries and
could come into town once a week and pick up everything. I am again
considering doing this even though I am now back in the city to
regain some security, even though I do not put my address on my
cards. I am working on my website now and will need a place of
contact. I will also be moving back into the country within the next
couple of years and may again have some delivery problems though I
have found that Loomis, UPS, and CanPar usually deliver even to the
country now.

Karen Bahr “the Rocklady” (@Rocklady)
K.I.S. Creations
May your gems always sparkle.