USPS Drop Boxes

Our ward drops weekly deposits for Zion's Bank in the local USPS drop box. We can't access the drop box inside the postal facility, since it is locked, so we use the drive-by drop box outside the facility.

I suggested to the bishopric that we use a USPS drop box closer to the meetinghouse, but the bishop says we must use a drop box located on federal government property.

Can you confirm?

The Help Center suggests that if you're not able to deposits with a bank's drop box, to follow the instructions given "by the area controller". I'm a little surprised you're mailing them rather than working with a local bank.

russellhltn wrote:I'm a little surprised you're mailing them rather than working with a local bank.

Standard procedure in many areas.

drepouille wrote:I suggested to the bishopric that we use a USPS drop box closer to the meetinghouse, but the bishop says we must use a drop box located on federal government property.

All USPS drop boxes are federal property, but I think your bishop may be recalling an instruction to use the drop box at a federal facility, rather than any USPS box at the corner of a shopping center, for example. The theory is that it is more secure, and it probably is, although I do not know what the actual instructions currently say.

russellhltn wrote:The Help Center suggests that if you're not able to deposits with a bank's drop box, to follow the instructions given "by the area controller". I'm a little surprised you're mailing them rather than working with a local bank.

Here is the (redacted) response we received:
Our advice is to drop off the Priority Mail Envelope in the most secure box that is available. Inside the Post Office would be ideal but not accessible in this case. If the drop box outside the Post Office is comparable to a drop box somewhere closer to the meetinghouse, then it makes no difference which one is used. We leave it up to the local unit leaders to evaluate the options and determine which one is best.

Our bank sources show that there are two small banks in [your town]. We have about 150 deposit banks in the United States, but we haven’t established an account with either one of these banks. Our current policy is to open an account if there are at least three units that can use the bank. These three units would be units that are mailing their deposits or will need to mail their deposits because the bank they have been using is closing and there is no other option. Our banking team is constantly evaluating the dynamics of bank mergers and closures. But, that being said, there are cases when one of our banks opens a branch that we are not aware of. If another bank opens a branch in [your town], we would like to know about it. Currently there are 347 units in the United States that are mailing their deposits. We are constantly evaluating their proximity to banks.