EARTH CLASS MAIL REVIEW 2022

Overview

Earth Class Mail is one of the largest digital mailbox service providers operating in the U.S today with companies such as Shopify, Lift, and Coinbase on the books. The company launched in 2004 and has recently been acquired by LegalZoom, a large online LLC formation service Provider.

Earth Class Mail maintains its corporate structure, however, with services that cater to travelers, expats, digital nomads, and businesses. They also provide high-volume mailroom services for corporations looking to outsource their mailroom requirements.

With all that said, is Earth Class Mail the right virtual mailbox for you? Today, we’ll explore its features and prices, customer reviews, and rate its specific services overall.

Our Approach:

For our Earth Class Mail review, we have focused on four main questions:

• Is Earth Class Mail a good deal?
• Who are their packages best suited for?
• Are there better deals available?
• Who uses Earth Class Mail and how did they rate their experience?

Earth Class Mail Summary

Earth Class Mail has a wide range of plans available across both personal and business categories. While the Business and Enterprise plans are impressive with high volume quotas and available business addresses, they are also expensive.

In terms of value for money, personal plans do not compete too well when compared to other mailbox service providers. Prices are also high, and with hidden extra costs, (such as check depositing, high package forwarding fees, and cancellation fees if you wish to close your account), you really need to do your pricing research before opening an Earth Class Mail account.

That being said, the service does have a lot of fans and is one of the largest in the industry right now. Enterprise users seem especially well catered for, with the bespoke Mailroom Plans.

However, for the smaller volume user, other issues prevail. This includes a relatively new phone app that still has technical issues and a customer help center that lacks a live chat option. Overall, this is an adequate service provider for personal and small business use, however, in our opinion, there are better options available.

Earth Class Mail Pros

• A range of price plans catering to both personal and business needs
• Business and Enterprise plans have high monthly quotas
• Superior security with managed depots and 2-factor login authentication
• A well-designed web app for a good user experience

Earth Class Mail Cons

• Personal plans are more expensive than competing services
• The phone app is still a work in progress and lacks some features
• Low selection of address (80) when compared to some providers
• No live chat facility for customer support
• Customers have complained of high hidden costs

Earth Class Mail Alternatives

A good option for personal use is available through Traveling Mailbox. This has lots of available virtual addresses located across the U.S.

Anytime Mailbox and US Global Mail are also recommended for small volume users looking for a bargain. Essentially, Earth Class Mail is a better choice for larger businesses due to the services directed toward enterprise users.

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Earth Class Mail Ratings

Value – 3.5/5

Earth Class Mail is not the cheapest mailbox on the market by any means, but there is value in the premium approach
The lowest-priced plan is $19.99 p/mo for 1 recipient. This is expensive when compared to the likes of Anytime Mailbox and Traveling Mailbox, which offer more in terms of mail quota for less monthly fees. However, for just $29 a month, you can opt for a 5 recipient plan with 50 mail items per month.

This is great for families and small businesses and means that you can benefit from the superior features of Earth Class Mail in terms of fast processing times, clear user interface, and advanced security. NOTE: If you aim to use check deposit facilities, this costs an extra $39 a month for 5 checks, (or $10 per check if not on the check deposit plan). US Global Mail offers free check deposit facilities which is a much better deal.

The Mailroom plans are on the top end in terms of price, however, these are some of the most sophisticated packages available and are ideally suited to enterprise users.

All plans incur a $50 cancellation fee which is also worth bearing in mind. Most services allow you to cancel for free. However, Earth Class Mail states that this is to manage your incoming mail for 6 months after closing your account.

Customer Service – 3.5/5

Earth Class Mail does not have live chat support which is a little disappointing
Earth Class Mail customer support is not as available as some of its competitors. The support staff is only accessible on the phone during office working hours (8 am – 5 pm CT) and is closed on weekends. There is also no live chat support, which is what we like to see from a virtual mailbox service.

When you compare this to Traveling Mailbox which provides Live Chat and Anytime Mailbox that is available Monday to Sunday from 5 am to midnight (PST), you can see that here, there is room for improvement. Earth Class Mail does have a good online resource center and helpful blog, however.

Ease of Use – 4/5

Earth Class Mail has a good web app, phone app feels like a work in progress
The web app (i.e the Earth Class Mail website) is clear and easy to use. It feels modern and everything you need to manage your mail is there. We were impressed by this.

It has taken a little time for the service to release a phone app on Android and IOS and at the time of writing, there are still some teething problems. Not all features are available through the app yet, and some functions are difficult to use, (such as check deposit). Overall, it feels quite clunky, however, the company is releasing regular updates to sort the various issues.

Included Features – 4/5

Earth Class Mail includes a lot of features across all of its price plans
Earth Class Mail does provide a lot of good features. Expat families and small businesses are well catered for on the Mailbox plans with features such as junk mail sorting, free shredding, and recycling.

Earth Class Mail also has some of the best security out of the leading virtual mailbox providers. All of the addresses and sorting depots are managed directly by them, (instead of outsourced and affiliated), and two-factor login is available.

Also, the fact that Earth Class Mail manages all sorting and scanning directly means that they have the capacity of large volume enterprise users. This is why they can count billion-dollar companies like Shopify and Lyft on their account books. This is a provider with the features and infrastructure to satisfy the mailroom needs of mega-companies.

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Earth Class Mail: Price Plans

Earth Class Mail has 6 individual pricing plans spread across two categories, Mailbox and Mailroom. Mailroom price plans cater to individual users up to families and small offices. The mailroom plans have higher quotas and cater for small to medium-sized businesses, right up to large corporations.

Mailbox Plans

Personal Mailbox: $19p/mo

The lowest-priced plan is the personal mailbox at $19 per month. This is for one recipient and includes 50 incoming mail items, free shredding, and free 30-day physical storage.

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Shared Mailbox: $29p/mo

The shared plan is similar to the personal plan in terms of mail item quotas (50 per month) and features such as free shredding and 30-day physical mail storage. This is priced at $29 per month and allows for 5 recipient names on the account.

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Premium Mailbox: $79p/mo

The Premium Mailbox plan also provides the same quotas as mentioned above, however, 20 names can be added to the account. You also have access to all of the premium addresses provided by Earth Class Mail.

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Mailroom Plans

Startup Mailroom: $139p/mo

The mailroom plans are much better suited to businesses. The Startup option is great for just that, small new companies that are looking to expand. The mail quota is a generous 100 items per month and you can have an unlimited amount of recipients attached to the account. Similar to the mailbox plans, free shredding, recycling, and 30-day physical storage are included.

Business Mailroom: $229p/mo

The Business Mailroom plan is where Earth Class Mail is beginning to cater to larger businesses that are looking for high mail item quotas. Up to 250 mails can be managed before additional charges kick in. As with the Startup Plan, unlimited recipients can be attached to the account and you have a choice of any of the premium virtual addresses.

Enterprise Mailroom: From $1,029p/mo

The Enterprise Mailroom is the reserve of very large businesses that are basically looking to outsource their mailroom needs. Rather than paying mailroom staff in-house, Earth Class Mail can take care of your incoming mail off-site. Hence, the “From” $1,029 price tag. The Enterprise plans are built on a more bespoke model, with the needs of the businesses being taken into account and then the volume of services priced accordingly.

Additional Services and Charges

Earth Class Mail has a pricing structure that includes a lot of add-on prices in terms of the monthly quotas. These include the aforementioned $39 per month for check depositing up to 5 checks, (each additional check is $2).

Extra recipients cost $5 per name, and there is also a charge for any additional addresses you might choose, (in cases where extra addresses are not included in the plan).

As with most virtual mailbox plans, there are costs if you go over your monthly quota. For Earth Class Mail, these are as follows:

Incoming Mail

Personal, Shared, and Premium MailBox plans	Mail received over plan limits billed as $2 per item.
Startup MailRoom	Mail received over plan limits billed as $1.75 per item.
Business MailRoom	Mail received over plan limits billed as $1.50 per item.
Business Address	Each mail item received billed as $1 per item.

Content Scans

MailBox and MailRoom Plans	You won’t be charged extra for scanning as long as your mailed documents are 20 pages or less.
Business Address	Content scans are billed as $4 per item plus per-page fees for documents that are more than 20 pages.

• $0.10 per page for black and white scanned documents over 20 pages.
• $0.15 per page for color-scanned documents over 20 pages.

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Earth Class Mail Customers

Earth Class Mail is used by expat families, travelers, digital nomads, and small and large businesses, that

• Want a premium-level virtual mailbox service with superior security
• Are not looking for the cheapest deals currently available
• Have larger budgets for their mailbox requirements
• Require large mail item volumes of the mailroom plans
• Are looking to outsource their mailroom activities completely off-site.

Here are some verified reviews (from Trust Pilot) by people that use Earth Class Mail for their mailbox and mailroom service needs:

“I have been using Earthclassmail for 10 years for my personal and business mail, and feel that they offer an amazing service that is hard to find anywhere else!!”

“An invaluable service for expats. This a great US mail receiving/forwarding service for anybody living abroad or somebody otherwise trying to have a mailbox presence in one of many US cities.”

“A Real Lifesaver for Travelers and Nomads. A wonderful virtual mailbox. The ECM Service reps are intelligent and professional. I’ve used the service for around 10 years, in total.”

Of course, not all customer reviews have been as glowing. Similar to some of the comments in this review, Earth Class Mail is far from the best value virtual mailbox provider around. With its high prices come high expectations, these user reviews highlight where the service has fallen short…

“Pricing out of control. Once good, now a scam. I have been using ECM since 2010 or so, as an American ex-pat in Japan. It was once a godsend and now they know I’m in the trap and leverage me…”

“Avoid ECM and save yourself the headache. As the other reviewers have said: there are many hidden costs and price increases.”

“Not transparent with all the many charges and add on fees. Doesn’t reply quickly to customer service requests and will continue to try to charge you after you close your account.”

Final Thoughts on Earth Class Mail

Earth Class Mail is a premium mailbox and mailroom service provider that has the infrastructure to cater to some very large volume clients. However, for the small-time user, the monthly fees are not the cheapest and you also have hidden costs that are added throughout. The app isn’t up to scratch as yet, and customer service could be better.

Essentially, we advise that expat families and travelers look towards the likes of Traveling Mailbox, Anytime Mailbox, and US Global Mail for better value options. Small and larger businesses are a better fit for Earth Class Mail, however, ensure that you are aware of the hidden costs involved before jumping in with a company account.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Does Earth Class Mail forward physical mail anywhere in the world?

Earth Class Mail uses the United States Postal Service to forward mail to its customers. Essentially, the service can forward postal mail anywhere the United States Postal Service can deliver.

Q. Can I cancel my subscription?

You can cancel your account with Earth Class Mail at the end of any billing period. However, a $50 cancellation fee will be applied. This is to cover costs associated with receiving and forwarding mail that is received after your account has closed.

Q. Can an Earth Class Mail virtual address be used for business registration?

Yes, the majority of Earth Class Mail’s selection of virtual addresses can be used for registering a business. They do offer some P.O Box addresses, however, which will cause problems for business registration.

Q. Can I add more than one person to my mailbox address?

Yes. Earth Class Mail specifies how many recipients are included in the individual plan details. Additional names can be added at $5 per name.

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