Virtual Office Mail Forwarding: How Does It Work

Table of Contents

There are many benefits to having a virtual office, with one of the biggest being mail forwarding. If you already have a virtual office in one of central London’s prime commercial locations, you should consider getting your post forwarded to you at a small cost to ensure the smooth running of your business.  

Dealing with post-related admin isn’t something you dream of doing when you decide to start a new business venture. Getting sales, winning big clients, and coming up with exciting new products are the things that most business owners want to focus their time on. Nevertheless, handling mail and dealing with correspondence is an essential part of running your own business, and when you’re a one-person outfit or have just a small number of employees, things like admin can fall by the wayside quickly if you don’t stay on top of them. 

Services such as a virtual office with mail forwarding can help you get things done quicker, without the hassle of having to travel to a location to pick up your letters. 

In this article we’re going to explore how a virtual mailbox in the UK works, how much it typically costs in London, and what the benefits are for busy self-employed professionals.  

How virtual office mail forwarding works

When you buy a virtual office plan it’s important to look at what’s included in the price. The rates for virtual office packages in the UK can vary greatly depending on lots of different things, such as location, services and availability. Monthly plans can be as much as £75 per month, and sometimes there are hidden costs to look out for, so it’s a good idea to shop around. At the very basic level, your virtual office and mail forwarding plan should include mail handling. This means someone will receive, organise and store your letters and parcels until you’re able to pick them up. 

A good basic package (like Hoxton Mix’s Collect plan) should send you free notifications and not charge extra fees for high post volumes—but with a mail-forwarding package you won’t even have to pick your post up. Instead, your mail will be processed and sent to an address of your choice (such as your home address) so you can sort through your bills, letters, contracts and legal documents at a time and a location that’s convenient for you.  

That means you can still take advantage of a prestigious business mailing address in central London while keeping your residential address private.

The cost of getting your post sent to you

Just like with virtual office rates, the cost of using a mail forwarding service will vary between providers. At Hoxton Mix, we offer this service within a package when you buy your virtual office, making it highly cost-effective.  

Our Virtual Office Forward plan is just £25.00 a month, no matter how many letters you receive. This package includes the cost of renting the virtual office and having a virtual address in Shoreditch, and we also forward mail the same day. This means you can reduce delays between correspondence, helping you receive official mail, pay your invoices, and get things done in a timely manner.  

If you don’t have a permanent address for forwarding (for instance, if you’re always travelling for business) we can also offer a Virtual Office Scan plan for £35.00 a month. This plan comes with your business address, with mail handling and letters scanned and emailed to you securely on the same day. This is the fastest way to receive your post, while all scans are converted to high-resolution PDFs with text search capabilities. 

Looking for cost-effective mail redirection solutions? Find out more in our detailed price guide.

Top benefits of mail forwarding services 

Business address mail forwarding is suitable for all different types of companies that don’t have a physical office, including: 

• If you’re a freelancer who works from home or an entrepreneur who travels all over the world, forwarded mail services could make life so much more convenient. 
• If you’re a small business that doesn’t have the resources to handle mail, you could ease the burden on yourself and your employees. 
• If you’re an established business with several locations, forwarding can help you ensure that no letter or package gets lost or misplaced. 

So, what are the tangible business benefits of having mail forwarded to you at any address? This is certainly not an exhaustive list of all the benefits of virtual office address mail forwarding, but some of the most important advantages include:

• Cost-effective - getting your mail forwarded to you can be cheaper than paying for transport to pick up your letters daily or weekly. 
• Same-day services available - reduce delays between receiving and responding to important correspondence.
• Handle time-sensitive post quickly, and get bills and invoices paid on time.
• Work remotely from anywhere - get your mail forwarded to you anywhere in the world, whether you’re travelling for work or leisure.
• Prime virtual office location allows your business to boast a prestigious address without the overheads.
• Keep your home address private - your customers, clients, partners and suppliers will only have visibility of your corporate address

Other benefits of a virtual office with mail forwarding

There are additional money and time-saving advantages to virtual office services and business mail redirection, including:

• A virtual address you can use when registering as a limited company with Companies House, which you can also use on marketing materials such as business cards.
• Office space and meeting rooms you can use for company and business meetings, typically available to book by the hour. 
• Virtual office mail forwarding, fax forwarding and phone answering services.
• An optional 020 (London) virtual telephone number to ensure your phone number matches your company’s address.

Another benefit of a business address and mail forwarding service is flexibility, with a range of services that can typically be added to your plan that help you to scale as your business grows, and these can often be added with little effort. For example, you can ask your provider to not only manage your mail forwarding, but also scan the letters you receive and email them to you to save even more time. 

Make sure you choose a provider that allows you to cancel a service at any time if you no longer need it.

Considerations of a virtual office with mail forwarding

Virtual mail forwarding offers multiple benefits, but you need to consider a number of things before setting it up.

• What additional services does the provider offer in addition to virtual business address mail forwarding? Perhaps you also need a virtual office phone number, meeting room access or mail scanning. Even if you only need a virtual mail forwarding service right now, think about how your business might grow in the future and choose a provider that can match your evolving needs.
• The address of your virtual office must be a genuine physical location in the UK where legal documents could be served—a PO box number isn’t enough. This means that, if you don’t have an office but don’t want to use a virtual office address, you must register your business address as your home address (or other address connected to you).
• Your virtual office address must be in the same part of the UK as where your company is registered, for example, England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
• Look for virtual business address mail forwarding that can be flexible. Although you shouldn’t be changing your virtual address frequently, that doesn’t mean you want to tie yourself to a provider for the long term. At Hoxton Mix we offer flexible month-to-month terms, in addition to a 12-month deal that includes two months for free.

Virtual office mail forwarding in London - Hoxton Mix  

If you’re looking for a prime office address, our Shoreditch offices could be ideal for your company. Enhance your reputation with potential clients with a postcode in one of the capital’s trendiest areas. Shoreditch is a hub for creativity and young professionals and is also home to Silicon Roundabout, the UK’s version of Silicon Valley.
Our virtual office post forwarding package gives you a business address to impress, with same-day mail handling and forwarding for just £25.00 a month. Ready to find out more about why Hoxton Mix offers some of the best services for mail forwarding London has to offer?

FAQ

What is virtual office mail forwarding?

It is a service that allows businesses to receive mail at a different address to the one they operate from. Let’s say you have a home office. Rather than putting your own personal address on the public registry, you can use a third-party address and have the provider forward your mail or email to your home.

Can a virtual office forward mail?

Yes, if you get the service that combines a virtual business address and mail forwarding. Post office forwarding is often included in the same package, or it can be optional. If you want to purchase additional services for mail handling - like scanning and emailing - that can also be arranged.

How do you get mail from a virtual address?

Mail forwarding with a virtual address is a straightforward service. After you have set up the address where you want to receive business mail (which only takes around 10 minutes), you won’t need to participate in the process actively. The provider will receive letters and packages and send them to a designated address, be it your home address, a physical office or another location.

Does forwarded mail take longer to arrive?

No, we forward mail on the same day. You’ll also get an email alert for every item of post, so you’ll always have a heads-up. The scanned copies of your mail will be in your email inbox almost instantly, and the physical mail will arrive shortly thereafter.