Technically, yes a co-working space needs to be a CMRA to handle mail. It's no different from a Regus/Davinci (which mainly re-sell CEC space) or even a UPS store in that regard, both of which are CMRAs.
Many don't do this and operate fine, with no repercussions. But, at any point a USPS auditor can show up and ask for 1583s for all of the businesses you receive mail for, and refuse mail service if you can't provide the documentation. The level of enforcement tends to differ from post office to post office, and you may hear different requirements about CMRAs depending on where you're located - that's not intentional, it's just a lack of knowledge by most PO workers on the matter. In response to an earlier question, the USPS doesn't acknowledge business change of address notices any more. Otherwise someone at a co-work location could forward all that location's mail somewhere. In the end it's just another business decision you need to make. Some decide that a certain level of liability exposure is acceptable for their operation, and that can be fine. On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 12:21:22 PM UTC-6, [email protected] wrote: > > Interesting Mike, I'd never seen that or read that before. > > My question is does a coworking space have to be a CMRA to handle mail or > can we handle mail the same way an employer would? (which is typically what > we do) > > Seems excessively formal for a community. If mail was the only service we > offer, I'd certainly understand the need. > > On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 12:01:37 PM UTC-6, Mike wrote: >> >> In general, the CMRA and USPS rules limit your responsibility to 6 months >> after they stop being a customer - at which point you can just >> recycle/shred it if they haven't taken action. I definitely recommend you >> read the info in the links I posted earlier. >> >> You're certainly exposed to liability if notices are being served, such >> as: corporate documentation renewals, tax notices etc. Although the >> language from USPS is certainly convoluted, as is the case with most >> bureaucratic organizations. >> >> On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 11:51:25 AM UTC-6, [email protected] >> wrote: >>> >>> Hi Megan, >>> >>> Thanks for raising the question and thanks for the colorful responses >>> everyone, especially Jeanine's photo-narrated reply. >>> >>> There's one point Megan raised that we face a lot of as well, which is, >>> what to do with mail for past/non-members. >>> >>> So far our solution has been to end up stashing it, but it's beginning >>> to pile up and some people have moved or are unreachable with current >>> contact info. >>> >>> Does anyone have a good solution for that? >>> >>> Thanks! >>> Oren >>> >>> On Tuesday, December 8, 2015 at 1:55:11 PM UTC-6, Megan Holcomb wrote: >>>> >>>> Hi All, >>>> >>>> I am exploring options for a flexible mail delivery system. Currently >>>> we have small, square, stacked mailboxes with member names on labels >>>> (alphabetized). We sort the mail ourselves into the member's mailbox and >>>> they (members) are responsible for checking their box. But every time we >>>> get a new member the labels have to be shifted. Some members have >>>> overflowing mail or rarely check their box. Often mail arrives for >>>> past/non-members. For reference we have between 100-200 members. >>>> >>>> Maybe there are some creative mail management solutions out there?! New >>>> to this google group so thought Id ask. Haven't seen it in previous topic >>>> threads. >>>> >>>> Thanks! >>>> >>>> -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
