We have a new LLC account in which the new customer is renting a box at Goin' Postal. All of the business mailing will be mailed to that box however there is question as to whether or not we should get the physical address of the owner as the Penley ID verification came back with the address of the box as non-residential property. Any response is appreciated.

You have to have a physical address for CIP. If the only physical address available is the personal address of the owner, then that is what you have to get.

A private mail box is not an acceptable address for CIP. In addition, mail that is sent to a private mail box must adhere to postal regulations that identify it as such.

http://pe.usps.gov/text/pub28/28c2_040.htm



Private companies offering mailbox rental services to individuals and businesses are considered commercial mail receiving agencies (CMRA). Addresses on mail received at a CMRA must adhere to specific requirements in the use of their private mailbox number (PMB). Mail sent to an addressee at a CMRA must include either the PMB identifier or the #, followed by the appropriate private mailbox number. Use of any other identifier is prohibited. Either a three line or four line address format can be used with a CMRA address and the PMB or # identifier, with the exception noted below. Where the CMRA's physical address requires its own secondary address element, the PMB or # address must follow the specific format rules stated below. It is not permissible to combine the secondary address element of the mailing address for the CMRA and the CMRA customer's private box number.

Put another way, the business cannot be located at the private mail box any more than it could be located in a Postal Service box. You need a physical address for the address where the business (or its principals) can be found.

There is usually a reason for this and you might want to pass on the account.

When addressing this issue with customers we sometimes use this line "If your home/business (depending on scenario) was on fire what address would you give the fire department?

Like!

In our little town, everyone has to have a PO Box because there is no mail delivery.

Yes, but the person still lives somewhere, not in the PO Box. So even if my MAILING address is PO Box 248 for example, the address you have to use for CIP is where I live, 701 North 9th.

Two other options:

If the locality has done a 911 exercise, they may have assigned houses a street number, even if it isn't used by the post office [our locality did one and they assigned us a different number than what the post office uses, go figure!], and

You may be able to use descriptions such as Route 99, near MM (Mile Marker) 24 on west side of street.

I should have been clearer, we always get a physical address because in our little town everyone has to have a PO Box.
I was trying to respond to the statement there is a reason a business has a PO Box and maybe you should pass on the account.
And it doesn't lessen the monitoring either.