Whenever you rent a mailbox in the US (regardless of whether it's at the actual post office, with a mom and pop shop, at a UPS or Fed Ex store, etc) there is an application form (form 1093) that you/they must fill out with copies of your two forms of ID and name, address, etc..
I'm curious if anyone knows what happens to this information after that? Does it get automatically sent to the USPS and filed with them, or is it just kept on file at the place renting you the box?
For example if it got filed with the USPS then theoretically if the police were investigating you for mail trafficking they could look up your name with them and see if you have multiple boxes in different places. The only solution for this would be opening one with a fake ID, but others have discussed the liabilities of that.
On the other hand if the info just stays with the mailbox rental place, then theoretically you could open indefinitely boxes even if you got one busted, as long as you had enough rental places in your area. The only way the cops could know would be if they called each rental place in the area and asked directly if you had an account there...and if you were doing just a few big shipments a year, you could conceivably be safe from having a case built against you just by opening a new mailbox rental for each. As long as the shipment made it through and you didn't get a CD, you'd be home free.
Anyone with USPS or mailbox experience know the answer?
It is highly unlikely that there is some kind of federal USPS database for something like this.