USPS "General Delivery"

[Snapolit1]

Learned a new one today. USPS General Delivery. Sold a card to a dude and his address was

General Delivery
Minneapolis, MN

Huh?

Looked it up. Can't believe I have never heard of this once in my life.


What is General Delivery?

General Delivery is a mail service for those without a permanent address, often used as a temporary mailing address.

General Delivery is a mail service for those without a permanent address, often used as a temporary mailing address. General Delivery is intended to be used for:

Post Office™ locations without city carrier delivery service.
Non-city delivery offices for those who prefer not to use Post Office Box service and for whom use of Post Office box, Caller Service, or delivery by letter carrier, would be an unreasonable inconvenience.
A participating Post Office to serve transients (people who travel extensively) and those without a permanent address.
Anyone who wants Post Office box service when Post Office boxes are unavailable.

How do I address a mailpiece sent to General Delivery?

NAME
GENERAL DELIVERY
CITY STATE ZIP

[buymycards]

Normally, General Delivery is limited to 30 days, but it can be extended at the discretion of the Postmaster.

It is used frequently by someone who has started a new job in a new town and they don't yet have a permanent address, or someone who is having marital problems and has moved out, or by victims of spousal abuse who don't want their husband to know where they are living. In my office, we extended the 30 day limit many times so we could serve people that we knew were homeless.

As you said, it is also used by travelers. Let's say that you live in Madison, WI, and you will be traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, then to St. Paul, Minnesota. If you need to have something sent to you while you are traveling, you can use General Delivery in Des Moines for a few days, then General Delivery in St. Paul for a few days.

When I first started working at the PO in the 1980's, General Delivery wasn't used much, but now, with the large homeless population, it is used frequently. In a city like Colorado Springs, with a huge homeless problem, the General Delivery portion of the PO is overwhelmed with mail.

[Snapolit1]

Interesting. Having just watched Nomadland, I guess those sorts of itinerant people would find this service pretty nice.

I guess you have to wait on line to collect your stuff so that's a bit of a drag in Covid times.





QUOTE=buymycards;2083342]Normally, General Delivery is limited to 30 days, but it can be extended at the discretion of the Postmaster.

It is used frequently by someone who has started a new job in a new town and they don't yet have a permanent address, or someone who is having marital problems and has moved out, or by victims of spousal abuse who don't want their husband to know where they are living. In my office, we extended the 30 day limit many times so we could serve people that we knew were homeless.

As you said, it is also used by travelers. Let's say that you live in Madison, WI, and you will be traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, then to St. Paul, Minnesota. If you need to have something sent to you while you are traveling, you can use General Delivery in Des Moines for a few days, then General Delivery in St. Paul for a few days.

When I first started working at the PO in the 1980's, General Delivery wasn't used much, but now, with the large homeless population, it is used frequently. In a city like Colorado Springs, with a huge homeless problem, the General Delivery portion of the PO is overwhelmed with mail.[/QUOTE]