Today we learned a valuable lesson -- the hard way.
In order to prevent others from senselessly spending too much on postage (we spent $15... twice!), take it from me -- it MATTERS whether you use someone's P.O. box versus their physical street address when sending something through the mail.
Now, we are reasonably intelligent, college-educated human beings.
You'd think, after all these years, if there were a "right way" or a "wrong way" to mail something, we'd KNOW it.
We didn't. Til now...
Some Cities Have Their Own "Rules"
Via the U.S. Postal Service, we sent a boxed gift to a friend in Sedona, Arizona last weekend. It was a surprise, so we didn't contact the person first to verify their address (perhaps that was mistake #1). But we didn't feel that we needed to, because we used the actual street address of their business -- as indicated on their website (that, my friends, was mistake #2).
Turns out, the post offices in a handful of cities (even major touristy ones!) do not actually DELIVER mail anymore! They REQUIRE that all mail coming in to their fine city be sent to a P.O. Box instead -- leaving it up to the local patrons to come pick UP their mail on a regular basis.
(Aren't you glad you don't live in one of THOSE cities?...)
We don't live in a city like that, but we still felt the sting, cuz our package to Sedona Arizona was returned to us a week later with this note scrawled on the box: "No mail receptacle."
Now... we happen to know that this particular business is open from sun-up to sun-down, so you can bet that there was someone on site during a typical mail carrier's route delivery. Apparently, in Sedona they don't even make an EFFORT to deliver packages!
Differences Between U.S. Mail, FedEx and UPS
When I returned to my local post office to re-deliver this package to the recipient's P.O. Box, the quite helpful and somewhat apologetic postal clerk (who could not provide me with a list of cities which REQUIRE P.O. Boxes) told me, "The Post Office bases its deliveries on mail receptacles, whereas FedEx and UPS base their deliveries on street addresses."
I guess that makes sense. In fact, it kinda sounds simple when you look at it that way. But I always thought that a physical street address would suffice as the "permanent mail receptacle" -- you know, as in that big building... with people who work inside... who could actually RECEIVE the package.
...but not in the U.S. Postal Service ...in not in Sedona, Arizona!
Anyway, the damage was already done. First, we had to blow the "surprise" and actually call the recipient in order to obtain their P.O. Box address. Second, we had to spend another $15 dollars to mail this (somewhat heavy) package. Third, the package took forever to arrive at its intended destination!
What I Learned Today:
- If you're mailing via the U.S. Postal Service, you should play it safe and include both the physical street address AND the P.O. Box on the address line of your recipient -- if possible.
- If all you have is the street address AND you want to play it safe (cuz you don't know if the town that your recipient lives in takes its "mail receptacle policy" as seriously as, say, Sedona Arizona does), then choose to have your package delivered via FedEx or UPS instead.
- If you only know the P.O. Box address for the recipient, then you're stuck mailing via the U.S. Postal Service.
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I avoid USPS whenever I can. They are slow and have useless mail tracking. I have a P.O. Box and a street address with no receptacle. USPS has consistently given me so much frustration that I WILL NOT shop online at places that don't clearly offer UPS, FedEx, or DHL. For me, saving $1 by using USPS is a false savings because I usually end up spending time dealing with misdirected or late shipments.
I recently sent in for a rebate. It was returned with this [we can't sent you your rebate because you only gave us a PO BOX# and not a home address] So what did they use for an address?? just a PO BOX#. go figure???
What about for a company that lists a physical address and a seperate mailing address, but the mailing address has an address AND p.o. box? are there post offices that require this?
Just for your information... I have found out that the some patrons prefer not to receive mail in a mailbox and simply take down the recepticle. They then prefer that the mail be delivered to a Post Office Box for safety. It all makes sense if you think about it. The consumer in fact chooses their own situation. Think about it....
http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm100/addressing.htm
I had two pieces of mail returned to me this week stamped "undeliverable as addressed" The address line contained both street address and PO BOX. Apparently you can only use one per the US Postal Service site above.
Thank you for reminding just how lazy the post office really is and even though they are not REAL government workers, they sure do act like they are. Very humorous story, although, I'm sure it wasn't for you :)
Add this to the story I wrote a few months ago about the U.S. Postal Service losing mail down the drainage ditches in my neighborhood... and I'm not sure any of us should be using U.S. mail for ANY form of delivery!