# Can I have my mail sent to "General Delivery"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916 "2008-11-15T22:46:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/1 "2008-11-15T22:46:03Z")
Reading Rex Stout’s _Murder by the Book_, I came across a reference to the address of “General Delivery, Clinton Station, New York, NY.” I’m sure I’ve seen this in other films and novels, though I seem to associate it more with rural rather than urban settings. Was this an actual practice at the time? (The book is dated 1951, but I mean “back in the day” generally.) Was it something you elected, as would seem likely if it was being used in New York (where street addresses are rampant), or something you got by default if you didn’t have an address? If you elected to do it, what were the usual reasons? Finally, is this still a practice today? Could I, if I so wished, have my mail sent to “General Delivery, Monkeyville, OH” and walk down to the P.O. once a week to pick it up? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/2 "2008-11-15T23:14:46Z")
[Google is your friend.](http://www.usps.com/receive/choicesfordelivery/receivemailinotherplaces.htm) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/3 "2008-11-15T23:23:32Z")
I’ve met a man who has no permanent address & hasn’t since the 1980’s. He uses General Delivery all the time. Who writes him, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/4 "2008-11-15T23:23:51Z")
You will need to ask the postmaster. In general, nowadays, General Delivery Mail is not welcome in most Post Offices. It used to be more common “back in the day” and it is, as you guessed, more common in rural areas. In the POs I have seen, not even postal employees use General Delivery for their uniforms or other official stuff. They have their own boxes or headings for that. General Delivery was used for offices in areas where there was nothing even close to physical addresses (nowhere today) and people received mail once every third blue moon. Anything more than that, you had to open a PO Box. General Delivery in a big city PO will make them laugh for a second, then send it back. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/5 "2008-11-15T23:26:52Z")
> [@Great\_Dave](#): > > [Google is your friend.](http://www.usps.com/receive/choicesfordelivery/receivemailinotherplaces.htm) One thing thinks the donkey and another the man pulling it along. I am emailing that link to several postmasters I know will find it humorous and then be pissed that they are putting that out as official. Then again, the USPS is one of those creatures where YMMV a lot depending on the particular person you are dealing with. ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/6 "2008-11-15T23:36:40Z")
All my mail gets sent as general delivery. 'Course, I live in Nunavut. It causes all kinds of problems when I order stuff from companies all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/7 "2008-11-15T23:49:55Z")
The Wikipedia [article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_delivery) on General Delivery says to use the ZIP+4 code of 9999 to send something to it. I’m tempted to try it. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/8 "2008-11-16T00:40:23Z")
I was going on vacation and told someone to send my birthday card to Escalante, Utah care of general delivery. Sure enough, when I rolled into town and went to the post office, there was an envelope waiting for me. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/9 "2008-11-16T00:45:38Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > General Delivery in a big city PO will make them laugh for a second, then send it back. Why? I thought it was common for tourists and other short-term visitors to use General Delivery (Poste Restante) services in big cities. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/10 "2008-11-16T00:47:38Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > General Delivery was used for offices in areas where there was nothing even close to physical addresses (nowhere today) and people received mail once every third blue moon. Anything more than that, you had to open a PO Box. I guess the house I live in has a physical address, but you can not use that address for mail delivery. We have to rent a PO box. -Kris ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/11 "2008-11-16T00:48:56Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Why? I thought it was common for tourists and other short-term visitors to use General Delivery (Poste Restante) services in big cities. It certainly is here. At the General Post Office in Sydney, they have gone out of their way to make it easy to do this. There are banks of computer kiosks where backpackers enter their name, and it gives them a ticket with a number and the number of a window to go to to collect their mail, to speed things up. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/12 "2008-11-16T00:56:27Z")
I worked at [Cedar Point](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Point) during the summer of 1979. The park had its own post office, and the only option for employees (at least “peons” such as myself) was to have their mail sent care of General Delivery. Letters were filed alphabetically by recipient’s last name, and claimed whenever the worker had time during normal business hours. I generally checked about once a week, and was occasionally rewarded for my efforts. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/13 "2008-11-16T02:00:36Z")
No problem doing it in the UK, either: [http://www.royalmail.com/link/jump2?catId=83900761&mediaId=600012](http://www.royalmail.com/link/jump2?catId=83900761&mediaId=600012) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/14 "2008-11-16T03:01:25Z")
The one person I ever knew using GD as his mailing address was an adjunct music professor at the University of Louisville. He had grown up on a cattle farm and still ran it when away from the city. So he was General Delivery, [I Forget], Kentucky [zip]. This was in 2003. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/15 "2008-11-16T03:07:27Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Why? I thought it was common for tourists and other short-term visitors to use General Delivery (Poste Restante) services in big cities. My experience in South Florida was that they would hold GD pieces and grill you when you went for them, pretty much making sure you never thought of doing it again. If you did it again, they would ask you to get a PO Box or beat it. Then again, this was in 2001-04. Florida PO’s were not happy places then and there. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/16 "2008-11-16T05:39:03Z")
My parents RV fulltime and I forward their mail via General Delivery every couple of weeks. It seems to work fine - at least they haven’t complained about it. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/17 "2008-11-16T05:59:36Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I guess the house I live in has a physical address, but you can not use that address for mail delivery. We have to rent a PO box. > > -Kris Semi-hijack: I thought the USPS was obligated to provide service to everyone with a physical address, or at least everyone who requested it? Can they just decided they’re not going to deliver mail if it’s addressed to your address? Wouldn’t that be illegal? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/18 "2008-11-16T06:57:32Z")
In addition to the general rules each postmaster has the right to make rules for his station. For instance, I lived in Florida in the Keys and in West Palm and I rented a PO Box. I moved to Naples and they refused to rent me a box. I spoke to the supervisor and he said THIS station doesn’t rent to non-residents. I also tried Fort Meyers and sure enough they refused too. They told me to go to a commercial service. So whether or not “General Delivery” is accepted depends on the directive of whoever is in charge of your post office. They are allowed to make their own rules in certain cases. Also note the link to the US Post Office says “General Delivery is a great choice for you if carrier service or a PO Box is not an option.” So even then it’s possible the post office would say “Rent a box if you want your mail.” You notice how the wording says IF ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/19 "2008-11-16T17:25:34Z")
My friend’s parents live (or her mother does; her father died) in Hastings, Pennsylvania. They have no mail delivery. You have to go to the post office to get your mail. So though they have street addresses, sending a letter to her mother at 123 Elm Street, Hastings, PA will still end up as the equivalent of General Delivery – she goes to fetch her mail. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916/20 "2008-11-16T17:53:55Z")
Before the Internet I used General Delivery in many countries when I was traveling. Last time I remember was in Hong Kong about 6~8 years ago. My guess is that it may not be used as much as it ised to but that it still works. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-my-mail-sent-to-general-delivery/472916.md?page=2)