# Is it possible anywhere in the civilized world to have a stable residence and no mailing address? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 6, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990 "2012-02-06T17:52:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/21 "2012-02-06T19:13:56Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > The point should be obvious: According to this thread, the only ways to not have a mailing address in the civilized world assuming you have a home are: > [ul] > [li]To be so poor you fall into what **dracoi** talked about.[/li][li]To live out of town and not have a P.O. Box.[/li][li]To live out of town and not bother with General Delivery.[/li][/ul]First-world townies are thus screwed when it comes to junk mail and other assorted crap sent through the mails. Your point is still not at all obvious. Do you not feel like getting mail anymore, and feel trapped by your functioning postal service? Take down your mail box. Presto, no more mail. You’ll be just like your rural counterparts and be forced to pick up your mail at the post office, either at the window or via PO box, or not at all if you don’t care about any mail you get. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/22 "2012-02-06T19:22:41Z")
> [@treis](#): > > WTF are you talking about? What I posted isn’t a mailing address, they are directions to a house. If that’s your definition of a mailing address, then how could anything possibly not have an address? To further continue my point, what I gave wasn’t even to a specific house. It was too an area with a handful of houses, and the postman knows who lives where. Or he knocks on doors until he finds out. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/23 "2012-02-06T19:25:19Z")
I have an address, but do not get mail delivery. No one gets direct delivery, some folks have a gang box they can drive to. Most of us have to have PO boxes. Mountain Rural. Closest decent sized town (about 5,000) people is 20 miles away. They don’t get delivery either. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/24 "2012-02-06T19:32:22Z")
The US is moving toward a “city style” addressing system because it helps a lot of people (like the government) who want to be able to find the houses and the people who live there. One great use is 911 systems. “Help, I’ve fallen and can’t get up. Drive 2 miles and take a right at the old oak tree. Turn left where the steam crosses the road.” Or “Help, I’ve fallen and can’t get up. I’m at 1234 Backwoods road.” Before that, there were PO boxes and there were rural routes where basically you were just a stop on the postman’s route. He knew where you were, even the houses with no address or street name. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/25 "2012-02-06T19:43:29Z")
I have a vacation cabin on an island in the Washington San Juans. We have several full time residents there, and nobody has a mailing address - in fact there is no mail service of any kind to the island. This takes some explaining when dealing with several government agencies, who have trouble wrapping their heads around this one. Especially since we also don’t have any public roads on the island. I love explaining to the Department of Transportation why we want to get a title for a new vehicle, but no, not interested in licensing it. “But…but… you’ve got to have a license!” “No, we don’t. This vehicle will never see a public road again” ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/26 "2012-02-06T20:29:35Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > I have a vacation cabin on an island in the Washington San Juans. We have several full time residents there, and nobody has a mailing address - in fact there is no mail service of any kind to the island. > > This takes some explaining when dealing with several government agencies, who have trouble wrapping their heads around this one. Especially since we also don’t have any public roads on the island. I love explaining to the Department of Transportation why we want to get a title for a new vehicle, but no, not interested in licensing it. > > “But…but… you’ve got to have a license!” > > “No, we don’t. This vehicle will never see a public road again” You never ferry it to the mainland? Are all roads in the San Juans private, or just on your island? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/27 "2012-02-06T20:48:55Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > I shouldn’t reply, but: In what Universe is a PO Box _not_ a mailing address? General Delivery might be a little more iffy, even though it also obviously qualifies, but the entire purpose of a PO Box is to provide a mailing address. How can it not be the only thing it is? By that definition, what you were asking in the OP becomes “is there any civilized country without a postal system?” I don’t know whether Somalia has a postal system, but it’s not a civilized country. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/28 "2012-02-06T23:41:32Z")
Quite a few local rural properties here do not have mailing addresses. Because there is no designated mail run or contractor they have to settle for post boxes ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/29 "2012-02-07T00:38:13Z")
I though the older RFD covered all rural residences. City slickers could walk to their Post Office. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/30 "2012-02-07T00:41:29Z")
A friend of mine lives on an island off the coast of Maine, which receives a regular mail delivery, but has no addresses. I’ve often gotten postcards to him with nothing more than his first name and the ZIP code. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/31 "2012-02-07T01:17:31Z")
I have a small lake house in rural West Virginia that I only use in the summer. There is no mail delivery there because I have not requested it. If I did request it, I would be assigned a rural box, so my address would be something to the effect of RR 1, Box XYZ, City, WV, Zip. The house wouldn’t have a number assigned to it. The mailbox would. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/32 "2012-02-07T01:37:27Z")
My parents have a holiday house which has changed address twice. Originally it was just “Portion 21 of the Farm Such-and-Such, District of Somewhere-or-Other”, then the farm officially became a village so it became “Erf 63 Such-and-Such”, and then the local council finally named the streets and numbered the houses so now it’s “15 Main Road, Such-and-Such”. Still no mail delivery, but the council and the other utilities have used those various addresses to refer to it. My point, I guess, is that it’s quite possible, in South Africa at least, to have a house in an established village that has no street address at all in the normal sense. Until the latest change, the houses in that village were identifiable only in terms of the legal description used by the land registry for the plots they were built on. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/33 "2012-02-07T05:31:53Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Panama residences do not have mailing addresses. There is no home or business delivery of mail by the postal service; the only mail delivery is to post office boxes. > > Panama buildings do technically have physical addresses, which can be used for courier service like DHL and FedEx. However, most people don’t know them. Apartment and office buildings (and many other buildings) have names, which most taxi drivers know. Typical directions would be “It’s four buildings beyond the McDonald’s heading out on 50th Street.” > > Costa Rica is similar. When I FedEx something to San Jose, the directions I put on the address label are something like “Argosy Books, on 5th Street 50 meters north of the Hotel Capri.” This! Glad I read some of the responses first. I was about to start typing something very similar. My father has lived between Panamá and México DF since 1988. He resides mainly in Panamá now. In 1996 when my son was born I wanted to send him pics and he kept telling me that there could be a good chance that they may not get to him even though he lived on the 15th floor of a building in a well known area of town. I ignored his advice not really understanding what he meant (at the time) and just as he said, the photos did not make it to him. You may be asking why - because I had a **physical** address that he had given to me a while back when he first moved there which in reality did me or the postal service no good. There may be actual addresses, but they are seldom used. It may be a hard concept to grasp for some, but I assure you that what **Colibri** is saying here is absolutely correct. Oh how I miss visiting there! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/34 "2012-02-07T05:42:50Z")
I receive all my mail at my work address. My (US government) organization does maintain a Panama post office box to receive mail sent from within Panama, but I don’t recall the last time I received anything with local Panama postage on it. Most businesses of any size employ a courier to make local deliveries of correspondence that would be sent by mail in the US. Some years ago I went to the post office with a visiting friend because he wanted to send postcards to the US. We were told that the post office was out of stamps! (At least, they were out of the correct denomination for a post card. If you wanted to send one, you could use a higher denomination.) ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/35 "2012-02-07T06:01:07Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I receive all my mail at my work address. My (US government) organization does maintain a Panama post office box to receive mail sent from within Panama, but I don’t recall the last time I received anything with local Panama postage on it. Most businesses of any size employ a courier to make local deliveries of correspondence that would be sent by mail in the US. > > Some years ago I went to the post office with a visiting friend because he wanted to send postcards to the US. We were told that the post office was out of stamps! (At least, they were out of the correct denomination for a post card. If you wanted to send one, you could use a higher denomination.) In 1990 when my dad first moved to Panamá he was a diplomat. He ended up giving me a P.O. Box # for the US Embassy (I think?)…he worked for the World Bank at the time and I was able to send him mail that actually got to him maybe once. Then a few years later I bought a digital camera and started using the net and snail mail became a thing of the past. How is the weather **Colibri**? Let me guess…HOT HOT HOT. 🙂 Phew, when I would go visit I could break out in a sweat by 8:00a.m. when I stepped outside. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/36 "2012-02-07T10:05:50Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > One of CNN’s heroes interviews was with a person who claimed that **not having an address was a major stumbling block for a lot of people trying to break into the middle class in third-world countries.** It is common for people to build on locations without permits, even building on top of other buildings. Because they don’t have permits, they don’t get an official address, **and that means they either can’t do things like open bank accounts, or have to have all the mail delivered to a neighbor** who may or may not be trustworthy with things like bank statements. This, another thread of evidence that the United States is a third world country. Homeless people here (of whom there are more and more these days) have no address, and you cannot get a P. O. Box unless you have a home address as well. (Or lie about it, but that takes some creativity since you have to show some documented proof like a utility bill or something.) Because of this, homeless people are, basically, excommunicated. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990/37 "2012-02-07T10:56:50Z")
[Carmel-by-the-Sea, California](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmel-by-the-Sea,_California) > [@](#): > > The Postal Service provides no delivery of mail to individual addresses. Instead, residents go to the centrally located post office to receive their mail. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-anywhere-in-the-civilized-world-to-have-a-stable-residence-and-no-mailing-address/611990.md?page=1)