# USPS Informed Delivery in conjunction with a Hold **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276 "2020-08-16T19:17:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GnuMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@GnuMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GnuMe)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/1 "2020-08-16T19:17:58Z")
Going out of town for about five weeks. I can either put the mail on hold which I often due or ask a neighbor to accumulate it for me. I’d rather use the Hold method so that my neighbor isn’t inconvenienced…but I want to continue to get daily emails. Does anyone know if they can work together or if a Hold cancels out Informed Delivery? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/2 "2020-08-16T20:31:03Z")
You still get informed delivery. But it’s clearly not accurate. They say the mail is “delivered” but it actually ends up in one of those plastic bins. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/3 "2020-08-16T21:23:58Z")
That’s been my experience as well. When I put my mail on hold I still get the daily email showing the items that would have been delivered that day. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/4 "2020-08-17T14:00:26Z")
I’ve never heard of Informed Delivery before reading this thread, so I went to the USPS web site to look it up. Do you find it useful? Do you get a lot of scans of junk mail? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/5 "2020-08-17T14:02:11Z")
Just letter sized mail. Junk mail envelopes, yes. Advertising flyers, no. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/6 "2020-08-17T14:05:10Z")
It’s interesting, but not really very useful for me. I suppose that if mailbox theft were an issue, it would be more useful. As it is, it just lets me do the “Carnac” thing to my wife, when I predict that she will be getting a letter today… ---
**Author:** ![GnuMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@GnuMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GnuMe)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/7 "2020-08-18T15:54:16Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > They say the mail is “delivered” but it actually ends up in one of those plastic bins. I’ve had better luck than that but I’m sure that it depends on locations. I can think of only twice in the last year that an envelope sized item didn’t arrive the day it was supposed to. One arrived the next day and it took a couple days for the other for some reason. Perhaps it was delivered to the wrong mailbox as has been known to happen. Packages are another story as they seem to vary quite a bit… some even arrive a day early than Informed Delivery says they will. It’s definitely worthwhile for me to at least be on the look-out for packages because some end up in the road-side box and some on the front steps. BTW…thanks for the info on the OP. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/8 "2020-08-18T16:13:19Z")
I was specifically talking about the times when your mail is on hold. ---
**Author:** ![GnuMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@GnuMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GnuMe)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/9 "2020-08-18T16:21:16Z")
Thanks for clarifying…now I understand your point. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/10 "2020-08-20T23:10:41Z")
It’s a good idea to set up an account with USPS for Informed Delivery, before scammers do it for you. The security requirements for setting up an initial account are not as tough as they should be. Once you set up the account, changes have to go through the email address used when the account was created. I’ve found it very helpful for knowing when packages arrive, especially now that I’m home all the time. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/11 "2020-08-21T04:51:04Z")
Another reason I find Informed Delivery really useful is because since CV-19, I’ve had substitute newbie mail carriers, and they mis-deliver the mail _a lot_. I now know what mail is expected and what mail doesn’t make it. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/12 "2020-08-21T19:53:32Z")
I found “Informed Delivery” _very_ helpful when we were on an extended trip (2–3 months) and we already had someone coming in to look after the house for other reasons. We would simply ask the house-sitter to forward any pieces of mail that looked particularly important. ---
**Author:** ![GnuMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@GnuMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GnuMe)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/13 "2020-08-23T13:42:54Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > We would simply ask the house-sitter to forward any pieces of mail that looked particularly important. Does that mean simply writing “Forward To: xxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xx xxxxx” and putting it back in the box… or would you use a new envelope and stamp? ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/14 "2020-08-23T16:22:09Z")
We were out of the US during that time, so we had the house-sitter use a new envelope & stamp. Within the US, I think you can just set up temporary forwarding orders. ---
**Author:** ![Snipe70e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@Snipe70e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snipe70e)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usps-informed-delivery-in-conjunction-with-a-hold/918276/15 "2020-08-26T19:10:23Z")
When you mail is on hold you will still get the informed delievery emails.