# What happened to the post office attempting to deliver mail? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 8, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-post-office-attempting-to-deliver-mail/846140 "2020-01-08T20:32:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-post-office-attempting-to-deliver-mail/846140/41 "2020-05-01T21:40:30Z")
Admittedly, it was in the late 40’s an early 50’s me & my siblings were required to write to our Grandma. The address used was: Grandma Town, Tx No zip codes in those day of course. She got the letters. I think they also got the clue from the return address who’s Grandma it was supposed to go to. Also, of all the Grandmothers in that town, she was “The Grandma.” ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2026, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-post-office-attempting-to-deliver-mail/846140/42 "2026-06-07T21:44:04Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > But even in the good old days it still took a letter i mailed to my self 4 days to go two towns over to get sorted and then come back to me One very respected local farmer, now deceased, told me in the 1990s that when he was in college in the early 1950s, 600 miles away, he would often get a letter from home the day after it was mailed. If he didn’t misremember, that was truly amazing. We are from the same small town a hundred miles from the nearest large city and presumably the nearest regional postal facility. ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2026, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-post-office-attempting-to-deliver-mail/846140/43 "2026-06-07T21:48:21Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > I just sent it to the town, state and zipcode. The post office returned the letter. About fifteen years ago, our local postmaster told me that if they received something addressed to my first name and the zip code, they would assume it was me and deliver it to me. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2026, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-post-office-attempting-to-deliver-mail/846140/44 "2026-06-07T22:43:42Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Why I was in college we sent letters to ourselves using only our name, the MIT building number of our dorm, including the room, and the zip code. It always worked. Wouldn’t work any more I bet. MIT has it’s own zip code. You’ve described a complete mail address. Did you get room deliveries? Around here (aus), room deliveries were handled by the organization, not by the postal service. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-post-office-attempting-to-deliver-mail/846140/45 "2026-06-08T15:30:28Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > MIT has it’s own zip code. You’ve described a complete mail address. Did you get room deliveries? Around here (aus), room deliveries were handled by the organization, not by the postal service. No, we had mail boxes in the lobby of the dorm. This was before there were a lot of deliveries. The only one I can recall is that the Coca Cola plant delivered bottles, but to the loading dock, not to us. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-post-office-attempting-to-deliver-mail/846140/46 "2026-06-08T23:01:05Z")
In the 1930s, there was a blues singer named Booker White. One of his recordings was “Aberdeen Blues”. In the 1960s, there was a revival of interest in blues. White kids in the north were trying to locate old-time blues singers, to get them to come north to record and perform. One group of kids sent a letter addressed to: Booker White Old blues singer c/o General Delivery Aberdeen, Mississippi It was delivered. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-post-office-attempting-to-deliver-mail/846140/47 "2026-06-08T23:21:46Z")
In small towns I expect postal workers to know many individuals in their delivery area. And certainly any celebrities. In the big city? Fuggeddaboudit. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2026, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-post-office-attempting-to-deliver-mail/846140/48 "2026-06-08T23:29:50Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > One group of kids sent a letter addressed to: > > Booker White > Old blues singer > c/o General Delivery > Aberdeen, Mississippi > > It was delivered. That reminds me of a story, probably apocryphal, that I heard on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me a few years ago. Many fans of the band Queen supposedly address their fan letters simply: Queen London, UK They were misdelivered to Buckingham Palace. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-post-office-attempting-to-deliver-mail/846140/49 "2026-06-08T23:38:56Z")
_Ripley’s Believe it or Not_ told far-fetched stories of unconventionally addressed letters that somehow reached them. - An address consisting of a reebus involving drawings of a bee, a leaf, the word “it”, an oar, and a knot; - A letter from overseas addressed simply to “Ripley, North America”; - Etc. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-post-office-attempting-to-deliver-mail/846140/50 "2026-06-09T15:10:42Z")
Another unconventional address, in the form of a classic rebus: > **[Return to Sender - Futility Closet](https://www.futilitycloset.com/2007/04/20/return-to-sender/)** > > In The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical (1882), Frank H. Stauffer describes a letter with the following puzzling address: Wood, John, Mass. It was delivered to John Underwood, Andover, Massachusetts. Stauffer also tells of a letter arriving in... > [@](#): > > In _The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical_ (1882), Frank H. Stauffer describes a letter with the following puzzling address: > > > [@](#): > > > > Wood, > > John, > > Mass. > > It was delivered to John Underwood, Andover, Massachusetts. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-post-office-attempting-to-deliver-mail/846140/51 "2026-06-13T21:49:35Z")
When I was a little kid, small town post offices seemed to know everyone. Or maybe it was just my colorful relatives. I often sent letters addressed: > SKINNY > Long Prairie, Minn. And my uncle Harlan would get them! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-post-office-attempting-to-deliver-mail/846140.md?page=2)