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| Getting Mail to You (Pub 201) |
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Our mission is to provide you with quality mail service. Our responsibility is to deliver this service as efficiently as possible. Mail is delivered to our customers in a variety of ways. How mail is delivered to you depends on where you reside. Some of the common delivery methods are described below. City and rural delivery services are provided from more than 25,000 delivery post offices across the nation. Generally, for rural delivery to be established, roads must be passable year-round, and mailboxes must be on the right-hand side of the road on the carrier's line of travel. Extensions of rural delivery service must serve at least one family for each additional mile of carrier travel. Areas to be served by city delivery must have paved or improved streets; street signs and house numbers displayed; and 50 percent of the building lots developed with residences or other structures. For more information, contact your local post office. Central point delivery provides service to several addresses at one delivery point. This service, along with curbline delivery service, is one of two service options offered for new residential areas. Neighborhood delivery and collection box units (NDCBUs) and cluster box units (CBUs) are examples of central point delivery service. The conveniently located units provide for the delivery and collection of mail. The delivery compartments are individually locked and large enough to hold magazines, merchandise samples, and several days' accumulation of mail. Outgoing mail may be deposited in a designated compartment. In many areas, parcel lockers are installed alongside NDCBUs to save the customer trips to the post office to pick up packages. With this service, customers enjoy greater mail security and convenience. Curbline delivery provides service to customer boxes located at the edge of streets and roads that can be safely and conveniently served by carriers from their vehicles. If unusual conditions, such as excessive street parking, make it impractical or difficult to serve boxes at the curb, customers may install boxes at the edge of the sidewalk closest to their homes. These boxes can then be served from the sidewalk by the carrier. The local post office makes this determination after all other delivery options, including central point delivery, have been explored. General delivery is used primarily at post offices without carrier delivery or those serving transients and other customers who do not have a permanent mailing address. Mail endorsed "General Delivery" is placed in a general delivery case. The mail can be picked up by the addressee on request at a retail window. Proper identification is required. In offices with carrier delivery, customers ineligible for carrier delivery may also receive their mail through general delivery. Contact your local postmaster for more information. Before you move, obtain a Mover's Guide from your letter carrier, local post office, or the Postal Service web site on the Internet at http://www.usps.gov/moversnet Complete Form 3575, Change of Address Order, and deposit it with your local post office. Whenever possible, notify your post office at least 1 month before you move to ensure uninterrupted service. Be sure to notify your correspondents also. You must include the effective date of the change on all notification forms. Your complete new address should include any directional designation (north, east, south, west); the correct suffix (ST, AVE, RD, etc.); apartment number, rural route number, box number; and correct ZIP Code or ZIP+4 code (if known). All Express Mail, Priority Mail, and First-Class Mail such as cards and letters are forwarded for 1 year. There is no charge for this service. Periodicals mail, including magazines and newspapers, is forwarded at no charge for 60 days from the effective date of your change of address order. Publishers are required to subscribe to our address correction service. Normally, your magazines will not need to be forwarded for longer than 60 days. This applies to permanent moves only. Publishers are not provided address correction information for temporary moves. So, if you file a temporary change of address and would like to receive your newspapers and magazines at your temporary address, you need to notify publishers in advance of your move and again before you return. If you go away for less than 30 days, you may want to use our hold mail service. Your local post office can provide additional information and guidance regarding temporary changes of address and holding mail. Forwarding of Standard Mail varies greatly depending on the level of service guaranteed by the sender. Contact your post office for more information about forwarding this class of mail. Post Office Box and Caller Service Post office box service is available at most post offices for a small semiannual or annual fee. At nondelivery post offices or based on a customer's eligibility for carrier delivery service, a no-fee post office box may be available. If your post office does not offer carrier delivery service, check with your local postmaster to see if you are eligible for a no-fee post office box. There are five post office box sizes from which to choose. The fee varies with the size of the post office box and the classification category of the post office. Post office box delivery is a secure and private means of getting your mail any time the post office lobby is open. With post offices conveniently located near most businesses, you can get a jump on your day by receiving your mail at a post office box near where you work. Note: All five post office box sizes may not be available at all post offices. Caller service is available for customers who receive a large
volume of mail or who need a box number address when no boxes are
available. This service is available for a fee. Call your post office
for more information.
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