Dealer Won't Ship To Post Office Box

I was just looking at a dealer's online offerings and noticed that there was a caveat: the dealer ships only to the US but in addition won't ship to Post Offices boxes. Makes it difficult for me to order from him since I don't live in an area to which the USPS delivers to the house. I have emailed the dealer to see why he has this restriction.

Anybody else in this situation?

I have the same issue where we all go to the Post Office to get our mail out of a PO box, I live in a small village. I usually list my street address first then my PO Box on the second address area. I have also listed the street address and then box # after this. Had good success with it.

If the dealer's Shipping Address area has 2 lines to enter the address, one possible workaround is to list your street address in the first line, and the PO Box in the second line. If the dealer is using a private service like FedEx or UPS that does last mile delivery on its own, it should see and use the street address. If the dealer is using USPS, it should see and use the PO box number. The dealer's policy likely exists because it is not using postal services for delivery.

I received an email back from the dealer thanking me for calling his attention to the problem. He said that sometimes he uses old templates and he overlooked the restriction. He will rework it immediately. My problem solved.

I have seen this from certain sellers in their policies as well, although I have not personally encountered it. I believe it stems from the fact that some P.O. branches just put signature-required items in the boxes without actually getting signatures. It's faster for them to just put the items out than to write up a slip to put in the recipient's box... hence the seller is on the hook for an item not received claim.

I've seen that restriction many times; I do not know why clerks would be less likely to collect signatures from recipients than carriers; our very-long-term carrier signs for our stuff (including EMS) and stuffs them in our box.

You can comply with the restriction as you finesse the restriction as follows:

Post Office Box 1234
City State Zip+1234

is re-formatted to:

1234 (station name)
City State Zip+1234

or, if their software checks for a valid street address:

(station's street address) #1234
City State Zip+1234

Remember that the nine-digit zip will direct the mail to the post office boxes section of your local post office no matter what sort of gibberish you write in the address line.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

We have that problem. The local post office does not deliver mail to addresses on Main Street in the business district of town. So if you live in 2nd floor walkup above a store, you can only get mail at a Post Office Box. You can put a street address and PO Box on your address if you want, but its 50/50 of getting delivered to your PO Box because the Regional Sorting Center may not recognize the street address and return the mail as undeliverable. If it does make it to the local post office there is again a 50/50 chance of it getting returned as NO SUCH ADDRESS or NO MAIL RECEPTICAL. So much for mud, sleet or snow.....

I think it is more likely the dealer is too lazy to go to the PO to mail his parcel. UPS comes to his door. Way around it is to simply tell the dealer that this displeases you and if he wants your business he can ship to a PO Box.

We have curbside delivery; the drivers aren't supposed to come up a private driveway, even to deliver a package. (Sometimes our driver does, if she's making good time on the route that day.) We live a little less than half a mile from the curbside. So I have everything sent to the post office, about a 15-minute drive away. I don't want any stamps sitting out there.

If a dealer refuses to send something to my post office box, I either find another dealer or decide I can live without that particular item for a little while longer. My "absolutely have to have now!" list is usually empty, and the rest of the time fits in an envelope, so it hasn't been a problem.

You can sign up with the Post Office to deliver to the Post Office street address instead of your Box number. They will also accept UPS and FedX and most everything else. Great service. I do it all the time now. They accept and sign for you too.

My hometown didn't have home delivery, either, but it was small enough that the postmaster literally knew everyone. Your mail would would make it to your mailbox regardless of how it was addressed. My brother used to write letters home to my mom simply addressed "Mom Becker", city, state and zip. No first name, box# or street address necessary.

I think if you go to a UPS store and get a box there they have some kind of plan that will give you a street address.

Not sure how it works though.

wp62

What is it about my previous post that is keeping this PO Box /street address an issue? Go to post office. Fill out form. Get everything delivered by USPS, FedX, UPS and about anything else delivered to your Box with the post office street address. The End!

Yes, and no.

USPS has been cracking-down, so your address must include (if memory serves) PMB (Private Mail Box) which, in turn, tells any sender that you do not reside at the street address of the UPS Store.

No more addressing mail to a UPS Store with 'suite', etc.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey