General Delivery: Mail for the fulltime RV
A concern many have before starting out on the fulltime road is how they’ll get their mail. After all, in the land of no fixed addresses, how will Mr. Postman find you?
Enter General Delivery. He’s no military man, but he can be a Major Hit for those of us who leave our sticks and bricks homes behind. General Delivery is a service of your United States Post Office. Those who don’t have a fixed address or a post office box simply have mail sent to any given town for themselves, care of General Delivery. When the mail hits the post office, postal workers set it aside to be held until you ask for it.
Here are a few tips to make your mail travel on to you a bit more smoothly:
Small towns are better: While General Delivery is available for any town that has a post office, in the larger cities with more than one post office, General Delivery often goes to the downtown post office. Parking your rig may be a major issue. And if there is more than one post office in town, you’ll have to find out which office receives and holds it. We find the staff in a small town post office is generally more laid back and eager to help a stranger.
Take your ID: You’ll usually be asked to provide identification when you pick up your mail. On occasion we have NOT been asked for ID, and have had our names mixed up; the post office had our mail, but because they “misheard” our name, they looked under the wrong name. If you have an unusual name like ours, De Maris, if they don’t find your mail on the first try, ask them to look at an alternative: We’ve had our mail filed under “M” for the Maris part of our name.
Have it labeled right: If married, you might want to have your send label the mail for “Joe or Mary Doaks” rather than in just one name. That way either one of you should be able to fetch the mail. Here’s a sample format for our mail:
Russ or Tiña De Maris
General Delivery
Quartzsite, AZ 85346.
While the post office will hold the mail for a specified time, it’s not a bad idea to have the mailing labeled with a conspicuous, “Hold for Delivery.” If you’ll be delayed, a phone call to the post office (especially in smaller towns) may get some cooperation in holding your mail longer than the “rule” suggests.
