Community Forums

jbrv · 10-11-2018, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hclarkx

Does one have to have the item shipped via the USPO to pick up at general delivery? I.e., UPS won't deliver to a post office?

Gen delivery at a post office must be USPO shipped. UPS fed ex and others wont work. It gets tricky using amazon prime or other online shops to shi to you because often you do not know what method the seller will ues to ship. I have stayed at a camground where the us mail addresse was different than the ups address and if you had something shipped to the uspo address via ups you would never see the item.

I have had stuff shipped to a local hardware store in a remote part of utah. Went in looking for what i needed and could not find it or anything close enough that would work. Thanked the guy and told him i would just have to figure out how to have it shipped to me. He offered to let me ship it to him! I had a gen store do the same in michigian for a summer since the post office was 15 miles ip the road and my campground had no real street address that ups, fed and us mail would deliver to. She also understood that i cant just have everything sent to gen delivery at the post office for a summer. sooner or later they would force me to get a po box and again what about when the package comes via ups? Since i was having a cup of coffee there and mooching some free wifi almost everymorning anyway holding my mail was not a big deal to her. I think she liked having me stop by and gossip anyway.

Amazon lockers help get around that problem when using amazon. Gen delivery at the post office works if it is coming via the post office. Ups sotres will hold packages for you (for a fee often times) if you ask first. Fed ex office locations formerly known as kinkos will also but again you run into the problem of what carrier will the seller use? Often you dont know.

Most places would prefer not become a mail reciving/sorting location for rvers in need but most places will be kind enough to sign for a package and hold it 24 hours if asked nicely.

sdennislee · 10-11-2018, 05:14 PM

Most of the CGs I've stayed receive mail and packages in their office. I stop up at the office every couple days and check.

Current CG has mail slots for each site letters fit but packages are placed under the counter and a note goes in the mail slot telling me I have a package under the counter. Been here since May and averaged 2 or so packages a week.

Other parks I've where I've stayed keep the mail behind the counter and I simply ask them to check for me.

I have an app on my iPhone called Deliveries. I enter the tracking number and keep an eye on it, it provides the expected delivery date and when delivered it shows delivered. Thats when I go to the office to pick it up.

When I fill in the shipping address I enter my site number, makes it easier for the ladies in the office sorting the mail. I also include a note in the comments section to leave package with front office, seems to help the delivery guy if he has any qualms about leaving it there, although I think they are used to deliveries to the front office. I see them all here almost daily.

Dmrad · 10-11-2018, 06:46 PM

We have always asked the campgrounds. Some campgrounds UPS said they will deliver to and some won't. Some campgrounds will accept mail for you and some won't. Always ask first.

Teamfoxy · 10-12-2018, 03:56 AM

USPS does receive UPS or Fed EX packages if you have a PO Box. This service started about a year ago and is free, but you have to sign up for it. You address the mail to the street address of the PO and include your box number.
We used to have a problem because we have no USPS service at our S&B address. We had to know how the packages would be sent because anything sent USPS to our street address would be returned to the sender.

Betr2Trvl · 10-12-2018, 05:26 AM

I’ll add an interesting story, which relates to checking with the campground to understand if they accept packages and what they say is the best method / service to use.

This summer we were at Trailer Village at the Grand Canyon, and wanted to get our accumulated mail from our home UPS store mailbox (our primary mailing address) delivered to us. Checked at the campground “office” and they told us to only use UPS or Fed Ex, as the US Postal Service does not recognize their location in the park.

Well, due to a misunderstanding between us and our UPS store, they sent our package via USPS express delivery (which takes 3 days from Atlanta). Now, the irony here is that the Grand Canyon NP post office is maybe a 1/4 mile from the entrance office to Trailer Village. We quickly figured out what happened, and I got to the post office as soon as they opened the next day, which happened to be the day shown for scheduled delivery.

Explained to the situation to the woman behind the counter, and indeed they don’t delivery to Trailer Village and the sop would be for the package to returned. She did a quick look in back, but did not see it. However, she would tell the people in back, and hopefully they would catch it and then I could pick it up there, but of course no promises. Ok, I thought we were screwed at that point, but I thanked her and headed out.

I had just walked back to our RV, so 5 minutes after I left the P.O., when my phone rang (which given cell coverage there is pretty amazing itself), and she had it in her hand, and it would be there for me to pick up.

I know people like to make fun of the USPS, but these folks went out of their way to help out, and I gave them a big, big thanks (purposely loud enough so everyone in the post office could hear) when I picked up our package.