LetterAgent
Mail physical letters by just asking your AI assistant.
Home > Guides > Package too big for mailbox
The carrier does not take the package back to the depot by default. Depending on your setup you get a parcel-locker key left in your mailbox, a notice card telling you where to pick the item up, or a knock at the door. Canada Post holds unclaimed parcels at its retail outlets for 15 calendar days before returning them to the sender.
| Situation | What the carrier does | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Community mailbox (Canada) with a parcel compartment free | Leaves the package in the larger parcel compartment and puts the compartment key in your regular mail slot | Use the key to open the compartment, take the package, and leave the key in the lock (the lock traps it so the next person can reuse it) |
| Community mailbox, all parcel compartments full | Leaves a delivery notice card in your mail slot with the pickup location | Pick the package up at the listed retail outlet, bringing the card and ID |
| Home mailbox (USPS) or doorstep delivery | Attempts delivery at the door; if no answer, leaves a notice (USPS leaves Form 3849) or takes it to the post office | Follow the notice: sign and leave it for redelivery, or collect the package at the post office |
| Safe drop allowed | Leaves the package in a sheltered spot at the door and records it as delivered | Nothing, but check tracking; the "delivered" scan can precede your actual pickup by hours if a neighbor or concierge took it in |
This is the detail most community-mailbox residents learn by trial and error. The parcel compartments share one bank of larger boxes beside your regular mailbox. The carrier opens one with a master key, puts your package in, locks it, and drops that compartment's key into your own mail slot. When you turn the key to open the compartment, the lock is designed to keep the key: you cannot remove it. That is intentional. It means the carrier can reuse the compartment for someone else's parcel on the next round without chasing down keys. If you force the key out, you will jam the lock, so leave it where the mechanism holds it.
The card (Canada Post's delivery notice card, USPS's Form 3849) lists which item is waiting, the address of the post office or retail outlet holding it, and the deadline. In Canada, the hold period is 15 calendar days from the first delivery attempt. Miss the deadline and the parcel goes back to the sender, which means a second shipping charge if they resend it. In the US, the post office generally holds packages for 15 days too, though the exact window is printed on the notice. Two things people get wrong: the card is not proof the package arrived damaged or late, and the countdown starts on the attempt date, not the day you first read the card. If you travel, have someone check your mail, because a card sitting in your slot while you are away burns the hold window.
Sometimes, but it is the sender's call, not yours. The person shipping the package chooses whether to allow a safe drop (also called "leave at door") when they buy the label, and some items can never be safe-dropped: anything requiring a signature, anything with duties owing, and in Canada, items where the sender selected "do not safe drop." If parcels keep missing your mailbox, consider a FlexDelivery address (a free Canada Post service that gives you a post-office address to ship to) or a USPS parcel locker. LetterAgent's shipping labels are Canada-only flat-rate Xpresspost for parcels up to 5 kg, and the same hold and safe-drop rules apply to anything you ship with one: the label gets the parcel into the network, and from there Canada Post's delivery rules take over.
Ready to ship it? Get a shipping label with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and get your label.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
Need help? Ask your assistant: it can check a job's status any time. If it ever can't handle something: hello@getletteragent.com