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General delivery is mail addressed to a person at a post office, not to a street address: the post office holds the letter at the counter and the recipient collects it in person with identification before the holding period ends.
Write the recipient's full name, then the words "General Delivery" (in Canada, "Poste Restante" is the equivalent term), then the post office's city, state or province, and postal code or ZIP code. Adding the street address of the post office itself helps in larger cities with several branches, since it tells the sorting system exactly which office should hold the piece. Without a branch hint, the mail goes to the main office for that city, which may not be the one the recipient plans to visit.
Use the recipient's full legal name, or at least the name on their identification, because pickup requires ID. A nickname that does not match any ID can block collection entirely. If the recipient travels under a different name than their ID shows, the sender should use the ID name on the envelope and put any familiar name inside the letter instead.
Travellers are the classic users: hikers on a long trail, seasonal workers, sailors between ports, and anyone passing through a town without a fixed address. People between moves use it too, as a bridge while they wait for a new address to be ready. In rural areas, general delivery has long served residents who live beyond the delivery routes, where no carrier goes door to door.
It also serves people who cannot safely receive mail at home. Someone leaving an unsafe household, for example, can collect mail at a post office without giving a home address to a sender. That privacy angle is real, but it cuts both ways: the sender also has no proof the recipient collected the piece unless the service level includes tracking or a signature.
The recipient goes to the post office counter during retail hours and asks for general delivery mail in their name. Staff check identification, and in the US they may ask the recipient to sign for the piece. Bring photo ID that matches the name on the envelope exactly. A passport works well for travellers, since it is the one document most people carry that matches their full name.
Pickup hours are the post office's retail hours, not the delivery hours, so a small-town office with short counter hours can be a real constraint. Travellers should check the office's hours before routing mail there, and should tell the sender roughly when they expect to arrive, so the sender does not mail a letter that arrives weeks before pickup and ages out.
Holding periods are limited. In the US, general delivery mail is typically held for a set window measured in weeks, then returned to the sender if it goes unclaimed. In Canada, poste restante items are held for a similar limited window. The exact window varies by operator and by mail class, and parcels are often held for a shorter window than letters, so senders should confirm the current holding period with the destination office for anything time-sensitive.
Senders can extend the odds of a successful pickup by writing "Please hold until" followed by a date on the envelope, though the post office is not obliged to honour a date beyond its standard window. The more reliable approach is timing: mail the letter so it arrives shortly before the recipient expects to collect it, not months ahead.
| Question | General delivery answer |
|---|---|
| Address format | Name, General Delivery, post office city and postal code |
| Canada term | Poste restante, same idea |
| Pickup | In person at the counter, with photo ID matching the name |
| Holding period | Limited window, then returned to sender |
| Tracking | Available with tracked services; plain letters show no pickup proof |
| Best users | Travellers, seasonal workers, people between addresses |
General delivery does not work for every kind of mail. Some services that require a street address, like certain courier deliveries, cannot deliver to a general delivery address at all, because couriers deliver to places, not to post office counters. Large parcels may also be refused at small offices with no storage room. And a post office will not hold mail indefinitely or act as a permanent mailing address: using general delivery as a long-term substitute for a home address or a PO box will eventually fail, since offices can limit how much mail one person accumulates.
A PO box is the better choice for ongoing use. General delivery shines for a short, defined window: a few weeks in one town, while travelling or moving. Beyond that, rent a box.
LetterAgent mails to US and Canadian addresses, and a general delivery address is a valid postal address in both countries, so a letter addressed that way enters the postal network like any other letter. The usual LetterAgent flow applies: describe the letter to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price before anything is sent, and the letter is printed on standard letter paper and mailed in a double-window envelope. Keep in mind that the recipient must still collect it in person with ID before the holding window ends.
Ready to mail it? Send your letter with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it is printed and mailed.
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.
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