Anybody else have this problem?

I live several houses down from the post office in a VERY SMALL town. They refuse to deliver mail to my home, since I live so close to the post office I assume. So I am forced to pay a (small) fee for the P.O. box they force me to use. That's okay - I can deal with that.

But folks, including some of my creditors and utilities, can't always seem to get it straight that my MAILING ADDRESS is not my street address. No prob in such a tiny town, right? Since the postmaster knows me and there are few enough P.O. boxes that she certainly knows which box is mine. But NO, she keeps returning mail addressed to my street address. Until (sometimes) I get a cancellation notice or a letter from a collection agency - then suddenly she seems to be able to figure it out.

I think I've finally got most of my creditors and utilitiy companies straight - after multiple attempts in several cases - but surely there's lots of my mail being returned or tossed in the trash. And it occurs to me that I haven't seen a bill for trash pickup, though my trash keeps disappearing every week, thank goodness.

Has anyone else faced this? That is, USPS refusing to deliver to your home and/or returning mail when they know darned well which PO box is yours.

I love living here - most all of us know each other and (sometimes a bit too much of) their business, and everyone is so willing to help one another with this or that. It's so nice to live in a true community. But I just don't understand this nonsense with the post office.

How do you list your address?

BMIC
123 Main St.
P.O. Box 001
Anytown, MD 21700

Or,

BMIC
P.O. Box 001
Anytown, MD 21700

Or,

BMIC
P.O. Box 001
123 Main St.
Anytown, MD 21700

You should be using the second choice, so there's no confusion. As far as UPS, FedEx or Airbourne Express, they strictly want a street name as they won't deliver to a PO Box.

If you use the second option I don't see where there would be any confusion.

You could also use the first option, as the Post Office is supposed to read the address from the bottom to the top.

I'm surprised they won't deliver your mail anyway, especially if you live so close.

Is the local PO a one person operation? Would the Postmaster have to deliver your mail? And, thus lock shop to do so? Years ago, the PO Box was free if you did not get home delivery.

Mail is to be delivered if the employee knows where it goes. The sender may endorse mail to have the PO return the mail with a notation as to why the mail is not deliverable as addressed, and in most cases provide the correct delivery address.

Ask the Postmaster to show you the chapter, paragraph, etc. explaining the reason for a non-delivery area. This is public information. Did the local PO cut the hours available for you to pick up your mail? This has happened in some very very small POs. My friend can only go to the PO once a week to pick up mail! Powers above gave orders to open at 8, not 7, in the morning!

Note..don't complain too much...you may cause your small PO to be taken out of service...to be gobbled up by the next door bigger PO. But, then you may get your delivery!

Ask questions at the source...you should be given an answer.

I live in a very small town with a single full-time person and a part-time person who are the postmaster also, but my experiences are MUCH different than yours -M & EJ are the best!. We always get our mail, almost never get somebody else's mail, and sometimes she will even drop a package at our house. We live "outside" of town, so we can get home delivery whereas the folks "in town" can't. But I don't want home delivery - who knows who is riding around on the back roads looking into mailboxes for credit card applications, etc. so that they can steal your identity?
Our problem is getting stuff ordered. We don't have house numbers yet, and some folks (phone company or people who ship by UPS or Fed-ex) insist they have to have a physical house address. UPS and Fed-ex know exactly where I live, so it's no problem for the delivery people, but people won't take the order without something to put in the block. I've made one up using my PO box # and the name of the road, and sometimes they argue with me about that - there's no such address. Well, I'm sure paying property taxes on something, don't tell me it doesn't exist! Another company once asked my friend's daughter if she was Amish or something if she didn't have a street address.
Another advantage to having a PO Box is that people you don't want to be bothered with can only find the general area you live in, not your specific address.

Yeah, we've got one full-timer and one part-timer too. In addition to them, there is another person who does rural delivery in our area too, for those outside of town.

Every now and then, they'll give me something without the PO Box # on it, usually with a handwritten note on the envelope about the wrong address. So I know that they know which box is mine. But I can't help it when folks don't get it right - I got several Christmas cards like that. I mean, can I help it if my parents are gettin' up there in age and give all of my relatives the street address?

OTOH, I don't think I've ever had trouble with anything that included the P.O. Box number SOMEWHERE in the address.

My biggest problem was more that folks whose business is associated with my home . . . electric co., telephone co., trash pickup, ... were sending bills to my street address, sans PO Box number. I think I've got them all straightened out now, but it took me several calls to both Verizon and Allegheny Power before they got it right. There's nothing like getting a power or telephone cutoff notice giving you maybe a week to pay up OR ELSE! Especially when you don't have the money and payday is 11 days away!

I guess I shouldn't really complain about the USPS. Walking up the street isn't a big deal except when it's REALLY cold, and the charge for the box is minimal. Besides, we can get to our boxes 24/7/365: it's only the office that they close up.

One odd thing I discovered recently just like Guest 2 - FedEx tells me that my street address doesn't exist! They refuse to take P.O. Box numbers and when I try to use my street address, and all sorts of permutations thereof (how many ways can you spell Main Street?), they tell me that there is no such place. I haven't tried UPS yet - just had FedEx pick up my package at work - but I agree it's annoying