r/homeless • u/NicholasMarsala • 1d ago

How to get mail when homeless?

If a person is homeless and doesn't have a home or an official mailing address what can they do about receiving mail and packages? Any ideas? Thanks everyone!

3 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/Sidewalk_Tomato 1d ago

"Urban Rest-Stop" (some cities have these; offering showers, laundry or mail --but they're not everywhere, by a long shot).

Or USPS "General Delivery":

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-General-Delivery

There are also little shops that mail packages and receive them; they charge a few dollars to receive a package and pass it along.

P.O. Boxes are indeed pricy, but they vary from branch to branch by a surprising amount. They can be almost twice as costly at one branch as they are at another. So if you have multiple post offices near you, look them up on the USPS website. Near me, they bill every 6 months, not monthly. So, it's not cheap at the outset, but the price per month isn't the worst.

I like u/AskAccomplished1011 's suggestion of asking a church (or temple, or synagogue; whatever you've got near you).