USPS Hold for Pickup: USPS offers a Hold for Pickup service for anyone who wishes to have their packages held at their local Post Office instead of being delivered directly to their address 😉
Use General Delivery Instead of Hold for Pickup: While there's currently not a way to request the Hold for Pickup service through Pirate Ship, you can easily format your recipient's address to have their shipment held at the Post Office for pickup using an old-school trick: General Delivery.
What is General Delivery with USPS and how can I use it?
Understanding General Delivery: General delivery is intended primarily as a temporary means of delivery for people who are just passing through an area or don't have a permanent address. With this method, packages are sent to local Post Offices and held there for your recipient to pick up.
Your recipient may be required to present ID to pick up their package, and they may have to go to a different local Post Office than they're expecting, as sometimes only one Post Office in an area handles General Delivery requests.
Creating a Label with General Delivery: When creating a label in Pirate Ship, enter "General Delivery" in the Address field and fill out the rest of the address like normal.
Here's a visual example of how that looks:
Shipments Routed to Post Offices: The information in the City, State, and Zipcode fields will be enough to ensure this package is routed to your recipient's Post Office and held until they can pick it up 🎉
30-Day Holding Period: Note that Post Offices will only hold the package for your recipient for 30 days.
What to do for UPS packages
UPS Shipments: UPS packages are a bit different, since UPS doesn't offer a "General Delivery" option for recipients without an address, or a free "Hold for Pickup" service. That said, they do offer a "Will Call" option that you can request by intercepting the package once you ship it.
Use Will Call to Ship to a UPS Access Point: With this option, your recipient can pick up their package at any local UPS Access Point.
UPS typically imposes a $18.60 surcharge when you intercept a package to reroute it or return it to yourself, but keeping a package held for "Will Call" at a UPS location is free!
Chat With Us for UPS Will Call: If you need to intercept a UPS package to hold it for "Will Call," live chat with us or send us an email at support@pirateship.com - we'll make it happen for you 💪
Let us know if we can help with anything!
Any questions about General Delivery for USPS or Will Call for UPS shipments, Matey? Click the blue chat button to hoist the flag with ARRrrr Support Crew - we'll get you sailing in no time ⛵