If you have a hectic week or a tight work schedule that makes you leave your house most of the day, you might find it difficult to sign for a USPS package. Did you know that with the USPS, it is possible to pick up a package from the USPS distribution facility before delivery? In the course of this article, we would cover the steps that you can take in order to make sure that you can pick your package before it is delivered to you.
How to Pick up your Package from USPS before Delivery in 3 Steps
It is important to note that you can pick up your package before it is delivered to you, but you cannot just walk in and grab it. It needs some advanced planning and preparation to make sure that the pickup runs in a smooth way.
Step 1: Find out if Your Package is Eligible To Be Picked up Before Delivery
You cannot hold up a package that is en route, or already delivered. But is possible for you to know whether the package is still in transit. You can do this by tracking your package.
Step 2: Inform the USPS That you want to Pick Up your Package
If you show up at a USPS distribution center without first off, telling the USPS that your package would be picked up before it is delivered, the USPS would not give it to you. For the fact that the USPS treats a large volume of mail daily, implies that should inform them ahead of time that you would pick up a package. In the informing procedure, don’t forget to tell them the location where you would be picking it up from.
Step 3: Go to the Facility and Pick Up Your Package
It is important to note that your package can only be picked by whomever the package is addressed to on the shipping label. That is why you need to be careful of the address you key in when creating the shipping label. Go to the facility of the USPS during business hours with a valid means of identification and pick up that package before it is delivered.
Here are three Other Different ways you can inform the USPS that you want to make an early pickup by yourself
1. Hold For Pickup
When creating your shipping label Mark “Hold For Pickup” on It. So far, this is the easiest way to pick up any package before it is delivered to you. All you need to do is choose the location you would make the pickup when creating the shipping label. When you do this, there is no more delivery option for your pickup. To be able to mark your package as “Hold for pickup”, following steps:
- Login In to the Click-N-Ship page on the USPS official website
- Then, sign in to your USPS account; if you do not have an account, then you would be required to create one.
- Where required, enter your return address.
- Rather than keying in your delivery address, scroll down to “More actions”, select the option “Hold For Pickup at a Post Office”.
- Choose the post office where you would like to pick up the package using the Zip Code Search.
- Then after this, go ahead to create your shipping label as normal.
2. Hold For Pickup Special Service Offered by the USPS
There is a special service that is offered by the USPS called the “Hold for Pickup”. With this service, you can have your package held up at a particular USPS facility where you can come and pick it up yourself. When your package reaches a USPS facility, you would get an alert from the USPS telling you it is ready for pickup.
To be able to use to “Hold For Pickup” service specified by the USPS, just go to their webpage, and follow the steps outlined in the website to pick the package.
3. Intercept a Package Service
Another Service Made Available by the USPS is the “Intercept a Package Service”. To be able to use this package, here are a few things you need to understand:
- The USPS charges a fee for intercepting a package with this service, and you would need to pay additional postage that would be needed for the new delivery location.
- The USPS would try and locate and then redirect your package, but with the volume of mail treated on a daily basis, there is no guarantee that your package would be intercepted.
- Not minding how the package was originally sent, when redirecting your package, it would be sent as Priority Mail.
4. Call the post Office
Another Way To pick up a Package Before it is delivered is to Call the post office. If you are in doubt, you can always put a call across to your local post office. If they are a larger facility, they might not be able to assist you, but they sure can direct you to those who can.
Why was my USPS Package never Delivered but available for Pickup?
This is because the system has failed to update the user of the most recent activity. That is; your package may arrive but the tracking platform hasn’t updated you. In this case, you can pick up your package without the delivery tracking update.