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Post by butterfly on Dec 30, 2018 2:32:38 GMT
smauggie just showed a "general delivery" US Auxiliary Marking from 1892. It has been a long-standing tradition in the US that you can send a letter to someone who doesn't have an address by using the name of the town and adding "general delivery". Then you go to the PO and ask if you have received any mail. I noticed a person using this method a few days ago in my local town. My question is do other countries also offer this, and are any particular phrases needed to signify that the letter should be stored in the PO awaiting arrival of the person?
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Post by dgdecker on Dec 30, 2018 2:47:21 GMT
butterfly,
This type of service was still being used as late as early 1990’s in Canada. It was used readily in my village where I grew up in rural Nova Scotia. We always picked our mail at the post office counter as we did not get mail delivery no did we have a post box. I am not sure if this is still offered as most mail in rural areas are left in “ communal” post boxes .
david
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Beryllium Guy
Moderator 
Posts: 5,654 
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps 1840-1930
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Post by Beryllium Guy on Dec 30, 2018 6:27:46 GMT
Hi, Andrew ( butterfly): Thanks for your post. I have the impression that “general delivery” has existed or does exist in other countries. In France, for example, the term is “poste restante”. I do not know if the practice still exists in France, but perhaps Xavier ( hrdoktorx) can tell us. Nice idea for a thread! |
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hrdoktorx
Member 
Posts: 6,588
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Dec 30, 2018 12:12:51 GMT
You can see an example of use of "poste restante" in the cover I posted at: thestampforum.boards.net/post/64432/thread . My sister also used that service in Romania in the late 1990's when she was doing an internship there, as she had no permanent address in Bucarest, moving from one apartment to another. |
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coastwatcher
Departed
Rest in peace
Kentucky, USA
Posts: 506
What I collect: Currently focusing on US and possessions
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Post by coastwatcher on Jan 6, 2019 17:31:07 GMT
This brings back fond memories of my childhood. I grew up in a small community in Southeastern Kentucky (population about 400) and there were no street names. Because of this, everyone had to get their mail at the post office. Unfortunately, there were not nearly enough P.O. Boxes and there was quite a waiting list to get one. Everyone who didn’t have one received their mail “General Delivery.” It took us several years, until a new post office was built, to receive a P.O. Box.
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jpotx113
Member
Posts: 460
What I collect: USA, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, Machins, misc. WW
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Post by jpotx113 on Aug 22, 2019 21:45:44 GMT
I had a General Delivery address back in 1995. I moved to a very small town in Northeast Texas, population approximately 600. There was no mail delivery unless you lived on the main highway that ran through town. If you lived on any of the city streets you had a PO Box. I had to wait a few months for a box to become available.
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brightonpete
Departed
Rest in Peace
On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
Posts: 5,110
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Post by brightonpete on Aug 23, 2019 3:36:49 GMT
Back in the mid 70's, my first posting was to CFB Summerside in Prince Edward Island. The Canada Post office on the base was called Slemon Park. When I first arrived, there were no available post office boxes, so my address was General Delivery. Box 407 became available at some point & that was my address for the rest of my tour.
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