Can I pick up a package from USPS before delivery?

Are you one of those people who just can’t seem to wait for their order once they’ve bought something? You’ve bought that new wristwatch or that long cardigan caught your eye and you just wanted to have it right away so you bought it. But, now you have to wait for the delivery process and it could be frustrating. Perhaps, you are one of those people and you’re also tracking your package at USPS. And now out of sheer excitement, you may wonder, can I pick up a package from USPS before delivery?

Whether we admit it or not, we’ve all been there at some point. Well the answer my friends, depends upon the following two points:

1. How eager and willing you are to pick that package right up on time?
2. Are you just excited to accept your package or are you interested in intercepting the mail?

If you are eager and can’t wait to get your package then you can opt for the first method which is basically USPS Holding Service or second method – USPS Intercept Service

The First Method – USPS Holding Service

If you’re willing to pick up the package right from the post office, you may have to check in with the schedules of post offices first. Firstly, you have to track the status of your delivery using the USPS Tracking Number provided to you on the mail receipt.

After knowing the correct delivery status, you should contact the right USPS post office and ask them if they can hold your package. Otherwise, their carrier staff would most probably ship the package and you won’t be able to receive it until it reaches your home.

Hence the question, can I pick up a package from USPS before delivery? The answer is, yes you can but you also have to be smart and time-oriented.

Another thing you need to consider here is that people know USPS for its strict and firm policies. If a post office does not allow picking up a package from USPS before delivery then it’s possible that you’ll have to wait till they deliver it to your home.

Furthermore, if there’s an urgency such as you having to go out of the city and it’s become compulsory for you to pick up the package from USPS before delivery, you can always request. You can always request your post office and they just might let you have your package.

The Second Method – USPS Intercept Service

There’s another method and in fact, it’s a service provided by USPS itself. This does not exactly answer the question ‘Can I pick up a package from USPS before delivery’, but it does provide an alternate way for those who’re interested.

Firstly, you must know what intercept means here.

Intercepting a Package from USPS before Delivery

USPS allows the sender and the recipient a feature to redirect the delivering destination for the package. For example, someone sends you a package and for some reason, you’re not interested in receiving it. You can now pay the USPS to redirect that package back to the sender’s house.

Hence, if the reason you’re asking the question ‘Can I pick up a package from USPS before delivery?’ is because you want to stop it from delivering to the destination, there’s your way.

For example, if you’ve accidentally sent the package to the wrong address. Or perhaps the package simply wasn’t acceptable at a location so you decided to redirect the package to another location.

How Can I Intercept a Package at USPS?

Consider the following steps for going about a package interception at United States Postal Services:

• Make sure your package is eligible for intercepting. You can find the eligibility criteria at the USPS official website. As USPS tends to follow strict guidelines, there are certain conditions for a parcel to be eligible for intercepting on the basis of weight and size.
• When you’re eligible, you can submit the required parcel for an interception on the USPS official website.
• You can pay the USPS using your credit card and that’s how you can intercept a package at USPS.

Basic Eligibility Criteria for Package Intercept

Following are the USPS mail services that are eligible for intercept:

• Domestic mail service with tracking enabled or extra service barcode
• Parcels having girth and length not greater than 274cm

Following are the USPS mail services that are not eligible for intercept:

• The marketing mail provided by USPS, that includes periodic mail and products
• If a commercial agency is a recipient, the mail will not be eligible for intercept
• If a mail has hazardous marking such as chemicals, or if a mail is strictly destination-oriented, it will not be eligible for intercept either

Both of the above explained ways are fool-proof and completely legal. In fact, the USPS itself provides the intercepting method. However, you can only intercept the package if your interest lies in not actually accepting the package but rather picking it up and dropping it elsewhere.

Intercepting Postal Scams

Be aware of the postal scams when it comes to intercepting. The intercepting service provided by USPS is fool-proof because it only allows the sender and recipient to intercept the mail. However, if someone except the sender and receiver is aware of the tracking information, then he/she shall also be eligible to intercept the package.

Using intercepting postal scams was a well-known way to spy on people in old times.

USPS Holding Services

To elaborate the first method a little more, let’s look a little in detail at the USPS mail holding services. USPS does offer mail hosting services but it’s very limited.

1. Available with Express Priority Mail service with a retail type post office
2. Not available for mail letters and the mail addressed to FPO/APO destinations

In conclusion

Given the above information, the chances of you being able to pick up a package from USPS before delivery are much more than not being able to. So the final verdict for the question, ‘Can I pick up a package from USPS before delivery?’ is that yes you can pick up a package from USPS before delivery.

To conclude, if picking up the package is important for you, you will get it done one way or the other.