Online shopping while on the road

[lauravanb]

How would I order something online when on the road? Can I have something shipped to a post office without a po box, if I am going to be somewhere for a few days? I can't find anything conclusive online, if anyone has experience, please share!

[2gypsies1]

Good to know about sending packages to General Delivery. Yes, if daughter sent us a package to General Delivery there was no problem. However, some retailers where you purchase an item will not send the item to a P.O. Box and I assummed, not General Delivery either. That happened to us a few times when trying to order and I thought it might have been from Amazon because we use them a lot. It's not a post office issue it's the retailer's need for a physical address.

Yes, post offices have a physical address but if you ship to General Delivery the physical address is not used.

[phillyg]

On occasion I've asked the campground if I could receive delivery on-site. I've received packages thru FedEx and UPS with no issues. Be careful, though, if the shipper allows the USPS to get involved.

[Naio]

restlesswind wrote:
If you use the US Postage office as a delivery address, make sure that you get a tracking number! I have had the Gen.Del. folks tell me that "No nothing for you today" When I showed them the tracking number..."Hey, how about that! It had been 'misplaced/filed ??' They found it.
Most on line orders will give a tracking number when you complete the order.

When I had a package shipped to the RV park I was at, I had to flag down the USPS carrier and get her to look in her truck twice. 'Are you sure? Tracking says it is on the truck for delivery today? It's from Amazon and it's huge -- about this big.'

She found it, and then made me go back to my rig and get my driver's license before she would give it to me.

[restlesswind]

If you use the US Postage office as a delivery address, make sure that you get a tracking number! I have had the Gen.Del. folks tell me that "No nothing for you today" When I showed them the tracking number..."Hey, how about that! It had been 'misplaced/filed ??' They found it.
Most on line orders will give a tracking number when you complete the order.

[harold1946]

ljr wrote:

2gypsies wrote:
I don't think you can someone like Amazon ship to General Delivery. You need a physical address to send it to.

I've done it many times.

All post offices have a physical address.

[Vulcan_Rider]

ljr wrote:

One more tip. My experience is the smaller the PO the better.

BUT....don't wait until the last minute to pick things up.
Those "one man" offices often have limited walk-in hours.

[harold1946]

lauravanb wrote:
How would I order something online when on the road? Can I have something shipped to a post office without a po box, if I am going to be somewhere for a few days? I can't find anything conclusive online, if anyone has experience, please share!

Never had a problem with having packages delivered to a local post office while traveling. We notify the bank that we will be traveling in advance, and renew the notice every 30 days on line. We also inform then which states we plan to visit.
We do not get a PO box, just general delivery and use the tracking number for telling when the delivery is made.
By letting the bank know in advance that we are traveling we have never had a stop put on a CC.
Be sure the company is aware the shipping address is different than the billing address.

[Crowe]

You may well be correct on that. I've never tried to buy time for a phone not in my own profile.

I've never used TracFone for myself. If I remember there's an option that says "gift". That may be the trigger that allows it to work.

[ljr]

sdianel wrote:
Ask the office of the place you are staying. They should know if Fedex or UPS delivers there and what address you should use.
We use Post Office General Delivery Hold for Pickup service. Not all post offices have that service. You need to locate the post office and check the USPS website for that location and see if General Delivery is listed on their services. Then the address you use is: (your name); GENERAL DELIVERY; (city, state, zip plus 9999) For example Tampa, FL 33612-9999 is for General Delivery. The post office will only hold the package for 10 days.

X2 to most of that.

I've never tested it but I've been told they would hold for 30 days.

Also, you're only allowed to use General Delivery for 30 days at any one location. The clock starts with your first delivery.

One more tip. My experience is the smaller the PO the better. The one or two person rural POs recognize a stranger's name right away and you never get lost in the shuffle.

[ljr]

2gypsies wrote:
I don't think you can someone like Amazon ship to General Delivery. You need a physical address to send it to.

I've done it many times.

[Naio]

Great info in this thread!

I can add one bit: If you use paypal to pay for your item, be sure to change your address on the paypal website or contact the place you are buying from. Paypal sends the address thy have on file for you along with the payment, and the seller might ship to that address without realising you gave a different addy with your order.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

Ask the office of the place you are staying. They should know if Fedex or UPS delivers there and what address you should use.
We use Post Office General Delivery Hold for Pickup service. Not all post offices have that service. You need to locate the post office and check the USPS website for that location and see if General Delivery is listed on their services. Then the address you use is: (your name); GENERAL DELIVERY; (city, state, zip plus 9999) For example Tampa, FL 33612-9999 is for General Delivery. The post office will only hold the package for 10 days.

[2gypsies1]

I don't think you can someone like Amazon ship to General Delivery. You need a physical address to send it to.

Your best bet is to alert the RV park where you will be staying that you are having a package sent there. Not all RV parks will accept it so double check.

Since you're only planning to stay 2 days I would order it two weeks prior while you're traveling and call the RV park two weeks prior to give you some leeway in case of backorder, etc.

When ordering with a credit card only the billing address has to match your home address/mail forwarding service. You can have to shipped to any address. We've done this successfully for over 16 years while traveling.

We always ordered things when we could stay at one place for a month in case there are backorders, etc. We volunteered in parks and then it was easy to have it sent there during our gig. I don't think all state parks or national parks would accept your mail.

[GMandJM]

Crowe wrote:
TracFone (when buying airtime)

Nope. I've bought airtime for my sister who lives in California. I live in Mass. No issue.

You may well be correct on that. I've never tried to buy time for a phone not in my own profile.