Poste restante
Encyclopedia
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
holds mail
Mail
Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...
until the recipient calls for it. It is a common destination for mail for people who are visiting a particular location and have no need, or no way, of having mail delivered directly to their place of residence at that time.
Canada
Canada PostCanada Post
Canada Post Corporation, known more simply as Canada Post , is the Canadian crown corporation which functions as the country's primary postal operator...
uses the term “general delivery” in English, and “poste restante” in French. Travellers may use the service for up to four months, and it is also used in circumstances where other free methods of delivery (such as post office boxes) are not available.
The Canada Post guidelines for addressing of letter mail stipulate that general delivery mail should be addressed in the following fashion:
- Mr. John Jones
- GD STN A
- Fredericton NB
- E3B 1A1
where “GD” is the abbreviation for “general delivery” (alternatively "PR" for “poste restante” in French), and “STN A” is the station or post office (in this case, “Station A”). When the mail is to be delivered to a retail postal outlet, then the abbreviation RPO is used, and in French the station is indicated by “SUCC” for “succursale,” or retail postal outlet by "CSP" for “comptoir postal”. In the above example, the French version of the address would use “PR SUCC A” for the second line.
Finland
Poste restante is offered in all post offices in Finland.The address is entered using the following format:
- Name of recipient
- Poste Restante
- 123 45 City
It is also possible to use a nick name instead of real name. No ID is asked.
Here 123 45 represents the postal number of the post office. For example Helsinki central railway station post office is 00100 Helsinki.
In Finland letters received to poste restante address are kept in post office for three full calendar weeks and packages for two full calendar weeks.
Japan
In JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, the term indicates a Poste restante mail.
The Japan Post Service
Japan Post Service
, or 日本郵便, is a Japanese post, logistics and courier headquartered in Tokyo, previously the Japan government-owned mail monopoly.- See also :*Japanese addressing system*Package delivery*Japan postal mark...
guidelines for addressing of letter mail stipulate that general delivery mail should be addressed in the following fashion:
- 101-8799
- 東京都千代田区神田淡路町2-12
- 神田郵便局留め
- 郵便 太郎 様
- 03-XXXX-XXXX(Telephone number only for packages etc.)
Translation in English (Not the English format)
- 101-8799
- 2-12 Kanda-awaji-chō, Chiyoda City, Tōkyō
- Keep at Kanda Post Office
- Yūbin Tarō
- 03-XXXX-XXXX(Telephone number only for packages etc.)
where “101-8799” is the postcode of the post office, “2-12 Kanda-awaji-chō, Chiyoda City, Tōkyō” is the address of the post office, “Kanda Post Office” is the name of the post office, and “keep/留め” indicates “poste restante” in French.
A poste restante mail in Japan will be kept in the post office for 10 days, ID document and stamp is required for pick up.
International mail to Japan may also use the British addressing format.
Poland
Mail should be adressed according to the following format: http://www.poczta-polska.pl/Uslugi/?U=DlaFirmy&DF=Pobraniowa&PP=FormyDoreczania- Name of recipient
- "Poste Restante"
- 123-45 City 6
where 123-45 represents the zip code of the post office and 6 represents post office number within given city. (In Poland every post office is uniquely identified by city and number, eg. "Warszawa 1" or "Kraków 35". This numbers are used only when the post office itself is the point of delivery, eg. mailboxes or poste restante.) There is no address of a recipient on the envelope, and if no sender address is provided, mail is considered undeliverable after 14 days.
Every Poczta Polska office is valid target for poste restante delivery and the service is provided with no additional cost. All types of mail, eg. letters, parcels and money orders can be sent to poste restante.
Sweden
Not all post offices offer poste restante. The address is entered using the following format:- Name of recipient
- Poste Restante
- 123 45 City
Here 123 45 represents the postal number of the post office. Post offices providing poste restante services can be located by searching for poste restante as "street address" in a given city (giving you a postal number) and then searching for post offices with that postal number.http://www.posten.se/c/a_o_posterestante?letter=P&page=a_o_posterestante
United Kingdom
In the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, mail is addressed to POSTE RESTANTE (or TO BE CALLED FOR), which is written after the full name of the recipient (as appears on the identification
Identity document
An identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...
to be presented e.g. a passport, if abroad), then the name and full address of the destination post office, thus:
- Mr. John Smith
- POSTE RESTANTE
- Islington Post Office
- 116 Upper Street
- Islington
- London N1 1AE
If only addressed to a town name, for example “POSTE RESTANTE, LONDON”, mail will go to the closest main post office branch (there being more than a hundred crown offices – directly-managed post office branches – in London).
The sender should also include their return address. In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the Royal Mail
Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
holds mail posted from within the UK for two weeks, whereas mail posted from abroad is normally held for one month, if the recipient is at sea however, it will be held for two months. Where mail is not collected within that time, it will be returned to the sender, or if there is no sender indicated, will be treated as undeliverable. If the sender would like uncollected mail returned sooner, they can indicate this on the envelope. Timescales vary from country to country according to local practice.
United States
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the US Postal Service uses the term “general delivery” and reserves the term “poste restante” for international mail sent to general delivery. Mail is addressed as follows:
- Mrs. Jane Q. Smith
- GENERAL DELIVERY
- Washington, DC 20090-9999
In the ZIP+4 code, the +4 code for general delivery is 9999. The main post office in a community will hold such mail for up to 30 days. This may be a different post office from where over-sized packages and registered mail are held for any particular zip code. Note that many post offices within a medium to large city do not have general delivery, and mail addressed to these zip codes will either be forwarded to the Main Post Office or returned to sender.
See also
- Canada PostCanada PostCanada Post Corporation, known more simply as Canada Post , is the Canadian crown corporation which functions as the country's primary postal operator...
- Royal MailRoyal MailRoyal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
- United States Postal ServiceUnited States Postal ServiceThe United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
- La Poste (France)La Poste (France)La Poste is the mail service of France, which also operates postal services in the French Overseas Departments of Réunion, Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana, and the territorial collectivities of Saint Pierre and Miquelon and Mayotte...
- Japan Post ServiceJapan Post Service, or 日本郵便, is a Japanese post, logistics and courier headquartered in Tokyo, previously the Japan government-owned mail monopoly.- See also :*Japanese addressing system*Package delivery*Japan postal mark...