Want uninvited inconvenience? Just deliver something via USPS and you’ll start having a midday decision crisis, especially when it takes longer than expected. Are you feel’in that stress right now?
Well, people have a love and hate relationship with United State Postal Service (USPS). Sometimes, it’s just a swiss army knife to get it done at reasonable rates.
And sometimes, you face issues like “USPS delivered to an agent for final delivery” but the catch is it’s not delivered. Or your little mistake of missing the house number of the receiver can make you pay double, and it will be mailed back to you to add the correct house number!
Don’t you worry, in this blog post, we’ll explain what happens if USPS informs you that your package was delivered to an agent for final delivery instead of you, we will give you a way around it solves this once it for all.
What Does “Delivered To Agent For Final Delivery” Even Mean?
The term shows up when a USPS mail carrier transferred the package to another person (including the mailman).
Or any other resident of your home, a doorman, or even a coworker.
And this term is actually referring to those people who are authorized to accept your delivery on your behalf. According to USPS, this person gets designated as a “delivery agent,” assigned to mark delivery complete.
If you ask us, this is the lowest a carrier service will go; Mostly, parcels directly don’t get delivered to an agent; they first end up with the local postal office.
As we told you, the last delivery agent is a driver himself who delivers the package on behalf of another party. So, he might not be able to deliver under some circumstances, in this case, they’ll take that package back to the local postal office.
If you’re wondering who can be an agent to receive a package, this may be a coworker, front desk help employee, roommate, or even your child, only if he/she is over the age of 12.
And don’t worry, carriers won’t consider someone as a delivery agent unless they appear to be somewhat trustworthy.
Common practice is your local post office employees take this responsibility to be your agent to accept packages on your behalf.
Mistakes occur, there’s no doubt about it. if your package got wrongly handed to someone other than a trusted agent, just file a complaint with your local post office
If that’s not the option, you can contact USPS using the following phone numbers: 1-800-275-8777 or 1-800-222-1811. Their USPS mobile app is also another reliable help option that is available at your fingertips 24/7.
Does USPS Confirm the Identities of these Agents?
To be honest they don’t have any process in USPS or even the resources to confirm the identity of each individual that they count as an “agent”.
Don’t worry USPS won’t be handing parcels to just anyone and everyone walking by your street – assuming that they’re your neighbors.
But here’s a neat trick…
Why not just look up your tracking information and check whether the zip code or address is of your home (likely someone in your family) or someone at your office (likely a coworker) has received a mail on your behalf? Simple enough?
If they don’t find an authorized person they’ll simply not complete the delivery process, and instead, they leave a note for you to expect delivery attempts again the next day – or you might have to visit the post office and pick up the package yourself.
How to locate my USPS sent package?
Well, this is a very relevant question that’ll come up in your mind after knowing that we can know who picked up your package as an agent by their address or zip code.
Yes, USPS marks the address where it was delivered with its zip code to an agent, so when the original receiver comes, he at least knows who to talk to.
Now, if the location matches your home address, it’s definitely your roommate or your family member.
If it got delivered to your work zip code, contact the office security or front desk to determine whether they got it.
Unfortunately, if you are unsure of the location of your parcel, immediately contact your local post office, they’ll assist you in locating it.
What if no one received it, when will it be delivered, again?
Here’s another scenario, when your postal carrier’s shift ends, they probably had scanned the package and kept it on the truck.
As we told above, the USPS final delivery agent can also be the driver who delivers packages to you or someone on your behalf.
Now, you’ll still see that “Delivered To Agent” status, and in this scenario, you’ll receive the parcel the next business day. If you’re in a hurry, you can go and get it by yourself too.
If you want to know the lifetime cycle of USPS packages and where your package is probably stuck, here is another blog that you should also read.
I still didn’t receive it; how can I claim the missing USPS parcel?
If haven’t received it after a few working days; You should call your local post office, and file a claim online to alert them about the missing package. It will take more or less 48 hours to get to know what happened to your package.
If you are wondering how would a person conclude a missing parcel? Ahm. Your tracking number should do the trick? They’ll simply show a raise a ticket or also known as the status of the mail being sent.
These are 2 best available tracking options:
- To track via the web; visit our USPS Mail tracking tool or the official USPS website and just paste your tracking number. If you don’t have the tracking number, reach out to the shipper, and have them send it.
- To track via Text; send a text message with your tracking number to 28777
The bottom line is, that you can’t file a claim directly because your USPS package isn’t damaged or missing, technically. Since you’re waiting to see it; you have to hold off filing a claim.
Your right starts If USPS doesn’t manage to locate your parcel, now you will be able to file a missing package claim within 60 days of the mailing date.
When can I request a USPS refund?
Sadly, there’s also a catch here. USPS only allows refunds for delayed items sent using either Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express.
If you haven’t used these options. Sorry, you don’t have an option. And if you have used this option.
It would take 5 days before the Priority Mail package will be considered delayed from the date of mailing. Generally, Priority mail express parcels arrive within 2 days. It’s pretty fast.
And to get a refund, you must gather the following documents:
- The tracking number
- The purchase receipt
- Your photo ID
Don’t forget the above mentioned things… USPS can refuse to issue you a refund by law if you don’t provide the requested information.
Will tracking still update when my package is with an agent?
The moment you get the “Delivered to Agent for Final Delivery” notification, you won’t get any other updates at all.
Remember, the package is now has been handed off to someone that doesn’t work for the USPS (as a general rule), and isn’t necessary to keep tracking.
How to eliminate USPS delivery issues once it for all?
This scenario is very rare. And so do other issues you face in day-to-day life with USPS. Still, if you want to be 100% certain, you can sign up for a US Global Mail account.
But why?
Well, you’ll get a virtual mailbox with a permanent physical street address; now you can use it to receive all of your mails, and all of your packages from any carrier or provider no matter how often you relocate – in the future.
Great, isn’t it?
This means that every single parcel sent to this address will be accepted, received, and put into a storage locker for you by the US Global Mail folks.
Plus, you’ll get complete digital scans and notifications so that you know exactly what has arrived in your mailbox, when it arrived, and who sent it.
Also, now there is no need to worry about package thefts from your doorstep.
You can even add another service on top of it known as “mail forwarding” to redirect packages to nearly any address on the planet, with automatic check depositing features. Cool, isn’t it?
Final Words:
In “standard” delivery, mostly authorized agents are your family members, and you most likely expect your package to be sitting on your kitchen counter or dining room table when you reach home.
Yes, this does add a little bit of extra stress into the equation, but as we have pointed out a couple of times already this “delivery agent” situation is very rare.
Nobody wants to be in charge of anything happening to your package, so there’s a lot of motivation for them to contact you ASAP.
Hope this blog has helped you understand “Delivered to an agent for final delivery meaning” and every other aspect that might be going in your head. If you’ve found this helpful, why not share it with the rest of the world to let them know too? Nobody deserves to suffer this type of stress.