WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service wants to remind customers who have evacuated or relocated due to hurricane Sandy to submit a change of address, place mail on hold or request that mail be temporarily forwarded to their new location.

There are three services that will help customers maintain a continuous flow of mail: A Change of Address, General Delivery or Premium Forwarding Service (PFS).

Option 1: Submit a temporary Change of Address online or at your nearest Post Office. The temporary Change of Address can be used for a period of 15 days up to one year. Mail is forwarded piece by piece. To request a temporary Change of Address, go to www.usps.com and click on the “Manage Your Mail” tab or visit your nearest Post Office and complete a Change of Address form.

Option 2: If you have been displaced and don’t have a permanent address, General Delivery service allows you to pick up your mail for up to 30 days at a designated Postal identified location in your current community. Make sure senders of your mail use the ZIP Code for the area’s designated Post Office. The ZIP+4 will indicate General Delivery.

To find the Post Office that handles General Delivery in any area, call 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777) and request “Customer Service.”

An example of a properly-formatted General Delivery address looks like this:
JOHN DOE
GENERAL DELIVERY
ANYTOWN, NY 12345-9999

You can also obtain the proper General Delivery address information at any Post Office, or by selecting the “Look Up a ZIP Code” button on the www.usps.com home page. Using the ZIP Code lookup tool, type “General Delivery” in the address line, followed by the City and State, and click “Find.” The General Delivery location’s ZIP Code will be provided.

Option 3: Premium Forwarding Service is the fastest, most complete forwarding service available. The service is temporary, requires a fee, and may be used for anywhere from 15 days up to one year. The difference with this service is that your mail is that your mail bundled and sent to you every Wednesday via Priority Mail, the Postal Service’s two- to three-day service. .
To sign up for all of the available forwarding and Change of Address services, please visit your nearest Post Office or go to  www.usps.com and click on the “Manage Your Mail” tab.

For the latest service updates regarding hurricane Sandy, call 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777).

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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked number one in overall service performance, out of the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, Oxford Strategic Consulting. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

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