October 7, 2008 - 3:07PM

posted by: Scott Lawrence

NEWS RELEASE FROM U.S. POSTAL SERVICE:

Houston, TX - In an effort to clear unclaimed mail volumes and adhere to established delivery guidelines in areas impacted by Hurricane Ike, the Postal Service is advising postal customers that have not yet picked up their mail or made formal alternate arrangements in lieu of their normal mail service to do so before October 20.

Many Post Offices in the Houston-Beaumont-Galveston are currently holding mail for thousands of postal customers that have not yet made arrangements to receive or pickup their mail, and have not contacted the Postal Service to establish formal mail forwarding or hold mail orders in lieu of their normal delivery service.

"We were able to extend our normal mail pickup and delivery guidelines to give postal customers additional time to recover and make alternate arrangements for their mail service where necessary," said Houston District Manager Kelvin Williams. "However, we have reached the point where it is no longer feasible to continue holding mail indefinitely for hundreds of customers that have not picked up their mail or filed either a Change of Address or Hold Mail order."

"Unclaimed Mail" is mail classified as undeliverable based on any of the following guidelines:

Residential or Business Customer has no mail receptacle available for mail delivery and has not picked up their mail from their regular or alternate Postal Service facility for more than 30 days.  

Residential or Business Customer has not cleared mail delivered to their mail receptacle for more than 30 days.  

Residential or Business Customer has an expired Post Office Box rental agreement exceeding 10 days.  

Forwarding of mail such as First Class Mail and Periodicals which meets one of the Unclaimed Mail criteria above will be returned to sender in order to adhere to mailer instructions and established Postal Service guidelines.

Customers having either a current "Change of Address" order or "Hold Mail" order with the Postal Service, or are picking up their mail on a regular basis are not impacted by these guidelines. 

For customers that have permanently relocated or will be at a temporary location for an extended time, the Postal Service recommends filing a Change of Address in order to forward mail to their new address.

Customers may file a Change of Address order online at usps.com, at the nearest Post Office or by calling 1-800-ASK-USPS   (1-800-275-8777). In addition, customers can request a "Hold Mail" order for up to 30 days by following any of the same three options above.