USPS Delivery Instructions: Eligibility, Options, and Liability

USPS Delivery Instructions let you tell your mail carrier where to leave a package when you won’t be there to accept it. You submit the request for free through your USPS.com account before the package goes out for delivery, pick a spot at your address or a nearby alternative, and the update reaches your carrier through your local post office. Two things surprise most people: once submitted, the request cannot be edited or canceled, and once the carrier follows it, the package is considered delivered even if it disappears afterward.¹

Which Packages Are Eligible

The package needs a USPS tracking barcode or an Extra Services barcode. Without one, the “Delivery Instructions” link simply won’t appear on the tracking page.¹ Most domestic shipments with tracking qualify, including Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, and Ground Advantage.

Several categories are shut out:

Packages already out for delivery or marked delivered. Once the carrier has left the facility, the window has closed.¹
Inbound international mail, even after it has cleared customs.¹
Signature-required and high-security items such as Adult Signature Restricted Delivery, Registered Mail, and Certified Mail.

If the link doesn’t show up, the package falls into one of those categories. There’s no workaround.

How to Submit the Request

You need a free USPS.com account, and you have to use the website. The USPS mobile app doesn’t offer delivery instructions.¹ Sign in, enter your tracking number, and look for the “Delivery Instructions” link next to the result. If it’s there, the package is eligible. Click through, pick a drop location, and confirm. A confirmation shows on screen and usually arrives by email, and the request transmits to your local post office for the carrier to see before or during the route.

Get the details right the first time. Once you submit, the request is final. You cannot edit it, and you cannot cancel it.¹ Changing your mind means paying for a separate Package Intercept, with no guarantee it reaches the carrier in time.

Where You Can Have It Left

The free options let you name a specific spot at your address, such as the front door, back door, or porch. You can also request that the package be held at the post office for pickup, or sent to a neighbor.²

Paid options include redirecting the package to a different domestic address, which requires additional postage, or upgrading the shipping service to Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express.²

Leaving It With a Neighbor

A neighbor address has to be on the same street, in the same ZIP code, and on the same carrier route as yours.¹ Enter the exact address. The system checks the route and rejects addresses that don’t qualify. A wrong house number sends your package to a stranger, and you cannot fix it after submitting.

Hold for Pickup

Choosing hold for pickup routes the package to the post office serving your ZIP code. It’s the most secure free option if porch theft is a concern or you’ll be away for a while. Bring a valid photo ID when you go to claim it.

When the Carrier Can Ignore Your Request

Delivery instructions are a request, not an order. Carriers can override them based on what they find at the address. Locked gates, aggressive dogs, obstructed walkways, and other safety hazards all give them reason to skip the spot you picked.

Size matters too. If the parcel won’t physically fit where you asked, the carrier will use judgment on a reasonable alternative or bring it back and leave a redelivery notice. You can schedule redelivery at USPS.com or by calling the number on the notice.

Who’s Responsible If It’s Stolen

This is the part that catches people out. Once the carrier leaves the package where you specified, USPS treats it as delivered. If someone takes it from your porch an hour later, the Postal Service is not on the hook.

Insurance won’t rescue the claim either. The Domestic Mail Manual states that indemnity is not paid for loss or damage occurring after USPS has completed delivery.³ A package sitting on your doorstep for six hours and then vanishing is, in postal terms, a post-delivery loss.

Rural and highway contract routes are even more explicit. Carriers won’t leave an oversized parcel outside your mailbox unless you’ve filed a written order with your postmaster, and that written order requires you to relieve USPS and the carrier of all responsibility if the parcel is lost or stolen.⁴ Submitting delivery instructions online works the same way in practice. You’re trading security for convenience.

If You Need to Reroute After Submitting

Delivery instructions won’t help you send a package to a different city or return it to the sender. For that, USPS offers Package Intercept, a paid service. The fee is $19.45, plus any applicable Priority Mail postage, since intercepted items travel as Priority Mail. You’re only charged if the intercept actually succeeds.⁵

The service covers most domestic mail classes with a tracking barcode. It doesn’t cover international shipments, hazardous materials, Collect on Delivery Hold for Pickup items, APO/FPO/DPO addresses, or anything over 130 inches in combined length and girth.⁶ There is no guarantee the intercept reaches the carrier before delivery, so file as early as you can.

If Tracking Says Delivered but Nothing Is There

Check anywhere else the carrier might have used first: a side door, a covered area, behind a pillar. Give it a full day too, because tracking sometimes updates before the carrier has physically reached the address.

If seven days have passed since the mailing date and the package still hasn’t shown up, file a Missing Mail search request at MissingMail.USPS.com. You have up to 365 days from the mailing date to file, but earlier is better for recovery.⁷

For insured packages you can also file an indemnity claim, keeping in mind the limit noted earlier. If USPS confirms the carrier left the package where your instructions said to leave it, the claim will likely be denied because the loss happened after delivery.³ A visit to your local post office is often the fastest way to find out what actually happened on the route that day.

1
USPS. USPS Delivery Instructions – The Basics
2
United States Postal Service. Receive Mail and Packages
3
Postal Explorer. Filing Indemnity Claims for Loss or Damage
4
United States Postal Service. DMM 508 Recipient Services
5
United States Postal Service. Package Intercept
6
United States Postal Service. USPS Package Intercept – The Basics
7
United States Postal Service. Missing Mail – The Basics