Silverton PO General Delivery 10-Day Time Limit

[iquack08]

I was informed by the Silverton PO clerk that they had a 10-day time limit. When I picked up my general delivery after about 25 days, I was told she did me a favor by not shipping it back. She said she was trying to let everybody know about this "new" policy. I'm not sure how strictly they enforce this policy, so this is just a FYI.

To be safe, I believe Molas Lake Campground is an alternative or just pick up your package within 10 days in Silverton.

I had no problems in Breckenridge (7-day hold) or Salida (14-day hold). The USPS website states "each general delivery mailpiece is held for no more than 30 days," so this might be a local policy.

[map man]

This is valuable information. I can confirm that Molas Lake Campground does accept packages and they seem to prefer UPS -- I'm going to have a resupply package waiting for me nine days from now on my San Juans hike.

[Slo-go'en]

Small town PO's have limited space to store packages, so a town which gets a lot of mail-drop packages would like to see them picked up reasonably soon after they get it. This goes for private business too, they have to use valuable space to store your package.

Be sure to put an ETA date on the package, so they have an idea of how long they will have to store it. If the package is not claimed within a reasonable amount of time past your ETA, they will figure your not going to show up. That might be where their 10 day rule came from.

[Peaks]

I recently picked up my mail drop at the Silverton PO, and the clerk commented that it had been there a long time. I probably mailed it a month prior to my arrival (and it did have a note on it saying "hold for Colorado Trail hiker arriving about (date)).