If a notice is left at a residence that the post office has a package waiting for the resident how long does that person have to pick up the package and what happens if they don't pick it up?

it depends... it should say on the notice how many days you have... if u dont claim it, it goes back to the sender i believe

Michelle, the package will be held for 10 days at the PO. You'll receive a second notice (reminding you of the held parcel) five days after the first attempt. After the 10 days, the item will be returned to sender.

If it happens to be an Express Mail package, you only have five business days to pick it up before it gets returned to sender.

thanks for the responses. I sent out a book and used DC for it so I'm not worried about the credit, was just wondering if it would get returnd to me after a set period. Do they even return media mail? Would I have to pay for that?

Yes, they return media mail. No, you shouldn't have to pay for it. This time of year, it's likely to be sittig on the shelf in the office waiting to be picked up for a much longer time. We don't have the time to get back there and go thru stuff the way we're supposed to because we're so danged busy with customers. Today I finally had time to go thru the CODs that have piled up on our shelf, and sent back 75% of them because they'd been there more than a month. The oldest one had been on the shelf since September 27!

Just a warning.  There is a chance they will charge you for returning media mail.  It kinda depends on the post office.  First Class mail will come back for free; media mail may or may not.