OK sorry, this is not PBS related, but I am sure some of you might know the answer...

I placed an order online last week. I chose economy shipping, on the chance that it might not get here in time for Christmas, because I was under the impression it would ship USPS. 

I always try to order things USPS because where I live, USPS does not deliver to my house (or anyone's house) and UPS and FedEx don't deliver to the PO Box. The UPS and FedEx drivers always have a really hard time finding my house (I live in the middle of a state park) and it's a huge pain. They seem to change drivers a lot, so for as infrequently as I order things, it seems to always be someone new.

Anyway, I just noticed that the shipping confirmation for my order says it shipped via UPS economy. I contacted the company and they say that it will get delivered to the local Post Office. 

True or False? They say I can do a redirect, but it could delay the package (which means it definitely won't get here until after Christmas) and then I have to deal with lost UPS drivers (we've switched houses since I ordered from them last, so it's pretty much guaranteed to be a problem). 

So if they really will deliver to my PO Box, I'd like to leave it as-is. But if not, I need to get it changed... Help!!!

USPS has arrangements with FedEx and UPS where they transport packages across the country to the destinating Post Offices and USPS delivers  "the last mile".  The USPS gets paid a dollar or two per package for this.  Our UPS driver doesn't like this because he feels it is taking their work away and losing jobs.  Our USPS carriers don't like this because they feel it is taking work away from postal employees and losing jobs. 

For most of the year, in my small office, we get 4 or 5 packages a day from UPS and 8 or 10 from FedEx.  This season, we get 10 or 20 a day from UPS.  FedEx has been missing days here and there, and then dumping a lot on us all at once.  One day last week, they brought 120, but they had skipped 4 days.  It was not a good day to be a carrier.  Plus we also get parcels brought by our Highway Contract Route with the rest of our mail.

Yes, there seems to be some contractural arrangements between these shippers. I've ordered items online that were shipped with other carriers, but somehow on the final leg of the journey ended up with USPS and arrived in my mail box.

The local phone books used to be hand delivered by an independent delivery service, but in the past few years they have been delivered by USPS.

ETA - well pooh, are those drated ???'s still hanging around?

the small branch I work at gets about 10-15 packages per day from UPS.  we get 1 or 2 every day addressed to a PO box. the way it usually works is that UPS drops of in the late morning or early afternoon, after the carriers are out on the route, so the packages are delivered the next day. The PO box ones are notified that day and filed with the other notified boxes.

Thanks! I asked my postmaster and she says we get them every now and then. USPS doesn't do street delivery here, and most locals know not to use a PO Box with UPS, so it makes sense that our PO would get a lot less than a normal PO. 

With this service, PO box customers get packages that UPS carries. If you have both a street address for UPS and a po box for USPS the way you should give out your address is

Name

street address

PO box

city, state zip

I don't feel very comfortable doing it like that... when I am getting something delivered to my house, I always include the name of the state park I live in (there are no markings anywhere for the street address of the park, just building numbers in obscure places on the buildings.) There are not usually that many lines on an online form to include everything... but I guess I can keep my eyes open for that. 

I generally try to avoid ordering from merchants to use UPS/FedEx :/