As of March 1, the Post Office began charging a fee for packages that are not collected within 15 days after the customer received a package notification.
The charge is 10 cents per day.
Postmaster General Sheena Glasgow said in a press release that the fee is meant to encourage customers to collect their packages in a timely manner rather than be punitive.
The fee, known as demurrage, is generally levied when customers exceed the standard time applicable to importing goods. It has been part of the Postal Regulations at least since 2007, but was not previously enforced.
“At 10 cents per day per package, the demurrage fee could only be considered a token storage charge when a package has been uncollected for more than two weeks,” Ms. Glasgow said. “The Airport Post Office now processes the incoming package traffic and even there, space is a finite commodity so long-term storage simply is not feasible.”
If packages remain uncollected after 35 days of the addressee first being notified, they may be returned to the sender or handed over to the Customs Department for disposal, officials said.
Related Videos
