So you have confirmed that you have added the right address but Canada Post says that they don’t recognize it?
If so, you are not alone.
The question of “Why does Canada Post not recognize my address” is one that many have asked and in our today’s ultimate guide, we will look into the ins and outs.
Why Doesn’t Canada Post Recognize My Address?
There Are No Door-To-Door Delivery Services Where You Are
If you live in a gated community where there are no door-to-door delivery services, Canada Post will unfortunately not recognize your address.
In such communities, Canada Post assumes that there is a communal post office with P.O. Boxes for you. As such, they believe you should use such P.O. Boxes as your address.
See, the number of staff isn’t capable of making deliveries to each client’s doorstep. When Canada Post doesn’t recognize your doorstep address, they tell you that they delivered the package to a community mailbox.
You Live In A Rural Area
Do you live in a rural area? Maybe in a detached house?
Well, everything might be perfect for you, but not the case when it comes to package deliveries from Canada Post.
Under normal circumstances, those living in rural areas don’t have physical street addresses or there is simply no home-to-home delivery there.
In such scenarios, you find that you, as the recipient, have to go and pick up your package at your local post office (In your P.O. Box).
The funny thing is that when you are in a rural area and you input your P.O. Box as your address, it will get accepted instantly.
If you live in a rural area, we find that writing your P.O. Box address starting with B (For instance B1234) to solve these address issues.
The Tracking Label Was Off-center
The printed tracking label might sometimes be off-center, making some of the address characters or digits cut off.
Again, issues such as smudged addresses when the label gets wet also happen.
In all of these incidents, it means that the address is incomplete, making the Canada Post scanners fail to recognize the right street names or apartment numbers.
What Do I Do When Canada Post Says They Don’t Recognize My Address?
Contact Canada Post Immediately
If Canada Post doesn’t recognize your address, we recommend contacting them fast as there are high chance that they will return the package to the sender.
If they tell you that they can’t recognize your address when the package has shortly started its journey in transit, you can then let them know about the correct details.
There is a higher probability that they will help you change the address than opting to send it back.
Tell The Shipper To Manually Put In The Address
If Canada Post opts to send your package back to the shipper, you can tell the sender to manually put in your address correctly.
If you live in a rural area where there is no door-to-door delivery service, you can let them write your P.O. BOX address instead of your street name. Just that you remember to start the P.O. Box name with B and then the digits that follow. The words Box or P.O. Box shouldn’t appear anywhere.
If you have a physical address that works with private couriers but Canada Post says they don’t recognize it, we recommend that you provide it along with the P.O. BOX number as street address 2.
In that case, the package will conveniently make its way to you should the shipper resend the package via a private courier or Canada Post.
