Question about Shipping

<p>I just tried to order a mattress topper from Walmart and have it shipped to Paty. I put in the 210 McCorvey Drive address and got a message that it was an invalid address. Could this be because Walmart ships through USPS and they don’t deliver to Paty? If that’s the case, could I send it to D’s PO Box? D made the brilliant comment that it won’t FIT in her PO Box, which gave us all a good laugh.</p>

<p>Ship it to the address given on the slip when you opened the PO Box. When it arrives they will put a slip in the PO Box. You take the slip to the counter and pick up the package.</p>

<p>USPS shipping - goes to po box</p>

<p>others go to paty.</p>

<p>sometimes you will get an invalid address message. sometimes this can be remedied by ordering by phone instead of online.</p>

<p>everything i have ever shipped to both the pobox and paty has arrived safely and without issue.</p>

<p>be careful shipping time sensitive packages because the PO desk is closed on the weekends. i am not sure about paty.</p>

<p>^ Different from what I was told regarding which address to use (not surprised, though). I think this shipping address / PO Box issue the most confusing of them all. </p>

<p>So, my notes from BB in which I was told to use my student’s PO Box address for all packages and that they will routed appropriately are incorrect?</p>

<p>This was also discussed here.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1347526-pod-bama-bound.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1347526-pod-bama-bound.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Truly would just like to know what is correct. Anyone?</p>

<p>Hmm, it might be easier to ship it to the local store and pick it up there, especially if the post office is closed on Saturday. I can’t find on the Walmart site which means of shipping they use - I just assumed it was USPS when the Paty address was shown as invalid.</p>

<p>i am just telling you what i have actually done and has worked. if they are now telling people to do it differently, i don’t know anything about that.</p>

<p>MikeW, I really appreciate and thank you for your post. I do want to know what’s worked for others. It just seems that for this particular question there are multiple answers depending on the day. One of the reasons we opened the PO Box at BB was that we were told Paty would be crazy to pick up packages on move in weekend and it would be safer to use the PO Box address for all packages. This was by 2 different UA staff people answered at different times. </p>

<p>For move-in purposes the UHaul is looking better every day.</p>

<p>unless they have it open as an exception, the PO isn’t open on the weekend.</p>

<p>i think many people on here have shipped things to paty and picked them up on move in days with no issues.</p>

<p><shrug></shrug></p>

<p>idk if you have a boy or a girl (might impact how much stuff you have to bring), but if you are driving you may be able to take care of most of it without a uhaul with the addition of some site to store shipping. some site to store shipping all of my daughters stuff fit in her ford escape.</p>

<p>I was only joking about the U-Haul. We have a son and other than the electronics there’s not that much to bring. I have no idea how the package pick up process will work, just that we should be there in time on Friday to get his stuff from the PO if need be and if not, he can get it and set it up himself at a later date. Obviously I’m letting the bad stories others have told me cloud what may be a perfectly fine process of picking up the very few things we’ll ship to campus. Not going to worry about it - it will be what it will be and nothing we can do to change it.</p>

<p>I still feel confused on this issue too so you are not alone. I have actually spend a fair amt of time wondering if I may have early alzheimers b/c I just can’t seem to get it straight in my head.</p>

<p>don’t worry so much. everything will be fine.</p>

<p>The main thing I would suggest is don’t ship fragile things to Paty. The boxes, especially during move in, often get damaged or crushed under the weight of all the shipments. Paty will be busy, and they are not the most organized during move in, but you’ll probably be fine if you ship things there. The post office will also be crazy busy, as lots of people will be renting P.O. boxes and picking up packages. Either way, budget some time out of your schedule to pick up your shipments.</p>

<p>Not really for move-in, but in general: If a student orders something by mail (Zappos, Amazon etc.) do you have to know ahead of time which carrier they use before you order? Not sure how you figure out what address to use.</p>

<p>If you are buying from Amazon, typically they use USPS. However, if you are buying from an independent seller on Amazon, then it’s a big mystery. I guess you could always message the seller and ask them, but I don’t think there is a way to tell in advance, unless it’s mentioned in the item description.</p>

<p>^^^No…I am sorry Mesquite, Amazon ships UPS not United States Postal Service, I have shipped WAY too may purchases to Paty to not know that. Amazon will take the Paty address and it will ship correctly. This info is correct if you are purchasing directly from Amazon, if you are purchasing through Amazon, then the outside vendors could use a different shipping vendor. They will send you an e-mail asking for address clarification if they cannot ship to Paty. I also have had that happen. </p>

<p>Address your Amazon purchases like this:
Student Name /Student Residence Housing
C/O Paty Hall, Package Delivery Center
210 McCorvey Drive
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401
United States
Phone: Students Phone Number</p>

<p>I have had total success with this type of addressing. You can also easily track your packages through Amazon or UPS directly. Paty is supposed to send notification to the student when the package arrives. Don’t count on it. I have always tracked the packages and then sent a quick text to my student to pick up.</p>

<p>***Don’t forget to sign up for the Free Prime Student Membership through Amazon. You will need your student’s .edu address to do this. Free 2 day shipping!! The membership used to be good for a year but I think that they have recently changed to 6 months.</p>

<p>I don’t work for Amazon but I sure wish I did :)</p>

<p>if you try to ship to a p box and the shipper doesn’t ship to po boxes, you will get a message.</p>