Addressing

Addressing for your Incoming Packages

A lot of this information is written in the light of Amazon.com shopping, but equally applies to other vendors.

Amazon has "prime", and I suggest you sign up. It provides free air delivery, and will pay for itself in your first order or two.

When you open an Amazon account, they will have you fill in your Name, Addres, City etc.

Name

Be consistent.
Avoid things like Mr. Mrs. Ms. etc.
Avoid MIDDLE names and Initials.
Avoid double last names. Like Jane Smith-Hyder.

Things like that confuse the computer, and may delay the delivery of your parcel.

Address

Try to put your phone number on your address. It may help.
Contrary to popular opinion, UPS accepts PO Boxes, as long as your phone number is on the label.
However, many vendors choke on PO Boxes. It's THEIR software, not UPS.
Believe it or not, many vendors choke on street addresses. Here is why:
They use software that "verifies" your address against the US Postal Service database. Since Nome USPS does not do home delivery, the database for Nome only has:
- General Delivery; or
- 113 W Front St. (The address of the Post Office)

So what to do?

You can have our package sent to General Delivery -or- 113 W Front, Provided you let us know ahead of time so we can have you in the cross-reference database.

You may have good luck with a street address. If so, here are some guidelines:

Words like Apartment, Apt, Unit, Street, Lane, Avenue, Drive etc are redundant. There are only 18 spaces to write your address in!
Addresses in Nome are consistent. Most streets need an east of west designator, like 744 E 5TH. Don't fail to do this!
Don't include more than one street.
Things like 1701 E 5TH and K will almost cause a misdelivery or no delivery. Are you oh 5th or K? It is a great cause of frustration.
Don't assume "The Driver knows where I live." Maybe. We quite often assign spare drivers to routes. The spare guy has no clue where Jane Smith lives.
For Packages coming to General Delivery or PO Boxes we maintain an extensive database that cross references your Name to the real street address.
But for this to work, we need to know. Please text it to me. 907-304-1053:
Hi, my Name is Jane Smith. Packages coming to my PO Box 12345, please deliver to 1706 E 8TH.

Here is a proper UPS address:

Jane Smith
1706 E 8TH #102
Nome, Alaska 99762
907-555-1457

Notice the apartment number 102 is written #102. You may have to use # 102.
Absolutely do not put apartment numbers in a place proviced by Amazon. Be sure to put it all on the same line! If you do, while it may show up on the label, it does not show up on the lists they send me.
Jane Smith
1706C E 5TH
etc
Note for apartment C, the apartment number is part of the house number, 1706C
By city ordinance, landlords and homeowners are required to have house and apartment numbers displayed. Often, they do not do it.
Very frustrating to drive down a street and several houses in a row have no numbers on them, or are obscured. We do get misdeliveries on this!

Here are some examples:

Good: Jane Smith
1706C E 5th
Nome, AK 99762

Bad: Jane Q. Smith [Middle Initial]
1706 EAST 5TH Avenue [EAST, Avenue redundant]

Jane Q. Hyder-Smith [Dual Last Name, Middle Init]
1706 E 5th and K UNIT C [UNIT, two streets]

Loooooooong names and addresses:

Jane Queenie Hyder-Smith c/o Phillip K. Dunderhead
Green House across street from Old Youth Facility

What can I say? The name gets cut at character 18, rest is lost.
The Address? What address? This is a description. Please find out where you live and put that in.

General Delivery and 113 W Front Street

These are FINE as long as you Tell Me! Just text me your name and REAL address, I'll put you in the database.

If you use 113 W Front, disguise your po box number in there in case they send it USPS/Mail:
113 W Front #12345
or
113 W Front # 12345
Sometimes the same works for General Delivery:
General Delivery #12345
Why? If it comes by mail, the Nome Post Office knows where to notify you.

You Moved within Nome

If you move, it really helps if you let me know. Why? Amazon may not have your new address. Or packages already on the way. To the OLD address.

This also applies, even more so, if you use a PO Box, General Delivery or 113 W Front. Don't forget!

We really want to get the package over to you!

Contact information

If you contact me, always use text. On your first time or two, it helps if you give me your NAME so I can put you in my phone's contact list.

Here is a typical text:

"Hi, my name is Jane Smith, at 1706C E 5TH. I am expecting some UPS packages 1Z1234560212345678 and 1Z6543210398765432."

Or something like that.

We all Like This Work!

My drivers and I really like and enjoy this job. It gives us pleasure to deliver your package the same day we got it! It brings a smile to you, and to us as well.

Myself, and often some of the drivers and loaders are at the Polar Cafe every weekday noon hour. We take outgoing packages, and often hand out packages for out-of-town addresess, like Dexter, west beach, etc. Come by and have a cup of coffee on me.

The Polar Cafe people are not UPS, so please don't drop off packages unless we are there to receive it. Bad things could happen to it. Noon hour is 12 - 1, but most days you will still find us there until 1:30. A quick peek or text message ...

I have found UPS to be a wonderful company that cares. Their HQ staff in Louisville is wonderful and helpful. Lost packages, change of address (even moved out of state), reroutings etc. are handled professionally. Within Nome, I am the Man. But for beyond Nome, the HQ is best. 1-800-PICK-UPS

I was born 1945, been in Nome since 1965, and doing UPS since 1997, 25 years.
I love it here!