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Why Is My Mail Addressed to Postal Customer?

“Postal Customer,” “Residential Customer” and “Current Resident” look interchangeable. They aren't: each one tells you whether the sender has your address, and whether you can make it stop.

By Jake WaitzmanUpdated Sources linked throughout

Short answer: Mail addressed to “Postal Customer” with no street address is saturation advertising, usually Every Door Direct Mail: the sender paid USPS to deliver one piece to every address on your carrier route, with no mailing list. You got it because of where you live, not who you are. Mail with “Resident” or “Current Resident” above your street address came from a list, and the sender can usually remove you.

What does “Postal Customer” mean on mail?

“Postal Customer” is a simplified address: a generic line USPS allows in place of a name and street address when a mailing goes to every delivery on a route. On city routes, USPS rules require exactly that wording when a piece goes to every active home and business, and they allow a simplified address only when the mailing covers the whole route.

A few variations are allowed, and only these:

  • Residential Customer: every home on the route, but not its businesses.
  • Business Customer: every business, on routes made up entirely of businesses.
  • PO Boxholder: every post office box at a post office.
  • Rural Route Boxholder: every box on a rural route.
  • Local in place of the city and state, which is where “Local Postal Customer” comes from.

Anything more creative is against the rules. USPS's mail manual says other designations “are not permitted,” and the examples it gives are “Food Buyer” and “Voter.”

Postal Customer, Residential Customer or Current Resident: what's the difference?

The difference is whether your street address is printed. No street address means the piece went to every mailbox on the route. A street address means the sender had a list with your address on it, even if it didn't have your name.

Address formats that replace your name: whether your street address is printed, who uses each, and whether you can stop it
POSTAL CUSTOMERor LOCAL POSTAL CUSTOMERYour street address on it?NoWho typically uses itEDDM advertisers mailing every home and business on a route; government agencies and members of Congress on official mailCan you stop it?One sender at a time, with a Do Not Deliver request
RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERYour street address on it?NoWho typically uses itEDDM and other saturation mailers reaching every home on a route but not its businessesCan you stop it?One sender at a time, with a Do Not Deliver request
PO BOXHOLDERalso RURAL ROUTE BOXHOLDER, BUSINESS CUSTOMERYour street address on it?NoWho typically uses itMailers covering every PO box at a post office, every box on a rural route, or every business on an all-business routeCan you stop it?One sender at a time. On rural routes the sender can file a non-delivery request (how it works).
RESIDENT123 MAIN STor OCCUPANT, HOUSEHOLDER or POSTAL CUSTOMER above a street addressYour street address on it?YesWho typically uses itAdvertisers mailing from address lists, such as shared coupon envelopes and local service adsCan you stop it?Yes: ask the sender to remove your address
JANE DOE OR CURRENT RESIDENT123 MAIN STYour street address on it?YesWho typically uses itSenders with a name on file who want the piece delivered to whoever lives there nowCan you stop it?Yes: ask the sender, or cancel it for a previous occupant through Catalog Choice

Source: USPS Domestic Mail Manual 602.3 (simplified, occupant and exceptional address formats). Street addresses shown are placeholders.

Two details trip people up. First, “Postal Customer” can also sit above a street address: USPS allows it as an occupant line on mail sent to one specific address, and then it is list mail, not EDDM. Second, mail addressed to an address rather than a person is delivered as addressed and is not forwarded, so it keeps coming to whoever lives there.

Who sends mail addressed to “Postal Customer”?

Mostly local advertisers. USPS pitches Every Door Direct Mail as “great for small businesses, restaurants, realtors, and local political campaigns,” and bulk mailers use it for campaigns that span many ZIP Codes. USPS delivered nearly 3 billion EDDM pieces in fiscal 2025.

Government uses the format too. Federal, state, county and city agencies may address official mail to “Postal Customer,” “Residential Customer” or “Business Customer,” and members of Congress may use it on franked mail to their constituents.

How did they reach me without my name?

By route, not by name. An advertiser opens USPS's EDDM Online Tool, picks carrier routes on a map and sees how many homes and businesses each one has. The tool also filters routes by Census-based age, household size and income, so neighborhoods are chosen for who tends to live there.

The advertiser prints one piece per delivery, bundles them by route with a facing slip giving the ZIP Code and route number, and drops them at the post office that serves those routes. The carrier puts one in every mailbox. Nobody looked up your name, because nobody needed it.

Can I refuse mail addressed to “Postal Customer” or “Current Resident”?

Yes, but it rarely does anything. USPS says mail “does not have to be accepted”: you can refuse a piece when the carrier offers it, or later by writing “Refused” on it before you open it. What happens next depends on the mail:

  • Ads addressed to “Postal Customer,” “Resident” or “Current Resident” are thrown away. USPS disposes of undeliverable mail with these address formats as waste unless it is First-Class Mail, so the advertiser never hears about it.
  • Other advertising mail goes back to the sender only if the sender printed an endorsement such as “Return Service Requested” on it.
  • First-Class Mail goes back to the sender at no charge.

So refusing a “Postal Customer” flyer is throwing it away with extra steps. To stop one sender for good, ask it directly: for list mail, ask it to delete your address (below); for EDDM, ask it to list your address as Do Not Deliver.

How do I stop mail addressed to “Current Resident”?

Ask the sender to delete your address. Because your street address is printed, the piece came from a list, and list mailers can remove an address on request.

  1. Find the sender

    Look for the company name on the piece. A company name printed inside the postage box belongs to the business holding the mailing permit, which may be a mailing company working for several advertisers.

  2. Ask to be removed

    Use the sender's opt-out form, email or phone line, and give your street address exactly as printed. Shared coupon mailers such as Valpak have online removal forms. Expect a few weeks, because ads are printed in advance.

  3. Cover the mail that's left

    Catalog Choice (free) can cancel catalogs and junk mail for previous occupants as well as for you, and PaperKarma ($24.99 a year) sends removal requests for addressed mail. DMAchoice does not cover “current resident” mailings.

Copy-and-paste email: ask a sender to remove your address

Look for the company's privacy contact in its website footer or privacy policy (often a privacy@ or unsubscribe@ address). Email gives you a dated record of your request.

Subject: Please remove my address from your mailing lists

Hello,

Please permanently remove my name and address from all of [COMPANY]'s direct mail lists, including your own customer or prospect lists and any rented, exchanged or co-op lists you use.

The name and address exactly as printed on the mail I received:

[NAME]
[STREET ADDRESS]
[CITY, ST ZIP]

I have not asked to receive marketing mail from [COMPANY]. If this address came from a list provider, please also ask them to suppress it.

Please reply to confirm when this is done.

Thank you,
[NAME]
Replace the bracketed parts before sending.

Our guide to stopping addressed junk mail covers credit offers, catalogs and data brokers too.

Is “Postal Customer” mail a scam?

Almost always, it is ordinary advertising. EDDM is not anonymous: retail mailers must register with USPS and file a signed postage statement with every mailing, and the business is usually named on the flyer, since the point is to bring you in.

Still, be suspicious of any mail, addressed or not, that:

  • says you won a prize but must pay a fee or tax to collect it
  • asks for bank, credit card or Social Security numbers
  • imitates a government agency or a company you already do business with
  • pressures you to act immediately

If you think a mailer is a fraud, report it to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at uspis.gov/report.

Why can't I opt out of “Postal Customer” mail?

Because there is no list to be taken off and no law that gives households an opt-out. USPS rules require simplified-address mail to reach every delivery on the route, and we found no procedure that lets a household ask its carrier to skip it.

The law behind the missing opt-out, and why there is no Do Not Mail registry.

Postal Customer mail: quick answers

Is mail addressed to “Postal Customer” from the Post Office?

Usually not. USPS delivers it, but the sender is the business or agency named on the piece. “Postal Customer” is simply the address USPS requires when a mailing goes to every delivery on a route.

Does “Local Postal Customer” mean the sender is local?

Not necessarily. “Local” just stands in for the city and state. Many senders are nearby businesses, but large mailers use EDDM too, and the postage permit can be from another state.

Why do I get “Postal Customer” mail at my PO box?

Senders can mail every box at a post office using “PO Boxholder,” or “Postal Customer” at post offices without city carrier delivery. It is the PO box version of a whole-route mailing.

Will a change of address stop it?

No. Forwarding follows mail addressed to you by name. Mail for “Postal Customer,” “Resident” or “Current Resident” belongs to the address and is not forwarded, so the next household gets it.

Why does mail for a previous owner say “or Current Resident”?

That is USPS's exceptional address format. It tells the carrier to deliver the piece to whoever lives there now if the named person has moved. Ask the sender to update its list, or cancel it for the previous occupant through Catalog Choice.

What does “Residential Customer” mean?

It is the simplified address for a mailing that goes to every home on a route and skips its businesses. Like “Postal Customer,” it carries no name and no street address, which usually means EDDM.

Sources

  1. USPS Domestic Mail Manual 602.3, simplified, occupant and exceptional addresses, accessed October 2026
  2. USPS Domestic Mail Manual 508.1, refusing mail
  3. USPS Domestic Mail Manual 507, undeliverable and dead mail
  4. USPS Domestic Mail Manual 144, EDDM Retail postage and documentation
  5. USPS Domestic Mail Manual 604.5, permit imprints
  6. USPS: Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM Online Tool, Do Not Deliver Addresses), accessed October 2026
  7. USPS PostalPro: Every Door Direct Mail
  8. USPS Postal Facts: Every Door Direct Mail, updated May 15, 2026
  9. USPS FAQ: Refuse unwanted mail and remove name from mailing lists
  10. Valpak: unsubscribe request
  11. Catalog Choice, accessed October 2026
  12. PaperKarma: How it works, accessed October 2026
  13. DMAchoice: Consumer Choices FAQs, accessed October 2026
  14. U.S. Postal Inspection Service: Report a crime