Three non-standard address types get lumped together, but the underlying problem is different for each one — this page routes you to the right guide, it doesn't repeat any of them.
PO boxes, hotel deliveries and military addresses all get mentioned together as 'non-standard addresses,' but they fail for genuinely different reasons and need different fixes — treating them as one problem is exactly what causes a booking to go wrong. This page doesn't repeat the detail already covered in each guide; it works through the actual diagnostic questions and the look-alike cases that most often send someone to the wrong one, so the decision itself — not just a side-by-side summary — is what this page adds.
Answer these in sequence — each one either identifies your address type or tells you which question to ask next.
No street name/number, just a box number, a code, or a 'Private Bag'-style designation? Skip to question 2. A real street name and number? Skip to question 3.
A box number at a post office (often literally 'PO Box' or 'P.O. Box' followed by a number, with no street) is a PO box — go to the PO box guide. A code like BFPO, APO or FPO followed by a number, used specifically because the recipient is military or diplomatic personnel, is a military address — go to the military address guide, even though it superficially looks similar to a PO box for the same underlying reason (no direct commercial courier route).
If yes, it's a hotel delivery — go to the hotel guide, because the real address is reachable but needs to be matched to a specific guest by staff who need advance notice. If the street address belongs to the recipient directly (their home, workplace, or a friend's address) with no hospitality business involved, none of these three guides applies — it's an ordinary address, and any delivery problem is more likely a formatting issue.
These are the specific mix-ups this page exists to prevent — not a repeat of any guide's full content, just the distinguishing fact each mix-up turns on.
| Looks like | Actually is | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| A PO Box | A parcel locker or courier collection point | The PO box guide itself distinguishes these: a parcel locker or collection point has a genuine street address a courier can deliver to, unlike a PO box, which only exists inside the postal service's internal sorting system. If the recipient has offered one of these as an alternative to a PO box, it doesn't need the PO box guide's workaround at all — book it as a normal address. |
| A military address | An overseas base's ordinary civilian street address | Not every address connected to military personnel is a BFPO/APO/FPO-style postal code — some overseas postings do use a conventional street address a commercial courier can reach directly. The distinguishing fact is whether the address uses a military postal designation in place of a street address, not whether the recipient happens to be military personnel. |
| A hotel delivery | A private short-term rental or serviced apartment | A hotel has staff at a front desk who can be given advance notice and match a parcel to a named guest — that's what the hotel guide's approach depends on. A private rental or serviced apartment usually has no equivalent staffed reception, so the hotel guide's specific approach may not transfer even though the situation looks similar (a temporary stay, not the recipient's permanent address). |
All three need to be declared correctly at booking, not discovered by the driver — see each guide's own specifics for what that declaration involves.
None of the three is fixed by adding a note to the delivery instructions field after booking — that field passes a message to a driver, it doesn't change what kind of address the shipment was booked to.
Getting the wrong one of these three guides won't help — a PO box workaround doesn't apply to a military address, and a hotel's advance-notice approach doesn't apply to a PO box or a private rental without staffed reception.
No — a hotel is a real, physical, courier-reachable address; the challenge is matching the parcel to the right guest, not reaching the building. A PO box is a fundamentally different problem: it isn't a street address a courier can drive to at all.
No — a parcel locker or courier collection point has a genuine deliverable street address, unlike a PO box. Book it as an ordinary address rather than following the PO box guide's workaround.
No — some overseas postings use an ordinary civilian street address a courier can reach directly. The military address guide applies specifically when the address itself uses a military postal designation in place of a street address, not simply because the recipient is military personnel.
Not necessarily — the hotel guide's approach relies on staffed front-desk reception that can take advance notice and match a parcel to a guest. A private rental without that kind of staffed reception is closer to an ordinary address problem, even though it's also a temporary stay.
No — the delivery instructions field passes a note to the driver about an address you've already booked to; it doesn't change the type of address the shipment is routed as. Each of these three address types needs to be declared correctly at booking, per its own guide.
Head to the specific guide for exactly what to declare at booking.
Start With PO Box Guide →