[buymycards]

Normally, General Delivery is limited to 30 days, but it can be extended at the discretion of the Postmaster.

It is used frequently by someone who has started a new job in a new town and they don't yet have a permanent address, or someone who is having marital problems and has moved out, or by victims of spousal abuse who don't want their husband to know where they are living. In my office, we extended the 30 day limit many times so we could serve people that we knew were homeless.

As you said, it is also used by travelers. Let's say that you live in Madison, WI, and you will be traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, then to St. Paul, Minnesota. If you need to have something sent to you while you are traveling, you can use General Delivery in Des Moines for a few days, then General Delivery in St. Paul for a few days.

When I first started working at the PO in the 1980's, General Delivery wasn't used much, but now, with the large homeless population, it is used frequently. In a city like Colorado Springs, with a huge homeless problem, the General Delivery portion of the PO is overwhelmed with mail.