GLOSSARY
Mail Recovery Center
By Justin Winter · Updated August 28, 2026
The USPS "dead mail" office where undeliverable mail goes when it also cannot be returned to the sender.
A piece reaches the Mail Recovery Center only when both ends have failed: it cannot be delivered as addressed and there is no usable return address. Staff there open items to look for identifying information.
Items of value may be held for a period and can sometimes be claimed by a sender who can describe them; the rest is eventually disposed of.
See also
- Undeliverable as addressed — USPS’s classification for a piece that cannot be delivered to the address written on it — the umbrella term behind most returned mail.
- Return to sender — A mailpiece sent back to the sender because it could not be delivered, was refused, or went unclaimed.
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