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ermingarden(A follow-up to this post.)
I'm sure someone else has already said this elsewhere (and I may be wrong), but I've been thinking, and it seems to me that all of the issues may stem from the fact that ordering tests is being done through USPS – i.e., they're using the USPS address database.
USPS doesn't know or care how many people live in my apartment building – all that matters to the Postal Service is the street address. It delivers all the mail to "123 Streetname St." and the mailroom staff are the ones who sort it by unit number. So from the perspective of the Postal Service, a large apartment building with an internal mailroom and a single-family house are identical. (If you live in an apartment building with separate mailboxes accessible from the street rather than an internal mailroom, USPS does distinguish between unit numbers, so you might be okay.)
If you have a PO box in an actual post office, USPS is taking the mail all the way to your box, so at least some people with PO boxes have been able to get tests just fine. However, if you have a box in, e.g., a UPS store, it's just like an apartment building with an internal mailroom – USPS doesn't care about anything beyond the street address, so the street address is what's in the database, not unit or box numbers.
If this is right, then if the person who actually puts the mail in your mailbox is a Postal Service employee, you may be fine; if there's an intermediary between you and USPS, there's a problem.
Unfortunately, this doesn't seem like it'll be a quick fix. If this is the source, it's not a website glitch – the data just isn't there. And as far as I know, we don't have a comprehensive database of addresses that's more detailed than the Postal Service's.
I'm sure someone else has already said this elsewhere (and I may be wrong), but I've been thinking, and it seems to me that all of the issues may stem from the fact that ordering tests is being done through USPS – i.e., they're using the USPS address database.
USPS doesn't know or care how many people live in my apartment building – all that matters to the Postal Service is the street address. It delivers all the mail to "123 Streetname St." and the mailroom staff are the ones who sort it by unit number. So from the perspective of the Postal Service, a large apartment building with an internal mailroom and a single-family house are identical. (If you live in an apartment building with separate mailboxes accessible from the street rather than an internal mailroom, USPS does distinguish between unit numbers, so you might be okay.)
If you have a PO box in an actual post office, USPS is taking the mail all the way to your box, so at least some people with PO boxes have been able to get tests just fine. However, if you have a box in, e.g., a UPS store, it's just like an apartment building with an internal mailroom – USPS doesn't care about anything beyond the street address, so the street address is what's in the database, not unit or box numbers.
If this is right, then if the person who actually puts the mail in your mailbox is a Postal Service employee, you may be fine; if there's an intermediary between you and USPS, there's a problem.
Unfortunately, this doesn't seem like it'll be a quick fix. If this is the source, it's not a website glitch – the data just isn't there. And as far as I know, we don't have a comprehensive database of addresses that's more detailed than the Postal Service's.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-21 03:44 pm (UTC)