How to 'collect' post rather than having it delivered?

don9999

Is it possible to have a parcel delivered to some depot (or similar) where I can pick it up from?

I want to buy my wife a surprise present for her birthday, but don't want it delivered to the house, as it would be obvious what it was.

It would have been ideal if it were retained at the Post Office and I collected it, but I don't think they offer that service.

I've thought of other possibilities:
* deliver to my place of work - which would have probably been ok if it were smaller, but don't think they'd appreciate dealing with a large parcel
* deliver to family/friends - I don't have any local family, and the only few friends I would trust to receive it are currently away.

Hmmmmm.....

Are there any companies or parcel delivery firms that would deliver to a local depot and allow me to collect from them?

Cheers,
Don

safesound

Royal Mail do something called "Poste Restante" (or "to be collected") where the person sending the letter/parcel marks it Poste Restante and sends it to your local post office where you can collect it. It doesnt cost any extra but you do have to persuade the sender to do it.
More info can be found here:
http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump2?catId=400040&mediaId=600012
If the link doesnt work go to the royal mail website and search for the term Poste Restante in their search bar

shopndrop

We just sent a parcel via DHL. We took it to our local Staples store for delivery to another Staples at the other end of the country. We could have had parcel collected from home.

Excellent service and would definitely use again. They said it would take 2-3 days but parcel arrived next day and lady in Staples rang me at 11am to tell me it had arrived there and was awaiting collection.