If you can't get mail at your address or if you're on a waiting list for mail or a PO Box, you can apply for "general delivery" (aka poste restante) at the post office. Instead of delivering mail to your address, with general delivery the post office will hold your mail and you can go and pick it up. Unfortunately, the post office will only hold mail for 10 days (used to be 30!) so you need to stop by frequently or else your mail will be thrown away. The wait lists for PO Boxes and mailing addresses in many places in Hawai`i are years, so you may have to get general delivery for a while.

To have mail sent to a general delivery address, put your name then on the next line put "general delivery" then on the next line, the name of the city with the zip code. For example:

Cool Dude

General Delivery

Kea'au HI 96749