Can neighbours collect our parcels if we are not at French home?

Reader Question: We are going back to the UK for three months to spend time with family, but often receive parcels to our main home in France. Is there a way for our neighbours to be authorised to collect the parcels for us, as we do not want them left outside or to leave them too long at the post office?

It is possible for you to authorise others to collect your parcels for you, provided they are delivered by La Poste.

You can set up a proxy (procuration) through the national postal service, which will allow authorised people to collect mail and parcels sent to you – even those sent via recorded delivery.

They will be able to collect parcels from your home (if they are inside at the time), or collect them from the post office at a later date.

Do note that these rules only apply for parcels sent via La Poste, and not for those sent via private companies including Amazon, where different rules will apply.

Who can be designated as my proxy?

Anyone can be designated as your proxy, provided they are an adult.

You can only elect one person as a proxy each time you make a request.

However you can have as many concurrent proxies as you want (multiple neighbours, family members who live nearby, etc), you just have to set them up individually.

Electing someone as your proxy gives them the power to collect your mail for you for five years, however it can be rescinded at any time.

If you are often away (for example to go to the UK as is your case) and trust your neighbour, it may be more beneficial to let the person remain as your proxy for an extended period of time.

In addition to setting up the procuration online, via the La Poste website, you can also do so in a post office.

If your home is in your name, you only need to provide identification (a titre de séjour should work, as well as a passport, etc).

If you are staying with someone else, or the property is not in your name, you will also need to provide their ID and an attestation from the owner/person you are staying with which is less than three months old.

People can collect parcels as a one-off

In other cases, you can give a person one-time authority to collect a parcel for you, if you are unable to collect it when delivered.

However, this will require the person collecting the parcel taking your ID with them as well as the delivery notice (avis de passage) signed and dated by you, making this unviable if you are away from home for an extended period and cannot sign the slips or leave your ID.

As a reminder, if you are moving address (either temporarily or permanently), you can use La Poste’s mail forwarding system for up to one year, even to international destinations – read more about it in our previous reader question article.

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