How to Send Money by the USPS

All USPS branches sell and send money orders.

Almost everyone's been told that it's risky to use the mail to send cash. While a five dollar bill in a child's birthday card poses little risk to its sender, mailing a large amount of cash leaves a sender open to a potential and unrecoverable loss. Even mailing personal checks has its own inherent risks with identity theft on the rise. To provide postal customers with the safest possible way to send money through the mail, the USPS sells---and insures---money orders that don't expire and are insured for full replacement against loss, theft or damage.

Instructions

1. Go to your local USPS branch. If you're a member of the armed services, you also have the option of going to a money order facility; if you live in a rural area, you can talk to your route carrier rather than going to the post office.

2. Ask for a money order to be drawn in the amount you need. USPS money orders are available in any amount up to $1,000. You can purchase an unlimited number of money orders. However, if you purchase more than $3,000 worth in a single day, the post office requires you to fill out a Funds Transaction Report (Form 8105-A) and to present a valid photo ID with your current address.

3. Fill out the money order and the customer receipt with your and the recipient's full name and current address. The USPS requires that you make the money order payable to "a single identifiable party," which can be yourself, if desired.

4. Pay for your money order. Acceptable forms of payment include cash, traveler's checks in U.S. dollars---as long as the money order is at least half the value of the checks---and debit cards. Credit cards are not an acceptable form of payment. The USPS currently charges very minimal fees on top of the cost of the money order, which range from $.30 to $1.50, depending on the order amount.

Tips & Warnings

• If you'd like to send a money order to a foreign country, the USPS has a list of international destinations it sends them to for a minimal fee (see Resources). Recipients in foreign locations can cash USPS money orders at their local post office.

• Keep all of your receipts until the money order has been received and cashed by its rightful recipient. The USPS doesn't guarantee full refunds on lost or stolen money orders without the original customer receipt.

References

• USPS: Domestic Money Orders
• USPS: Extra Services

Resources

• USPS: International Money Orders