It is an actual physical address with a house number to be used in case of an emergency. Our county emergency system gave these addresses for areas who did not have mail delivery. Our address is actually posted on the house(ex 123 Route 100 Hometown, PA), but when I've tried to use it for deliveries many times they tell me it is not a valid address since it is not in the postal computers. I get told they can not ship to a PO Box address(my only mail delivery available) and then - no you can not use this address either because it is not valid. So frustrating.