Addressing a Cover Letter with an unknown recipient?

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Can I leave it off altogether?

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I probably wouldn't. I use sir/madam whenever I am writing to an unknown person, which happens several times a week. Having said that, my letters are to persons at large entities who could give a shite less what the salulation says.

Sometimes you can be sneaky and call a company and ask who handles new applications or whatever you are sending in the letter for.

It might help the letter stand out if you are going for that.

How about just "Greetings,"

So you're saying just send the résumé without any explanation

Interdasting

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i always roll with "Dear Sir or Madam"... so for it has worked 0% of the time.

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Ya, but that's only 0% out of 80% of the time, so there is still hope.

"To Whom It May Concern" would be my generic recommendation.
(although my original typo "To Whom I May Concern" might actually be an attention getter )

I've received "Dear Sir/Madam" previously.
The combination of "Dear" with a generic salutation comes across as disingenuous to me.

If you can determine the first considering level of contact. E.g., name(s) obtained through Human Resources, use the name of a person(s) likely to first act on your letter. Address it to that individual. If there is more than one possibility, send multiple letters.

Cover letters are old advice but honestly most HR departments completely ignore them. I've interviewed people for nearly ten years now and haven't seen a cover letter yet b/c HR tosses them. I wish they'd do a better job tossing some of the resumes but that's a different topic.

I can see where one might help if you're applying for a tiny firm where the owner makes all the decisions but otherwise you're wasting time. If you feel like you have to write one just say "To whom it may concern" or some such, if your resume doesn't stand out on its own the cover letter (much less your salutation) will not save you.