USPS Blues

[Desdichado]

So, on Saturday, we had some Netflix movies in the mailbox, with the little flag up and everything. We had two to go back, and you really want them to go out on Saturday. If they do, there's a pretty good chance that you can get the new movies shipped to you right away on Tuesday (new movies always come out on Tuesday -- and this week was Sky Captain.) On top of that, I ordered a handful of CDs from A Different Drum, and based on past experience, I was pretty much expecting that package to come on Saturday too.

Anway, my wife saw the mailtruck pull into our cul-de-sac at somewhere between 4:45-5:00 PM; it was running a bit late due to the snow, I guess. However, they did not stop are our house! What the heck is up with that? I'm pretty ticked off.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

That's kind of odd. Is your house hard to see or invisible? Maybe the postman/woman just doesn't like you for some reason?

 

[Andre]

Anway, my wife saw the mailtruck pull into our cul-de-sac at somewhere between 4:45-5:00 PM; it was running a bit late due to the snow, I guess. However, they did not stop are our house! What the heck is up with that? I'm pretty ticked off.

Two possiblities come to mind. One, it's Satuday, the weather is bad, maybe someone who's not familiar with the route was delivering. He/she may have been in a hurry at that point and just made a mistake. Two, he might have decided to only stop at houses for which he had mail to deliver. No, he's not supposed to do that - but when they're running behind, I've seen it happen. Expecially if they're short-handed and have someone else covering for the regular person.

If you're ticked off enough to pursue it, call your local postal station and ask to speak to a supervisor. He can find out who was delivering the route that day and speak with them. Doesn't change what happened, but may keep it from happening in the future.

Also, I know it's a real inconvenience for you, but if this is a one-time thing, consider letting it go. Delivering mail in bad weather is not easy and I'm often amazed at how well the average postal worker does. I don't work for the USPS, but I've worked closely with them for years and the good employees outnumber the bad by a huge margin. I try to cut them slack when I can and only make an issue out something if it is critical and/or a regular problem.

 

[Dimwhit]

One of the FEW advantages of mailbox clusters. Our cul-de-sac has about 20 houses. The mailboxes are clustered into two groups. Advantage is we don't get skipped by the mail lady (who is very nice, btw). Disadvantage is I can't be lazy, open up the front door, and reach around the screen door to grab my mail. I have to put on shoes and go to the mail box.

 

[Desdichado]

If you're ticked off enough to pursue it, call your local postal station and ask to speak to a supervisor. He can find out who was delivering the route that day and speak with them. Doesn't change what happened, but may keep it from happening in the future.

Apparently they don't even take a complaint until it's been missed two days in a row.

Which sounds reasonable enough. This was annoying to me, but it's not like anything serious will come of it. The only thing I can imagine; with the snow, they were running several hours later than they were used to. Also, our cul-de-sac hadn't been ploughed yet (he drove around it fine anyway) and the snow had drifted fairly deep right in front of our house. Maybe he decided he didn't want to step in snow up to nearly his knees to pick up our mail. Still, he seemed to hit at least some other houses on the cul-de-sac, and as my wife said about my comment that getting out in the snow to reach our mailbox may have been a pain, "yeah, but that's his job."

 

[Andre]

One of the FEW advantages of mailbox clusters. Our cul-de-sac has about 20 houses. The mailboxes are clustered into two groups.

BTW, my understanding is that every new housing addition must use the mailbox clusters. The USPS has been working for years now to reduce the manpower necessary to deliver mail (one of its largest expenses is covering that "last mile").

When my company built a new headquarters building, we were given two choices for our outgoing mail: take it to a free-standing mailbox on the street, or hire a courier to take it to the downtown branch. Needless to say, we hired a courier. It's a case of the USPS pushing costs off onto their customers, but given the public's resistance to rate hikes, they don't have a lot of options.

...the mail lady (who is very nice, btw).

Yeah, I love my regular delivery guy. I just wish I could get the person who delivers on Saturdays to stop tearing up my magazines when putting them into the box. Oh well...

 

[DaveStebbins]

I'm rather impressed that I have had mail delivered Saturday and today, given that the four-box cluster is almost piled under by snow. The mound is about three feet high and the boxes are also about three to four feet back (thanks to the snow plow). I was a little leery myself to step into the snowbank to check, but there was mail both inside both days. Sure, we're used to getting clobbered by storms in my area, but I'm still impressed whenever I receive good service of any kind.

-Dave

 

[jonesy]

...in the mailbox, with the little flag up and everything...

You had the what up? I have no idea what that means.

 

[Heretic Apostate]

You had the what up? I have no idea what that means.

In America, our individual mailboxes come with a long piece of something red attached on the side. When you have outgoing mail, you flip it from horizontal to vertical. This lets the mail carrier know that there's mail to pick up. Otherwise, they'd have to check every single mailbox. When they pick up the mail, they flip it back to horizontal.

Of course, putting your outgoing mail in a personal mailbox is heavily discouraged, since the identity-theft crooks just steal it. More likely than not, you've got personal checks in there and stuff, or those videos going back to Netflix, or other stuff. I'd much rather drop them off in the outgoing mail at work...

 

[jonesy]

Ah. I've always wondered what those where. I keep seeing them in movies, but always thought it was decoration of some kind.

I think that if the Finnish postal workers were required to pick up all outgoing mail from peoples homes they'd go on a permanent strike.