UPDATE- & Po'd-mail Delivery Issues

Updated on April 11, 2011
M.A. asks from Detroit, MI
13 answers

Do you have bad mail service?

For 14 years now, we have had nothing but mail delivery issues. Same mail lady-except on her vacation days. We live on a dead end street, and all the address in the neighborhood are the same, just different street names. We have been getting different street mail (same address) for years. Have always placed a note on the mail letting the mail lady know someone delivered to the wrong house-again. Even received mail that was to be delivered to a different city 100 miles away (and it was someone’s IRS check!) When I watched over my neighbors house a couple of weeks ago, they had my mail sitting on their kitchen table from November-it was from my health insurance company-I was mad about that, they could of placed it in my mail box or gave it to the mail lady (they like to chat.) Yesterday was the kicker; I received my neighbor’s bills/mail (different address same street) with mail that was to be sent out first class from someone in a different city!!! I placed it back in our mailbox with a nice note. I called and complained many times, they were even mad that I called the postal inspector, but hey I want to know where our mail is at!!! I do not trust our mail service anymore, and we need to received our important mail-What to do next?

What can I do next?

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So What Happened?

Well that nice note I left on my neighbor’s mail for the postal worker to deliver to the right address was returned to me with a nasty side note. Here is what I wrote: "Wrong Address Again." Please look over mail carefully! I received a side note saying- "Sub was on mistakes happen we are all human, if you can do a better job, do it!" I was going to let this slide, but not now. OMG I was so mad. I wrote one back, but our "regular mail person came back to work.

More Answers

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R.K.

answers from Appleton on

Keep calling the postal inspector. I would also contact yor local Senators and Congressmen. The Postal Service is a federal job, these people need to be talked to by someone who have the ability to fire them.

I had an issue with our State Job Service many years ago. A couple of months later my State Senator was doing a radio talk show. I called him while on the air and told him what happened, he got so angry, he took me off the air and got my personal contact info and called me the next day. When I told him who the person was, he personally went to the office and fired her.

3 moms found this helpful

T.L.

answers from St. Louis on

When I was growing up we were the last house on the delivery route and also lived on a dead end road. It never failed that on Friday or Satruday's we had every one else's mail but ours. We really couldn't complain either because the mailman's wife was our teacher all through out high school. She was/is known for taking things out on students. :( So to help fix the problem we started greeting the mailman and going though the mail while he turned around and as he drove back by we handed him everything that wasn't ours. It seemed like we just got everything that was left over in his truck.

2 moms found this helpful
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K.T.

answers from Detroit on

My parents had the same problem for years....they would get the paychecks from my father's company for everyone on this postman's route regularly.....(uh, don't you think people want to get paid?)....made mistakes on a daily basis.....the postman would regularly leave the heavy packages out in the rain at the mailbox...when my mom questioned him one day about it, he said "oh, are you an invalid?".....my parents ended up writing snarky notes on the envelopes "WRONG AGAIN".....but then my dad (Mr. Smith who lived on Elton Rd.) wrote to the PostMaster to complain.....he received a letter starting "Dear Mr. Elton..." .......he send it to our local paper with a comment "Now HERE'S what's wrong with the Postal Service....." ....mind you, this was twenty some years ago so the uncaring attitude was nothing new.

I can say that my postal worker does make mistakes on occasion (though rarely), but when we have a package, she tucks all the mail up under our covered porch so we don't have two places to check.....kudos to her!

2 moms found this helpful
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R.P.

answers from Cleveland on

get a po box at the post office there is a monthly or annual fee but it will cut down on your mail being carried by someone

2 moms found this helpful
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J.T.

answers from Dallas on

i am having the same problems. i am getting everyone's mail, some of mine is missing, my outgoing mail has sat in the box for DAYS on end. i have complained to everyone and their dog at USPS, to no avail. i keep VERY close tabs on the very few bills that i have to receive by mail, i mail outgoing mail at the post office, and i do as much as possible online. don't know what else to tell you - no one at USPS cares and no one wants to take any pride in their job and do things correctly. sorry, i really am, i totally feel your frustration!

to tracy - i know ppl that have the SAME issues with a PO Box, they can't seem to read the letters/numbers on mail anymore - so it's just as easy to put things in the wrong PO Box as residential mailbox - it's really very sad.

2 moms found this helpful
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K.S.

answers from Grand Rapids on

I agree with the others that said to write to the Postmaster General and make a formal complaint. The mail may be sorted by some automated machine but it is a human that puts it in the mailbox and she should be catching a lot of this. Very often I see our mail lady sitting on the side of the road sorting the bundles for the next stretch of her route. i have only gotten my neighbors mail once and we have been here for 9 yrs. I realize a PO box might be a little inconvenient but it would help solve a lot of the problem.
Dawn...The Post Office only attempts to deliver the actual registered letter once and the other 2 or 3 times are just notices they leave, i had a similar situation, recieved a card for the first attempt, so I purposely stayed home so they could get me on the next attempt and found out they only bring the letter out once. By the time I found this out they had sent the letter back!

2 moms found this helpful
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D.D.

answers from Detroit on

Part of the problem is an electronic system that 'reads' the addresses and regularly makes mistakes - there is a problem with the programming according to what I have been told. And most of the problem is the bureaucracy within the USPS has encouraged the employees to be sullen and incompetant (we have a great carrier at work who can actually get us the right mail but he is constantly complaining and seems to be on vacation every other week - I don't want to hear about how, because you just got a paid day off, you now have to work a 12 hour shift at double time!).

I rcd a photocopied notice of a registered letter that was attempted to be delivered on 2 days that either my husband or I were home ALL DAY! No attempt was made and the letter was actually sent to me in December, the 'attempts' were made in March - after standing in line for 30 mins to get the letter I asked why it took 3 months and why they could lie about trying to deliver and I was told "it's nothing to do with me, I don't deliver the mail". With attitudes like that is it any wonder people don't want to use the USPS anymore? As far as the PO Boxes are concerned... it just seems like the old excuse where your husband burns his shirt when ironing just to get you to do it for him... the USPS isn't making enough money, so they do a rotten job of delivering your mail so that you pay to have a PO Box!

It's all just wrong.

2 moms found this helpful
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L.B.

answers from Detroit on

Why not get a P.O. box and skip the hassle of getting your mail delivered to your house?

1 mom found this helpful
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D.S.

answers from Dallas on

I have the same problem! I was told that I am on an "auxillary route" which means that it rotates amongst different carriers. I live on a court (it's shaped like a horseshoe) and the addresses are the same except half are "North" and half are "South." To add the situation- they are all duplexes. We are constantly having mail problems. I get mail for various addresses on the court. I usually just walk over and put the mail in the proper mailbox. I have complained probably 3 times over the past 5-6 years.

I was really upset to find that my annual benefits pack (insurance open enrollment etc) was "returned to Sender." I don't know why it was sent back, but it nearly prevented me from having health insurance since this year we were required to return the forms even if we didn't want any changes.

I have been paying all of my bills through auto draft. I find that way I don't have to worry about receiving them in the mail. Plus I never have to worry about them being late.

1 mom found this helpful

A.S.

answers from Detroit on

Sounds like the mail lady that my parents had years ago. When I was working at a local auto repair facility (only a few blocks away from home), our mail lady came in at 10:30am to get a laundry list of things done on her car... She WAITED for her car to be done... She was in her uniform. I asked her if she was supposed to be on the job... She said something along the lines of, 'Well, yes... But I needed some things done.'

I said to her (her not knowing I was on her route), 'I would like my mail now then please. My paycheck is in there and clearly you won't be getting to my house before the bank closes.'

She didn't work in our area much longer after that.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.F.

answers from Tallahassee on

We used to have very frequent problems with our mail delivery but it has gotten better. Our next door neighbor (directly next door to us) is on a different route from us and has her mail delivered by someone in an actual postal service vehicle, usually no later than 2:00 - 2:20 pm. Our mail is delivered by someone who drives their own car and we get it whenever they deliver it. We used to get it delviered pretty late, like 7:30 - 8:00 pm. One night we didn't get our mail delivered until after 11:30 pm. We would get sale's ads and coupons for stores up to a month after the sale ended or the coupon expired. We also used to get other people's mail all the time and I'm sure they would get our mail as well since we would never get our own mail on the days that we got someone else's. My husband even ordered something online before and when we checked the tracking info it showed that it had already been delivered. We noticed that there was a large box sitting at our neighbor's front door for a couple days (they were out of town) so my husband went over to check it out and it was his package. It could have been stollen sitting on their porch for that amount of time. Our mail delivery is much better now but there are still days when we don't get any mail at all and it makes me a little suspicious that either our delivery person just didn't deliver mail that day or someone else got our mail. I've complained about all of this before and it didn't really do any good.

Maybe you could see about getting a P.O. Box to have your mail delivered to? You might not have much luck doing that either though if they are as incompetent as your delivery person. Good luck.

1 mom found this helpful
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C.B.

answers from Detroit on

The only issue I have with mail delivery is my dog. She just cannot go without barking at anyone coming to my door. You'd think after some time she'd be used to it.
If I were you I would write to the postmaster general about the matter. And then consider getting a post office box.
Before I moved to my present location, we would on occassion get mail for my neighbors. And vice versa, but just because our house numbers were very close. E.g., mine was "ABCC" and their's was "ABBC". Just a number's difference. But it wasn't a huge deal.

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E.M.

answers from Honolulu on

Get a PO box. I had this issue at one of the places I lived and getting a PO box fixed it.

Also, your mail lady should notice that the mail has a been mixed up and should be fixing it on her own.

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