Postal INCOMPETENCE (Rant)

[OD]

We get our mail at the Post Office because vandalism is so bad on rural mailboxes. This morning, when I got the mail out of my box, there was a letter from the Justice of the Peace to someone else. There was nothing about the name or address that was anything close to mine. Tuesday, it was somebody else’s bank statement in my box. Last week, my Backwoods Home magazine had been read before I got it. My son gets his mail in my box, & he has a check missing that was supposed to be here last week.
What really ticks me off, though, is that DS was arrested last week on a warrant for Failure to Appear. He was fighting a traffic ticket, but never got the notice telling him when to appear for the hearing. Turns out it was supposed to have been Dec.13. The fine will be $250. I know he didn’t get the notice, because I’m the only one that picks up the mail. There’s nothing he can do except pay the fine.
This happens at least once a week & I’ve said something about it to the Postmaster twice, but he just mumbles that he’s sorry & nothing changes. I don’t know what else to do about it.
Any suggestions?

[james dilley]

Write your post master general a letter and complain to the postmasters district manager, and you might want to check with your letter carrier as misboxed mail is the carrier not paying attention when they sort it in the morning to be delivered,its the carrier responibility more than the postmaster let him know in writing as well as a letter to your local carrier.Theese things affect everybody,complain to his union if he's a postal employee. If not he might not keep his H C R to deliver mail.

[Ravenlost]

The mail carrier has nothing to do with mail in the P.O. boxes at the post office. The clerks sort and distribute that mail.

According to the USPS website this is what you should do:

If expected mail has not arrived after sufficient time has elapsed (we suggest you wait 14 days from its date of mailing), please fill out PS Form 1510, Mail Loss/Rifling Report. This form is available at your local post office. Another option you have is to contact your local Consumer Affairs Claims and Inquiry office.

You can also call this number when you have service issues: 1-800-275-8777. I have done this before and the problem was taken care of promptly.

[blufford]

Our Post Office stinks too.They have rude clerks and are very busy. I solved my problem by getting a post office box in an adjoining town's Post Office. This post office has nicer people and I don't have to stand in line most days. I only pick mail up several days a week to save on gas. Works great!

[kppop]

What sucks at my PO is that the clerk and postmistress and the village mayor are all the same person! lol

Knock on wood we've only had a few problems with misdelivered mail..though for the life of me can't figure out why..I mean it's not that difficult to match the po # on the letter with the po # on the box. But then again..I'm not a gov't employee and just might not be privy to such information

I can't stand when I finally get my magazine and it's already been read!! Ask me if you can read it and I will gladly share when I am done..geez. My sil is carrier here in Mi and boy the stories she tells....makes me thankful I even get my mail!


kppop

[Ravenlost]

I was a mail carrier for four and a half years. Know why I quit? I was trying to transfer from VA to AL...and the post office lost my transfer papers in the mail.

[kppop]

Originally Posted by Ravenlost

I was a mail carrier for four and a half years. Know why I quit? I was trying to transfer from VA to AL...and the post office lost my transfer papers in the mail.

********

lol imagine that! I'm still waiting for Christmas presents from 2003 that were mailed from Fl to Mi. We do know they did reach Detroit....now if they only could make it a few hours west. lol

[Momo]

You are not alone. I get misdelivered mail on a weekly basis. Also very old sale advertisements. Even a magazine offer last week that expired in January. It came complete with wet stains and mildew. I have found that complaining in person is useless. (I have found other creative ways to draw peoples attention to this problem.)

Once I even received a drivers license for someone else in the mail. The addy had no similarity to mine. It is fortunate for that gentleman that I am honest. With all the identity fraud around today that poor man could have had a bad problem.

[james dilley]

At least there not as bad as U P S the lost a package 7 yrs ago and never found it. the P O here is pretty good.

[stonefly71]

I had returned a fly rod to be repaired one time. The company told me it would take about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. I waited about a month and called them they told me it was sent out about a week after they got it. They checked the tracking number and it showed it made it to my post office. I went to the post office to check with them and they said it wasn't ther and it had been delivered to my house. I went home and checked and also asked my delivery driver and he said he doesn't remember dropping it off as he knocks on the door and if you don't answer he puts it between the doors. I'm disabled and have been in my hause for almost 3 1/2 solid. I called the company back and they sent me a paper to fill out and within 1 week I had a new fly rod in my hands. I've lost fly tying material they same way. As I ordered a full skin one time and waited 3 weeks and e-mail the guy who I bought it from he told me he had sent it out and went back in forth as he thought I was trying to rip him off but told him there was no way. He sent me a new skin and then he told me he has had stuff stolen from his post office as some fokes know he deals in tying skins and such so now he makes all have a tracking number and hispostage has gone up on product. Postal employees think they can just due as they please. I've had many magazines come up missing or get them a month late if at all. Along with getting other peoples mail also. sorry about the Rant maybe someone should go postal on them LOL Matt

[Ken Scharabok]

Wow, do I have a good local Post Office. Example: Last week I put a priority mail flat rate envelope package in the SEND box, rather than the hold pile. Clerk called three times (left messages) to just call her and she would put on the $3.85 for me and I could pay her back next time I'm in town.

Bear in mind the P.O. handles mail in the volume of billions of pieces. Even if they were 99.999999999999999999999999% perfect that still leave a lot of crack room.

There are aspects of the U.S. Postal Service which I'm not completely happy with, but I would say I am well satisfied with the local service.

Ken Scharabok

[Meg Z]

I thought that the notices to appear in court, and such, had to be sent out registered mail...and be signed for, so they can prove you got the notice. You may want to check on that for your area.

Meg

[DrippingSprings]

Yeah around here they send the notices out via just plain old mail. No registered etc. The court says it is your resposibility to find out your court dates etc.

Mt postal nightmares are as follows. I recently called the post office and arrainged for shipping 27 stags to the Phillipine Islands. I was told that it would be no problem and as I have dones this dozens of times I beleived them. I went down and dropped right at 1000 dollars for shipping. The roosters left and FIVE days later I got a call to come get them. Thats five days in a box with no food or water. Nine of them were so weak I put them down. So now I have to send a man that is expecting shipment as usualy a hair over 4000 dollars and I am out 1000 on shipping. Not counting this has left my customer in a bind and this isnt good for business at all.

Back in 99 I sent a trio of fowl to a guy in Portland Oregon. The mail lost them completely. Noone knew where they went or what happened to them. So I had to refund the 1000 dollars for the pure blood trio.

Seven months ago I called the medical supply company and ordered my sons medicines and his insulin pump supplies. They mailed them but the usps left them in someone elses box. Since he signed for them but never returned them I had to pay cash for the same to the tune of 987 dollars. The insurance will only pay for the same prescriptions after thirty days. The usps would not give me the name of the guy who signed for the package or where he lived so I could get my supplies back. These are controlled substances and they didnt do a thing about it.

My mother lived on a dead end road. The mail lady always used mothers driveway to turn around in. She whipped in one day and rear ended my moms van. We saw it from the porch. We jumped through all the hoops etc. required my usps. It did close to 900 dollars damage. Two YEARS later we received a letter stating that since we couldnt prove the damage wasnt there before she hit the van they would not pay anything. So we put an end to her turning around in mothers driveway. She now turns around at the next door neighbors and will not bring mail to my mothers box and she drives down to the postoffice eleven miles away every few days to get her mail.

[OD]

Originally Posted by Meg Z

I thought that the notices to appear in court, and such, had to be sent out registered mail...and be signed for, so they can prove you got the notice. You may want to check on that for your area.Meg

I don't think they do for traffic court. For District Court, they have someone that goes out & serves the papers. I may check on it. For $250, it's worth asking about.

[Ana Bluebird]

Wow, what horror stories, and I thought our postal carrier was bad! She just gets the mail mixed up about once a week, won't deliver packages at all, insists on our box being at our neighbor's house, and lies when asked about anything concerning the mail. I won't complain because we get our pay-checks by mail and I know she's capable of carrying a grudge because she's done it to others before. I'd say it's time to privitize but look what happened when they got rid of "Ma Bell"!

[Momo]

I have also had problems with Fedex twice. However they were very good about apologizing and making things as right as they could. One problem was funny. A few years back for my birthday my DH ordered live lobsters. Since he wanted it to be a surprise he had them delivered at my sons house. DIL was ready and waiting for the delivery. When the truck came it went right past their house and down the street about 6 houses. It never came back. She called DS at work and told him. DS called Fedex. They had delivered the lobsters down the street. So Fedex sent a guy to that addy to pick up the lobsters. The man said he didn't have any lobsters. They then sent a Fedex manager with the copy of the signed receipt. He then said that it was too bad cuz they were his lobsters now. They had to threaten calling the police before he finally returned the "hot" lobsters. It really was funny after we got it straightened out. They apologized. Fedex had made a mistake because the address was correct on the label. The driver just goofed up.

Our USPS carrier just dumps your packages on the road in front of your mailbox. (If they are small enough she will put them inside the box.) She never attempts delivery to your door. She does this all through her route. I guess one could pick up alot of goodies by just following her.

[SilverVista]

Here's one for you!

About 4 years ago we found a home-made pipe bomb in our mailbox on Monday morning, after being away over the weekend. The fuse had been lit, but went out before burning all the way. Called the sheriff, and the bomb squad came out and detonated it. 3 M-80's in a pipe with broken glass. BIG BOOM! There was mail in the box too, but we just assumed the bomb was placed after the mail.

About a month later, all the neighbor's mail was in our box, and all of the next neighbor's mail was in their box, etc. I called the post office when the carrier returned at the end of the day because we're on a corner, and I don't know where she delivers just before us. While she was telling me how the mis-delivered mail was "no big deal", she said she had been meaning to mention how funny the "fake bomb" was, and that we didn't scare her. I said, "you mean you PUT THE MAIL IN THE BOX AND THE BOMB WAS ALREADY THERE???" She just laughed. I said she could have had her face or her hand blown off, and she just kept chuckling like I was leading her on. That was the day I went and got a P.O. box in the next town further up the road. The extra 5 miles is more than worth it!