Yes...yes they did.

[Aethian]

And Aethian, I recommend that you read Going Postal by Terry Pratchett. It's a fantasy novel, about a post office.

It is good as well as Angry White Mailman by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

[Emrld]

additional note about my delivery person . . .
About two weeks ago a neighbor was doing construction work on their house. So they had placed the old wood/ waste out at the front curb for the next days bulky pick up by sanitation.
About an hour after my mail was delivered . . .he was back. Still in uniform, with his personal vehicle, going through the waste pile and taking some of what was out.
True trash put outside can be gone through and taken.
Something just seemed to be not right in my mind with it.

[Aethian]

O.o

I don't know what to tell you Emrld. Some people are just weird that way... I know one who, if it's garage sale time, will rush through her route as fast as she can, put in for the rest of her shift, and then go back out and shop in uniform.

Of course I still remember how one guy got fired for drinking his lunch in uniform. Thats a big no-no.

[Gurndigarn]

bout an hour after my mail was delivered . . .he was back. Still in uniform, with his personal vehicle, going through the waste pile and taking some of what was out.

I had a series of things breaking around my house. So I called my trash people on monday, and told them I would have some extra things out, can you send around the appliance/large items truck this week? we had a hot water heater, a dishwasher, a sink, and a water softener. They missed... unless it was a truck that showed up some time between 10PM and 10:30PM when I was out on a walk, and took everything except the water softener.

That was claimed by one of the workers today who's doing an electrical upgrade. No idea why he wants a resin tank, but if it gets rid of it, I don't care, either.

As far as mail goes, I've owned this house for eight years now. Some guy ran a trucking company here at least ten years ago. We've been getting junk mail for him for a long time now... and someone just started selling the mialing list with his name on it, because we just started getting a LOT of it again. Like one or two mailings per week.

[Aethian]

For getting the unwanted mail bit, if it's first class put a sticky or not saying that they aren't as this address and request the carrier to turn in a MLNA (Moved Left No Address) card. That will stop some of it. BUT if it's std (standard) mail all we can do is put it into a UBBM (Un-deliverable Business Bulk Mail) tub to be recycled and not sent back. My suggestion then is to call a few of the companies and have them update their mailing list so that when they sell it your address wont be on it.

And as a personal pet peeve I hate when something sticks or get delivered to the wrong house and people write all over the letter. When all it needs it a sticky or even just the flag raised on the box with no writing left on the mail piece. That usually means we look at it when we get it and face palm cause of the stupid mistake.

[SuperB]

Um, actually, no they don't. Some people still have to buy PO Boxes to get mail, but that is very few and far between any longer.

I've actually read tales of one eBay buyer who had to have packages sent UPS because USPS wouldn't deliver but UPS would. Talk about strange.

^-.-^

You don't have to pay for a PO Box to get your mail in any area where there is no house to house delivery, the box is free. I'm in a remote area and the only option is the Post Office boxes. And the only time I've ever seen restrictions on delivery is from companies who won't ship to PO Boxes or contents that the USPS isn't equipped to handle (think caustics, etc).

I've never been a carrier, only PMR and OIC but I do know the carriers are screwed through the mail count. When you know trucks are being held back just to save money on your pay it doesn't make it very easy to do your job. There are other things the Post Office does that makes it difficult on it's employees. I wish I could give some personal details but let's just leave it at this: if you want the ultimate sucky boss who is suspicious of it's employees, spies on them, steals from their pay and creates extra work that is completely unnecessary while refusing to listen to common sense just look at the USPS.

[Aethian]

I wish I could give some personal details but let's just leave it at this: if you want the ultimate sucky boss who is suspicious of it's employees, spies on them, steals from their pay and creates extra work that is completely unnecessary while refusing to listen to common sense just look at the USPS.

AMEN to that.

[draftermatt]

I have no idea when the mail comes at my new house. It's there when I get home and that's good enough for me. Some people have too much time on their hands.

That said, the only problem I've had is since we moved. I got a bank statement to a person who doesn't live in my home (and from talking to the former owner, never did). I put into outgoing mail, and the next day there it is again and the driver wrote "TRY?" on the envelope...

So I called the bank and they asked me to shred it.

But what does "try" mean?

[Aethian]

But what does "try" mean?

Carrier was asking for a yes or no to be written on the letter. Basically so if someone askes why they didn't get it we can honestly say we attempted to deliver the letter to the address on the letter. Why they just didn't take it and send it through the forwarding system I don't know.

When someone moves in I always ask them about forwarding orders. When someone moves I always remind about forwarding orders. Basically if your married and have kids with a different last name living with you a forward order has to be also filled out for their last name, never know who will want to send them something personally. Also the lady of the house should fill out a forwarding order for her maiden name. And if all possible, fill out the cards and give them to your carrier, that way they KNOW your leaving and can hopefully write up a note for who ever else might run their route.

[Andara Bledin]

Oh, I know all about how sucky working for the USPS can be. My aunt just retired last year. She didn't really want to, but since they kept passing her up for postmaster (and promoting people they then had to demote again), she decided she'd had enough and took her pension and bailed.

Plus, a coworker's father actually had to go through his union to sue the PO he worked for for discrimination. He won, of course, since it was pretty blatant, but still.

But then, the last place I lived had a carrier who wouldn't carry packages to houses. It was a particular temp. Any time she was on, all packages requiring a signature were left on the truck and she just put up those notes on doors, even when the door was open. Then again, both the local UPS and the local FedEx drivers had done the same exact thing to us, too.

Then there's the PO that services my company. They suck. Anyone who has a PO box will sometimes not get their mail at all or get someone else's mail because whoever was sorting just seems to throw it at the box in question and doesn't worry when it doesn't actually go into the right one. We know all the people who have nearby boxes by now.

Then there's the fact that they will sometimes just hold large packages and not acknowledge their existance. They did this last month with a package that had tracking. After they'd had it two days, I had our shipping guy start asking them about it. They told him 3 days running that they had no record of it. On the 4th day, they actually handed it over. Then there's the package from Canada that got to them, got routed to the PO Box correctly, then was delivered to someone in another zip code entirely. Two weeks later, it finally gets to us.

Since it would take usually 2-4 weeks for actual letters to reach people when sent through that PO, we drop off important outgoing mail to another PO entirely. That PO is actually closer and doesn't seem to suck.

Basically if your married and have kids with a different last name living with you a forward order has to be also filled out for their last name, never know who will want to send them something personally. Also the lady of the house should fill out a forwarding order for her maiden name. And if all possible, fill out the cards and give them to your carrier, that way they KNOW your leaving and can hopefully write up a note for who ever else might run their route.

Best thing to do is to have a mail forward for everyone in the building, just to ensure that the mail gets forwarded to the right place no matter who it's addressed to. Also, it can be advantageous to fill out changes of address online. I got a $50 gift card when I did that, and the boyfriend got a $75 incentive to open a bank account with a specific bank.

And Aethian, I recommend that you read Going Postal by Terry Pratchett. It's a fantasy novel, about a post office.

It's an incredibly witty and funny take on the whole post office experience as only Pratchett can do.

^-.-^

[Pagan]

At least 3 times a month I get mail for another house with a different name on a different street with the same house number.

That happens at my parents occasionally. Their address is 1910 Hixon, but every know and then, they get the mail for 1910 Turrentine. But, since we've been in the house since 1971 and the other people lived there when we moved in....eh, not much of a problem.

And for all the great USPS workers that are out there busting their asses to do a great job, we get one of these every now and again: http://www.abqjournal.com/news/metro...ro11-20-07.htm

[Aethian]

And for all the great USPS workers that are out there busting their asses to do a great job, we get one of these every now and again: http://www.abqjournal.com/news/metro...ro11-20-07.htm

Lets see....5K and 5 years for every piece of mail...yea not so smart to give up a 41K salary job over 5 dollars.

[Andara Bledin]

And for all the great USPS workers that are out there busting their asses to do a great job, we get one of these every now and again: http://www.abqjournal.com/news/metro...ro11-20-07.htm

I'm not waiting through the ad or subscribing, so I don't know that story.

I do know that a postmaster in Anaheim was once caught with over 1000 pieces of personal mail, including people's morgage and bank statements, in his office, car, and house way back in the 80's, I think it was.

Yeah, he went to prison.

At the time, I had a magazine subscription that was delivered to that address, and it would always arrive pre-read.

^-.-^

[SuperB]

Here's a "feel good" Post Office story that a friend emailed me:

This is one of the kindest things I've ever experienced. I have no way to know who sent it, but there is a beautiful soul working in the dead letter office of the US Postal Service.

Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month.The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could so she dictated these words:

Dear God,

Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick.

I hope you will play with her. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her, You will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.

Love, Meredith.

We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.

Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, 'To Meredith,' in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, 'When a Pet Dies.' Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith and this note:

Dear Meredith,

Abbey arrived safely in heaven.

Having the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away.

Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture in, so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by.

Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you.

I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much.

By the way, I'm easy to find, I am wherever there is love.

Love,
God

[Aethian]

Oh wow...that made me teary. Yea some of those dead letter clerks are completely awesome.