Biggest bunch of bs I ever did hear

[HotelMinion]

Well, finally, after months and months of trying to get my answer on why I did not get any mail deliver they gave me it....
And it's the biggest bunch of hog wash I ever did hear...
Get this: the mailman said that he peeked in my windows and decided my house was vacant! And therefore that's why, for months, he didn't deliver my mail!
W.
T.
F.
After arguing with the woman in the post office that I was living in my house, in fact, that I was calling from there right now, she was very skeptical. But agreed to tell the mailman to deliver my mail. Fuck you, mailman. Probably too lazy. I was so aghast that I forgot to mention to her that none of my neighbors had received their mail either, so probably he been skipping the whole block and dumping our letter in the trash. Lazy sob!

[EvilEmpryss]

MONTHS?!?!

Isn't there a government oversight agency you could contact? Or the media, at least. Interception of mail is a federal crime, and I would hope that includes when a postman does it on a mass scale.

[Sapphire Silk]

Contact the Postal Inspector directly. Tell him about the missing mail and the less than stellar reaction from the gal at the post office.

The USPS takes failure to deliver the mail VERY seriously. They'll investigate and if your postman has indeed been diverting mail, a veritable shit storm will ensure. It's a federal crime.

[Lovecats]

When we lived up in Illinois we had a mailman that got busted. Seems he was just dumping the mail in a ditch.

[HotelMinion]

I'm so furious I'm thinking about going to the media, actually. Problem is....I don't know exactly how to go about it. Do I just phone up my newspaper and tell them I got a story? Call my radio station? Or the TV station? I have no idea.
I will wait and see if the stupid mailman starts delivery again. If not, I just might do it...!

[EvilEmpryss]

Look at your local TV station's website: there is usually a link for submitting stories, or local interest reporters who do stuff like "grandma gets ripped off at auto shop" kinds of stories. Don't be afraid to contact a reporter directly via email. They will love to grab a story like this!

You could do this for TV or newspaper, though I'd go with TV. Radio is iffy.

[Barracuda]

Call the US Postal Inspectors Service. Like others have said, screwing around with the mail is a federal crime.

[wolfie]

Call the US Postal Inspectors Service. Like others have said, screwing around with the mail is a federal crime.

Don't know if it's still the case, but the postal inspectors used to have a reputation that scared criminals. I remember (years ago) reading about an old (IIRC, '20s or '30s) break-in at a store that contained a post office. When the employees arrived in the morning and saw the results, there was a line drawn on the floor marking where the main part of the store ended and the post office began, and a note "we didn't cross the line". Anything portable and valuable in the main part of the store was gone, but the post office was untouched.

[Captain Trips]

Actually, they do come down hard on internal issues like this. So I add my vote: contact the postal inspector. And get your neighbors to do so, too.

[gremcint]

So I'm a little curious about the logistics of this, assuming he wasn't keeping the mail or disposing of it I would assume he would turn it back in, isn't there a procedure to check on this, like you have to fill out a form when you bring mail back?

[Ironclad Alibi]

There have been problems like this in the DC area before. In one case several years ago one carrier was found to have stashed a lot of undelivered mail in his garage.

[PuckLizardRN]

I would go to TV stations as well. They just did this in the Pittsburgh area. Not near me, but someone caught the postal worker throwing mail in a garbage can.

[EricKei]

gremcint -- Depends on how lazy the carrier is. Chances are that he was trashing them -- after all, that gets his route "done faster" and makes him look good. He could have sent them to the Dead Letter Office in Atlanta, but I would think that the people working there would get suspicious if they received a whole lot of stuff from a single area (especially if he was too lazy to stamp them as Undeliverable/bad address, which SHOULD get him noticed in his home office)

One more vote for contacting the regional/local Postmaster about this -- ask the others in the area who've had the same issue. The more people talk to them about it, the more important it should be to the USPS brass. IIRC, if he really has been trashing your mail, that is indeed a federal crime.

[ADeMartino]

I'm so furious I'm thinking about going to the media, actually. Problem is....I don't know exactly how to go about it. Do I just phone up my newspaper and tell them I got a story? Call my radio station? Or the TV station? I have no idea.
I will wait and see if the stupid mailman starts delivery again. If not, I just might do it...!

Your best, most effective course of action would be to file a complaint to the postal inspector - do not pass go, do not collect $200 - and get your neighbors to do likewise. I would NOT notify your local branch you're doing so.

Several complaints of non-delivery will put that branch under a FEDERAL microscope, and if there's ANY impropriety with mail delivery, I promise heads will roll. Uncle Sam does not screw around with this shit.

Take it to the media if you don't get satisfaction from the postal inspector.

[Gilhelmi]

I always say that the media is the 'Nuclear Option'. It is a powerful weapon, to be sure, but one that sometimes can lead to much collateral damage (innocent workers being accused; supervisors, who could not have stopped it, being asked to resign. I seen alot of this in the Army). Though it is useful, please use only as a last resort.

Like others have said, Postal Inspector first, specifically ask if your mail was sent to the dead letter office (DLO) and have them check. Government keeps records of everything, if they were never received at DLO then the PIs will get more suspicious as well. Have your neighbors file complaints as well. One person might be an anomaly, two or more becomes a pattern.

Lastly, minimize your contact with the local post-office/letter carrier. Only talk to them in normal business, try not to spook them about the PIs if they open an investigation (I think routine checks are done, so that is what their investigation will look like initially).