Make them deliver to the PO Box.

[Cia]

So she places an order with a company that uses UPS (she orders from their quite often) to be delivered to the house.....so what does UPS do....they ship it to the nearest center to our city, and then hand it off to the post office to deliver it........

The last time I ordered checks for work I marked the box for UPS delivery and instead the company used that same service - UPS picks up the box, delivers it to the nearest USPS who then deliver it to me. I sent the check people a very unhappy e-mail because it took three more days for the package to reach me than it would've if UPS had kept the package and delivered it themselves. I paid for UPS delivery and I expect UPS to deliver my package.

[Mr Hero]

When the woman found out you wouldn't deliver to her PO, I bet she was PO'ed.

[BookstoreEscapee]

When the woman found out you wouldn't deliver to her PO, I bet she was PO'ed.

Ha. ha.


I usually have packages shipped to my parents' house because I'm not home during the day, but when I did have a package sent to me here they left it at my door. I was actually home but they either didn't ring the bell or I was in the shower when they delivered it. One of my neighbors rang my bell later on so I would look out and see it. (There is a block of mailboxes for each building but they're not very big.) In my old apartment the mailboxes were on the wall next to the door but my building faced a highway so I didn't want packages sitting on the porch all day. My downstairs neighbors would bring them in and leave them in the stairwell if they were home, but I didn't want to count on that.

[Shalom]

We do place notices in the box for anything too large for it. Like last week when someone got four HUGE rolls of bubble wrap.

I've always wondered about this.

Every post office I've seen has several different sized boxes, with prices varying by size.

If you all that happens when your box overflows is that you get a yellow notice, why on earth would anyone pay extra for a larger box? Just to save the couple minutes waiting on line to pick your stuff up at the window?

Or is it that they only do this if it's a single item that overflows the box, but if it's multiple pieces that take up room in the aggregate they don't?

[Jetfire]

If you're regularly getting enough mail to overflow the basic box, then renting the larger one would probably make sense, just to save the line wait every day, or every time you pick up your mail.

[Aethian]

Or is it that they only do this if it's a single item that overflows the box, but if it's multiple pieces that take up room in the aggregate they don't?

Usually if it's a single piece or a couple of packages. If the box is routinely getting packed past capacity the renter can be forced to getting a larger box if one is available.

[protege]

Of course I've never had to use those services; when I get something shipped to me, I have it sent to work so I can get it easier.

I'd never get things shipped to my office. I don't need my coworkers knowing my business. Nor do I want the neighborhood crackheads stealing the package should it arrive on a Saturday...and the door is locked.

[Jetfire]

I'd never get things shipped to my office. I don't need my coworkers knowing my business. Nor do I want the neighborhood crackheads stealing the package should it arrive on a Saturday...and the door is locked.

No Saturday post here, so that's not a concern, I only work M-F, and the office is only open then, so no concern there either. And the secretary just sends me an email when the package arrives so no one else sees. 90% of the time it's just Magic cards I've ordered, and rarely other times it's a cable or two that I've ordered.

Oh and once I had my new desktop computer delivered to the office, so it would save having to get down before ICS closed or taking a day off or something like that.

[KatherineB]

My work has just announced that all mail will be opened and anything personal will immediately be returned to sender. While this may sound harsh, they have 2000+ employees and a LOT of people were abusing the system, getting big, heavy parcels delivered every day, which Corp Info then had to lug around to individual desks, as well as taking up a lot of time that should have been used for corporate mail.

[wolfie]

My work has just announced that all mail will be opened and anything personal will immediately be returned to sender.

It's my recollection that opening first-class mail addressed to someone else is a federal offense. Does the fact that it's addressed to "Person1 at company", and is opened by person2 at company whose job is handling mail addressed to company alter this? Also, this is going to cost them a lot in postage, because once the seal is broken, the post office no longer accepts "return to sender - refused by addressee".

[sms001]

just to save the line wait every day, or every time you pick up your mail.

And I know the lobby (and hence access to the PO Boxes) at my old post office was open 24/7, so if you got oversized/too much and regularly picked up after hours you'd definitely want the bigger box.

[Aethian]

It's my recollection that opening first-class mail addressed to someone else is a federal offense. Does the fact that it's addressed to "Person1 at company", and is opened by person2 at company whose job is handling mail addressed to company alter this? Also, this is going to cost them a lot in postage, because once the seal is broken, the post office no longer accepts "return to sender - refused by addressee".

It is a federal offense and is subject to 5k and/or 2 years in prison for every piece compromised. Specially if there is no reason for person 2 to open person 1's mail. The only way to get around that is if one was a personal secretary and handled all of their bosses mail. But just a general mail office person would get a supreme slap down especially if they can't prove there would be no theft of items.

[bunrotha]

It is a federal offense and is subject to 5k and/or 2 years in prison for every piece compromised. Specially if there is no reason for person 2 to open person 1's mail. The only way to get around that is if one was a personal secretary and handled all of their bosses mail. But just a general mail office person would get a supreme slap down especially if they can't prove there would be no theft of items.

The other side of this was at my last job. We specifically had the postroom ladies open *everything* because they had the post-opening desk with video camera (aka the CleavageCam until we tipped them off), expressly to prove that nothing had been stolen/removed/added to packages. Given the nature of our work in anti-fraud, "I sent it, your postroom must have lost it" was a daily occurrence.

In respect of the original post, we had a PO Box set up to prevent personal deliveries in the form of an angry claimant turning up on our doorstep. Our street address was never given out to policyholders. The national courier networks' local depots all knew who we were though, so most stuff got through.

[KatherineB]

It's my recollection that opening first-class mail addressed to someone else is a federal offense. Does the fact that it's addressed to "Person1 at company", and is opened by person2 at company whose job is handling mail addressed to company alter this? Also, this is going to cost them a lot in postage, because once the seal is broken, the post office no longer accepts "return to sender - refused by addressee".

I think that's been their other problem - that they have to open all mail addressed to peopl at Company because it might be work-related mail and the role of Corp Information is to scan and register all work-related mail before sending it on to the recipient electrontically. Clearly they won't do this for personal mail, but they won't know what is personal mail until it's open, and then they run the risk of falling foul of similar laws here in Australia. The solution is to return all mail that doesn't look like it would be for the business (e.g. from Amazon, bearing eBay labels, etc).

[Aethian]

The problem is that would be intercepting first class mail that could still get the company in trouble. But then this is also falling under the rule of "one bad apple spoils the bunch". I think if it was a now and then thing it wouldn't be such a problem but do many people now are doing this to hide shopping addictions it's unbelievable.

I have one lady on my route who has a internet shopping addiction. Even though between her and her husband they bring in over 6k a year they can barely afford their mortgage and car payments. If a package gets directed to the house and he sees it, it goes back sight unseen. So she sends it to her work instead...which I deliver on another route. And although he asks if I have delivered anything for her I can't tell him because of confidentiality rules I have to follow.