PO Box vs Street address--Rant

[herfrds]

Have a similar problem.
County set up a 911 system, which has caused problems. Fire trucks and ambulances getting lost.

Had an item I bought on E-Bay cancelled because we have a PO Box, but we had the physical address also listed. Go figure.

Had one carrier that would leave our neighbors mail in our box. That neighbor lives 6 miles away.

i know it drives you crazy.

 

[HLAC]

I'm in the 'we don't get mail delivery to the house' camp. Not in this little town. It's a PO Box or no mail.

When I moved here I had a heck of a time with some of the address changes. One credit card company didn't want to use the PO Box at all... they only wanted to have a street address. Explaining that there was no home mail delivery here went over like I was trying to convice them that I had green aliens locked up in my basement.

To add to the annoyance, for awhile, the guy at the post office would return mail that had our street addy on it but no PO Box. Like my vehicle registration.

Happily they got rid of that guy.

A friend of mine paid extra money to have an item sent to me via USPS express mail and excitedly called me and asked if I got it. I said "No, I don't go to the PO every day". He said that it should have been delivered to my door. I explained the no-home-delivery thing but he said "But I paid extra for the special delivery!" He did too... but alas, it still sat at the post office, waiting for me to pick it up. It was a carved rock, so he paid a LOT to have it get sent to the box like everything else.

 

[Nana2KJS]

Quote:
According to the DMM (domestic mail manual) the "correct" delivery is to the one right above the city, state, zip. That's because the machines read it that way. They don't look at names at all.

We were actually more efficient when we sorted everything by hand.

 

[33yardbirds]

Our's is a little different. We had no rural delivery so our post office box was free. Now we have home delivery and the PO charges for the PO Box. So we went home delivery. We give the Mail Girl a nice CHRISTMAS card and she takes better care of us than the PO did.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
According to the DMM (domestic mail manual) the "correct" delivery is to the one right above the city, state, zip. That's because the machines read it that way. They don't look at names at all.

We were actually more efficient when we sorted everything by hand.

I might possibly disremember what she told me about the location they were supposed to deliver to--at the time whichever it was it meant the package was supposed to go to our PO box but we got an "unable to deliver" notice in our rural box. The reason this is a problem for us is because I go to the PO in the morning but the rural delivery isn't until around 1 pm so if he leaves a notice to us it means a separate trip into town and, hopefully, getting there late enough that he's back from his route.

As far as hand sorting--25 years ago I was involved with an international tropical fish club as head of membership. This meant any of our publications that arrived at an address where the recipient was unknown or had moved came back to me. At one point I got a copy of our journal returned from Bogotá Columbia--it had been mailed to a member in Columbia MD.

That was just one of a whole host of stuff that either was missent or arrived and was never delivered. Present company excepted, I haven't had a lot of trust of USPS employees since. (Don't get me going on all the Netflix DVD's that were stolen in the Philadelphia PO.)

 

[Tala]

Heh. I live on a city block, and nobody can find my house! It's a MIRACLE if either FedEx or UPS can find it. Usually the USPS does though, so I have more faith in them than any other carrier.
Though....yesterday the only mail I got was for our next door neighbor. I wonder who got my mail, if I got any at all?

Tell 'em to make sure the bills aren't late! *sigh*

You would THINK with all of the technology in the world, they could get a package from point A to point B. Meh.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I have a mailbox but wanted to share my story. I bought my place a few years ago in the middle of winter. My dad's retired and has a thing for sending absurd mail (covered in stickers, hard to open, etc) but he loves it and takes pride in it. He mailed me something to arrive the day I closed on the house. But I got no mail. Figured it was due to the ice storm. The next day, again, no mail. My husband (at the time) said maybe the last storm had too much snow and they couldn't deliver to the mailbox because it was blocked. So I spent 2 hours out there hacking ice and snow so the mailbox was easily reachable. No mail. I spent a few hours the next day expanding the area so one could drive up and away from the mailbox with ease. Yup, no mail.

I finally called the post office.

"Oh, we knew you just moved in but we were waiting for you to come in to the Post Office, introduce yourself and let us know you're ready to get mail."

 

[annie3001]

Quote:
Annie - this kind of delivery is unacceptable. Are you on a rural route? We have a carrier here now that we are disciplining for this kind of thing. Everyone is in such a hurry anymore. I would like to suggest that you call 1-800-ASK-USPS. It is our national comsumer affairs line and every office is required to respond within 3 days. Not sure you'll get much response, but if you don't hear back from the postmaster or supervisor, you can also request that your issue be bumped up to the next level authority.

I'm sorry you have had such poor experience with our service. Most of us take great pride in doing the very best job we can for all our customers. I carried mail for 15 years, 11 on the same route, and it appalls me that anyone would be that careless.

Don't give up on all of us!

thank you. i might call.

 

[abercrombie575]

Quote:
I have been a rural carrier for 12 years. I am one of the ones that take pride in my work. I always go the extra mile for every customer. But, just so you know that we are all human... I remember EXACTLY who left christmas gifts and who did not!

 

[ibpboo]

I live where the mailboxes frequently get beat with bats. Rocks thrown at them, mail stolen out of them, cars running over them. One house down the road decided to cement his mailbox in, it was blown up. So, the last time my mailbox got ran over, it was flat in the road and I was going to have to buy a new one. I have had a PO Box for years, so I never replaced my mail box.