Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Problems with Mail Carriers?

This is an email from a neighbor

Has anyone else had trouble with the mail carrier who covers Quincy Place (and, I assume, nearby streets)? This is a youngish woman who is always making personal phone calls as she delivers the mail. She refuses to deliver to my downstairs neighbor (instead putting her mail in the upstairs box), often won't take my outgoing mail (sometimes dumping it on the ground), and has recently lost two of my packages (one of which had vermicomposting worms in it, which are now almost certainly dead -- the P.O. can't find them at all now). Oh, and those packages? She never left me delivery notices for them. I only know they should have arrived because I had tracking numbers for them.

Both my roommate and I have called to complain several times about our mail carrier, but her behavior has never improved, and no one from USPS has ever gotten back to us. I just wrote a letter to the Inspector General, but I'd love to know if ours is the only household with these difficulties. I'm also happy to keep the blog updated (if anyone is interested) with the progress of my Inspector General complaint.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bloomingdale has had problems with mail theft before - there's even a picture of a thief in action in this blog somewhere. Is the thief back in action? It seemed like we had a lull there.

sarah said...

This is not a thief; this is my postal carrier. Yesterday I picked up the packages from the P.O. They had just "misplaced" them for a week. And she threw my outgoing Netflix on the ground in the rain instead of taking it yesterday, too.

Anonymous said...

I doubt it's the same carrier, but I had the same exact problem with a mail carrier at a previous residence in NE- especially the refusal to deliver mail to the proper box despite repeated polite requests... I wrote a letter to the Post Office (it was a few years ago, and I can't remember exactly where I sent it) and I can only assume that they put that mail carrier on a different route, because we got a different one and didn't have the issues anymore. I wish you luck- not sure why nothing is being done after you've complained!

Anonymous said...

This sort of mail carrier behavior is exactly what I was experiencing on R St. The downstairs mail was constantly delivered upstairs and a mysterious disappearance of bits of mail. The was no standard of what sort of mail was missing, sometimes bills, sometimes regular correspondence, it was always items that were of no value, which leads me to believe a explanation of incompetence over theft. I never complained and just considered it the cost of living in the city.

I also doubt that it was one mail carrier, I did see several different carriers on the same route. But the description of the young lady that was always on the phone does hit the mark. That said, I experienced a identical level of incompetence regardless of the carrier.

Anonymous said...

Not that she should have thrown your Netflix on the ground but I think that our mail service is delivery only. You have to take your outgoing mail to one of the blue post bins or the post office.

James Doakes said...

There is an ongoing Deathwatch for the Blockbuster corporation.

Anon 2:48, you're most certainly an 'old timer'. Nothing else could explain your attitude.

http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1085734/000119312510058339/d10k.htm

sarah said...

Wow, there really are some juvenile aholes on this blog. I think I'm gonna stop visiting it. Thanks for the other, non-abusive comments.

Hemm said...

We have constant problems with the mail carriers over here in Ledroit Park. Some of the carriers are fine, but some don't give a fuck.

There is a carriage house in the rear that they sometimes refuse to deliver to because it has our # on it and says rear. (Completely different property, completely different owner.) And it's even clearly marked on our mail slot to not deliver any mail for rear here.

I've had them tell me to give them the mail. No, that's your job. But if you don't want to do your job, I know several people who are looking.

Hemm said...

Sarah, it's no fault of the blog, and it's important that members of the community post.

It's just Internet, you just gotta have a thick skin and disregard the trolls.

Anonymous said...

I had a problem when living in a basement apt before. You need to make sure that the post office has the correct setup, and you may need to fill out a form, if for example they only have one residence listed for your address but there are two apartments. You need to make sure that the mail is getting sorted and prepared correctly at the post office--it's not necessarily the mail carrier's responsibility to fix.

Anonymous said...

Actually, if you can't take the heat, get the fuck outta' our neighborhood and move back to Iowa.

Anonymous said...

take that, whitey.