I know we have some mail carriers out there, so please school me on this.

My mail carrier will deliver the mail even when the city has pushed snow in front of our boxes. She gets out of her vehicle, trudges through the snow bank, and delivers our mail.

A half a mile from me lives a family friends grandmother. Her neighborhood mail carrier will not deliver mail if they cannot get to the mailbox from inside their vehicle.

So the question is: Do we have an overly nice carrier who is going above and beyond or is her mail carrier being lazy? Thanks.

 

Good question. I'm not a mailman but I would think hers is lazy. I thought they were supposed to get the mail there no matter what, right?

 

I would have to say lazy. We have them here as well. I get mail from 3 streets over, correct house number wrong street all the time. I even dont get mail some days. Then there are those times I get sealed magazines which have been opened and thumbbed through by someone probably the damn mail man doing that. Problem is though you can complain and complain but little good does it do but that might just be here on the complaining part.

 

I'm a city letter carrier. I walk most all day but I have a couple of streets where I deliver from the truck. If a very inconsiderate customer has blocked their mail box with a car, trash or what ever, i still get out and deliver the mail. Typically the mail is accompanied by a preprinted USPS note asking you not to block the box.

The carrier that trudges through the snow is a great carrier and deserves a Christmas bonus. The carrier that doesn't bother is lazy. Either way, your mail boxes should be accessible from the mail truck.

That's a serious accusation, it's not funny or appreciated. I would recommend that you speak with your carrier personally. The mistakes could be happening on his/her day off.

Mail that is open and has been caught by the carrier should be taken back tot he station to be fixed. I NEVER deliver an open item if I catch it first. Just looks bad on me.

99% of the letter carriers are professionals who will go out of our way to provide top notch service. It's the 1% that gets the rest of us looked at through a microscope.

I have numerous streets on my route that are numbered alike. I service 800 mailboxes daily which means I have about 2400+ customers. Many homes have numerous last names adding even more fun to the mix.

There have been a couple of times that I've mis-delivered a piece of mail with the same house number but different street.

I broke this by learning my customers names.

 

I was curious about this as well. When I lived in my condo my mail carrier left those notes all the time in my box. I wasn't the one blocking the mail box though, my neighbors' friends kept parking there. She started leaving my mailbox open if a car was parked there and I can't even begin to count how many times I got soaking wet mail, snowed on mail, or mail sitting in a puddle of water in front of my box.

My neighbor and I alternate shoveling in front of our boxes for her. Some days she beats us to the punch, but either way, she gets out for everyone regardless of if they shovel or not.

 

I was a city delivery carrier for over 30 years. A couple of observations: the pathways to mail receptacles should be kept open for the mailman - - shovel the snow and sand the icy areas. Many times I trudged thru snow to deliver the mail, but the next day if it was not cleared out I went right by. I never went up unshoveled or icy steps unless there was a handrail. Usually people who did not get their mail due to their neglect got the message real fast. The USPS puts a high emphasis on safety, and warns us not to go in an unsafe condition. Same thing as delivering in nice weather -- I had a lady who tied her dog to the railing by the mailbox. When the dog was there I didn't deliver. On my day off the sub did, and the dog tore a hole in his leg. Homeowner paid the bill, and the carrier got a few days off compliments of the USPS for going where the dog was tied. Obvious threat.

 

Very good points Buck. I would hope that people would look after their own safety which in turn benefits the carrier.

 

Generally, our rural mail people are top notch, only had on incident that upset me a bit... I had ordered a cylinder head, and it got delivered by leaning against my mailbox, in muddy conditions, on the side of a busy gravel road... To be fair though, I can't outright recall if it was USPS or some other delivery service. It sticks in my mind to be USPS though, but it has been a few years now. The local UPS driver has had the route for 20+ years, and knows us personally, so if conditions are such that they don't feel good coming down my lane (used to get pretty soft, only my 3rd year at this location) they deliver to my parents. The problem with that is that my parents don't always tell me that something was delivered there... My dad barely remembers last week, let alone a package being delivered.. But I do appreciate the driver thinking enough to get it somewhere it won't get damaged. Even though it is a deviation from the mail carrier's route, he typically will drive down my 600 foot lane and plastic wrap packages and either tuck it between the doors, or leave it on the steps for us. I really should at least put a thank you note in the mail box some time...

 

Our mail folks are outstanding. The only times I've ever had problems with opened or damaged mail, they have told me that something happened with the sorter, or something to that effect. No biggie. IIRC most of it was junk mail and possibly a magazine cover or two. No huge loss.

I can't recall for certain, and maybe Tim or Buck can help out, but it seems to me that one of our local carriers told me that the rural route carriers and some of the carriers in certain parts of town were actually contracted by the USPS? They drive their personal vehicles and don't wear uniforms. Anyway, I've never had a problem getting my mail delivered on time. I have gotten mail for a few of my neighbors before. Apparently just a mix-up and I just gave it to the neighbors myself.

My mom lives in a fairly rural area though. State maintenance ends about one mile from her house and even though the remainder of the non-state maintained road is paved, the carrier there told her that she would have to put her mailbox prior to the end of the state maintained portion of the road to receive her mail. It's either that or drive into town every day to pick it up from the post office if she had a P.O. box. Point is that I wonder if the difference is the actual USPS carriers versus the contract employees and whether the contracted folks have and can use discretion in whether or not they deliver to certain areas. One of these folks who was a "contracted carrier" told me years ago that they weren't required to drive their vehicles in certain areas if they chose not to since they used their personal vehicles to deliver.

Tim, Buck....calling for your expertise here.

 

We live in a rural area and our local mail man drives his personal vehicle. I'm assuming because it's not a mail truck. I can only imagine how hard it is on the vehicle, can you imagine how often he has to change out his break pads.

 

We don't even get delivered mail. You have to rent a PO box and go get it yourself.

That's not a real big issue with me, though. The post office is just across town, about 4 blocks from me. And I'm out for something pretty much every day anyway.

 

I think there is a law in my town that they do not have to deliver the mail if the box is not easily accessible.

 

Well its someone opening it at the post office might not be the one delivering the mail but some mailman is opening it.

As far as accusing one person, its hard to do considering my street is part of a training route and we have a new person every other week just about. It still happens so its someone at the post office itself doing it. Didnt mean to imply it was the same guy delivering the mail every day cause we dont have a usual guy being a training route.

Like wise I have complained to them, they told me that without proof that it was opened before it was delievered they cant do anything about it and that my complaint wasnt "valid" or something to that extent. Cant remember how they worded it but they basically told me that I was a liar even though I still to this day get sealed magazines that was slid back into their plastic wraping with one end wide open and all the postage paid mailer cards in the bag on the back side of the magazine.

I know its not that big of a deal but I hate when I get a magazine that was wrapped and the thing has creases on the pages which I hate as well as torn covers or pages.

On the topic of getting mail on time, that just doesnt happen here, some days mail comes before 10am other days I havent got mail delievered by the postman till almost 6pm. Its just like the garbage trucks, sometimes they come 8am other times not until 4pm.

 

If the package was undeliverable due to a bad road condition or whatever, a written notice is to be left in the box so you can either a), arrange for re-delivery or b), go tot he PO where it will be held safe and secure until you pick it up, usually 30 days max holding time.

Thanks John. Some routes in the country have been contracted but it's fairly rare. Naturally the unions are blocking this concept. As an example and in all fairness to the Postal Customer, the same carrier everyday is the best solution. My carrier broke 3 ribs from a fall a few weeks ago while on the job. I've seen 6 different carriers in my area and many many mistakes are being made.

Many rural carriers drive their POV's especially in areas where the winters are tough. Our LLV are light and useless on slick surfaces. The carrier is paid $XX per mile / day for the use of his / her vehicle.

Expect this trend to grow in small town USA.

I'm very sorry sir, your mail should be delivered everyday unless the carrier has determined that delivering the mail is unsafe. An example: Icy walk ways, no grab handle on icy steps, loose dogs, etc. Another example is no access to the box. As an example, yesterday I curtailed the mail for one house because this fool's car was parked so close tot he mail box th at I would have had to lean against his 2011 BMW to open the mail box. I wasn't willing to lean against his car or any car. Damage to a vehicle becomes my problem to deal with. Laziness is no excuse. We are paid very very well to DELIVER the mail.

Some people don't realize that they are giving their jobs away by not doing them as well as possible. Last year the PO fired / laid off / eliminated over 100,000 people / jobs, mostly management and people that can't do the job anymore. The PO would love nothing more than to take the human equation out of the mail business.

 

According to the USPS, there's no such thing.

My family (minus me) took a homeschool field trip to the local USPS sorting facility a few years back. They were told that the USPS refers to "junk mail" as "money mail"--because it's about 2/3 of the total volume of USPS mail. Without it, there would be no USPS, certainly not at anything close to the level of service and cost we currently enjoy. In essence, it's just like any other media industry--unless you pay a premium, you have to put up with the advertising.

Hmmm...maybe that's a possible option for the USPS to look into--households could pay a monthly/yearly fee to NOT receive bulk mail.

I have to say, though, that in our 3.5 years in the current location, receiving mail at home (prior residence was a small town with a P.O. Box) we haven't had any issues with mail delivery. The frustrating part about the P.O. Box was that the next house to our south got delivery...grrrrr....and that when we first moved to town, they were out of boxes, so we had to get mail general delivery until they remodeled (about a year or so, I think it was)--which meant that the P.O. had to be open for us to get our mail, and we both worked out of town during normal hours.

Jason