Pardons if this is in the wrong forum.
I’ve been calling the post office for the last week trying to find out why my carrier is not picking up my mail. Tomorrow morning, i pull out the big guns and start calling (a) the Chicago main post office and (b) the USPS headquarters in Washington.
My question: I live in Chicago (the north side). Is there any concievable that my carrier would not be picking up mail?
Maybe he doesn’t like you. Or you forgot to put a stamp on it. But more likely, he doesn’t like you.
I live in Oregon and I had the same problem once. I asked the mailman about it one day as he was delivering more bills. He told me that a lot of carriers (this one was a new one) won’t pick up mail if there is nothing to deliver to that address, especially if the mailbox is quite a distance out of the way. Apparently this is o.k. with the post office. I usually just take mine to work with me and drop it in a box on the way. Saves a lot of hassle.
Yup. I have the same problem. We can leave stuff in the box for days, until the weekly pile of junk mail shows up and our outgoing stuff finally leaves.
Dogs running loose in an area might also be a reason.
I say you put it in the dropboxes outside the Post Office. They are easily accessible from a car. (I live well out of town and have a P.O. box instead of a mailbox, so that’s really my only option.)
No car. I live in Chicago - I don’t have a reason for one. Anyway, why should I? They’re a mail carrier, and I or the other people in my 6-flat get mail every day. The carrier drops off mail and they pick up mail. That’s how it works, isn’t it?
Your neighbor’s dog ate the mailman.
I am a mail carrier. And we just had a big to-do in the newspaper about this exact issue. If the carrier has to walk up to your door, or stop at your box, he/she will pick up your out going mail. If you are not getting any incoming mail, they are not required to make a stop just to pick it up. If your mailbox is with several others, they should pick it up when they deliver to the boxes. Hope this helps.
Carriers are supposed to PICK UP your outgoing mail, too?!?
I swear to Jebus, that’s a new one on me – and dad worked for the PO all his life. I always thought that practice (which I’d see in the old-time movies and TV) went out with buggy whips, or was just a quaint courtesy they’d do for Aunt Bea (or somebody who asked them once in a blue moon with a big smile and the implied promise of a fat Christmas tip). I thought you’re always supposed to use the drop box.
How common/widespread is this practice? Is it required, or just a nice favor the carrier does, after all?
It is possible that the carrier doesn’t realize that it is outgoing mail. At a glance, the carrier could assume that you are a lazy bastard who can’t be bothered to get his own mail each day. I more rural areas you have that nifty little flag on the mailbox to let the carrier know that you have something going out. In the city, I’d used a post-it note.
"Dear mailman, (or femaleman)
Please take the outgoing mail in my box.
XOXO
JosephFinn"
The XOXO will seal the deal.
dragonlady said: * If your mailbox is with several others, they should pick it up when they deliver to the boxes.*
But is the mail carrier actually required to do so? When I lived out of town we had an RFD address (rural free delivery) and had the flag on the mailbox to indicate outgoing mail. But in town, I always assumed that the mail carrier’s job was only to deliver the mail and if he picked it up as well it was as a favor to me. I don’t leave mail for him to take very often as I don’t want to abuse the privilege. (Even if it turns out he has to take it, I’ll still take my stacks of bills to the box at the post office.)
I live in an older part of a small city. (1oo,ooo people)
Anyway, my mailman drops my mail through a mail slot in my front door. I attach outgoing mail to a clip on the outside of the door and he picks it up.
JosephFinn,
The carrier is under no obligation to pick up the outgoing mail you leave in some unofficial site when he drops off your mail. Walk down the street and put your mail in a mail box. If you had a mail box with a flag (as is the case in rural and many suburban areas), the carrier’s job includes picking up the mail that you leave when you put the flag up. Sometimes the carriers will, just as a favor, pick up mail that’s left in an unofficial place. In my apartment building, people sometimes stick outgoing mail into a corner wedged between the mailboxes and the wall. Usually the carrier will pick up the mail left there. That’s done just as a favor by the carrier though, so you really can’t complain if he doesn’t do it.
I think that’s your answer right there.
I wouldn’t pull out the guns, the postal workers are better shots.
In order for them to GET your mail you must put up a flag or something on the box to let them know its outgoing mail!
Exactly–this is how it always worked in my suburban childhood neighborhood. You had to put up the red flag if you had letters to be picked up, else the mailman might drive on by.
Of course, I can’t remember a single day that we didn’t get ANY mail delivered to us. I guess junk mail ensures that we always get pick-up.
Of course, now that I live in an apt. in NYC, I have NO mail pick-up. Have to walk to those blue drop boxes on the corner.
I’ve been reading this with some interest: considering all the other U.S.-type things that have been imported to Britain, it seems a real shame that we missed out on that one! My traditional method of posting mail is to take the post with me when I go out, pass several postboxes in the course of a few days, and finally remember to post it just too late for the cheque to arrive at the electricity company (or whatever) on time. Perhaps I shall start a one-person campaign. Then again, someone else would worry about the possible demise of the postboxes…
Thanks for the info, dragonlady. I’m not trying to get a bug up my butt about the entire USPS (which, in general, has delivered exemplary service over my lifetime), it’s just that this is starting to drive me nutso.
Tried that. No dice. Maybe the problem is that I live in the 60657 ZIP code, consistently one of the worst in the nation for service (we had the little incident with burning mail under a loading dock a few years back, and postal employees hoarding mail in their closets).