I had a weird experience today. I heard some commotion at my door (my mail slot isn’t totally opened up). We have mail boxes in the fence next to the condo. I was on the phone. Suddenly my front door was opened (every once in a while I slip up and forget to lock it) and a man was there - I shouted to him to leave and shut the door while I jumped up and ran to the door. It turns out it was the mail carrier! Apparently, in some areas (such as my friend’s who I was on the phone to) it’s normal for the mail carrier to open your door to leave you mail - it’s considered a courtesy. It scared me nearly to death! The guy was very apologetic after the fact but I’m torn: is this a small town minded courtesy or an outright violation? I live in Salem Massachusetts near downtown.
I never heard of such a thing, at least among the many places I’ve lived. They will open the screen/storm door and leave stuff between the doors, but that’s it.
Our mailman did in the 60’s, but I’ve not seen it since. In the summer he’d open the door, drop the mail on the table inside the door and call, “Mailman.”
Nope. I grew up in a tiny little town, any mail that was too big to fit in the mailbox was delivered to the door – either on the front step, or between screen door and storm door. The mailman never once attempted to actually enter the house, and he probably would have been yelled at if he tried.
My letter carrier doesn’t get out of the car, even if delivering a package, unless several minutes of leaning on the horn doesn’t bring us out to collect the delivery. I can’t imagine a carrier around here (midwestern USA) opening the door of a residence without being expressly instructed to do so by the homeowner—and I live in an area where we don’t always lock our doors and everybody knows every other body. The behavior of your carrier would completely creep me out, and I’d probably call the postmaster at the appropriate office to advise of his behavior.
Truthfully, I probably scared the guy (through my outburst) as much as he scared me by opening the door. My friend who I was on the phone with (lives in Exeter NH) says that’s perfectly normal behavior although I’ve never heard of it. Clearly this guy was a newbie because he didn’t realize we have mailboxes mounted in the fence next to the house.
No, but I’m pretty sure everyone keeps their front doors locked where I live. Sounds like you both gave each other quite a fright!
When you ask if it’s an outright violation, are you asking if it’s a criminal act?
Call your local post office and ask about this. I’ve never seen or heard of it. Even if it’s a friendly small town, what about dogs who might bolt out the front door or jump at the mailman?
Another small NE town - both package services and UPS go to lengths to make sure packages are left out of the weather, but I’ve never heard of one opening a door. A couple of times when heavy weather was threatening, both USPS and UPS would put the package on the driver’s seat of an unlocked car and leave a parcel note in the mailbox or on the door.
I don’t know why your friend claims it’s common. I’ve lived in MA cities and NH towns my entire life, and I’ve never heard of a mail carrier doing that. They knock rather than opening the door without permission, even when they were delivering mail to the place I worked in Exeter.
It’s unacceptable even for a friend to open your door without warning, much less the mailman. The furthest acceptable action would be to knock, IMO.
You are missing the object lesson! Anyone could do just what the postman did. Shouting at them ain’t going to work. Why wasn’t the door locked?
Lock your damn door! Problem solved. You owe the postman a thank you.
Our carrier will, but she is also a personal friend who will take care of the outside critters if we all have to be out of the area for more than a day or so. She also has permission to come over and hang out in the hot tub if we aren’t home.
She has been our carrier for about 15 years:p
Yeah, I recall that as a kid. It was assumed to be a nice thing for him to do at the time, at least in my neighborhood. But now they just leave notes to pick up the package at the post office.
The postman always rings twice, but never opens the door uninvited.
I’d lose my shit if a stranger opened my front door.
Back in the 70s when we left the door unlocked during the day, the postman did open the door if the mail didn’t fit in the slot. I appreciated it. I always locked the door during the night, but our next door neighbor remarked once that as far as he knew, his front door had never been locked while he lived there. This was in Montreal, BTW, not some small town. We started locking in the daytime when my youngest was in school and my wife began to work.
When I was growing up in Philly, we never locked the door during the day (unless we were all out of the house–a rarity, since my mother was agoraphobic and rarely went out). It just seemed normal to me.
This happened to me just the other day. UPS guy just opens up the screen door and yells something like “Mafwidgen!” as he plops a package on my kitchen floor. Gave me a start, but he was gone in a flash and I quickly figured out what happened (but not what he actually said).
They’ve opened up the screen door to wedge stuff between the screen and the door before, but this is the first time one has just opened up the screen door when the other door was wide open.
It must be sad to be that paranoid. The overwhelming majority of people will never experience a home invasion. You’re vastly more likely to be hurt or killed in a traffic accident than by somebody bursting into your home.
I normally keep my doors locked but had this situation a couple of years ago when my cat was only about 6 weeks old. The UPS guy opened my door and yelled something and flung the box on the floor barely missing my kitten who was relaxing in a sunbeam.
I went out after him and said “please don’t do that again, you almost crushed my kitten with that box” and he said “No, I didn’t. Maybe you should lock your door if you don’t like it.”
I called UPS to complain. I honestly wouldn’t have if he hadn’t been an ass when I asked him not to do it. After that he was a complete jerk to me every time there was a delivery. About three months after the incident he actually said to me “You didn’t have to tattle on me about me opening your door” in a really singsong voice. Weirdo.