# Do postal people ever inspect mail chutes?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-postal-people-ever-inspect-mail-chutes/179826>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 5, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-postal-people-ever-inspect-mail-chutes/179826 "2003-06-05T14:17:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-postal-people-ever-inspect-mail-chutes/179826/1 "2003-06-05T14:17:52Z")

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The building I work in has a mail chute which empties into a standard USPS collection box. I’ve always used it, but wonder about the possibility of letters getting stuck. Does the post office ever look in them to check for “stuck mail?”

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-postal-people-ever-inspect-mail-chutes/179826/2 "2003-06-05T14:54:23Z")

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I dunno, but I remember, in one of the _Eloise_ books, little Eloise saying she was going to pour a pitcher of water down the mail chute at the Plaza. The kid had style.

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**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-postal-people-ever-inspect-mail-chutes/179826/3 "2003-06-05T15:43:03Z")

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I don’t know the answer either, although I’ve always been told not to use a mail chute for important mail. Here’s my favorite story about [mail gone astray](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/04/26/MN225439.DTL) from a mail slot.

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**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-postal-people-ever-inspect-mail-chutes/179826/4 "2003-06-06T02:41:49Z")

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The building I used to work in had glass-fronted mail chutes, so you could see if anything was stuck in them. The USPS folks didn’t routinely check, but we’d just stick a note on the collection bin in the basement (“letter stuck in chute on 9th floor”), and they’d come unlock the chute and clear it.

If the chute’s opaque, a stuck letter would, I’d guess, eventually cause a noticeable backup, but maybe not. Could be risky for something like your mortgage payment or tax return!