We’ve had problems with our mail carrier not taking outgoing mail we leave in the mailbox. It may have been a misunderstanding, but the supervisor at our local post office told us that picking up outgoing mail is a “courtesy” and that the carrier isn’t obliged to do it. It was my understanding that the carrier must take outgoing mail. I could only find the following on the USPS web site, and it’s rather ambiguous about whether it’s an obligation or a courtesy:
Sounds like a great post office.
Mail carriers taking mail is as American as mom and apple pie. I’d say talk to the postmaster at your local post office, and keep going up if it’s a problem.
Not true. While I’ve never had a problem with mail carriers picking up mail from my mailbox, I’ve always thought of it as a nice extra. They’re not required to do so, AFAIK.
Well supposedly your mailbox needs to be a type approved by the USPS, and the mailboxes have flags on them. The flags are to signal there’s mail to be picked up.
I am not exactly buying that it is really optional. Maybe they have the option to decline if a big box is left next to the mailbox but not for normal letter mail.
The carrier would have to reach over and put the flag down which is only marginally less effort than just grabbing the mail and throwing it in the outgoing mail container. If they don’t, they will pile incoming mail on top of the outgoing mail and they run the risk of a substitute carrier grabbing the whole stack the next day if the mail is retrieved.
The “optional” part is odd. Does that mean that the same carrier can pick up the mail for a couple of weeks, stop for a while, and then start again. That makes no sense and compromises the integrity of the whole process.
I can’t find anything that specifically says a carrier must pick up regular outgoing mail, but for Priority Mail they must:
“Free, regardless of the number of packages you’re sending.
Your carrier will pick up your package when your regular mail is delivered.”
So if it’s worth paying around $4.00 per letter for faster delivery and pickup from your mailbox, go to your post office and order (free) Priority Mail envelopes and stamps. I think they can be ordered online too, with free delivery.
On this page, http://pe.usps.gov/text/DMM300/print/508.htm for rural mailboxes it says:
“Generally, mailable matter is collected from a rural mailbox if postage is fully prepaid or money equal to the required postage is left in the mailbox. Money in a rural box is left at the customer’s risk. When postage or money is insufficient to cover postage, the mail is not collected, or if the sender cannot be identified, the mail is treated as unpaid mail. Mailable matter not bearing postage found in, placed on, attached to, supported by, or hanging from rural boxes is handled under the applicable standards.”
I still say the bosses of your carrier should ensure he picks up whatever properly stamped mail you leave in your box, and if they don’t keep calling every day.
I thought they could not pick it up if they did not make a mail delivery to you.
Also aren’t they advertizing ‘free carrior pickup’, perhaps you can call them up and let them know that you would like this service.
With the USPS being a federal agency I’d assume that the rules are the same everywhere but maybe not. In 32 years of leaving mail to be picked up I’ve never once noticed that they declined to do so. And I would be very, very surprised if local carriers are told, in effect, that they can pick it up or not as they see fit. More likely the USPS reserves the right to not pick up the mail in the event of some emergency but instructs carriers to do so during normal operations.
What outgoing mail container? My carrier just has one big bag over his shoulder, which contains the mail to be delivered. When he picks up a letter I leave in the box, he has to stick it somewhere until he gets back to his truck. (Talking about in-city carrier delivery here.)
Friends in the Postal System have told me that this is optional, but that postal workers see these letters as more business for them – they are all aware of the competition from fax, email, UPS/FedEx/etc., and want to encourage people to keep using the mail. So they usually take such letters. Especially because this is often used by elderly people and those who have trouble getting around.
But they also pointed out that this letter doesn’t get to the Post Office until the end of the day, when the carrier goes back there. Most of the nearby mailboxes are picked up earlier than that, and your letter will be processed faster by dropping it in a mailbox rather than leaving it for the carrier.
Plus the risk of leaving your letters in an unlocked container. Anyone could walk by and pick them up.
I always thought that this was the case.
My partner, a mail carrier, says sometimes they throw them into a mailbox on the street. They often use these as relays on routes so they don’t have to carry too much at once and so they don’t have to run all the way back to their park point or move to a new park point. They then deposit the mail they’ve picked up from you.
Also, what time your mail gets to the post office depends on which box you put it in. Some have noon pick-ups, some not till 3 or 4 or 5 pm. Regardless, the mail still gets processed at the same time. The truck isn’t going out until that evening to get your mail to the hub.
As they could your incoming mail.
As as happend to me once. Took me 2 months to straighten my bills out. 