We moved a month ago, and have gotten no mail. Zip. Zero. Nada. Not even the third class stuff marked “Resident”, much less the first class stuff. Our name has been on the mailbox since the day we moved in.
We’ve been to the Post Office a number of times. They have no idea. We’ve filed Formal Complaints. Nothing. They mailed a “test letter”, which we haven’t gotten. We’ve talked to our Congressperson, who seems a helluva nice guy, but can’t seem to do anything about it, either. He’s also called the local PO and “Downtown”, but not gotten any real answers. He’s mailing us a letter from his office today to see if it gets here, but I don’t hold much hope that it will reach us, either.
Where do we go from here? Where the frak is our mail? I get a check in the mail each month which is a substantial portion of our household income, and I’m starting to panic. It should have been here. I need it to get here, like yesterday.
Anyone have any idea where a month’s worth of mail to one address might be floating around Chicago’s mail system? And how to get it floating into my mailbox?
I think it might be advantageous to file another change of address card. To my way of thinking, if the old one was mis-entered into the system, the new one might override it. \Along the same line, you could send a postcard to your old address and write on it a plea for the recipient to contact you (by phone).
It sounds like even mail addressed to the new address isn’t getting through which would make it unlikely that it was a problem with the change of address. Although perhaps the previous resident had his mail forwarded and WhyNot’s is getting forwarded to him.
I like the postcard idea.
Also, is there any chance that somebody could be stealing the mail? Stealing every piece for a month would seem extreme, but stranger things have happened.
I talked to Mr. Whatsit, who is a mail carrier. He is somewhat stymied as well, but suggests:
It is just possible that if the previous occupant of the house put in a forwarding order, then mail addressed to you at this location could be getting forwarded to his new address. This is pretty unlikely unless you and he happen to share the same first four letters of your last names, and then it is more likely.
Regardless, you should definitely contact your local postmaster directly about this if you have not done so already. (As opposed to, say, one of the regular desk clerks.)
My letter carrier husband is wondering if you live in a house, or an apartment building. Is the mailbox lockable? He’s suspecting mail theft by carrier or someone else, or else the carrier is returning mail to sender and has the house tagged as vacant, thus no mail at all - even “Resident” - is being delivered. And a vacant house would then be flagged by the whole Postal Service as vacant, as well.
He also suggests contacting the office of your old location and making sure that the forwarding order was entered correctly. This would affect forwarded mail but not “Current Resident” mail, admittedly.
Have you tried mailing something to yourself? Like a postcard. (scratch that, I see that the post office test letter has already been tried.)
I would also try mailing a certified letter to yourself. And a third thing, a letter that is certified, requiring a return receipt.
If none of those three arrive, go with your certified receipts to the post office and ask them to track the certified mail.
P.S. Is it possible for you to mail a letter to your neighbour (to make sure the postman will show up around where you live), and then wait outside the house one day to catch the mail carrier that delivers mail to your neighbourhood, and ask him (or her)?
We’ve talked with the mail carrier several times. The guy’s who’s been on this last month is a sub; he says there’s been no mail at the post office for us. The regular gal came back on Monday and hasn’t seen anything for us either.
We do have a forwarding order from our old address, going to a post office box. While it took longer than it should for our mail to start showing up there, now it is. Anything sent to the old address is reaching the PO box. We haven’t filled out a second order to forward it to our new address, 'cause we just knew that would be asking for trouble! But mail directly addressed to our new address (and I know there have been at least two pieces of first class mail done this way) isn’t reaching us at all.
Yes, we’ve talked to the postmaster, as has our congressperson. No progress there, just “this shouldn’t be happening” with no suggestions on how to resolve it.
The mailbox is one of those which has a flap on the outside and the mail drops down into the inside box. While it’s not locked, it’s impossible for anyone not a midget contortionist to steal from outside. Inside, we’re the only ones in the (locked) building during the day, and we’ve been checking it with frightening frequency during the day. While theft is not impossible, it’s highly unlikely - especially as the carrier confirms he’s had nothing to put into the box in the first place.
So frustrating.
I had wondered about the forwarding to the old tentant possibility. Of course, the post office assures us this wouldn’t have happened, but I’ll bring up the possibility of sharing some of the same letters of the last name. I don’t know her last name or her current whereabouts, but at least I can ask.
Oh, and from what they tell us, there is simply no way to track mail through the USPS. Even a certified letter gets sublimated into a sea of paper, sorted and sent from one station to another by automatons until it’s dropped off in a box at my post office and then sorted by hand and sent to me. Or, you know, not. The “certified” designation means they tell you when it arrives at the addressee’s address, but they still can’t tell you where it went if it never arrives.
I have a really hard time believing this in today’s age of technology, but they’re sticking to that story through several administrative levels.
I wonder if an Express Mail letter might have better tracking on it. I’m pretty sure each of those has a barcode on it, requiring frequent scanning during the delivery chain, and you can ask for ‘return receipt requested’; put a work address in it as the return address.
And even though the carriers haven’t seen First Class mail for you, they ought to have some Current Resident mail, right? Ask the carrier about any “full coverage” mail items.
This sounds unacceptable. If it were me, I would get the number of the highest-ranking postal official I could find, and call them every hour on the hour, every day, until I had a resolution.
I realize you have better things to do with your time, but in this case I suggest going out of your way to become the biggest pain in the ass they have ever encountered. Make your problem their problem until it’s fixed.
ETA: Maybe contact the local media too. A little public pressure couldn’t hurt.
Yep, go to the postmaster. Get a front desk clerk and insist you have to speak with him. He’s available. Had this happen to me before too. It’s a real bitch. Get his name and his/her phone # and keep in contact with him. First meeting in person of course.
And people say the government run post office is working…
I would still try the certified mail with return receipt thing. See if anybody is getting the mail.
Other things to try:
social engineering 1: send a postcard from young Billy, trying to reach his grandma, asking “why don’t you answer me grandma”? Send it to your address, see if anyone answers it or forwards it. Tug on someone’s heartstrings so that they feel duty-bound to respond and/or deliver.
social engineering 2: playing on someone’s greed often gets results! send a letter saying “Confirming your free one-week all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii, call us with confirmation code XYZ23423GH5”. When someone calls with that confirmation code, ask them for their name, phone number and address so you can send them the free tickets. Then find out why those people are getting your mail.
Or turn this into a money-making venture. Go to the post office, send a package to yourself, tell them that the package contains a signed first edition of “Lady Chatterly’s Lover” and insure it for $600. When it doesn’t arrive, go to the post office and request your $600.
If you think you might get in trouble for misrepresenting the contents of the package, instead enclose a framed photo of yourself on your wedding day, send it to yourself, insure for $400, and say “that is the emotional value of the photograph.”
Not the exact same situation, but last month my apartment building decided to replace our mailboxes. What should have taken one weekend ended up taking 5 and a half weeks, and all our mail was being held at the Post Office in the meantime.
No big deal, you say? Well it shouldn’t have been, but when I (and several other tenants of the building) went down to the PO to pick up our mail, we were told we couldn’t.
“Isn’t it here?”
“Yes, it’s in the back room.”
“So why can’t we get it?”
“We haven’t had a chance to sort it yet.”
“Well I have checks in there waiting for me [one guy had his passport being mailed to him and ended up not being able to go], so can’t we just fish out our own mail?”
“Uh, no… we can’t let you do that. Look, we’re doing you a courtesy just by holding it.” temper rising “How is it a courtesy if we can’t get it?”
“Blah blah blah I’m important but I hate my job so I’m going to be a total douche and not help you get your mail.”
Okay, I made up that last part. But suffice it to say it was like talking to a brick wall, and nobody got their mail until the project was completed almost six weeks later. I don’t have a solution to offer you, but I sure feel your pain.