# Question for any mail carriers **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 8, 2023, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-any-mail-carriers/992824 "2023-11-08T14:34:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-any-mail-carriers/992824/21 "2023-11-10T01:45:15Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > While picking up outgoing mail from people’s houses happens only a small percentage of any day’s route stops, I am practically guaranteed I’ll encounter one or a few houses that have outgoing on any given day. Probably a lot more once people start sending out their Christmas cards. People still send out printed Christmas cards? I remember my parents getting dozens of those in the 1970s. Now, it’s very few. A couple of friends and co-workers send the preprinted ones with a photo of the children or the whole family but those are essentially postcards. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-any-mail-carriers/992824/22 "2023-11-10T01:48:12Z")
I send 40-50 holiday cards. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-any-mail-carriers/992824/23 "2023-11-10T01:57:08Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Yeah, I’d love to use my bank’s bill pay check for the property tax, but the county says a check MUST be submitted with the payment coupon that’s with the bill. I’m not willing to chance it, even though it seems trivial for them to match the property lot number in the check memo field. Me too. Three of the 4 checks I’ve written in the last 18 months have been property taxes. I don’t trust them to process it properly without their chit, nor do I trust them to notify me timely if there’s a problem. Their website isn’t good enough for me to track my payment and outstanding balance. So paper check & snail mail it is. Sigh. So primitive. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-any-mail-carriers/992824/24 "2023-11-10T16:23:40Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The other common form of online payment “convenience fee” is that your, e.g. electric utility or car loan company will happily allow you to set matters up via their website so they can vacuum money out of your checking account every month at no additional charge, but if you want instead to have them charge your credit card, they’ll tack on an extra $5 or whatever. Not unreasonable since they have to pay the credit card company a percentage of the bill. I pay from my bank account, but I very seldom set up autopay, so I’m sending the money, they are not taking. The one exception is AT&T which reduced my bill to get me to enroll in autopay. Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-any-mail-carriers/992824/25 "2023-11-10T16:27:30Z")
We sometimes put out non-check outgoing mail in our mail slot. I don’t want to risk mail with a check getting stolen or just falling. We do this probably less than 10x a year. I delivered mail one summer over 50 years ago (great job) and I remember a few people putting out mail this way, but not many. When we do have to mail something, and we’re not going to the grocery with a mailbox nearby, I walk it a few blocks to the local mail box, and then walk further from there. We’re down to three or fewer checks per month, one being to our lawn guy. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-any-mail-carriers/992824/26 "2023-11-10T19:56:06Z")
The main reason we write cheques is for charitable donations, which we then mail. A few dozen a year. Maybe the property and water taxes too. My wife has always taken care of it, although nowadays I have to remind her. Everything else is online, for which there is no fee. I assume it is cheaper for the bank than processing cheques. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-any-mail-carriers/992824.md?page=1)