# Was my mailman being a dick, made a mistake, or was I in the wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 1, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987 "2007-08-01T15:32:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987/81 "2014-07-01T20:54:24Z")
I think they would have to look at what they pull out of the mail box. In a lot of cases, it would just be yesterdays mail that the person hasn’t picked up yet. Say your out of town for a day, or some other simple reason. ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987/82 "2014-07-02T00:42:03Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > So I’m thinking it’s one of three things: > > 1. The mailman …, takes his job way too seriously, … > > 2. I really was in the wrong. Even if they are your neighbors under no circumstances should you even touch their mailbox. It is a federal crime. > > 3. The mailman wasn’t paying attention … > > What say you? Two and three, but mostly three. The mailman delivers mail eight hours a day. He isn’t necessarily going to look at an individual letter; he is going to grab all the outgoing mail, put it in his bag, and put the presorted incoming mail in. Once back at the office, all they see is an envelope with no postage, and they return it. ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987/83 "2014-07-02T05:41:03Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > Putting a note to your neighbor in his mailbox is not against federal law. > > Bolding mine. > > I bet it was #3 This is an old thread, but this interpretation is incorrect. This law allows individual pieces of mail to be delivered by private express. This law does not allow private couriers to place such mail in the mail box. Title 39, Chapters 601 empowers the Post Office to set regulations to enforce private carriage of laws. Any prohibition of private delivery into a mailbox would likely be found in the regulations. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987/84 "2014-07-03T20:42:43Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > When they try, the mail always winds up in the dead letter office. Are you sure it’s not the undead letter office? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987/85 "2014-07-04T00:02:35Z")
I know this is an old thread, but something dosn’t make since to me. If I have outgoing mail I want the mailman to take, I clip it to the outside of the box. Why in the world would the mailman take something from inside the box? There are times when I am unable to get my mail for days at a time. I’ve never had a mail carrier go through my mailbox to locate outgoing mail. That’d be a huge wast of his time. If you don’t take the mail out of your mailbox everyday where you live do you need to worry about the mailman taking all of it back with him when he drops off new mail? ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987/86 "2014-07-04T12:55:56Z")
There’s a red flag on the side of the mailbox, normally down. When we have outgoing mail, we raise the flag. When the mailman picks up the outgoing mail, he puts the flag back down, then puts in the new mail. When the flag isn’t down, he won’t check, but in the OP’s case, he may have noticed the letter and took it. This would require that he remembered that he delivered different mail the previous day, so he knew that this was new mail. Maybe the previous day had a bunch of postal route junk mail that everyone got. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987/87 "2014-07-04T13:11:49Z")
And if the carrier accidentally grabs some mail that you didn’t pick up the previous day, the worst that will happen is that it will get another trip through the mail processing plant and be delivered back to you the following day. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987/88 "2014-07-04T16:08:56Z")
> [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](#): > > I know this is an old thread, but something dosn’t make since to me. If I have outgoing mail I want the mailman to take, I clip it to the outside of the box. Why in the world would the mailman take something from inside the box? There are times when I am unable to get my mail for days at a time. I’ve never had a mail carrier go through my mailbox to locate outgoing mail. That’d be a huge wast of his time. > > If you don’t take the mail out of your mailbox everyday where you live do you need to worry about the mailman taking all of it back with him when he drops off new mail? Talk about not making sense, why on earth would you put an outgoing letter in a mailbox full of mail? On what planet would that ever be a problem? The mailman comes, sees that you haven’t taken your mail inside, and doesn’t look for outgoing mail. Where I live, the mailman has never taken anything out of my mailbox if the flag was down. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987/89 "2014-07-04T17:02:33Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > And if the carrier accidentally grabs some mail that you didn’t pick up the previous day, the worst that will happen is that it will get another trip through the mail processing plant and be delivered back to you the following day. I’m not sure why, but now I’m hoping that somewhere there is a red wine called “Paustagé Deux”… ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987/90 "2014-07-05T02:14:01Z")
> [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](#): > > I know this is an old thread, but something dosn’t make since to me. If I have outgoing mail I want the mailman to take, I clip it to the outside of the box. …mail? 😕 I have never seen mail clipped to the outside of the box… in my town, that would be inviting it to rain and ruin the mail. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987/91 "2014-07-06T02:44:00Z")
> [@runningdude](#): > > 😕 I have never seen mail clipped to the outside of the box… in my town, that would be inviting it to rain and ruin the mail. Only if your mailbox is covered, of course. And I have never actually seen a mailbox with the little flag on it. I’ve only seen them on TV. I actually didn’t even remember people actually used those. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987/92 "2014-07-06T02:49:50Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Talk about not making sense, why on earth would you put an outgoing letter in a mailbox full of mail? On what planet would that ever be a problem? > > The mailman comes, sees that you haven’t taken your mail inside, and doesn’t look for outgoing mail. Where I live, the mailman has never taken anything out of my mailbox if the flag was down. Thats what I was saying. But the OP said the mailman **did** take something from the mailbox that he was not intended to take. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-mailman-being-a-dick-made-a-mistake-or-was-i-in-the-wrong/413987.md?page=4)