In my 42 years on this planet I've had hardly any problems with any mail carrier or post office. I never had to give the USPS any thought because the mail always got here, day in, day out, rain, sleet, snow, plague, whatever.
But then I moved in here. [img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img]
I live on a private street with several other houses. We all share a locking, compartmented mail box on the curb in front of my house. It also has a common compartment for outgoing mail.
I've lived here a little over 2 years, and it seems like every other month I have to call the Lents post office and remind them to do their job. It's gotten to the point where I have their number programmed into my cell phone.
It started when I moved in. I put about $450 worth of rebate vouchers from some things that I bought in the outgoing mail. Four days later and they're still there. After several phone calls to the Lents p.o. and a couple more days they're finally picked up.
After a couple of months I'm wondering where my money is so I call one of the manufacturers.
They never got it.
So I call another one. Same story. And another. And another.
Four rebates from four different companies, none received. $450 gone. *Poof*
I'm mighty irked, to say the least, but I have no recourse. I suspect it's the carrier's retaliation against me for complaining, but I have no proof.
But this is just the beginning of a long saga of mail related-problems over the last 2+ years. I've had the same carrier the whole time, and he apparently has some sort of cyclical aversion to picking up outgoing mail. He'll pick it up ever day for a few weeks, then he won't touch it for a few days until I call and complain again. I've gotten hit for several late charges on bills due to his refusal and/or oversight. So far he's cost me in excess of $600 (and counting) in late charges and the missing rebates.
Fast forward to December 2003:
Just before Xmas some tweeker broke into the mailbox on the street side where the carrier puts the mail in (when he feels like it
). Nothing missing, as far as I can tell, but the lock was destroyed. So I call the Lents p.o. and tell them. They say "OK, but due to weather, Xmas, blah blah blah, we're running behind." Whatever. A week goes by, still broken, but the big thing is no mail. So I call again and tell them I don't care if the lock doesn't work, but where's my mail? "We can't, and won't, deliver mail to a locking box if the lock cannot be secured." I pointed out that we're the only box on an 8-block stretch of street that locks, so what's the big deal? "That's the rule."
Meanwhile, my girlfriend accosted the carrier out on the street, and he informs her that the owner of the box is responsible for repairs, not the Postal Circus. So I call the owner of the box, and she said that she'd be more than happy to repair it, and as a matter of fact her repair guy had already repaired all of the damage except for the lock. Why not the lock? Well, because the USPS won't allow them to, or more specifically the postal union. Huh??
So I called the Lents p.o. (again) and the woman that answered confirmed this. But she was unable to explain why the box was not yet repaired or as to when it would be. And no, they still won't deliver mail to a box that doesn't lock. I told her the box looks fine, it closes and latches, it just doesn't lock with a key.
Doesn't matter. No go.
Three weeks, no mail, no end in sight. [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img]
My girlfriend has to drive down to the Lents p.o. every couple of days to retrieve our mail. Between driving time and waiting in line this takes at least 30 minutes, and sometimes 45.
I thought you had to be a postal worker to "go postal", but I'm getting close.
Sorry about the long rant, but I'm at wit's end with these drones.
1pump
Apathy, incompetence and the USPS
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