Author Topic: Mailman Woes  (Read 1005 times)

makattak

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Mailman Woes
« on: March 25, 2020, 01:56:14 PM »
So we have a lazy and rude mailman.

Yeah, shocker.

In any case, I order a small item off Amazon. Small enough to fit in the mailbox. It was to be delivered last Friday. Not 5 days ago, 12 days ago.

The delivery driver claimed that the mailbox was blocked and couldn't deliver.

Ok, we probably had a visitor in the middle of the day that parked near the mailbox. (We don't park there and no one actually "blocks" the mailbox.) According to the local post office, if they have to back up after delivering the mail, then the mailbox is "blocked." (I keep forgetting to ask what keeps them from stepping their lazy.... selves out of the truck to take two steps to deliver it, but I digress.)

Ok, so lazy mailman refuses to deliver when it's a slight inconvenience. Whatever, we can wait till the next day.

OH, now the lazy mailman claims that since our mailbox is "blocked" "ALL the time" the Post Office will not redeliver items that are blocked from delivery. I have to go pick them up.

NOW you have my attention. I try calling the Post Office and of course get put on hold for 45 minutes and then get disconnected once they "answer."

I call Amazon, who gets me talking with a USPS employee in 5 minutes. They apologize and state they will look into the matter and that the local office will contact me. They, of course, don't. So I put in yet another complaint.

FINALLY the manager contacts me and says the delivery driver claims our mailbox is blocked 3-4 times a week. (That's not possible, but I roll with it.) I state that my family is clearly not the culprits here (he concedes that) and that everyone who is parked there is parked completely legally. How can they deny mail delivery for someone who has no power over people legally parking.

He hems and haws and agrees his deliverer will redeliver. (This was on Saturday.)

No package Monday. Maybe it didn't get into the delivery bag. No package yesterday. Ok, now I'm calling. Manager gets on the phone and says the driver says that the mailbox was blocked again. Now I'm seeing red.

We've been locked down for a week. NO ONE is visiting us or anyone else on this block. NO ONE is parking at our house. The ONLY possible cause of "blocking" were the Trash Cans on Monday that I make a point of positioning 6 or more feet away from the mailbox. I'm not sure how that can be "blocking" the delivery.

Because I'm not one to express anger through shouting, I simply call the driver a liar. The manager agreed that the driver will have to call him every time he claims the mailbox is blocked so he can confirm it is blocked. (And I still haven't remembered to ask what, exactly, keeps them from taking 2 steps out of their truck).

So MAYBE we'll get the package tomorrow. But we appear to be stuck with a terrible mailman for some time.
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

Kingcreek

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2020, 02:12:25 PM »
Does he approach your box at a predictable time? Like predictable enough that you might get video or a pic of him either being lazy or actually impeded?
We are fortunate in a small community everybody knows their carrier except for an occasional sub. Ours goes out of her way to deliver or accommodate and we give her a card and square of fudge at Christmas. When the snow is drifting and blowing I’ll meet her at the end of the road a mile away so she doesn’t have to drive to us.
What we have here is failure to communicate.

charby

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2020, 02:13:09 PM »
Makes me happy for my letter carrier. If my truck and work car are in the driveway and if I even get a small package, he walks it to my door so he can see my dog. If one vehicle is missing and I get a small package that fits in the box, he leaves a note in my box to say hi to my dog.

Unfortunately Gary is retiring at the end of May. I'm hoping one of my bird hunting buddies wife gets his route, she's a good one too.
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BlueStarLizzard

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2020, 02:19:21 PM »
I've had similar issues.

There must be a few different people who run the route. There was one lady who was really nice and professional. The others... I've had packages dumped by the trashcans in the ran. All sorts of stupid BS.
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HankB

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2020, 02:23:26 PM »
I recently had a small package delayed because our letter carrier FORGOT to put in our mailbox. To cover his sorry backside, he entered "Delivery delayed AT CUSTOMER REQUEST" to the tracking information.

Liar.

I thought I'd have to go down to the local post office and talk to whoever's in charge, but the package arrived intact the next day.

So now I'll just be getting back to the normal service - which means I'll typically redeliver some neighbor's mail from my box to theirs a couple times a month.

The "regular" letter carrier will typically drop packages that don't fit in my box by my front door. Others just drop it next to the box . . . one of these days someone's dog is going to pee on the package instead of the base of the box. That won't make me very happy at all.
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Ben

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2020, 02:29:05 PM »
My carrier can be a bit whiny too. When I first got here,  I got a note that my trashcan was too close to the mailbox on trash day, so I moved it to the other side of my driveway. Then she left me a note that my driveway was too rough (honestly, the former owners had let it go) and she couldn't deliver packages anymore unless I got it fixed, so a couple thousand dollars in road mix later that was resolved.

She's been good since then. The Saturday sub is kind of a stick in the mud though.
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K Frame

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2020, 02:46:47 PM »
Our regular carrier is great. Big dog person, loves Seren.
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Silver Bullet

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2020, 04:04:49 PM »
This is the kind of service we'd get if every company in the country was controlled by socialists.

dogmush

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2020, 02:24:31 AM »
My Rural Route carrier is awesome as well.  Delivers to mailbox reliably, boxes get walked to the door, if I'm working in the yard or garage she will get out and scritch Ruger behind the ears while handing me my mail.  I actually have video of her getting out and putting my garbage cans back in the driveway once when wind blew them out into the road.

I will say from my experience the rural route carriers are better/more dedicated then the more urban/suburban carriers.

K Frame

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2020, 08:03:12 AM »
The carriers in my Mom's town were awesome like that, Dogmush. The one lady even cried a bit when she found out that my Mom's greyhound died.
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bedlamite

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2020, 10:12:21 AM »
Of course the mailbox was blocked. There is a door in front of it that you have to open.
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makattak

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #11 on: March 26, 2020, 10:16:47 AM »
I was shocked to discover they actually delivered the package yesterday.

I am also curious as to whether the manager's intervention will suddenly result in much few "blockages" of our mailbox.
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

AJ Dual

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #12 on: March 26, 2020, 11:28:30 AM »
I'm glad, no complaints here. We have a walking route with mailboxes on the houses, not on the street which may be part of it.

And the USPS van will even pull up outside of the normal delivery hours for packages which they put nicely on our porch or front steps.

I haven't seen it around here since the Amazon vans and the contract people working out of their own cars became a thing, but I've even seen them delivering Amazon packages on Sunday in a snowstorm struggling to get up the street.

It'll suck come Boogaloo or TEOTAWAKI when everything is on fire, but for the meantime, living in the city/denser older burbs has it's advantages I guess.  =D
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Pb

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #13 on: March 26, 2020, 12:04:08 PM »
Sounds like we our luckier than you.  Our mail woman will sometimes just park in the front yard and lay on horn to get someone to walk out to her truck to get the package.  That's not nearly as bad as what yours does.

bedlamite

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #14 on: March 26, 2020, 12:06:41 PM »
I guess I can count myself lucky. Both mail and UPS set packages on the steps behind my house. It may have something to do with the fact that I don't clear the snow to my front door during the winter.
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grampster

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #15 on: March 26, 2020, 02:37:43 PM »
Our mail lady will pull into the drive and come to the door if she has a package that won't fit in the mail box.
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MechAg94

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Re: Mailman Woes
« Reply #16 on: March 26, 2020, 02:45:34 PM »
Our mail lady will pull into the drive and come to the door if she has a package that won't fit in the mail box.
I think different mail people handle the packages from time to time.  If it doesn't fit in one of the package boxes, sometimes it ends up at my front door, sometimes I get a slip to pick it up at the post office.
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