There’s nothing like a good postal rant (or two or three or four or five or six) to brighten the day. Today, we’ve got two, found on the Park Slope Forum at the always interesting brooklynian.com. Rant Number One:
Everyone knows there’s ‘issues’ with our mail carriers in the slope. I’ve had it all: Lost checks. Mail tossed on floor. Netflix DVD’s viewed and taped back together then placed in our box!?! Wrong mail. No mail. Mail for delivery never picked up. Lost packages.
So I emailed the USPS and received a call back today. The supervisor says my usual postal carrier is on ‘limited’ work, something about not allowed to work more than a certain amount of hours. So they have random carriers covering for him. He tells me that recently I’ve had the same mail carrier for 3 days now and he’s talked to the person and I shouldn’t have any problems anymore.
So basically my block never has a constant mail carrier. So far I’ve got some guy regularly for the past 3 days. He’ll probably not drop the mail on the floor today, but what about next week when another guy is sent to cover this block? Is this happening on other blocks? No full time, regular assignment postal carriers?
Give it a while and the same problem will happen again. It’s been going on for as long as I’ve rented here.
Rant Number Two:
WTF is up with Brooklyn mail? I’ve never lived anywhere like this. I’ve had stuff perfectly addressed to me sent back with “NO SUCH ADDRESS” stamps, only to be put in a new envelope TO THE EXACT SAME ADDRESS and arrive. Eventually. I’ve had zero mail delivery for days, and then stuffed full one day. I can’t even count the number of things that have just “disappeared” that I found out about, much less the ones I didn’t. Seriously, WTF. I have everything important that I can sent to my work now.
Oh, and there’s also someone in Bed-Stuy who says that his Time Out NY always disappears. Excellent, excellent stuff.
9 responses so far ↓
1 Anonymous // Oct 22, 2007 at 5:39 am
Last year I made a complaint to the USPS about misdirected mail/ridiculously late mail/the screwing up of my vacation “hold”. The only communication I got from the Postal Service was advice that they were dividing it into three different investigations. Since its been fourteen months now, I expect a reply any day.
2 Anonymous // Oct 22, 2007 at 6:26 am
I have had my landlord show up at my door middle of the month wanting to know where the f*ck my rent check is, the one I sent 4 days beofore rent was due that just never showed up and never came back to me. By the way it costs about $30 to do a stop payment on a check.
3 Anonymous // Oct 22, 2007 at 8:26 am
A couple of years ago I was on the W Side IRT, going from Grand Army towards Manhattan, and the guy sitting across from me had a stack of sealed Netflix envelopes, which he was opening one by one, looking at the DVDs, and putting in his bag. All of a sudden, the reason why Netflix failed to receive several of my returned movies became clear. Since I started maiiing them in the Cadman Plaza PO, I’ve never had a problem.
4 Anonymous // Oct 22, 2007 at 1:29 pm
One time I had a problem at Van Brunt Station (9th st) where I spoke to a manager about my mail being misdelivered and he made a point of pulling a mail carrier from the back out to the lobby and berating her in front of me. AND SHE WASN’T EVEN MY MAIL CARRIER! So now I hesitate to tell them my problems because I don’t want them to abuse the carriers who aren’t the problem ones. It’s no wonder our mail doesn’t get delivered properly or in a timely fashion or at all! With management like that…
5 Anonymous // Oct 22, 2007 at 3:24 pm
9:26AM – had the same exact thing happen to me last month. that was minor compared to what happened a few years ago. mail carrier left a box of checks on my stoop [because they didn’t fit through the mail slot and no one was home to physically accept them] which of course, were stolen immediately and then used to write tens of thousands of dollars worth of bad checks against my bank account. the account didn’t have that much money in it, but it was enough to leave me unable to pay my rent for 2 months. it also took the bank over 6 months to get all the money back.
the best part about this – the big sticker on the box of checks that said “Do not leave unattended. Return to sender if no signature received.”
Thanks, USPS! Now I mail/receive anything of value at my job.
6 Red Hook // Oct 23, 2007 at 6:55 am
Here’s one. Doctor sends me important medical scans. Doctor accidentally sends them to my old address.
“No problem,” says my doctor. “I sent them with return receipt. When the mailman sees you don’t live there, we’ll get them back.”
The doctor gets the receipt back in the mail. Blank. No signature from me or anyone else. Scans were left in foyer of my old building and disappeared.
I take receipt to post office demanding to know why mail was left and delivered without signature, which sender paid for.
“Yeah, they do that sometimes,” says post office manager.
“What’s the point of paying for a signature and a return receipt,” I ask.
“I dunno,” says post office manager.
7 Brklynstories // Oct 23, 2007 at 8:57 am
Not only that, but in the late Spring the Post Office mis-delivered a pre-approved credit card to the wrong address which resulted in a series of fraudulent credit card purchases that took place in late Summer. I spent September and October cleaning everything up. With the help of the police and fraud credit protection, this investigation moved swiftly. My last step is to send a letter to the Post Master General; however, I did call the USPS Customer Service recently and was given only a confirmation #.
–Brklynstories
8 Brklynstories // Oct 23, 2007 at 8:59 am
During the Spring the beloved Kensington Post Office mis-delievered a pre-approved credit card to the wrong address which resulted in a series of fraudulent transactions, in my name, that occurred in late Summer. I spent September cleaning the mess up. With the help of the police and fraud protection, this investigation has moved swiftly. However I have implicated the Post Office as well as the Credit Card company in all of my affadavits. Yet I recently called the USPS Customer Service and was merely given a confirmation #.
9 Brklynstories // Oct 23, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Update – the Kensington PO just contacted me regarding the complaint I made earlier this week. Our conversation didn’t get very far since the mail carrier, who may have misdelivered the mail, has since left New York State. The guy did, however, tell me of odd things that he used to see in Midwood while out on delivery: kids taking mail from unlocked boxes and then throwing it in someone else’s trash. Anyway, he was profusely apologetic.