"At least 3 or 4 times a month we receive our neighbors mail or they get ours."

I have this happen all the time too.

I used to always take the mail over to the neighbors, then one day I just handed it to the worker when he was on my steps and said "This is not mine." and the little smartmouth told ME to go deliver it properly to the neighbors. Another one told me the misdelivered mail is not her fault and blamed "the machines" and said she didn't "have the time" to redeliver all the misdelivered mail because they were all on a tight schedule. Her "tight schedule" includes stopping to chat for up to 20 minutes with anybody that happens to be standing on their lawn along the route.

I remember the days when the mail carriers were neat and clean and wore uniforms. Nowdays they wear whatever they want and that includes hotpants, hiphop gear, and the worst 'ol raggedy mismatched things from the bottom of the closet. My regular carrier looks like she hasn't washed or combed her hair in years, and mumbles to herself along the route, sometimes waving her arms saying something is attacking her. They all look scary and act weird. I had always heard it was really tough to get a good job at the post office but it look like now they just take anybody who applies - just like McDonalds.

I think everyone knows my impression of the USPS...a mailbox drop is like a black hole.

Made me laugh about the rose bush. HE is on YOUR property, cutting through, isn't looking where HE's going, and tells you to do something about your rose bush??? It's a rose bush, for heaven's sake. It has thorns. I hope you told him that nature gave it thorns for that very reason - to keep things away that could hurt it.

Sheesh.

I'd be out there fertilizing the rose bush.

Ron

Re: the rose bush, I think I'd be telling him HE damaged my bush and I was holding him responsible. Our carriers used to cut through the yards between our houses, too--until we planted a yew hedge. Now they have no choice but to walk down to the front sidewalk. Oh, well.

Mail delivery? I've lived in my house over 36 years, obviously we've had numerouss mail carriers in that time. And NONE of them can read. Let's say our street's name is Dogwood, and the street behind us is Maplewood. For some reason, even though those words are NOT that much alike, aren't the same length or anything (other than the fact they rhyme) we are always getting the mail for the person on Maplewood with our same house number. They all do it. We got to know that neighbor because we were always running back and forth exchanging misdelivered mail.

And then every so often I get the mailmen who are too lazy to put the mail through the slot in our door. Some wad it up and wedge just the corner of the mail in the slot so it's all sticking out front--or worse, just drop it on the front step where anyone could come by and take it.

We live in a rural area, so they just drive up to our mailbox and deposit the mail. If I have a package, she puts it in a plastic bag and wraps the end of the bag around the flag...or drops it in the shrubs below the mailbox. The post office said they are not supposed to wrap anything around the flag, and had me sign a form that anything that did not fit into the mailbox was to be deposited on the back porch. Our back porch is easy to get to and covered. But she never does that--if it's a large package, she just puts a card in the mailbox that we have to go to the post office to pick it up. I don't know what to do about it and I don't like complaining.

On the other hand, UPS and FedEx are fabulous! It's easy to understand why USPS is in debt, and UPS and FedEx are doing well.

Over at The Seed Exchange the mere mention of the Post Office and how they (over)charge for so many bubble envelopes containing seed packets, since they went to shape based pricing over 2 years ago, is enough to make several of us start twitchin.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Recent PO thread

WOW! I am going to give my mail carrier a thank you card! We have great service and rarely have any problems. I guess living in a smaller town has benefits and I do appreciate it. UPS is also wonderful around here.

It probably sounds like I am just a big whiney complainer. I want to add that my UPS guy is GREAT! I've had the same guy delivering to my house for years. He is so nice and one time when he was delivering two huge heavy boxes filled with rock salt he offered to move his truck around back to the side street, and then drop the boxes off in front of my garage. Cool! He is neat and clean in a nice uniform, and speaks in full clear sentences.

LOL at Ron's suggestion.
After having been spoiled by two wonderful carriers for over ten years, we now have an odd little fellow. A couple of weeks ago we found our neighbors outgoing bill in our flower bed. I sure wish he would ring the bell when he leaves a package - but I supposed that is above and beyond.
BUT the other day, he was cutting across my driveway from the house next door while I was in my car, car was running and in reverse. OK, so I saw him in time and did not bump in, he passess, good. Well apparently, he decided to turn around and go BACK to the neighbors after I started rolling.
I'm lucky I missed him, and that I back out slowly, but what kind of idiot walks right behind a care in reverse?
Someone that wants to be out on medical is all I can guess...
All that being said, My hats off to the wonderful carriers that are definitely out there. The heat this summer in Texas is nothing short of dangerous.

I live on a rural route and my maillady is terrific. Packages are left on my porch. Rarely makes a mistake in my mail. BUT I do know the horrors of the post office. When I worked, I did payroll for a local school. All paycks were mailed when school wasn't in session. There were at least 2 checks delayed or lost every payday!! I dreaded paydays.

Shirley

Litereader, I'm with you...I may just hug our mailman!!!! I work for a huge corportation, and while there are inevitable problems, we really have a nice selection of hard working mail carriers. I can tell you that in our town we have a large number of great mailcarriers! I'm sure there are bad ones here and there, but I haven't met them. Our home, DH's store and my workplace all have greaaaat mailpersons. We are blessed!

i must be pretty lucky...but then they drive to deliver our mail...(street side box) and i do like the storefront office we have....

When we lived in town we got to meet everyone in a three block radius, giving them the mail we had erronelously received. Of course, they got to meet us while giving us our mail, too! We had mail delivered to our driveway, complete with tire marks; one who always delivered the mail slightly damp (he had a sweaty palm problem, to put it mildly); packages delivered to the wrong address and when we complained, "someone from the post office went and picked it up and we don't know where it is". When we confronted the Postmaster and the mail deliverer about the missing packages and mail delivered anywhere to anyone, the deliverer said, "Well, I'm just human" and the postmaster backed her up!
Now we are on a rural delivery route, and the difference is amazing! When we moved in, Bobby, who delivers our mail, stopped and introduced himself and asked the names of the people living here so he wouldn't be delivering the previous owners mail to us. If he has a package he honks his horn, and if we don't come out, he puts it in the mailbox if it fits, and on the porch if it doesn't. He is definitely on my "cookies at Christmas" list!

I don't have any complaints about our mail carriers or even the Post Office in general other than their lack of consistancy in charging. 2 identical packages mailed to the same address from 2 different PO's- one will be $1.22 and the other one $1.59. I ask them why and they just shrug. I try to go to the one that's cheaper, but it's out of the way unless I'm headed to the big city.

Our small town PO's seem to have fabulous staff and they'll go out of their way for us to make sure something gets where it's going on time.

Our UPS guys are great too- if they see you out and about they'll flag you down and hand you your package or stick it in your car if it's unlocked. Saves them a trip down our loooooong driveway, too.

Delivering anything out here is a challenge because we are so rural. It used to be really hard when we had RR addresses instead of street addys.

Re carriers, I've had the opposite experience. My USPS mailman is a gem. Always helpful, and fun to talk to--although he doesn't have much time to chat. My current UPS driver is a sweetheart, too, but the previous one was a bozo. He was terrified of my collie mix, Caroline, even though she had only three legs and I explained to him that she was totally non-threatening. He always got a little nasty about it.

I'm on a rural route, too, and I do a lot of transactions via my mailbox--especially when I'm selling stuff on eBay or Amazon. I have a great relationship with our Post Office employees. I think they like me because I'm a relatively large consumer of postage.

Now, on a national level I do have some complaints. The last couple of changes they made in rates were way too complicated, IMO. But those complexities are just as hard (or harder) on the PO employees as they are on me.

I think you should move to the country, Mcmann.

We could move to our place in the country and then we'd never see the mailman. My driveway is connected to a private community so the mailboxes are just inside the the gates.

My carrier at home drives a little mail truck, parks on the street and then hand carries the mail to 5 or 6 houses. He doesn't use a bag of any kind so if it's raining my mail is very wet by the time I get it.

I don't have any complaints about our mail carriers or even the Post Office in general other than their lack of consistancy in charging. 2 identical packages mailed to the same address from 2 different PO's- one will be $1.22 and the other one $1.59.

That is what so many of us seed traders are all upset about.

One of your Post Offices charged the envy as a Large Envelope, and the other charged it as a Parcel.

If it meets the size requirements, and the contents are evenly distributed, and taped in place, and it is entirely flexible, the envy should very well go as a Large Envelope, which is the cheapest. A lot of the postal workers are of the old mindset that all bubble envelopes are parcels. I'd estimate that about 25 percent of the post offices across the country are overcharging on them and have been for over 2 years now. Shape based pricing went into effect in May 2007.

For anyone who does a lot of mailing of padded mailers, if you are interested, it is possible to get a template from your PO for your personal use so you can affix the proper postage at home.

Shape Based pricing Template-Contact your local PO

Sue...startin to twitch

I love our mailman too. He brings our dog Hank treats! Probably trying to win him over because Hank always barks at him, LOL. I don't mind if he cuts across the yard, he has enough walking to do.

Our post office people are really good for a small town as is the rural carrier. She really goes out of her way to deliver mail, especially in our ND winters. But we had some interesting ones in CA, both on the rural route and in town. Like throwing mail from the east side to the west side all over the dessert or keeping it until it got cooler to deliver it.

Our regular mailman is really good. Very pleasant, and does not have a problem with Buffy in my yard every day. I hate when he goes on vacation though, we always get notices of mail delivery refusal because Buffy is unattended in the yard. Yes, she barks, and barks alot at the mailman, but never gets up from her spot. I suppose the fear of an unknown dog can be scary for a stranger.
I just go to the PO when this happens. Not a big deal really. Since our mail delivery can be anywhere from 10 am to 7 pm, I can't really plan ahead with Buffy.

Trin

I agree about the dressing of usps employees...disgraceful.. I just this second heard on the radio..usps is going to have to cut services,,, to save money. june

I sent a birthday card to my best friend who lives in Canada. Properly addressed to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, including the six-digit zone. It got re-routed to Ottawa Kansas, then made its' way up North. I can't understand it, but I certainly got a lot of miles with obly one stamp!