metered mail (rent, landlord, inspector)

[bgoodwin]

I was told by a clerk in a local post office that the date on metered mail can be adjusted to a different date than what the current date is and that it can be mailed at a different time than the date that is on the metered mark. Is this true? My ex-landlord said that he sent a check for our security deposit check on the 29th of April to the the next town over from where it would have been sent, it did not arrive until the 7th of May, an entire week later. He has really been messing with us and we are wondering if he could have possibly altered the date or just sent it much later, because there is no actual USPS postage stamped on it to prove the date that he mailed it.
Thank you in advance.

[Ultrarunner]

Our old PitneyBowes postage machines could be reset until Pitney came out and replaced all of them several years ago with new ones that cannot be set back... only ahead.

An office could always stamp extra envelopes on a daily bases and have one available... but, it wouldn't seem worth it...

Sometimes we include a meter stamp return envelope and the date is omitted...

Don't know if I helped answer your question?

Postal Inspector came to our place once because the meter date could not be read... they really do watch stuff like that...

[bhcompy]

some machines can allow you to mess with the date, or he could be doing what i did and when i knew i was going to mail something shortly id get a few envelopes and run them through the meter. that way my rent money was postmarked prior to the 1st of the month even if i didnt get paid until the 1st.

the problem is that this can get the postal carrier in trouble for holding mail, so they'll usually talk to you about it if you're giving it to them. but if you're sticking it in a post office pickup box, theres not much they can complain about

[Lovehound]

Does this sound like cheating to anybody? I remember when cheating was frowned upon. I think that was back in the 1950s...

[DMenscha]

Our little post office "loses" things from time to time. (like the postmistress's mind) Perhaps the letter ran afoul of the machine or something.

[Lovehound]

Actually the post office does lose things. I used to run an Internet merchandise business and I shipped my products using either Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation or Express Mail (delivery confirmation is included). There was about 1-2% of my shipments that simply disappeared, the delivery confirmation remained open and the item was never delivered or received by the customer. I reshipped the Priority Mail at my cost, and turned in the Express Mail receipts for refund including the cost of my merchandise plus postage.

Nobody is perfect and that includes the USPS. Especially the USPS!