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I still send outgoing mail the traditional way by putting it in my driveway mailbox and putting the flag up.
Do you still send mail like this or do you feel it's too risky to leave things until the mail carrier comes around?
Do you feel it's putting a burden on the mail carrier?
I know there's an occasional problem of the USPS freestanding mailboxes being broken into as well. Do you feel safe dropping mail in one of those?
Of course we can cut back on a lot of mailing now with paying bills and taking care of other business online.
There is no way in hell I'd trust the PO to collect outgoing mail from my box and see that it got where it's going. And I have a good carrier. MOST of the time. The USPS today is NOT the USPS of even 10 years ago... never mind an era when everybody was sending mail.
I'm chalking it up to 'don't care'. I had my mailbox vandalized and it took me a few weeks to get it replaced. I talked to someone at the main post office to have my mail held for pickup, when I went in to retrieve it they had already sent it back because I didn't have a mailbox up! Can you say "left hand meet the right hand"? Their excuse was a ... (sorry can't think of the word, the temps who relieve the regular carrier) had sent it back without checking with a supervisor.
Maybe more like what is cared about as residential customers run the gamut from folks who never empty their box until that day comes when they expect something. To those who check the informed delivery email and call the market ad company to report the post office if they don't receive their weekly supermarket ad paper by Wednesday.
The carrier doesn't check with the closing supervisor before disposing of mail is because he wasn't suppose to check with somebody, there normally being different supervisors from the who sent you out in the morning that is talked to by most then the supervisors who check you back into the office 10 hours later. And most stations likely get a messages about mystery or sleeper mail, depending upon that district's slang before. When you talked to the supervisor a clock started ticking and once that date is reached mail is disposed of so that the carrier and station is not accused of delaying it. Talking to your carrier or a supervisor about buys 10 days, putting in a vacation hold a month. A carrier or a supervisor might take a risk of disciplinary actions
and override those limits, but then here comes an inspector from the next higher level to gig the carrier or station and next time the penalty will be harsher, potentially dismissal if they built up enough bad paper in their file. And if those higher level hunters find something the system generates a snipe hunt to avoid a second occurrence. The example being a carrier held a vacation for more than a month, the station gets caught then discipline flows so everyone else holding something about to pass the hold limits follows the rule book.
In the meantime the carrier who is becoming increasingly less likely every day to know anything about a route because he just picks up mail in route order from anywhere that unit services on the loading dock gets to a delivery point and finds that he can't deliver. The box might be stuffed uncollected, there might be no box but whatever reason he has to return and dispose of that mail
Yes, of course I put the outgoing mail in the mail box with the flag up. The only exceptions are oversized letters, which I take to the post office, and my absentee ballot, which I take to the Board of Elections drop box. If I happen to get mail that belongs to my neighbor, I walk the 500 feet and put it in his mailbox. As far as freestanding mailboxes, I suspect the only ones left in town are the ones in front of the post office. If I did not feel safe putting outgoing letters in my mailbox, then that's an indication that I would need to move to a safer community.
My Dad is old school at 94, I pay all his bills with checks, a couple times a company said payment not received, put a stop payment on check, that costs $, write another check. I started taking his bill to the PO and dropping it in the box there.
But still do put some in the mail box with flag up.
At my daughters road, there is a few lock boxes, they have been robbed several times so the kids got a PO box.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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One of the reasons we pay our bills online is to avoid having to buy stamps and drive a mile to the nearest mile deposit box, or 6 miles to the nearest post office. No we would not raise the flag and leave any outgoing in the mailbox. Despite being in one of the lowest crime cities, the #1 crime is mail theft. Since someone stole ours, I have a wireless transmitter in our mailbox, that rings a bell in the house when the mailbox is opened. One of us goes right out to fetch it as soon as we hear the bell.
I still send outgoing mail the traditional way by putting it in my driveway mailbox and putting the flag up.
Do you still send mail like this or do you feel it's too risky to leave things until the mail carrier comes around?
Do you feel it's putting a burden on the mail carrier?
I know there's an occasional problem of the USPS freestanding mailboxes being broken into as well. Do you feel safe dropping mail in one of those?
Of course we can cut back on a lot of mailing now with paying bills and taking care of other business online.
My Maillady doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. For that reason I'll drop anything important at the post office. But in the past I've had no concerns dropping anything other than a large stack of mail (IE Christmas Cards or invitations) in my normal mailbox.
No I take it to the post office or the local box. The mail comes at different times of the day, & I feel it is safer in the post office box. We live in a safe neighborhood, but why take chances. I mostly pay online anyhow.
Plus I am not sure if we even have a regular mail person anymore.
Yes, of course I put the outgoing mail in the mail box with the flag up. The only exceptions are oversized letters, which I take to the post office, and my absentee ballot, which I take to the Board of Elections drop box. If I happen to get mail that belongs to my neighbor, I walk the 500 feet and put it in his mailbox. As far as freestanding mailboxes, I suspect the only ones left in town are the ones in front of the post office. If I did not feel safe putting outgoing letters in my mailbox, then that's an indication that I would need to move to a safer community.
Mail thieves live in OTHER communities and target the high-end communities. Our community of homes (that range in price from $400K to 2 mil) was targeted by a couple of mail thieves and porch pirates BECAUSE it's a nice neighborhood. Definitely not a reason to move. That's a pretty silly comment. Fortunately, a lot of our neighbors have security cameras, and the make and color of the thieves' car was identified almost immediately, and people watched for the guy and assisted in sheriffs locating the thieves.
[quote=evening sun;65531042]No I take it to the post office or the local box. The mail comes at different times of the day, & I feel it is safer in the post office box. We live in a safe neighborhood, but why take chances. I mostly pay online anyhow. Plus I am not sure if we even have a regular mail person anymore.[/QUOTE]
Our mail can come anywhere from 10 AM to 6 PM depending on who is running the route that day as it always seems to be someone different. When we lived in Florida we always had the same mail carrier.
Our mail can come anywhere from 10 AM to 6 PM depending on who is running the route that day as it always seems to be someone different. When we lived in Florida we always had the same mail carrier.
Ours too. We used to have a regular carrier who was a uniformed USPS employee in a mail truck. Now we have random people in their personal vehicle, some with a flashing light set on top for safety, who are contract workers for the USPS. Some are just lazy and won't bring a pkg too large for the box to the door. They won't even get out of the car, instead they cram the oversized pkg into the box (even if it says fragile), or even leave it on the ground next to the mailbox which is on the roadside. Anyone could steal it. We check the box at 2:00, then 4:00, and then 6:00 until there's mail because it could come at any time. Complaints to the postmaster have been totally useless. Sometimes we'll get no mail for 2 days and then 3 days worth all at once.
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