Major Mail Screw-Up...
By twoey68
@twoey68 (13627)
United States
January 18, 2008 8:50am CST
I've seen alot of screw up's with the mail here lately but this one takes the cake. Yesterday, my Mom got a bag of prescription drugs in her mailbox. They weren't for anyone that lives or has ever lived at their house, the address was wrong and the person they were meant for lives on the other side of town. With all the drug problems our town, not to mention the country in general, faces it's beyond me how they could make a mistake like this.
I've had movies I've bought online go to the neighbors and I've had gifts, letters, bank statements, bills, ect. come to our mail. I could maybe see if the addresses were the same or really close or if the last name was really close but the address are completely different and the last names aren't anything close to ours. Messing up with this type of thing is one thing (though the bank statements scare me) but prescription drugs??? Hubby gets his meds mailed to him from the VA so does my Stepfather and Grandmother.
The post office says they don't actually read the name or address they read the code...whatever that is. It can't be the zip code b/c our whole town has the same one. I just can't believe they'd screw up that bad.
Oh, and I used to write DOES NOT LIVE HERE on the envelope when someone else's mail came to our apartment and I was told by the post office that I can be charged for interferring with the mail for doing that...they said your supposed to stick a sticky note on it with the message and not write on the envelope...I think they do that so that the when the person actually gets it they don't know it was misdelivered to start with.
Have you ever had mail go missing or were supposed to get something and it never showed up?
**AT PEACE WITHIN**
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~
14 people like this
33 responses
@redyellowblackdog (10629)
• United States
18 Jan 08
I can actually speak authoritatively on this subject.
I'm a former Highway Contract Mail Carrier, that's a self employed private contractor delievering the US MAIL. I did this for 5 years. I love threads like this.
Long story short. You are completely correct and your postmaster & your mail carrier are both incompetant.
Here's what you do. Contact the postmaster again the next time you have a complaint. If you do not get satisfaction ask the postmaster for the phone number of the POO. Prounounced as in Winnie the POO. This is short hand in the USPS for Manager of Post Office Operations. The POO is the boss of all the postmasters in a given area. The public does not usually interact with this person. Postmasters fear this person. POO's are usually happy to hear direct from customers. Postmasters are usually unhappy to have customers talk to the POO.
BTW: That writing on the mail business, is NOT a crime. I actually looked this up in the DMM, (Domestic Mail Manual). The DMM actually says the customer should write on the mail just as you did. The next time a USPS employee gives you that BS about it being a crime, tell them to check their DMM. All post offices have a copy.
4 people like this
@luvstochat (6907)
• United States
18 Jan 08
I am glad to hear it is not a crime becasue I do that all the time if mail comes that is not mine I will write not here on the envelope and put it back on the mailbox the next day.
4 people like this
@redyellowblackdog (10629)
• United States
18 Jan 08
USPS employees try to discourage you from writing on the mail that it was misdelievered merely because they do not want the receiptent to be aware they screwed up.
The DMM really does have in it the customer should write "Not at this address" or something similar on received misdelievered mail and put it back in the box.
3 people like this
@SixPaulEleven (552)
• United States
23 Jan 08
Thanks for the heads up. I am going to start doing that again on my mail. To heck if they come try to arrest me. I'll demand to see their DMM before they haul me away in handcuffs for writing "not at this address" on a piece of mail.
2 people like this
@uath13 (8192)
• United States
18 Jan 08
Who hasn't?
It's actually my job to verify that my company is recieving all the mail we're supposed to be getting from them. Often an order that was sent out in several packages will be delivered over several different days & parts lost, crushed, misdelivered, whatever.
4 people like this
@awonderfullife (2893)
• United States
18 Jan 08
A few years ago when my sister was in college, we all sent her gifts for her 21st birthday. I sent her a gift card to her favorite store, my mom sent her a care package with food and hosuehold items, my parents aslo sent her a check, and my other sisters sent her cards with money. She recieved none of it. The poor thing, she thought everybody had forgotten her birthday!
Anyway, after she complained to the post office that she did not recieve any of these items, they did an investigation. Turns out her MAILMAN was stealing her mail!
4 people like this
@awonderfullife (2893)
• United States
19 Jan 08
OH yes, he was prosecuted, mooch!
1 person likes this
@jezzmay (1845)
• United States
18 Jan 08
My mom had a great mess up this month,her social security check
went missing.She had to go sign papers that she did not get it.
Had to wait for it to be processed for her to get another.Then
was told if she got both checks to return one,are she would have
to pay it back.They acted like it was her fought.
3 people like this
@peanutjar (5198)
• Canada
18 Jan 08
YES!!It seems to end up at our neighbours house alot,bills,books etc.I even get their mail in my mailbox too.My boyfriend and i also have had "missing" mail that was sent out to us and have never gotten it all,like important ones too.I msoo sick of the mail mixups here,im always going over to the neighbours to give it and they come here.One time i got a latter in the mail for car registration,took it to the neighbour and she blamed me for keeping because she was waiting for it for like a month!I never kept it!I told her but she did not listen to me,only calling me names,i do not take anymail there now,i take it back to the post office or either put it in the slot(big mail box here for everyone with seperate house numbers on it)for the key for a big item box.I have the peace for not being accused of something i never did and avoiding the witchy neighbour,haha!!
Peanutjar:)
3 people like this
@luvstochat (6907)
• United States
18 Jan 08
Before I got my creidt good my mom got me a cell phone in her name I had to pay the bill so the cell phone company mailed the bill to my address but it had my moms name on the envelope well: the mailman did not recognize the name as living at at that residents so he would not deliver it so I was not getting my bill the way I found out was one day I went to greet him and he had the bill in his hand and he went to put it back in his bag and I told him that was mine I got it from then on.
3 people like this
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
18 Jan 08
I always put does not live here on the envelope and my postman has said nothing aboutit being wrong.
and I have had other peoples mail and them mine if we are in the same neighbor hood we just take it to them.
As with meds I think they ought to know and read who they go too!.
and we never get mail not ours when our reg. mail man is on duty but a sub. will always mess things up
2 people like this
@slickcut (8140)
• United States
18 Jan 08
My husband also gets his meds from Va, and also his diabetes supplies through mail,so that is scarey...I am like you, they don't want you to write does not live here simply because they don't want anyone to know it was mismailed to start with..I still write that on mine, and nothing has been said about it..The postal service is just like all the other kinds of services, unqualified people work there,and you can tell when you walk into the post office and see who is working there,you can tell by looking that half of them do not know what they are doing...Try calling someone at you internet company,phone company,or any place, most of them don/t even speak english...I called one company one day,i cannot remember which one now but i finally told them"Hey i am sorry and i do not want to be rude but i need somwonw that i can understand...How do they expect someone to help you when they do not speak english well?....
3 people like this
@blackbriar (9075)
• United States
30 Jan 08
Don't even go there with the mail screw-ups. When our town post office switched to a new system, e1 was getting other ppls mail but their own for months afterwards. Drove e1 nuts cause bills ended up being late for e1 and lots of late/lost checks from SS or other organizations. Thankfully, all the bugs were worked out and we now get only our mail. Just hope noone else is still getting out mail as well.
1 person likes this
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
18 Jan 08
I never heard that about not writing on the envelope. Surely a sticky would fall off! Guess they'd have to catch you, though, for if the mail was sent to the wrong address, how would they know which wrong address out of the millions. Well, that is why I rent a box from the mail forwarding service. The only thing is the guy who had the box before me was a deadbeat and I get tons of collection notices addressed to him in my box. One I slit open by mistake and it was from a Casino that he owed thousands of $$$. Kind of scary!
2 people like this
@gmakesmoney (2923)
• United States
23 Jan 08
Happens all the time to me and it always has. Especially since moving to Alabama, our old mailman got mad at me for getting too many catalogs and free samples in the mail. The mailbox would fill up and he'd get so upset and say "so... that's a lot of stuff you're getting there." I mean really, so what? Mind your business old man and do your job! I get stuff for people who live in my complex but on another street all the time because we have a common last name. It's embarassing stuff too, like warrent notices, bankruptsy papers, that aren't mind but I get. I can only imagine all the Always and Stayfree samples my neighboors have gotten by mistake that were really mine, lol. I get really annoyed with the whole thing and for a while we got a P.O. Box which helped out big time.
1 person likes this
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
18 Jan 08
Yeah we have had mess ups with getting our neighbors mail, but it usually was not anything important.. That's scary that they don't read the name and address, why the heck do we put it there in the first place? Sounds like the post office needs to improve the way they are doing things..
@vera5d (4004)
• United States
18 Jan 08
yes it is scary how much wrong mail and missed mail there is...the code they use is one that's printed on the envelope. you'll notice it on a lot of junk mail & mail from businesses typically.
on average though i think they do a decent job...it must be the mail carrier...in our new house we have an awesome mail carrier...she's never given us the wrong mail yet!
@SixPaulEleven (552)
• United States
23 Jan 08
My postwoman told me to just put it in the mailbox with the flag up. She said if you write on it, "MLNA (moved left no address)" That the post office trashes the mail as it's been written on and they can't send it anywhere.
I do that, but i still keep getting mail for the woman that lived in my house 11 years ago. She sold it to a nice couple and then that couple sold it to us. I still get mail for that first woman even though every time I get mail for her, I put it in my mailbox with the flag up. I don't know if the company that is sending it is getting it back or if they are not, where it goes.
I get mail going missing all the time. I mailed a check into my utility company a few months back and they just now got it a few weeks ago. They flagged my account so if check number XXXX showed up to call the client to see if the check can be deposited or just tear it up. Almost 5 months after that check got there and with a postmark of Bismark, ND, Seattle, WA and Miami, FL, that check made it to my utility company. It went all over the world and back. I live in Texas -- not North Dakota. That envelope must have gotten thrown in the wrong bin and just forgotten about.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (169474)
• United States
20 Jan 08
This is a small town, and except for the days when we have a substitute carrier, our mail is delivered correctly. I have had different people live here with me, different last names, and consistently the only mistake is that we occassionally get mail for someone with the same house number who lives behind us three streets. They have the same last initial as my previous last initial, but I do not know if that has anything to do with it. ON THE OTHER HAND we have had awful luck with FED EX and UPS. We have had merchandise coming here, that never came, and display boards when I was doing demonstations and so on and so forth. It is laughable. I have taken to telling them a physical description of where I live (next to the brick house, west side of street, second from south west corner.) Come on now, it is a huge house, and the numbers are plainly visible, and I live on MAIN Street.
@Cajunhellcat (2073)
• United States
22 Jan 08
Are ya sure ya don't live in Lake Charles cause that sure sounds like what is going on here I just don't understand how they can mess the mail up every day I know they are only human and a mistake now and then is okay but every day
1 person likes this
@GnosticGoddess (5626)
• United States
23 Jan 08
That sounds like a major screw up in your local postal office!! I have never heard the like - not looking at the name or address?! Name okay - that I understand - but the ADDRESS?! Hello! That's why we have them in the first place - you know?!
I've also never been told not to write on the envelopes and never even heard that you could get charged with interfering with the mail. That sounds made up - though I can't be 100% sure on that.
I sure hope your post office gets their crap together. Maybe there is someone you can call and complain too because they shouldn't be messing up that badly!
1 person likes this
@sweetgirl_k1 (3972)
• United States
22 Jan 08
I hate when stuff like that happens. I've gotten other people's mail before too. I actually got a guy's senior pictures before and he lived up the road so my husband just carried them up there to him. I've never gotten someone else's medicine though...that's kinda scary. That could have gotten into the wrong hands, you know? And I have written stuff on the envelopes like "doesn't live here" or "not at this address" and they haven't ever said anything to me about it.
1 person likes this
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
23 Jan 08
I ordered a gift card from Apple for $200 for a Christmas gift, I am still waiting for the one that the post office was to have delivered. I went around with Apple and I think it was January 5th when they over nighted a new one to me....a bit late for the recipient.
1 person likes this
@Modestah (11177)
• United States
20 Jan 08
we get another families mail that lives in town, we are several miles outside of town - the last name has 3 letters the same out of 7 it should not be that confusing - no problem I redirect their mail but it makes me wonder how much of my mail is elsewhere... we pay enough for mail service, then if we want assurance that it will arrive we have to be an outragious fee for insurance to make sure that the job they are being paid for is getting done. how much longer is the postal system going to last? the personal care and conviction is going down hill fast.
ive been read the riot act about writing on the envelope too and had the same conclusion as you about it.
1 person likes this
