MailmanDave
17 Years Experience
Long Island, NY
Male, 43
I am a City Letter Carrier for the US Postal Service in NY. I've been a city letter carrier for over 17 years and it is the best job I've ever had. I mostly work 5 days per week (sometimes includes a Saturday) and often have the opportunity for overtime, which is usually voluntary. The route I deliver has about 350 homes and I walk to each of their doors to deliver the mail. Please keep in mind that I don't have authority to speak for the USPS, so all opinions are solely mine, not my employer.
In my opinion it is fine to leave off the word "APT" at any time as long as you have indicated what the Suite, Apt, Unit, Lot # is along with the proper street address for the property. In your example "SUPT" is sufficient if that is a legitimate apt. designation. I live in an apt. building as well and for my address I usually just put the street address and then "1A" following it on the same line and never had an issue. I am glad you brought up this question because it is difficult and frustrating to try to deliver mail in a multi-unit building without the Unit # also in the address. A carrier who does the route on a regular basis will often memorize who lives in what unit, but a replacement carrier (which is very common) should not be expected to know who lives where and it is very time consuming to have to consult a building directory for the proper unit #.
Boo, I have never heard of this happening where somebody can reverse delivery on an item that has tracking. My inkling would be that this is not allowed even if it were possible. The only way you would get the letter back is if it was refused at the destination or the address was invalid. You could call 800-ASK-USPS or go to your local Post Office but I don't think that you will get a different answer. Upon further review I went to ehow.com where there is a column written with the title "How to Retrieve a Letter Already Mailed Through the Post Office". The column mentions a form called an application for recall of mail and the steps to fill it out. Also if you go to USPS.com and lookup Package Intercept that may help you as well. You have asked a good question as it got me to do a little research to learn that this service does exist for a fee. The fee looks to be 11.50 per piece. Thanks for writing.
It does seem like a mis-scan from what you've described, especially given the time stamp of the "available for pickup" scan and the fact that it doesn't even make sense. You could report the lost piece to your local post office. I don't know the procedure as to what happens from there especially if the item was not insured. Another option is to call 1-800-275-8777 (USPS). Thanks for writing.
Amanda, I can't say for sure what will happen with your rent check that was misaddressed. If the letter carrier delivers both of those addresses on Box St. and is familiar with the names on their route, they may deliver the letter to where it is intended (meaning it will get to your landlord). It's also possible that different letter carriers deliver to those 2 addresses and the letter carrier at 362 Box St. will just deliver it to 362 Box St. or return the check to the sender (you) as "Attempted, Not Known". I would recommend not canceling the check and waiting several days to see if the landlord received the check. Is there a way to contact the landlord and tell them what you did and it's possible they will ask you to resend the check or wait a few days to see if they receive it? I say this also to maybe save you money because putting a stop payment on a check often has a fee associated with it.
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I would close any mailbox after putting mail in it as long as the mailbox could be shut. I don't believe it is appropriate to leave a mailbox open with mail in it. Any letter carrier that leaves a box open which has mail in it and doesn't have a valid excuse for not closing the box isn't performing their job properly. Thanks for writing.
Do you mean that the marking was "insufficient postage", not "insufficient packaging". If it was "insufficient postage", I'm pretty sure you would just have to pay the difference between the Parcel Select rate and the Priority Mail rate. What I'm not sure about is how you get credit for an already purchased postage label, if that's even possible. If you took this to the PO for some type of resolution, I question whether all of the clerks would know how to adjust the rate properly as the ability, care, and training of the SSAs (sales and service associates) seems to vary widely. Thanks for writing.
Rob F., the main customer service rep phone # for the USPS is 800-275-8777. Please advise them that you are having a delivery issue at your apt. building. They will likely just forward the comment/complaint to your delivery PO and I'm not sure what will happen from there. I'd hope that you would either see the mail service resume or get an explanation as to why the mail delivery has stopped to your unit when you are residing there. Is there any construction going on at your building that would restrict access to the mailboxes which I presume are located in the entry vestibule area of the apt. building. You could also leave a note in your mailbox explaining that you reside in the building in a specific apt. and you should be receiving mail. I don't know why mail delivery would be suspended form your building or just you with no clear explanation.
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