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USPS Nightmare

peewinkle — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:49:56 -0800

snailmailfilter: I recently moved and the Post Office messed up my "change of address" card... for the past ten weeks, all of my mail has been forwarded to Las Vegas...... background info- Due to health issues, I have recently moved back in with my father. We share the same name (he is the "II" and I am the "III." When I moved back from Wisconsin to Michigan three months ago, I filled out two separate Change Of Address forms, as I had two mailing addresses there. My father spends his winters in Las Vegas every year.

Somehow, the USPS confused us and has been forwarding ALL of my mail to Las Vegas, despite the fact that he has been having HIS mail forwarded to Michigan. Which makes no sense to begin with, if the USPS has us confused, one would think that it would still be getting my mail sent to his CURRENT address that the USPS has in their computer.

I finally realized something was wrong as and went to the Post Office to check things out and found that all my mail has been going to Las Vegas, which I assume then all gets returned to sender. I called the trailer park he stayed at and they told me that their policy is to return any mail if someone isn't a current resident.

The worse part is that I have now lost my medicare benefits, was denied medicaid and other things along those lines because I failed to return key forms by certain dates. My Social Security is screwed up as well. I have missed three offers for freelance writing jobs, and several other things, such as magazine subscriptions, etc were all canceled....

One other key problem that is upsetting is that if my Medicare/Medicaid hadn't been screwed up, I would probably be in treatment by now for my Hodgkin's Disease.

My question is this: Is there any repercussion that I could follow? Can I sue the Postal Office? The lady at the Post Office apologized profusely but stated that there was nothing they could do except start having future mail sent to my current address.......

So aside from spending the next three days on the phone trying to explain everything to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, my banks, my agent, etc etc and sort this nightmare out, is there anything I can do to be compensated for all of this? Should I be talking to a lawyer?

Thanks in advance!

Zip, indeed.

dinger — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:39:00 -0800

Since we all have nine-digit zip codes now, why is it still neccesary to include the city and state in a postal address? Zip codes, as far as I know, are unique. If so, why should we still have to include the city and state in a mailing address? Isn't that redundant?

How can I make the USPS do my bidding?

liketitanic — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:30:47 -0800

How do I get the post office's attention? My PO Box is basically embargoed, the key is lost, the mail has been piling up a month. Will they forward it to me or let someone else act as my agent? I'm out of town dealing with the Family Emergency Without End and my PO Box at home is piled full of mail. My wife lost the key when trying to give it to a friend for me, so now no one can get in. When SHE calls the PO they say *I* have to come in, but I can't come in and no one can seem to make them understand that. Vacation holds are only 30 days. I might be able (no guarantees) to get there in 2 weeks. Is there anyone I could contact, or a better method I could try for contacting, someone in the USPS who can help me resolve this?

Ship it or leave it

indyz — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 23:11:45 -0800

Can I ship some camping gear ahead of my travels and pick it up from the post office or UPS Store when I arrive? I'm flying to Florida and can save a bunch on a second checked bag by shipping my sleeping bag, tent, and some other stuff. The problem is, there is nobody at my destination to receive the package. I've heard of cross-country cyclists picking up packages as the reach post offices along their route, but I have no idea how to arrange something like that.

Does anybody have experience with something like this? USPS or UPS/Mailboxes Etc would be best. I have an aversion to FedEx.

Post cards and Florida

mad_little_monkey — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:32:28 -0800

Post Office Post Card Filter - how can I find out how many post cards have been sent from Florida over the last century? I'm working on a paper for a Master's Degree on why Florida is so weird. I suspect it has a lot to do with postcards. If any of you know of any factual or anecdotal info on postcards and Florida I would love to include it.

Here's what I am trying to find out: Is there any record of how busy Florida post offices were with post cards? Were any post offices in Florida exceptionally busy because of them? Did Florida sell more 1 cent stamps relative to other states? How much did it cost to send a post card between 1900 and 2000? What about National Post Card week?

Anything on Florida and post cards would be truly appreciated...

How much postage on a webpage?

Solomon — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 11:28:14 -0800

Do you use Post Office broadband as your UK ISP? And if you do, what are they like? I've been reading lots of reviews online, but I can't seem to find out what the surfing experience is like. All of the reviews I've read so far seem to have come from people inexperienced with PC/DSL problems. I can find lots of people slating the customer service helpline, and that side of things, but nobody is talking about the surfing speeds, the ping times, and such. What are they like?

FWIW, I already have broadband (have had for several years), a router, etc. I'm reasonably sure I can deal with most problems like SMTP passwords myself. I hopefully shan't have much need of customer services at all. I just want to know what the day-to-day surfing experience, and the change from one ISP to another, etc, is like.

Incorrectly Issued International Reply Coupon?

c0nsumer — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 09:07:48 -0800

Are the International Reply Coupons my girlfriend purchased done... wrongly? My girlfriend recently purchased two International Reply Coupons so that we could request tickets to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. However, when she went to the local post office, she ran into some difficulties. At first the employee didn't seem to know what an IRC was, then after talking to peers he found two, but stuck $0.25 worth of US stamps on them, canceled the stamps, then sold them to her for the $1.85 cover price plus $0.25 for the stamps each.

Here is a photo of the two questionable International Reply Coupons with the seemingly odd stamping.

I'm having difficulties finding info on how IRCs are supposed to be issued and none of the photos I can find on Google Images or Flickr seem to be stamped / canceled this way. Before heading back to the post office to question the employee's handle of the situation, I'm hoping that someone here can help me determine if these are done right or need to be returned and reissued.

Thanks!

How do the eff do we make them stop?

lbo — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:28:07 -0800

Why am I getting snail mail and phone calls for two people who never lived in my apartment, but who share my last name? I've lived in my current apartment for about two years now. About three months ago my husband and I decided to get a land line to use in emergencies. Since we started the service, we have received phone calls almost daily for Cory OurLastName or Sawanda OurLastName. We've also started to receive mail for them at least once or twice a week, on which we write "no such person at this address" and return to the mailbox.

When we searched their names on one of the more popular, but sketchy-seeming, online phone books, we found that they were listed as heads-of-household in a different apartment within our same complex. They are listed with our phone number and, oddly, my husband is also listed as living with them. When my husband searches his own name, he also comes up at that address living with them.

Qwest was of no help aside from telling me to get a new phone number. Our number has always been unlisted with them, so that should never have contributed to our number/address being listed online, should it? I called my apartment management company and they were able to tell me that Corey and Sawanda did, in fact, live in the complex at one point, and at that different apartment number that we found online. The manager told me she would talk to the mail carrier herself about not delivering any more mail addressed to them.

We'd really prefer not to change our phone number, though we will if necessary. But what's to really stop us from somehow being connected to them again, even with a new number? Is there some logical explanation for this that we're missing? We are weirded out that our names, address and phone number are so easy to find. We live in Utah, if that's useful.

Post Office snake oil saleswoman?

cha4 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:06:06 -0800

Have you ever tried to send a piece of mail at the post office certified or signed? Yesterday I tried and the lady went into all this strange ins and outs to justify why I should pay $5 for priority mail envelop instead of the $2.50 (or so) I could pay to just track it (if I skipped the mailed receipt option). This included telling me I'd have to pay for the envelope (which is fine), but insinuating it would be expensive and deflecting how much an envelope would actually be (finally admitting it's only 10 cents). Are they on commission? Most post office workers are really nice - but I more than once I felt like I was dealing with a used car salesman, which was a strangely eerie feeling coming out of a government employee.

Dollar Coin Conundrum

gimonca — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:18:33 -0800

Convenient way to get dollar coins outside of a bank? So I used to have this habit of buying stamp booklets from the vending machine at the post office, and keeping the dollar coins you'd get in change. (Most of the dollar coins went into the change cubby in the car to pay parking meters and automated ramp kiosks.)

Now I'm out again. I go to the post office to find out all the post office vending machines around here have been replaced with cashless ones that only accept credit/debit cards. Other than standing in line at a bank teller window that may or may not have dollar coins, is there any way for me to get dollar coins relatively conveniently in my daily routine?

(Twin Cities, MN, if you have local recommendations.)

Can un-stamped stamps be reused?

nursegracer — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:47:56 -0800

Can you reuse postage stamps if the Post Office doesn't stamp them? I have gotten many items in the mail, especially large boxes with several stamps on them, that seem to have not been stamped with the Post Office mark. I know that the stamp from the Post Office invalidates a stamp for further usage but if they are not stamped at all, can they be used again? Do they have any mysterious way of marking the stamps that I cannot see but they will find if I were to try to reuse the stamps?

Why does the post office sell 42 cent stamps? Why do people buy them?

Flunkie — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:25:04 -0800

Why does the post office sell 42 cent stamps? Why do people buy them? The US Postal Service sells "Forever Stamps", at 42 cents apiece. These are supposed to be valid first class stamps forever, even if the price of a new first class stamp increases beyond 42 cents.

However, it also sells 42 cent stamps, at 42 cents apiece. If the price of a new first class stamp goes above 42 cents, these can only be used in addition with other stamps, making up the price difference.

Why do they sell 42 cent stamps?

I understand that the answer may simply be "Because people might buy them instead of Forever Stamps, and the Post Office makes more money, in the long term, if they do."

So why would people buy them?

Is there any reason, other than being a stamp collector, or reasons like ignorance or carelessness?

Post office change of address card concerns

crapmatic — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:31:34 -0800

If I'm concerned about basic privacy, should I use the US Post Office change of address form? Has anyone had any negative experiences with it? I'm not too concerned with bulk mailers finding me, since that's inevitable, however I do have some concerns about who the Post Office distributes the address change info to since they're roped in with all kinds of private partnerships. Any insight here? Am I going to end up on Zabasearch by filling one of these out?

Amazon and eBay best practices?

cosmic osmo — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:05:06 -0800

I need advice for selling my used stuff online via eBay and Amazon--more specifically, the shipping and order management part of it. I've been selling on eBay for a while and feel pretty comfortable with most of the process (taking pictures of the item, creating an auction template, when to list, etc.) In a flash of brilliance early this a.m., I signed up for an Amazon seller's account and listed a bunch of CDs I had been planning to sell and much to my surprise, I have already sold some! So far, so good.

All of this is very low-volume: I have at most 5 eBay auctions a week, and right now I only have about 30 things listed on Amazon. I'm using GarageSale to create and manage my eBay auctions, and Delicious Library to organize my Amazon sales. For eBay, I ordered a bunch of USPS Priority Mail boxes, quote a flat rate for shipping within the U.S., pack the items as the auction ends its nearing date and then once I get paid via PayPal (and the money is immediately whisked away into my checking account) I hand-address the packages and bring them down to the local P.O. to ship (always with delivery confirmation, and sometimes the buyer will pay for insurance). So far I've been pretty good at 'guestimating' shipping costs and haven't had any complaints from buyers.

This has been going well so far--all of my auctions end Sunday nights and by the time I go to the P.O. on Tuesday mornings, usually all of the buyers have paid. Sometimes I have to make a second trip to the P.O. later in the week, but I live less than 5 minutes walking distance and rarely wait in line for more than 10 minutes if I go on a weekday morning, so I don't really mind.

My question(s): What's the best way to ship books and CDs, given that Amazon gives you around $3 to do so? Should I start using some kind of online postage payment system (Endicia? Stamps.com? Whatever PayPal offers?) for either eBay or Amazon, or both? Is it worth it to buy things like scales or special printers? I have an HP Ink Jet printer, use Macs (Leopard) exclusively, and use PayPal (at least for eBay). As mentioned above I also use GarageSale and Delicious Library, and would love anything that integrates well with what I already have. How do I make my life easier, especially given that I have also just started selling on Amazon?

I've looked up previous questions about selling on eBay and Amazon, but if you have additional tips for using either (especially Amazon!), mostly with regards to shipping and order management, I'd love to hear them. I've also waded through the seller forums at both sites, but they seem geared toward people who do this for a living, and I'm just trying to clear out some storage space while also potentially making a few bucks.

Validity of a postmark?

luser — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:56:21 -0800

Question about the validity of a "postmark" from the US Postal Service. I mailed a couple of letters last night that needed to be postmarked that day (1/30) for legal reasons. After waiting in line at the only post office open until 7 p.m., I got to the counter only to see a sign saying that after 5:30, they were only postmarking with tomorrow's date. Ugh.

I was directed to the self-service machine. Those machines don't "postmark" your mail per se; they issue a sticker with a bar code that says "sold on 1/30." This is my question: Is this the same thing as a postmark? Couldn't I just buy that sticker and mail the letter a week later? It seems like that defeats the whole purpose of definitively proving the date a letter was mailed. Also, when I put my stamped letters in the slot (which said the next pickup was the next morning), were they stamped again with a 1/31 date? Or does the postage sticker I bought from the machine preclude any further date stamping by USPS?

If it makes any difference, I sent the letters certified mail, with return receipt requested. But again, there's nothing about those forms that indicates any kind of postmark date. In fact, with the certified mail receipt, at the window they put a postmark on that so you can show when the certified mail was sent. Having used the kiosk, I don't even have that.

As you can see I'm a little concerned about whether I have ironclad proof that my letters were mailed last night.

Calling all postage meter experts.

who squared — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:32:21 -0800

A postage meter was moved from a branch office in California to an office in Vermont. The machine has yet to be updated. Specifically, it still prints "sent from 90210" instead of "sent from 05602." Will the post office in Vermont return the metered mail because of this zip code discrepancy?

Selling Stamps to the PO

catcatwomanman — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 22:24:21 -0800

Ok, burning my question for the week with something really stupid yet I don't have the time to sit on the phone on hold or make the trip, so here goes: in the US, will the post office buy back your stamps at face value (and with no questions asked)?

Faster delivery if mailed by earlier collection time?

state fxn — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 17:48:40 -0800

US Postal Service collection times: those blue boxes at the post office or street corners often list 2 or 3 different collection times. Does my mail really get to its destination faster by my getting it in the box by 12pm as opposed to 5pm?

Stop the circulars

nakedcodemonkey — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 12:06:28 -0800

Isn't there any way to permanently block delivery of unaddressed junk (USPS) mail? The post office insists on cramming increasingly thick stacks of "Occupant", "Resident", etc mail into the box every day and it's become ridiculous. Cards and letters get crushed. Bills get hidden among the loose papers. Netflix envelopes frequently get torn. It's just a matter of time until a DVD is cracked or something important gets thrown out by mistake. All to ensure delivery of (ugh) ads, which go straight into the recycling anyway. The Direct Marketing Association's list apparently only blocks mail that's addressed to us by name. Postal policy allows us to block senders individually by name only and besides, we have to claim they're sending porn just to get that block, sheesh. Sending without an addressee name on the label seems to be the loophole that allows unlimited amounts of this crud a free pass into everyone's mailbox. Isn't there any way to block all these random circulars that are crowding us out of our own mailbox?

How can I prove that someone owns a PO box?

MrMoonPie — Thu, 30 Dec 2004 07:37:04 -0800

How can I prove that someone owns a PO box? My ex-landlord says I never sent a move-out letter, and am thus not entitled to get my deposit back. I, of course, did send the letter, registered and return-receipted, to her PO box, but it came back unclaimed. She says I sent the letter to the wrong address, but I think she deliberately avoided claiming it. The Post Office is no help, citing privacy rules.

What I’d like to do is send something else to her PO box, something that she’ll want to claim. Then I’ll get the notice that she picked up the item. I’m thinking something like sending a Crate & Barrel package, or maybe having a friend do so. But I need proof that she picked it up, a signature, preferably.

And, of course, this all needs to be done legally and non-fraudulently. Any ideas?

Lost Post Office Package

fionab — Mon, 30 Aug 2004 07:38:51 -0800

Lost package through the United States Postal Service: I sent a box to myself full of books from one end of the country to the other. One of those three boxes has gone missing, and I want it back. Do you have any ideas (other than to keep hoping it shows up...) to help me recover it? [MI] I sent three boxes full of books from Montana to NC. I didn't buy tracking or insurance for them, since I've done this dozens of times without incident and I was a cheapskate. BUT, I did buy "Delivery Confirmation." On the USPS website, I can see that all three packages basically travelled together for the first two days to the 'sorting' facility here in North Carolina. All three left the sorting facility, but only two made it to my door.

It's now been over a month, so I'm officially allowed to file a missing mail report - Form 15-10. I can also write to two Mail Recovery Centers. Has anyone had any luck with this process? Is there anything else I can do? Each time I call the USPS office, they either tell me something different or don't offer any options unless I ask directly (such as, "What is form 15-10 and where can I get one?"). I'm incredibly upset ("going postal" comes to mind) - mostly at myself that I didn't spring for the tracking option since I know that the mail can be unreliable and I want those books. Any options? After writing this, it seems pretty clear that I am SOL but I thought I'd see if anyone has other ideas. Thanks in advance!