The Postal Service is on my nerves again.

[Guest Daelith]

they arent that bright

I'm thoroughly convinced those at my post office ate too many paint chips when they were kids. Maybe they still do on coffee breaks.

[safeandsecure]

Unfortunately, the "rules" are made in Washington DC (Doofus Central) ..

The local Post Office folks have tons of rules and regs to follow, and aren't permitted to use their common sense ... even if they have it. Rules first, what's right ... doesn't really matter (to the DC crowd).

But ... we all know this, don't we?

[Oh Shoot]

my wife left a plain envilope in our mailbox for someone to pick up later.

she didn't pick it up before the mail person came.

the mail person took the envilope with no markings on it at all.

I received a "you have a postage due letter" notice.

I went to post office Monday and sure enough it was my wife's envilope with my address written on it.

the mail person said if I wanted it, I would have to pay $0.44. It was a check in the envilope so I mentioned that there was no postage or address on it because it wasn't being mailed.

Evidently using your mailbox for anything but mail is "against the rules".

So I paid the $0.44.

She put a stamp in the center of the envilope, over the address and then post marked the stamp.

I went to the dollar store and bought a box of envilopes. I'm going to put an empty unmarked envilope in my mail box everyday. Just to see how long they will keep sending me those notices, or tell me they will no longer deliver my mail.

Look, ok, it might be against the rules to put an unmarked envilope in your mail box for someone to pick up later, but come on...seriously? You're going to take it, write my address on it and send me a notice? You can't figure out that a plain unmarked envilope in a mailbox might not be mail?

Yeah, they can get persnickety about that, since is supposed to be for US Mail only. They don't have to be that mean, of course, but they might.

That's why I never left a FedEx package in a mailbox, as some postal guys would get it and do same thing, either send it back to original shipper or run it back through to recipient, with postage due in either case. Used to leave one in there occasionally to a couple of regular recipients with real long driveways that I knew checked their mail each evening, and wouldn't even do that unless I knew the mail had run for the day.

Far as the Priority Mail packages, I've taped all of them every which way, including the Flat Rate boxes and envelopes. As long as the box has not been misshapened to accept more than it would normally hold, it's supposed to be okay. I still have one left over roll of Priority Mail tape, that you used to could get free, like the boxes.

- OS

[Guest Sgt. Joe]

Back in the late 70's my first wife and I had moved from about 25 miles from Ft. Hood to a new trailer park much closer to the Post as she was getting late in her term with our first child.

An enterprising young man had bought a few acres of land near the Post and put about 40 new trailers on it for rental to soldiers.

The mailboxes were in the middle of the park and all together. My wife had decided to sell Avon and without my knowledge had put an Avon book into everyones mailbox. Rutt Row:tinfoil:

A week or so later just as she was wondering out loud why she had not heard back from anyone in the park, we were visited by a large and angry Postal Inspector, he was armed with a huge revolver and her stack of Avon books.

He spent a good while telling us how much trouble we could be in if they chose to press charges and how the mail boxes really belonged to them, Thirty something Federal charges we could have faced as he put it heavy fines per and some jail time also....it scared the daylights out of my wife (ex) and we still laugh about it from time to time now when we talk.

They tell you what size the box must be, how high it must be and how far from the road it must be and you pay for it all, yet it is for USPS use only. Of course if it gets broken YOU pay to fix it as we all know. But in their eyes it belongs to them unless it needs fixed then it is yours:rolleyes:

My dad had been a "letter carrier" they evidently didnt like to be called mail men or women. So I was aware that she should not have done that but I never knew she had done it until right before the knock on the door.

I always knew that they were not really a part of the Govt. and always wondered how they paid folks so well and maintained trucks and planes back when stamps were only 15 cents or so. I always said even back then that I thought it was well worth 50 cents to have a letter taken from my door and delivered all the way across country to another door. And here it is 2010 and stamps are still not 50 cents????

I guess they made their money from packages back then as there was no Fed Ex and UPS. I can certainly understand how they are going broke now.

From Ohshoot's post it seems the flat rate boxes are no longer free either?...

But that is cool because I just recently found a stash of them that my wife had while I was in Iraq, I really doubt I will ever use all of them for USPS stuff anyway, we have several each of the few sizes they offered and they make good boxes for Christmas and Birthday gifts.

Also most pistol cases will fit into the flat one, but you cant send a pistol thru them? I would just wrap one in brown or white paper and send it thru Fed Ex, but Fed EX says you must declare that you are mailing a pistol so I just use their boxes so I can show them that the case contains no ammo, although I dont know if that is required or not.

But you can bet I WILL find a use for those boxes at some point in time and I really doubt it will be for mailing something at the PO.

[Dolomite_supafly]

I do the same exact thing EVERY time I ship stuff. I reinforce all the edges with packing tape. I have never once been told I needed to pay extra for doing this. I have even hacked together numerous large flat rate boxes to ship bigger items and still only get charged for the rate of a single box. I did this with every scope I shipped and never a second glance.

Sounds like someone working at the Post Office is on a power trip.

Dolomite

[Oh Shoot]

....

From Ohshoot's post it seems the flat rate boxes are no longer free either?...

Actually, ALL USPS Priority and Express packaging is still free, but only to be used for those services, of course. You can order them online and they'll mail them to you.

They just don't make the tape anymore. Too bad, great stuff, and smelled good too. All the eBayers used to kid about the nice vanilla smell.

- OS

[Wingshooter]

I use the Flat Rate envelopes and boxes a lot, and I always use tape. I print the postage from their web site, tape it on and schedule a home pickup from their site. I am guilty of packing the envelope too full and reinforcing with tape sometimes. They have never said anything to me about it, but then again I never see them.

I try to avoid going into the Post Office if at all possible.

[raydog1]

For years & years, every company I worked for had Fed-Ex & UPS accounts and I knew the drivers by name. So it was easy for me to ship and have things delivered without ever touching a US Post Office. Then, I was laid off and started getting those advertisements in the mail about all the postal services. They certainly had the price right so I decided to give them a shot (even with all the horror stories I've heard).

Well, I used them twice. On both occasions (one was shipping to Europe), I used their website (which they LOVE to push) but brought the package in to ask a simple question. On both occasions, I had to deal with the same guy who seems to be in a perpetual bad mood. Asking him questions is a NO-NO! With the international package, he even proceeded to lecture me about how I was saving money by doing it online and I wasn't supposed to bring the package to him. I guess I was supposed to leave the package in the car before asking him anything so I can wait in line twice. Oh yeah, and I saved a whole dollar.

I wonder if he even cares or does he see the writing on the wall and lost all hope? When someone comes to your store and says, "I'm used to using your competitor so can you tell me how you handle. . . ?" Isn't this a perfect time to snatch a customer from your competitor just by being a little courteous?

So back to UPS for me.

[gunbartender]

contract carriers suck too.....

[Guest db99wj]

It was my understanding.. it you destroy someones mailbox.. that it was distruction of Federal property.. maybe wrong here..

So does that mean I can't carry when I go get the mail?

That's crazy. The post office should go down to a 5 day work week.

[kb4ns]

Actually, ALL USPS Priority and Express packaging is still free, but only to be used for those services, of course. You can order them online and they'll mail them to you.

They just don't make the tape anymore. Too bad, great stuff, and smelled good too. All the eBayers used to kid about the nice vanilla smell.

- OS

Oh yes, how I miss the free tape.

And yes, I usually print my own postage and send dozens of packages a month out from the house. This time, I figured I'd use up that ole stamp I had sitting around. That'll teach me...