LOL, I know I do.  But hey, we're keeping them in business!  Does anyone have any funny stories about any deliveries or sending mail?

Well, i have funny stories about things that happen when i am doing the mail route. I would say No, my mail carrier doesn't hate me, she's my coworker. I deliver mail part time and it doesn't bother me to deliver packages at all. What does bother me are the customers who complain about package delivery but have made no effort to communicate to their post office or delivery person where they want their packages safely placed if they are not home or the weather is bad. I know it's not an option for some people (those with cluster boxes, apartment boxes,etc) but there those on rural routes with mailboxes at the end of their driveways that could easily buy the larger mailboxes for all their packages but instead have those plastic  all-in-one self standing boxes that you can barely fit a newspaper and a few magazines in.Then they get upset because they have to come to the post office to pick up their packages because i couldn't fit them in the box and i WILL NOT leave them on a porch exposed to the weather. I treat all packages like they are my own and how i would want them delivered.

Tanya, when we moved to this house last year one of the things we had to do is fill out a form our carrier put in our box, asking where packages should be left.  Ours is a corner lot, with the main entrance to the house (covered porch) on one street (facing west) and the driveway on another, facing north.  Since the house is on a hill there's no path or walkway from the entrance to the main street, and the mailbox (properly marked with the address) is instead at the foot of the driveway.  When we filled out the form we asked that packages be put on the covered porch, next to the front door. 

In general, when things don't fit inside our mailbox the carrier will do just that, walk up the drive and around to the front of the house (though I've also seen him come straight up the low embankment from the main street, which I hate since we have an erosion problem there and I'm trying to get some ground cover to grow there).  But other times he will leave larger packages outside the garage doors, and that is always a problem for us.  Once I waited for a priority mail package several days past when it was marked delivered (medications I needed), only to discover it placed behind the trash cans near the garage doors, completely ruined from the heavy rains we had.  Just a couple of days ago I was again expecting two large boxes (two cases of poly bubble mailers - bulky but not heavy) and "found" them by backing over the rain sodden boxes backing my girlfriend's pickup truck out of the garage.  He'd left them against the rollup garage door, right in the middle.  That's on the north side of the house and offers no protection from the elements at all, and we'd been having severe thunderstorms for two days at that point.  Most of the mailers survived intact but that really annoyed me, especially since I have a bad knee and had to crawl under the truck to pull out the boxes.

I've already placed a notice about using the front door for deliveries right on the garage door (vinyl letters) last winter, and I don't want to get into an argument with the carrier over this.  He's a nice, friendly guy, always polite and I know he doesn't have an easy job, but this is getting to be a real problem now.  I didn't build this house and put the front door on the wrong side, and because of the county easements for drainage around the property I can't build a walkway from the main street to the front door (at least not easily), nor can I build a protected area for packages near the driveway, so what can I do?

Any suggestions?

Not me, lucky to have knowledgable postal staff.  Since I'm in so often they occassionally ask a few questions about PBS, but not in an annoyed manner. 

To date, I've not had any real problems with USPS and PBS...well there was a lost book, but it turned up after a bit.  A book I mailed appeared to go lost in that big NY sorting center, I've since learned it's kindof a black hole that way.   Was considering submitting paperwork to the lost and found center (Georgia?), but my book was mysteriously returned to me.  My shipping label had been removed, but an identifiable part of the original postage was still visible.  Another PBS label had been applied, using my address and the PBS return addy...no transaction number or other method to identify or thank whoever had returned the book.  Fortunately, I was then able to re-package the book and re-ship to the requestor, and the transaction completed perfectly the second time.  I double checked all the original shipping information, address, and postal receipt...the book was properly addressed and mailed.  I have no idea how a book sent to the Northeast ended up returned to me from a Southern State.  But I really appreciate whoever did the good deed!

Update on my package problem...

Spoke with my carrier today about the bubble mailers and found out he'd been out sick for two days, so it was some other carrier who put the boxes there.  He says he will (his words) "chew someone a new one over that, because it's just plain stupid to leave mail where it's gonna get runned over!"

We shall see...

Bernhard: Glad your issue what somewhat solved. I wasn't able to get online and respond to your post until now. I was going to ask if it was a substitute who was on duty those days. Yes, we have the white slips here too that customers fill out. Not everyone fills theirs out and returns them though. With over 500 mail boxes on my mail route it's hard to memorize where everyone wants their packages left, the regular carrier is much better at it then me, but of course she's done it daily for years. When in doubt i will just leave the customer a note to pick their packages up at the post office if i cannot find a safe place to leave it.

I don't understand the reasoning behind the sub putting packages where they left them?? I'm guessing most bubble mailers fit perfectly in mailboxes atleast the ones i have seen always have. I guess some carriers just don't care and that makes the rest of us look bad. I hope things improve for you now.

i had a discussion with the guy who works behind the counter when he refused to scan my printed dc labels. He told me they never scan and that he didnt have time. I told him that every other post office can scan them so he should be able to as well. (I live in a city and we have 4 different post offices in a short distance) He finally tried scanning them and lo and behold it worked.... he was like well i guess i learned something new today.

Tanya, it wasn't single bubble mailers.  It was two cases of bubble mailers (250 per case)  The boxes were cardboard, about 2 foot square (just the perfect height to go under the rear bumper of the truck and get hung up on the suspension).  I didn't open the garage door until I was already in the truck, so I never saw them, they were below the level the mirrors could see.  We don't have kids so I never worry about toys, bikes, etc in the driveway, so there wasn't any reason for me to expect anything like that.

I could understand if the boxes were heavy, and the person didn't want to carry them the extra 30 feet to the front door.  But two cases of bubble mailers weighs about ten pounds.

I think sometimes my postman thinks I am odd for having bursts of lots of packages in and out, but I never mail/receive more than my mailbox can handle at one time and I make sure I check it every day so it doesn't get too full. I can't imagine he was very happy in the fall with all of the snow and leaves piled up by our mailbox, but the plow kept pushing them there and there wasn't anything I could do :(

I never had issues regarding PBS, however at my last apartment the delivery guy would always knock on my door and hand over a bubble mailer (small enough to fit in my clusterbox where he shoves all my other packages... to the point where I can hardly get some out!) whenever I order something from Israel.  It's never arrived with postage due or anything out of the ordinary, the paperwork was always attached. 

What was weird was each time he delivered one of those packages he would say "Do you mind if I ask what's in there?"

I always thought that was against protocol and I thought about complaining but since I had nothing to hide I just told him it was from a jeweler who did medieval reproductions.  He would just go "Oh..." and that was that.

Jeannie: if it makes you feel any better. My OWN boss (the Post Master) makes snippy comments to me when i go in to mail my books. One time she said " Why don't you just get them from the library?!". Now how sad is that? I'm generating revenue for our small town Post Office and she says stuff like that? You would think she would be grateful for the business. Makes me wonder what she says to the other customers who frequently come in to mail things.

Jill: Wow, i would never have the balls to ask a customer what was in their packages. I think that would worry me,,,never know if they are looking to steal some of them?!

Well I don't think my mail carrier hates me. But I did complain about misdelivered mail.  I kept finding other peoples mail in my box and then my mail in my newspaper box.  I'm thinking my mail was also misdelivered and then a neighbor put into the newspaper box.  One time I found a neighbors package on my front porch.  I take it next door and there are 3 packages for me on her front porch.   I had mail that never showed up and books going lost when they showed a delivery scan to me.  I went to the PO to complain about the lost book that showed delivered.  The clerk called the mail person and she said "well she gets a lot of packages she probably just doesn't know she got it".  I'm I don't get that many. Maybe 2 or 3 books a week.  I think I'm capable of keeping track of that. 

The ladies at another post office (actually closer to me but not my servicing PO) love to see me coming.  They know I come to them when my actual PO is the other one.  I think they appreciate the added business to their branch.