January 10, 2007
Columbia Heights Wants Their Mail
In the comments for our post about the fire at the Columbia Heights Metro station, another CH problem caught our eye - mail. Apparently some Columbia Heightsters (or Height-ites?) have been having issues with their snail mail.
Much of the thread is spent wondering about which post office actually serves the Columbia Heights neighborhood. Is it the station at 14th & T, or the one on 18th St. at Kalorama? (answer: depends on your address, go here to find out). And what really did happen to the 14th and Irving station (construction, or rats?).
But mostly people in Columbia Heights would like to send and receive their mail like everyone else. New blogger Jules of Heights of Columbia complains of missing utility and credit card bills, and commenter Jason says his outgoing mail hasn't been reaching its destinations. Commenter chrisafer added that his mail carrier was jumped in Columbia Heights the other day. Yikes.
We've had intermittent mail problems at our past places around the District, but this seems worse than usual. Anyone else in the area having issues?
Mail solt photo by Flickr user birdcage
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It's not just mail, it's packages. . .In my building in one week, I had four packages stolen. I had to beg UPS and DHL to require ID with signatures, since apparently, it counts as "delivered" when someone else looks at the name on the box and forges the addressee's signature. . . Because of it, I'm out a $500 for a camera that was stolen and an electronics co. that won't sent a replacement, among other things.
Mail sometimes comes by 7:00 pm
Melissa, two words: American Express. All it takes is one instance a year like your lost camera and it more than makes up for the membership fee.
I've had an Amex since '94 and they've always gone to bat for me. When I hear the crap people take from Visa, etc., over fraudulent charges I just shake my head.
Now, the USPS packages that come to my building randomly get left inside the door. My guess is that the postal service feels no need to take it to the actual address printed on the front of the package.
Oh, UPS, how we love thee.
I've been living on CLifton St for 4 years and ever since I've moved here I've had mail issues. The USPS packages get "lost" and UPS just leaves my packages sans signature at my front door. So far I've gotten (or replaced) everything that is sent, but honestly I only trust FedEx to make sure I get my packages. The mail is consistently slow in this area. Both outgoing and incoming.
The Georgia Ave post office serves other parts of Columbia Heights. It's at 3321 Georgia AVE NW. And I vote for "Heightsters" if we need a name.
I live in Adams Morgan and have had spotty service as well. No one took the mail from the "outgoing" box in my building for more than 10 days making lots of bills late for lots of people. I also find it really frustrating that if I get a package or certified mail, it goes to T St and not 18th & Kalorama...grrrr...I try to get all important stuff sent to work.
I travel a lot. Was going to be gone for a couple weeks. Went online, told the post office to hold my mail. They did, but when I tried to get them to deliver it again, they said I had to go pick it up. Annoying, but whatever....except then no one could tell me which station actually HAD my mail!!
I try to get most packages delivered to my office... but I have noticed my mail takes a long time to arrive. I've also had occasions where netflix never arrive, only to be returned a few weeks later (after being reported lost, of course). I think the mailman is stealing my movies. It's like living in a third world country.
I don't know who's reading my Economist each week, but it's not me.
Matt -
CHECK HOW THEY'RE SENDING YOU THE ECONOMIST. When I moved to DC, they decided to do me a "favor" by having a private delivery service deliver the magazine instead of the USPS. I think I got two issues during my first month and a half in DC. The delivery service was completely blowing my building off and no one could tell me why. I had the Economist switch to regular mail delivery, and I haven't had any problems with the magazine since then (knock on wood.)
They told me they automatically have the private service send the magazine out in the DC area (most likely because it's cheaper.) I had to make a big issue about it in order to have them switch to mail delivery.
This is very true. I live in Columbia Heights and have been wondering about my missing mail ever since I moved here. On a good day I get my mail around 7 or 8 p.m. and never on a Mon, Thu, or Fri and anytime around a holiday. Where does it go??
Yeah I have Economist issues as well on Harvard St. It just plain wasn't delivered for 10 weeks over the summer. Now some guy comes around and throws it on my front lawn. Sometimes on Friday sometimes on Monday. Sometimes I get it sometimes I don't. I've seen random Economists on the sidewalk too so I'm not the only one. Occasionally my address is just written on it. Thanks for the tip, Jason. I'll try that.
Oh, another thing. A few days ago a sticker from the USPS appeared on our mail slot. It has a bar code, the address, and the zip code with the words "Managed Service Point." Anyone else get one of those?
I always get good, friendly service when I go to mail packages at the 14th & T St NW station, but my mail delivery is spotty at best. Depending on the actual letter carrier my mail is more often than not delivered upstairs (some carriers are good about it), but some bills, statements, and magazines never make it at all. It's anybody's guess whether they're actually walking the route six days a week, too.
My regular UPS driver recognizes that I don't live upstairs and has figured out that I work from home, so I usually get a chance to answer the bell unless he's in a hurry and the package will fit through the gate. With USPS, delivery of actual packages seems to vary with each letter carrier, and they still have yet to ring the bell, even on rainy days.
If I receive mail it is ripped in half and crumpled up into little balls. Half of my neighbors mail ends up in my mailbox [and it's too tiny for this], but rarely do I get my own. USPS jam packs it and then kicks the mailbox closed so we have to jimmy it open or call a locksmith. UPS doesn't come to my building, nor does Fedex, I'm requried to send everything to my work, if I want to receive it from them, otherwise I have to pick it up. When I called USPS and asked why the mail I did receive looked like it had been through a shredder the customer service rep said it was because I lived in the hood and if I moved to a better neighborhood that probably wouldn't happen. Now if that isn't discriminating I don't know what is.
Are you fucking kidding me? All that stuff is outrageous.
I'm in the middle of a building renovation and my family and I moved around the corner while the work was being done. Instead of filling out a change of address form we decided that we would just allow our mail to be delivered to our building (it was still occupied) and would just go pick it up a couple of times a week. A couple of weeks after we started doing this, our letter carrier noticed me walking into a different building and asked if I was living there now. When I outlined the situation to him, he said that he would just deliver our mail to our temporary living quarters.
That was it, no forms, no bullshit; our letter carrier saw a way to improve service and he took it upon himself to do what needed to be done. After listening to a lifetime of horror stories about the USPS I was floored. I had never tipped my mail man before, but this one got a nice crispy Benjy this year.
I live in Capitol Hill and the worst mail issue that happened to me is that the USPS mail carrier put a package I was expecting (of Mail Order Prescription medications, no less) in the big blue recycling bin, thinking that it would protect it from getting wet or stolen. Huh? What about protecting it from me putting it out with the trash? I only found out about this when I was lucky enough to catch her on her route days later and ask about my missing package. Fortunately, I had not taken the recycling to the curb. Sometimes I wonder where they find these people!!
Hey glebe, it sounds like you might have the same delivery service I had. I live on 16th right by Harvard St.
I'd call the Economist up and raise holy hell. (Have you not been doing this if you've had service problems for so long?) Demand they extend your subscription and also send you the missing issues. Also, if they're sending your issues to you through this godawful service, call those people up and demand they send you any missing issues. They probably won't have all of them in stock, but I had the guys send a bunch of issues to me at my office.
The last time I had problems with my mail (a specific package not getting delivered, in Adams Morgan), I wrote an email directly to Jack Potter, Postmaster General. The package showed up two days later, along with someone who verified that I was now happy. Which I was. So if everyone who's having issues emails Potter, you might see some results.
Jason and Matt -- I had the same problem with my issues of the Economist. When I checked into it, I was reminded that the Economist is technically a newspaper (I know, odd, but its history section confirms) and that newspapers and magazines have different delivery setups. You usually don't see newspapers delivered via mail.
I live in a fairly large building, and the Economists arrive the same way as the New York Times and the FT: everyone's issues tied together and dropped by (read: thrown at) the front door to the building.
No idea about possible solutions: I didn't push hard enough to make it as far as you did. Basically they told me to suck it up and investigate the delivery problems on my end. So I made my building staff suffer instead.
It's probably no consolation to anybody, but service outside of DC can be similarly spotty.
I have learned now NOT to drop off Netflix returns at work, or at the PO nearest my office, the station on Wilson Blvd near Courthouse in Arlington. Something about that PO station....
Returns sometimes take weeks.
On the other hand, Netflix dropoffs from the Mt. Vernon Avenue (Alexandria) station near my house, or a streetside drop box I use usually arrive and are posted to my NF account the next day.
I don't live in CH, but I've been having horrible mail problems from work (on the hill) and at home (adams morgan) for the past couple of months or so. I send out a lot of work-related mail and a crazy amount never got where it was supposed to, plus we'll receive things a month after they were postmarked from Virginia. Argh.
One of the things I don't miss about Columbia Heights is the horrible mail service. Where to begin? I routinely failed to receive mail sent from out of state. When we did get mail, the delivery window was apparently between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. Depending on his sadistic pleasure in a given week, our carrier would either a) leave one third notice, and then return a package or b) leave a signature-required package on our steps in the rain.
The quality of the U.S. Postal Service in Columbia Heights is embarassing.
Greg - that "reminder" you got from the Economist means you were talking to an idiot. The Economist uses a third-party delivery service in DC unless you request otherwise. Because the third-party delivery service can't get access to your mailbox (it's against the law), they just throw the magazines wherever they see fit, if they deliver them at all.
By using the USPS for delivery, you ensure the Economist is actually put into your mailbox.
Also, you can request that the Economist conduct a delivery test for your address. That means they use USPS and the USPS provides them with confirmation when the issue is delivered. Once they switched to USPS delivery for me (and ran this test), my delivery problems evaporated. I haven't had a problem since early November.
Oh, and in any other city (I've lived in Chicago and NY), the Economist is delivered by regular mail, so the fact that they claim they're a "newspaper" is really beside the point.
Greg - that "reminder" you got from the Economist means you were talking to an idiot. The Economist uses a third-party delivery service in DC unless you request otherwise. Because the third-party delivery service can't get access to your mailbox (it's against the law), they just throw the magazines wherever they see fit, if they deliver them at all.
By using the USPS for delivery, you ensure the Economist is actually put into your mailbox.
Also, you can request that the Economist conduct a delivery test for your address. That means they use USPS and the USPS provides them with confirmation when the issue is delivered. Once they switched to USPS delivery for me (and ran this test), my delivery problems evaporated. I haven't had a problem since early November.
Oh, and in any other city (I've lived in Chicago and NY), the Economist is delivered by regular mail, so the fact that they claim they're a "newspaper" is really beside the point.
Jesus, guys, that f'ing sucks.
If you've already made complaints to customer service (sounds like most of you have) and aren't getting an appropriate response, the next step should be the USPS Office of Inspector General complaint hotline:
http://www.uspsoig.gov/hotline_default.aspx
Jesus, guys, that f'ing sucks.
If you've already made complaints to customer service (sounds like most of you have) and aren't getting an appropriate response, the next step should be the USPS Office of Inspector General complaint hotline:
http://www.uspsoig.gov/hotline_default.aspx
Interesting to see that I'm not the only one having problems with the mail (I'm in Logan). USPS has lost two packages that were supposed to be delivered (one was recovered a month and half later, the other seems to be gone forever). I wrote a letter of complaint and got no response whatsoever. I get other people's mail all the time, including netflix, and just throw them back in a mailbox. Now I get anything remotely important or valuable sent to my office. Pain in the ass.
I am on Netflix's most wanted list as a "suspicious customer" as I have had so many movies stolen by the postal service. When they arrive, they are generally torn up and damaged. Capitol Hill is clearly no better than the rest of the city with mail. Can any of these complaints be considered mail fraud? Most likely not.....
Hey,
If everyone here who's experiencing mail problems could post their ZIP code, that might give us a better idea of what's going on.
I'll go first:
20009
The mail pain-in-the-butt thing that my husband and I have to deal with is letters and important things addressed to the former owner of our house - AND her brother, friends, and renters!! Supposedly she (and the rest of them) have put in multiple change of address forms...but just yesterday (after living there since JUNE!) we got something for the brother from the Dept. of Motorvehicles!! I am so sick of letting her know we have mail for her - which is the ONLY way she gets it, cuz if I try and forward it, it NEVER shows up.
I don't live in CH either, but my favorite package non-delivery response from the USPS is the time the tracking website claimed my package had been delivered and days later, when I complained about it, I was told that the package might've been delivered to the wrong address and I should contact the company that sent it. Now, how exactly is it Amazon's fault if the USPS delivers a package to the wrong address?
Wow I guess I'm lucky being in a different neighborhood. I live in Logan and have no problems at all with the mail other than it coming sometimes at 5 or 6pm. I drop my Netflix returns right into the box in my building and have new ones within two days. All packages are delivered to the building, or if no one is around, they're kept at the Ben Franklin station downtown for me to pick up and a slip is left in my mailbox notifying me. Go ZIP code 20005!
It's the same old shit all over town. Two years ago when I moved out of Mount Pleasant to a new place across the Park, very little of my mail would actually get forwarded to my new address, even though I submitted the proper form well in advance. My old landlord would have to occasionally send me a big envelope of mail that had accumulated at my old apartment. The problems aren't limited to Ward 1, either. After being out of town for two weeks, and having again submitted the proper mail holding paperwork, I returned to a mailbox completely jammed full, with lots of crumpled and otherwise damaged pieces of mail. And this was in Woodley Park.
Re: the Economist, I thought I wasn't getting mine until I saw the whole buildings bundle (4 issues) of Economists inside the lobby foyer in a plastic bag. They are all individually addressed, but don't make it anywhere near the mailboxes or our doors. I live at 16th and V.
Economist - Since only USPS has access to your building (assuming it's secured), mail service is the only reliable way to get it delivered. I guess it's the rule that since most Americans don't live in apartment buildings, they tried to adjust to the norm and have it delivered. It's very easy to just call, say you haven't been getting it, and get it switched. If you include a pleases and thank yous, it might take you an extra 10 seconds.
Seriously, I've seen how a lot of the "customers" act at 14th & T and they are no prize peaches themselves. They are generally dismissive, rude, obstinate and whiny. If I had to deal with people like that all day, I'd get my back up too.
I'm in the same camp as Rich.. only issue is that sometimes mail isn't delivered until late in the evening, and that's no big deal. One Netflix (out of many) never showed up but that could have been anything. My building keeps packages at the front desk, so I can't comment on that aspect.
I'm in 20009 at 16th and V and have NO problems with my mail. My mailman, Sheldon, even helped me carry a couch up 2 flights of stairs when I moved in.
Stunning. Has anyone considered directing Jack Potter to this thread?
Mostly Pleased With USPS,
Hill Rat
20002
All of a sudden I feel extremely fortunate in my mail situation. For a while I was getting deliveries only 2-3 times a week, but that has since been rectified (new mailman?). I still receive letters addressed to the old homeowner, but I don't know if she submitted a change-of-address form.
I can't imagine the mail problems described here are merely a function of neighborhood affluence, as my service is great my zip code includes Anacostia.
20020
Okay, I have to make a comment that will probably offend lots of people for not being PC, so people, please don't flame me. But this is true, and I've experienced this in Chicago as well.
Mail service in the downtown business district and in certain established, middle-class or wealthy urban neighborhoods (let's call them "white" for lack of a better word) generally gets through OK.
However, when dealing with neighborhoods that are gentrifying rapidly, all hell breaks loose. In part, it's because the postal carriers, who are unionized slugs, got used to a very easy life when the neighborhood was ghetto. After all, if a neighborhood is mostly poor, few people are likely to complain about service (and few people are likely to have $500 digital cameras coming to them from Amazon). However, when the middle class comes in, they expect service and responsiveness. And they don't get it, so they complain. There's also an element of the postal carriers being pissed off by the new residents' demands, and certain racial tension as well.
I wish I could remember the name of a book I read a couple of years ago - it might be a collection of Jonathan Franzen essays, but I don't remember. The author dissected very similar mail issues that occurred in Chicago in the 90s, when postal carriers were burning mail under viaducts, burying it in their backyards, stealing stuff and just not delivering much of it. The worst of it happened in 60640 (my old ZIP code), which was a black/poor white neighborhood undergoing rapid gentrification.
The essay described a post office where everyone was pissed off, where the postal carriers covered for each other all the time, where no one was accountable, and where the staff resented the neighborhood because the staff was poor and black and the neighborhood was becoming yuppie. It took years for them to sort out that post office because only one postal employee was willing to fight back, and they even had to reassign the local postmaster, I think.
Notice how everyone's having important mail sent downtown and not having a problem? The guy who says he sends his mail from Cleveland Park instead of Columbia Heights because it's more reliable? I bet people who rely on the Georgetown post office are much better served than those of us in 20009 as well.
It's not just DC.
I'm in 20016 and luckily have almost never had a problem, although our mail is often delivered after 7 p.m. The first few weeks I had Netflix, two DVDs never arrived, but Netflix was cool about it. After that, no problem receiving or sending them from my building -- but I can't believe Netflix stays in business because of all the "lost" (stolen) DVDs out there.
It's not only Columbia Heights, DC, My aunt lives out in the country in Tennessee. She has a huge problem with mail being delivered to all the wrong homes/addresses in her area. You'd think it wouldn't be so difficult in a place like that.
i'm astonished at all these CH mail problems. i live in an apartment building in 20010 and have had no major problems, though the mail usually doesn't come until kind of late, and i sometimes have issues with mail being fwded from my old place. guess i'm the lucky one...it does seem that the problems are more focused in 20009 though. hope i haven't now jinxed myself.
Jason - I don't think your post was at all "un-PC" (whatever that means), it struck me as a pretty good piece of common sense analysis.
A question for all of you with mail drama: have any of you tried talking directly to your letter carrier? Something along the lines of, "Hey, how are you today? I'm Mr/Ms X, I live at [address] and I've been having a little problem with not getting my New Yorker every week. Is there something I can do to help ensure its delivery or would I be better off just talking to the PostMaster?"
I live literally on the border of 20001 and 20010. In the past three years I have experienced some irregularity with mail delivery but no out and out problems. I usually get packages shipped to my office, just so they won't be left out in the rain/or force me to go to Landover to retrieve them.
There are some days when I don't get mail, but more interestingly there are some days when my mail is delivered twice: usually on days when there are magazines. I highly suspect this is due to someone reading my magazines and then dropping them off later, which is somewhat amusing but not too bothersome. I don't have problems with mail I send being delivered, as far as I know.
One of my close friends is a postman in Columbia Heights, out of the Petworth post office. I will ask him about these issues.
I often had problems with not getting mail (postcards, packages, credit card statements...) when I lived in Mt. Pleasant (20010), but have had few problems since I moved to (the 20036 part of) Dupont.
Mail comes at around 3:00 on most days. One thing I've noticed is that the mail in the "Outgoing" slot in my building often doesn't get picked up for several days, but I use a sidewalk mailbox across the street with no problems.
As a "heightster" I have to say that my mail never comes until after 6:00, and that post office on Georgia Avenue always has long lines, and if they are not long, they still take a long time. There is a new UPS store across from Giant, I do not know if they take deliveries, though. UPS leaves packages for me all the time and they never get stolen, so I guess it doesn't matter.
I've defintiely tried the talking with the mail carrier thing. It just didn't work- she was very nice when I politely approached her, and yet, our mail service continues to suck. Really, I think she's just completely stoned out of her mind. We may have a new carrier, though, they seem to switch it up all the time.
Also, I have the opposite package problem- as does every resident in my house. UPS/DHL/FedEx will leave a note saying please sign to receive your package. So I'll sign the note and leave it out there for them, only to receive another note, and another, and another. When I called FedEx and UPS about this, they explained that the delivery is at the discretion of the deliverer, so in effect, I cannot get packages at home. Generally, if I've ordered something, that's not a problem, since I just have it shipped to my work address. But at Christmas, I got a few packages while I was out of town, and since I couldn't drive my non-existent car out to Landover, MD within three hours of my getting back home, which is the time frame they gave me, I was SOL. And now I don't have my hoodie that Lisa gave me, nor the book that Chris sent me. Sigh.
The Goo
20009
you know what i hate? i hate when people smoke on me. it's a boorish and selfish behavior. oh wait, wrong post.... my bad.
Here's a good one. In January 2005 my passport was mailed from downtown to my home in the 2600 block of Adams Mill Rd (20009). 3 weeks later I did not have it. Then, as I was about to report it hopelessly lost, I got an envelope from the Cuban Interests Section in the 2600 block of 16th St (20009). Inside was a note in spanish and My Passport! I still like to tell folks that Cuba routes mail better than the USPS.
Well if the Economist problem isn't USPS (and thanks for all the info, everyone) then I haven't have any problems with them. In fact, I found out the barcode on my mailslot is something the carrier has to scan so their routes can be tracked. In other words, they have to come to my place every day by a certain time. I'll be getting my bills on time suckas!
i talked to my postman about the mail. He said that they have a lot of people out between Christmas and New years, of course, and missed TWO DAYS of deliveries due to January 1 and Ford's Funeral. He said there were time-dated mailers that came into the post office on that Wednesday (coupon packs, catalogs) that were time-dated to be delivered before Friday that got everything really screwed up.
I am good friends with our mail carrier and ask him about his son and his route every day I see him.
There are some days when I don't get mail, but more interestingly there are some days when my mail is delivered twice: usually on days when there are magazines. I highly suspect this is due to someone reading my magazines and then dropping them off later,
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You're joking right? You do know that magazines are delivered separately via mass delivery sorting systems and not via first class mail sorting, right? It's probably something where your carrier doesn't interleave the fourth class magazines into the first class mail.
Yeah, someone likes your taste so much they're reading your magazines instead of one of the other 150 magazines that gets delivered each day.
YES. I live in 20010 between 14th and 16th in Columbia Heights, and I've had horrible mail/package problems ever since I moved in about six months ago (before this I was living in Dupont and had flawless service. USPS doesn't deliver my magazines. UPS has claimed several times that they've delivered packages that have never arrived, then sent me out to the warehouse to pick them up (so much for delivery...). FedEx seems to have decided that my building is on some sort of blacklist, and they won't deliver to me at all. I love my apartment and my neighborhood, but trying to get letters and packages like any other normal human has become a living nightmare.
I live in Columbia Heights and the mail service is terrible. At least once a week, we get mail clearly addressed to another location (usually the same house number on another block). And forwarding mail for former residents is completely worthless. It still gets delivered to our house.
20020 [barry farms/anacostia..etc]--crumpled mail, ripped in half, non-existant packages, etc.
interesting points on the hood and gentrification.
as far as the comment regarding if i've ever spoken to my mailman..i work from 7am-7pm, and since we can't exactly nail down a time when he/she does come, it's hard to chat it up with him/her, although i would. my last mail carrier was freakn hilarious.
and if my mailbox was big enough i might even bake some cookies or something like that for him/her. maybe i'll start leaving little friendly notes and christmas cards like we used to in my old neighborhood, 20001.
So you're the one who's been delivering tacos to us everyday.
I've been experiencing the aforementioned problems with the Economist as well. I just called them and not only did they switch my subscription to be delivered via the USPS, they extended my subscription 3 weeks for my troubles.
You're welcome, TW.
;-P
I'll jump on the bandwagon: I moved from lower CH (20001) to Arlington to be closer to work and filled out an address change online. Nothing. After months of no forwarded mail, I re-did my address change online. ONE piece of mail got forwarded after that one, then nothing. I hope no important mail is still going to my old apartment...
Could someone post Jack Potter's contact info? I live in 20001 (Ledroit Park), and now I don't feel quite so bad about our problems, but I still plan on complaining. We get neighbors mail all the time, including people on other streets, we get mail for people who lived here years ago too. Add in stuff that gets SHOVED through the slot, or ALL the mail getting put in the basement tenants locked box, and some days, I just want to... UPS? I despise them. Fedex at least seems to be making an effort, and at least their pick up location is close. Only my housemate has delt with DHL, and they seem to have treated her well. And yes, I've tried talking to the many carriers we've had. We don't have a regular carrier right now, and that seems to be part of the problem.
I'm a resident manager of a building in 20009 that was just renovated and switched owner's. The new owner's put in mailboxes, as the old owner wouldn't consider his tenants rights to locking boxes, but since the new boxes have gone in, service has been terrible. I've been complaining to Ms. Payne at the T Street Station for months, and we finally have a bit better service. But the carrier just stuff's the mail in the boxes and doesn't care. I got the most service when I emailed the Inspector General's Office and they inspected the delivery service. We also blocked the mail slot so the carrier had to start using the building key we gave the USPS rather than just sliding it through.
I have also given our tenants the phone number to Ms. Payne at the T Street station, because the more complaints we have the better service we will receive. Because she will get tired of hearing from us.
We haven't had toooo many problems with our mail in CH, 20010, but our downstairs neighbors' mail is constantly delivered to us, and we got a note from them the other day to see if we'd signed for a package on the 21st of December (we hadn't). That leads me to believe that there was delivery confirmation that it was delivered SOMEwhere, and yet they still didn't receive it.
I actually had a terrible time getting mail from work downtown to forward to our new address in Eckington. I submitted at least six differed change of address forms, none of which they claim was received. I have sent numerous letters, none of which has been replied to. We finally gave up having it forwarded and go to get it from our old building once every two weeks - and we moved nearly a year ago. And our mail at the office always has other people's mixed in with it.
Tip on forwarding mail that's been misdirected to your house (for those to whom it keeps returning): the bar code at the bottom that's splashed on with orange ink tells them exactly where to deliver it. Be sure when sticking it back out in the box that you completely obliterate that barcode (both sides of the envelope!) with a Sharpie so that it's not redirected to your house again by the orange code. When I worked in our college mailroom, our postal carrier told us we had to do that to forward mail to alumni or it'd be stuck in a never-ending cycle of returning to us, no matter if a new address was posted on the front.
aside from crumpled mail in my mail slot inside my building, i hadn't had any serious problems with my mail until recently. then the usps lost a bill, and then seven movies from netflix disappeared (i get a bunch at a time). i live in 20009.
i also got a package from the usps at work that was busted open with half the stuff missing inside (not valuable stuff, so it was just sloppy work). oh, and especially with a controlled access building, i get all fedex, ups, online purchases sent to my office. fedex and ups, since they can't get in the building, won't deliver stuff, you have to go pick it up. what a pain.
i've been trying to figure out who to contact but have had not much luck. i think t street is my station but not sure.
1. on a regular basis, i am missing things from credit card bills to personal mail, and things frequently arrive about a week later than they would anywhere else.
2. i spent 3 days in january waiting around my house for a large package i needed to sign for, each day receiving new assurances they would deliver the next day between particular hours (which they obviously did not do). if i hadn't been on holiday, i would have had no real way to get this package.
3. this week, after waiting 3 weeks for a package to arrive, i found out by contacting the seller that the package was waiting for me to pick it up somewhere. i NEVER received any notice of this, and apparently the post office won't keep packages for three weeks, so it's a good thing i found out when i did! then i had to figure out which post office it was being held at. NONE of the offices answer their phones, AT ALL. i called the 800 line and they told me to go to the office on Kalorama, which doesn't even hold packages. When I got to the 14th and T location, everyone in line had issues ranging from not receiving their mail at all for 2 weeks to having items mailed to Maryland instead of DC.
I understand government agencies aren't particularly efficient, but come on.
You are probably aware that delivery problems can not be resolved at local level.
We are finally getting our mail delivery problems addressed after 7 years of delivery problems after contacting our Congressman and
Postmaster General Jack Potter
US Postal Service
475 Lenfant Place SW
Washington, DC 20260-0010
EMAIL: pmgceo@usps.gov
HIS DIRECT FAX: 202.268.5211
The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) waives sovereign immunity only for the acts or omissions of an “employee of the government while acting within the scope of his office or employment.
The postal exemption covers liability for lost or damaged mail. This exception has swallowed much of the liability the FTCA creates, leaving many deserving claimants without a remedy.
Mail carriers who throw mail down the drain and/or constantly delivering mail to wrong address should not be considered acting within the scope of their employment. Their actions cause substantial emotional distress and financial losses. Equity and tort principles justify an expansion of the USPS liability under the FTCA.
We are victims, and Congress needs to recognize us as such.
Get connected with other's in your neighborhood having USPS mail delivery problems at Google group USPS Postal Reform
http://groups.google.com/group/usps-postal-reform
Good luck,
Dennis Abe
College Park, Md 20740
http://www.dennisabe.com
I received a call from USPS at 4:30 today. College Park Postmaster Bell is stepping down and new postmaster will be installed 8/27. Hopefully this is the end of 7 years off poor mail service and a beginning of a new era for College Park!!
http://dennisabe.com/
Thanks and don't give up,
Dennis