Wednesday, April 25

NO RESPONSE (As Could Be Expected)


I apologize in advance; this is a long post.




You may remember that I previously wrote about having problems with the Post Office not forwarding mail from my old P.O. Box to my house. Here is a letter I wrote to the local PO manager and our Postmaster.

To date, I have received NO RESPONSE, from either person.


Mr. kenju suggests that I send a copy of this letter to the US Postmaster, and copy it to the editor of our newspaper. I do think that others need to know that this can happen. What do you think? Any other suggestions?

March 14, 2007

William Lloyd, Manager
North Ridge Station
U.S. Postal Service
7800 Falls of the Neuse Road
Raleigh, NC 27615


Sir:

Until sometime in October of 2006, I had a Post Office box for my business, for approximately 25 years. The number was ____, Raleigh, NC 27624 (North Ridge Station). In October, I made the decision to close that box, and at the time, I filled out and submitted a change-of-address card. I was advised to send notices to all my customers, advising them of my address change. I did that; informing as many as I could conceivably expect to receive mail from in the next six months, the period of time for which I was assured they would forward First Class mail to my home address.

By the end of November, I had received only a few pieces of mail with the yellow forwarding sticker. I would estimate that no more than five letters were delivered to me. I assumed that I had not received any more First Class mail during that time period.

In mid-to- late February, 2007, I received an email from a friend asking if I had received anything in the US Mail from her recently. When I replied no, she told me that she had sent to my P.O. Box address three greeting cards (Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine’s Day), all with 39 cent stamps. I had not received any of them.

Armed with that information, I went to the North ridge Station and asked a clerk to check. She could not locate any mail for me and she requested that her superior speak with me about it. That woman also checked my old box, but found nothing. She told me that the person who usually stuffs the boxes was off on Monday, and that she would question her about it the next day. She also showed me a sheet of paper with yellow stickers (about 14 or so), and told me that those were the “proof” that the mail had been forwarded. Her explanation for the fact that I had not received any of the holiday mail was that the person who addressed the cards may not have used the correct address, or perhaps the zip code was wrong.

I sent an email to the person who had first asked about them, and she wrote back with the address she was using – and it was most certainly correct. I heard nothing more from the Post Office until March 7th, when I received in the day’s mail: 2 letters from the woman who first told me she sent them (dated 12-15-06 and 2-13-07)
1 letter from another person (dated 12-18-06)
1 Christmas card from a cousin (dated 12-8-06)
2 invoices from a local business (to whom I had sent an address change), one of which was dated 12-29-06 and another for 2-28-07.


All of these letters were First Class. It is still within the six month time period for forwarding mail, and I am of the opinion that there is no reason why these items should not have been forwarded to me in a timely fashion! Please advise how this was allowed to happen and if possible, assure me that any First Class mail received at P.O. Box _____ for _______between now and March 31, 2007 will be delivered to my current address.


Respectfully yours,



_______

Cc: Howard Samples
Postmaster
1 Floretta Place
Raleigh, NC 27676

20 comments:

sage said...

Good luck dealing with the post office, you'll need it! I once sent two post cards to two people I use to visit in a nursing home when I was out west. One got there right away, and the other person thought I'd forgotten--then she got my card six months later and thought I'd been on another trip (I'd mailed both cards at the same time from the Atlanta airport PO.

Unknown said...

Remember, you are talking about the Postmaster GENERAL. He's a General, so there is a good chance he will be out playing golf or boating with his Admiral friends and never see your inquiry.

rosemary said...

The letter looks good to me and I would send to everyone possibly connected with the USPS. Not that you will get a response but send them anyway. The post office is selectively efficient and that is on its best day.

utenzi said...

I've always had very good luck with the postal system forwarding mail, Judy, but I've heard a lot of horror stories from other people. I hope they get their act together regarding your former PO box.

Anonymous said...

It needs to be sent to the Postmaster General and it needs to be signed for. That way hopefully, you will know that it was received.

I wish you the best of luck with this very frustrating situation.

Most of my husband's flag business comes through the mail so I know how upset he would be, if the postal service treated him this way.

Anonymous said...

That's very disturbing. You should send that to the newspaper.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

That is really awful, isn't it Judy? I have not ever had a lot of good luck with the Post Office, but nothing like this! I think you should definitely send the letter to your local paper as well...I don't have any other suggestions but I do want to say I think you letter is excellent in every respect. The only possible thing would be to send a follow up letter asking for conformation of their reciept of your first letter...Just to be on record for a second time.

TLP said...

I'm shocked! I thought that the Post Office was better than that.

I do think that you should write to the newspaper, or to your local TV station. That'll get some attention.

Tabor said...

I have reasonably good experiences with the Postal service, and I have moved quite a lot. Having said that, I probably wouldn't know exactly how much mail I might have missed. Also, I have seen the difference in service between staff. Most P.O.employees are reasonably responsible, but some are total goofs and could care less if you got your mail. It may be sitting in their garage!

srp said...

Yes you should send it to the newspaper editor and the US Postmaster, although I don't know how much good it will do, it will make YOU feel better!

My brother left today and the milestone birthday is past and now I am in catch up mode but too tired to catch up!

Jamie Dawn said...

I've changed our address a few times in the past two years due our moving. I forwarded our mail each time, and it has worked perfectly.
I would be annoyed if I were in your situation since you did all you were supposed to do and should have received those letters LONG before you did.

Cris said...

Wow not an answer in so long? Hope that now that your letter is public you'll get some attention. Ok, Anna guessed what the fruit was about, it's just the most famous pick me up beverage... will post more about it! Thanks for trying!

Babette said...

D liver
D letter
D sooner
D better
D later
D madder
I get.

Anonymous said...

I would send it to them with no postage and their address in the return spot. Then they will get it postage due. That ought to get their attention.

Eddie said...

Judy,
Yep, I would sent it the district manager. I understand he local postmaster's bonuses are partly decided by the good and bad points he gets.

The Beast Mom said...

I had the EXACT SAME problem 2 yrs ago. I closed a p.o. box and left a forwarding address. Didn't get my mail. I became suspicious and went in and inquired. No one knew. Was told to ask for so-and-so Manager Guru Of All Things P.O. Box (yes, that's a govt title :).

I saw that person, and guess what? A pile of my mail was just sitting in some cardboard box in the back room. They just hadn't bothered with it yet. A check for $10,000 was sitting in there along with tons of other financially related stuff, stuff that should NEVER be sitting in some open cardboard box. I was fumed to say the least. But looking back, I should've known b/c the ENTIRE time *I* had the p.o. box, those incompetent employees kept leaving former box owner's mail in MY box. If I was a dishonest person, I guess I could've sifted through a bunch of private mail and taken what I wanted. Makes me wonder if anyone did that w/ my mail before the super-duper efficient cardboard box came into play. Gack.

It's useless to complain. It's govt. No one touches them. Just go ask if there's a cardboard box with your name on it. (sarcastic "ha")

-bm

Anonymous said...

I agree with sending it to the newspaper.

Shephard said...

Go get 'em, Judy!
That kind of stuff happens all the time, I hear.
~S

Greg said...

I have had so many problems with the post office, I gave up.

I had all mail going to a P.O. Box at home, with forwarding instructions to my P.O. box at the client's town where I was staying. Then, I'd close that one when I moved to another temporary town, get a new box, and the USPS would handle it all.

HA!

I have been using UPS stores now for two years, and I have NO MORE LOST MAIL! It's expensive, but so is missing mail.

rashbre said...

A couple of weeks ago, in the UK, someone received a letter that was posted from the ternches in World War 1. I think the USPS may have a challenge to beat this feat!

Apparently the letter had slid down behind a cupboard somewhere, was discivered and forwarded in the normal way!

rashbre