Should I complain about my mail carrier?

Question

I hate to do it, but he is really doing a terrible job. I have a rural mail carrier, and at least twice a week my neighbor brings me some of my mail that was put in her mailbox. Just as often, we get mail that belongs to someone else. To top it all off, we've had several things go missing. At first I just thought it was because he was new, but it's been going on for months now. I'm getting tired of it. What's the best way to handle this?

Answer 1

That doesn't sound so bad, our mail has been
messed up for 10 years. First we got someone
else's address in the same developement, then
it was changed, however it was the same as the
pharmacy in town 4 miles away. This is a semi-rural area. Recently a lot of mail has not been
delivered because of reasons unknown. Our
postman has been very good all this time about
the situation, not his fault it was the post office.
Anyway, when we got changed from a rural route to a regular address we still got the
pharmacy in town's mail. They have a whole
new set of people in the post office now and
new modern machines, only time will tell. The
people complained to the postmaster general
and stories were and letters to the editor were
printed in the paper a good way to get attention.
We don't use our local post office but go to another town to buy stamps and mail letters, when they find out where we're from it seems
every other postoffice knows about ours. LOL

Answer 2

The above answers were given before I even thought about becoming a mail carrier! I've been doing it for two years now and there have been some changes. I'll give you a little background about myself to help you understand why the Post Office is the way it is.

For my first year I was a CCA. CCA's are relatively new and unlike the old TE's, they are given a pathway to make regular (reg) in a reasonable amount of time. In my case, as a CCA I could be asked to work seven days a week and up to 12 hours a day, and wasn't ever allowed to refuse. I never worked the full 84 hours a week but I did have some 70-hour weeks.

Also, our training was pretty limited. So in the beginning I really didn't know what I was doing and I'd get put on unfamiliar routes almost every day when a reg called in sick or went on vacation. And I'd still be expected to get done in eight hours so I'd have to rush and invariably I'd make some mistakes. You can blame postal management for that. Basically, they want the mail delivered FAST and that is all they care about. The supervisors deal with complaints all day long but don't really do much to change the situation.

Still, I would recommend that you complain every time there is a problem. They say that the squeaky wheel gets the grease and I guess it's true. If you are calling the post office every day to complain about service then management will address the problem just to shut you up. If you only complain once in a while then the carriers will never even hear about it. In two years I have only had three instances where a supervisor talked to me about a customer complaint. I'm pretty diligent but I know that I've made a lot more than three mistakes in two years!

Giving your carrier little gifts is a good idea too. You could leave a bottle of water in your mailbox for the carrier, for instance. How much does a bottle of water cost? Not much. Laying cash on carriers is good too and it doesn't have to be a large amount. I'll get twenties pretty regularly on my route but fives are just as good, in my opinion. You could leave a bag of cookies, which is less than five bucks. Either way the carriers really appreciate it.

Also, when you call and complain, be as civil as possible. If you yell and curse then management will tune you out: it's just human nature. I understand that it's a big problem if your SS check got misdelivered and if it happened to me I'd be upset too. But I'd calm myself down before I called the post office. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Answer 3

I would complain for certain because I'd be mad as hell. However, don't expect much to change. Sadly, the U.S. Mail is a government entity that is poorly run and extremely unresponsive to bad service. In fact, the only way to lose a job as a mail carrier is pretty much "going postal." In a normal business, poor service and rude workers would never be tolerated. This also accounts for why postage keeps going up every year, there is no incentive to do the mail any better.

Answer 4

First off I work at the PO and can tell yours is a common problem. I don't want to discourage you further but short of the person being caught stealing or fighting with a coworker not much can be done. The management does to talk carriers daily in general about making sure they deliver to the right addresses and there are posters up at work promoting this too ! With that said I would STILL TRY !
You can complain at the PO ...I doubt you will get to the Postmaster him or herself though.
My advice would be to FIRST, complain to the carrier ! Be very firm but nice and let them know you will complain to the his/her supervisor if it keeps happening. Second , I would write a letter about the poor service to your Postmaster... Put PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTAL ON THE LETTER If you can find the Postmasters name use it ...hand deliver this letter to the post office yourself ( you want to make sure it gets there) Be professional in the letter and state the facts. Provided your contact information and explain that you NEED to be contacted to discuss this problem. In the lobby of your Post office there should be a customer complaint form ...you could use that too.Next complain in person .Complain in person as many times as it takes to get satisfaction. Make sure you get the persons name that you complain to.
I hate to say this but many complaints are ignored as soon as the person leaves.. I have seen supervisors even joke about how bad a carriers is too ....The complaints that are resolved or at least paid attention to are from people that make a HUGE repeated FUSS. Good Luck

**ps if just talking to the carrier improves your service ... give them a nice tip ..I know it will be hard but trust me once the carrier knows theres a tip to be had he will try to keep you happier !

Answer 5

If you don't complain, nothing will be done about it. Complain to the postal service manager!

I used to get mail for a person with a similar name and similar address. I kept putting it back in the box, and it kept getting redelivered to me. Finally, after I wrote "this is the wrong person and address" on the mail for the fourth time, the carrier put it back in by box with a note on it: "BULL." I had to take it to the post office to get them to deliver it to the right person.

Answer 6

I would think the first step would be talk to the mail carrier-then if it goes on, talk to the post office about it.
That can be annoying-we get mail for others when we have a substitute!

Answer 7

I think you should complain about such poor service.. Perhaps you should contact your local Postmaster and file a complaint.. It is apparent that your mail carrier is not doing a satisfactory job.. As long as you don't say a thing- all will remain the same as it is now.

Answer 8

I would first speak to the carrier... just a friendly request that he look more carefully at the addresses because it sounds like the person who is sorting back at the Post Office is not doing a very good job of it.
If speaking to your carrier does not result in any improvement, THEN contact the Postmaster.

Answer 9

if i were you ? first i would try to catch him and talk to him ,it might be a problem somewhere that you are not aware of ?
and as far as rural carriers ,they do have a supervisor ,and see him every day just as city carriers and clerks .
if you wish to complain ? please address a letter to the postmaster of your city , mail it yourself of course ,
but i can assure you that something will be done about it .
are you sure that your regular carrier is making the mistakes ? it could be his substitute ?while he has off-days ?
for business reasons ,talk to him first ,if it continues ? then resort to his postmaster
as far as things missing ? do know that rarely postal people get away with stealing;the sentence is very harsh !,jail time with loss of their job .....please be sure of your statement .

Answer 10

If it's a rural carrier, then they are set up differently. It's like a contract worker, so they don't have a boss that sees them every day. Which means, they can be completely unqualified for the gig, and nobody will see it. Being a rural area, I'd wonder if they are high on Meth as well. The results you are describing are something a meth-head would do....or someone who has zero "give a damn" left.

I would definintely contact the person above them or even 2 or three people above them and let them know of the situation.