Dead Letter Office

[Amelia G]

When you mail somebody something twice, do you assume that they really got the thing both times and are looking for a third freebie or do you assume there is a problem at their post office or a problem at your post office?

Before I ran an internationally distributed magazine, I always thought there was no such thing as lost in the mail i.e. the check is in your mouth, I won't come in the mail. Doing mailings of thousands of magazines, I realized that there is an infinite number of things the USPS can do to screw up. When we were based in Atlanta, we paid for an address correction service which was supposed to give us change of address info, but the Atlanta postal people thought we were evil and decided not to give us the data we paid for. Now that is evil.

Atlanta had a 24 hour Post Office. Which sounds great, except for the part where the counter people would get pissy if you made them mail more than 12 items and they would often just throw out whatever you mailed more than 12. Fortunately we learned this before losing too much, but still.

When I first got my space in Hollywood, there was some disagreement on which area it was zoned for as the building rested on sort of the line. The two post offices disagreed on which one should pick up and deliver the mail. Later on someone here (not me) slapped a postal carrier. So, to make a long story short, I don't put things out for the postman here; I go to the Post Office.

So what are you likely to believe if someone says they did not receive something you sent them?

[Kidthorazine]

its true when i had a part time job at a junk mail distribution company (yes im that evil) we had that problem only entire trays got lost and a tray can hold from five to 900 or so pamplets or whatever we where sending so yeah that shit happens

[MistressJennifer]

Wow, I didn't know that... Don't you just HATE postal employees? They are just so EVIL!!! They are just really lazy and they don't want to mail anything!!!

Find out the name of the person that does it and write a complaint about them to their supervisor. That will really make them mad!!! I did that!! heh!

[Cthulhu23]

I would tend to believe the person. I know that I have had things sent to me that did not arrive, and the person I purchased from was quick to remedy the situation. At the same time.....if it happens more than once though you still may believe them you may have to work with them on an alternate option. No one can afford to just send things over and over wether the person is being honest or not.

[Nightingale]

I don't send out a great deal through our post here, but I do get a receipt for everything that goes over the post office counter as proof that posting occured. If it's something valuable, I insure it or send it with an acknowledgement form that the postal employee has to fill out on delivery. Tens of thousands of items get lost in the post every single month; many postal employees and others involved with the post seem to end up making a fortune or have very well stocked houses ...

[LrdSatanas]

it all depends on the loss. profit % ect. If i had the problem you did i would distribute the magazines threw many post offices. I know how dumb ******s work seeing as how i live in atl sister city Charlotte. Same ammount of bullshit just smaller city. Can;t blame you for getting out of there one bit. If the double sends meet a point to where you actually lose money then its more worth just saying fuck them and lossing there payments. I had a subcription to rolling stone forever and when i missed one all they say is that its in the mail....

[HempKnight]

I never had good luck with the postal service as far as business dealings go, I've always stuck to Fed Ex, DHL, UPS or Airborne Express... just about anyone other than the US mail.

Although when I have had to deal with either shitty postal employees or offices that were substandard, a nicely worded letter to the postmaster general always seemed to fix the situation. But of course the bastard doesn't take e-mail.. so you have to once again have to rely on the postal carrier to actually deliver it.

And here's a quote from the U.S. Postal Inspection Services:
Despite our great report card, some parts of the country are dealing with "volume" mail thefts, particularly Tucson and Phoenix, AZ, and portions of California and Texas.

But there are some sites to check out:
Consumer Affairs Delivery Services section, gives you the details on what problems with what services there are.
PostalWatch Complaint section... offers details on how to bitch about shitty service.
U.S. Postal Inspection Services everything and more than you ever wanted to know about the U.S. mail.