Anyone else have issues with mail delivery?
Complaints about mail delivery in the area:
Is anyone else in the Historic District of Church Hill have issues with USPS mail mis-deliveries? I’m constantly having my mail mis-delivered after vociferous complaints to the local office and the national office.
A lot of time-sensitive material gets here waaay after the delivery date, so I’m sure I’ve missed out on some good sales.
Yes. It’s by far the worst mail experience ever. I have since moved and we continue to receive calls from the new owners about our mail still being delivered and not forwarded.
Yup. Last year, in December, someone sent me something from southern Maryland on Dec. 10. Should have been plenty of time to reach me, but it didn’t arrive until Dec. 31 – at which point, a whole bunch of other first class mail arrived, too, including a bill that would have been past due had I not made a phone payment and guessed at the minimum due.
This December, I didn’t receive a single copy of my New Yorker subscription. It started right back up with the Jan. 4 issue, but I’ve had to call and order back issues for the whole month of December.
I did get a package for a neighbor who moved out in August, on Christmas Eve no less – she’d put in forwarding, expecting it to be forwarded. I didn’t have the heart to remind the postman who so eagerly delivered it, I just called the former neighbor and she came and picked it up.
Not sure what I have not received recently, seem to have all my bills, may or may not get some late stuff…it’s pretty bad. I don’t know who to complain to because the 25th Street post office is so poorly staffed to begin wtih.
We get mis-delivered mail on a fairly regular basis, in fact there’s one here now that I’ve got to send back.
We’re getting more than the usual amount of mis-delivered mail.
I visited the Post Office on 25th street today and I am don’t live in your area and the service was horrible. There were about 6 people in line with only one window open and the post office employee who was moving very slow. I had to leave because it just took to long to mail my package. I went to another post office; so yes I can believe you are having bad experiences with mail delivery. I hope it gets better for you.
It is a huge problem and I have filed complaints with the post office. I receive mis-delivered mail weekly, magazines are weeks late or never arrive, and I just had to order two replacement discs from Netflix because they have gone missing. I had my mail stopped for a week in December and as expected, the post office continued to deliver mail to my house. They even delivered the stop mail notice to my house.
What about creating an online petition and getting it over to the post office. The mail service has always been lousy.
YES! Maybe 5% of the mail we receive is addressed to someone else, and so I assume about the same % of our mail is disappearing into the ether somewhere too. The only real problem was when they didn’t deliver a credit card bill a few months ago and I didn’t notice that it hadn’t come — that cost a couple hundred dollars in interest and fees.
All of the above. We get a ton of mail for previous residents at our address- including checks! Over Christmas, I was watching for a package which was being tracked online and it said it was out for delivery on 12/28 so I waited for it all day. Around 5PM I called and they said our carrier was still out on his route and to call back. Called back at 6PM, was told the same thing. At 8pm that night it said online that he had attempted delivery and had left one of those orange/beige notices. Not only was a notice NOT left, the next day when the package was delivered, it was just shoved in our mailbox so we didn’t even need to be home!! Ugh.
Yes, I have also experience atrocious mail service since moving to the hill. Netflix have not been delivered/gone missing, other people’s mail has been delivered at our address and magazines always arrive late. When we first moved we received so much mail for former owners/occupants that I actually tracked them down myself and told them to get mail forwarding. They did, yet I continue to receive mail for previous owners/occupants. And I don’t even bother going to our local office because the service is so poor.
Yes! The first year I lived here (2008) I did not recieve a single piece of mail. Multiple complaints to management and the Post Master general proved to be a waste of time. According to them noone was even assigned to my route, so they did not know who “temporarily” was supposed to be delivery to me. Even with that, their excuse was “well maybe you haven’t had any mail” Ummm…HELLO! lol. Spent many more months having mail held at the post office and picking up every couple of weeks (surprise, I actually then had mail!)But they cut me off after 2 months of holding stating holding mail shouldn’t be used for this purpose. I now have a new mail woman and atleast seem to get mail every few days. I still don’t recieve many pieces I know should be delivered, and even recieved a postcard last week that was postmarked in ’08.
What an ironic discussion. Just this past Wednesday, I took my small, very well-behaved puppy to a vet appointment at Church Hill Animal Hospital. I live close-by so we walked. After the appointment was over, I decided to stop in to the post office to get a “stop mail” card since I would be away for a while. I walked into the post office hoping to get the card and go (they’re usually stocked on the desks for self-service convenience). Well, not this time. So I jump into the line with 8 people waiting in front of me…and just one window open. My dog and I are peacefully waiting for our turn in line and we make it to #2 from the window. The women at the window proceeds to yell out and state that the dog(puppy) has to get out. I stated I just need a stop mail card and the puppy is not bothering anybody. (What could she possibly disturb in that concrete and terrazzo dump?) I told the woman that I just needed a card and I would leave. She said as long as that dog is in here, I can’t help you. I told her that I can’t leave the puppy outside. She rudely snapped back that “it’s the rules”! So, I left while checking the doors…no signs anywhere stating that animals were not allowed. I can absolutely understand rules not allowing dogs but what I find unacceptable is the woman’s rudeness. I called the postmaster to tell him of my experience and he reassured me that he would speak to her. I still plan on stopping in to have a “discussion” with her. I’ll be sure to give her all the respect that she didn’t have the decency to give me.
Yes, we don’t use the CH PO. There is never more than one window open and generally a long line. The atmosphere is like a check cashing joint what with the box for transferring stuff. We haven’t had reliable service since our very good, hard working mail person (man) left the route two years ago. We were on a first name basis and it was clear that he took his job and his route seriously. And he enjoyed talking to his clients.
Today, we use the PO on 2nd between Grace and Broad: nice people, real attention and quick service.
Sad isn’t it.
I hand deliver mail to my neighbors that gets delivered to my house on a regular basis. When I’m not familiar with the address, I put it back in the mailbox with a ‘wrong address’ note. I’d hate to think of all my mail that has been delivered to the wrong addresses- things with credit card numbers, personal info, etc. And let’s not even mention our post office on 25th. It’s a joke & embarrassing. Rude service, one window, long lines, no supplies. We go to the one on Brook Rd.
25th street Post office=dingy
our mail man= grouchy
is a blue tooth headset part of the official USPS uniform? because he certainly seems to think so
Everytime I have to wait in the PO line I can’t help but dwell on the “Guaranteed 5 Minute Service” sticker on the door. My thought is always “Or what?”
Neighbor, I wouldn’t care if he delivered the mail in a yellow top and pink tutu if he only did it in a timely manner and to the right address!
I did not get a christmas package, and I’ve had to reorder netflix. I think that complaints should be done on a higher level than the 25th street P.O. I’ve been there and I don’t think they really care too much what anyone thinks.
Maybe the usps.com has a complaint section.
I made an official complaint to the USPS about my experience with the East End Post Office to no avail. A year or so ago I made the STUPID mistake of mailing a grant proposal at the East End Post Office. Needless to say it was never delivered and I almost lost my job, which I would have deserved after being stupid enough to mail an important proposal at this post office. Because I sent my proposal via certified mail I was able to initiate an “investigation” to find if, when or where it had been misdelivered. I soon learned that the “investigation” was being handled by noneother than the East End Post Office administration. I never did find out what happened to my grant proposal. I learned my lesson the hard way but you don’t have to follow in my stupid footsteps. Just go somewhere else whenever you need to mail anything you care to have delivered.
P.S. – To the person with the dog. Your puppy may be well behaved and sweet but that was very inconsiderate of you to take a pet into the post office or any public building for that matter. Just because you love your dog doesn’t mean that everyone does. I am a dog owner, lover and client of Nan Jack who probably should start offering new pet owners classes in pet etiquette. There is a reason only service animals are allowed in government buildings and unless your puppy qualifies you should probably take your pup home before assuming everyone in the post office appreciates dogs as much as you do. Sorry.
I agree the mail can be troublesome and I have had my issues. Historically the routes in our area are some of the toughest around according to many mail carriers in Richmond. I have found that getting to know my mail person has helped tremendously with getting my mail delivered. It is all about neighbors looking out for neighbors. Even if the mailperson doesn’t live in my neighborhood, he/ she is an intricate part of the neighborhood. A shout out to my current mailman and former mailman, both of whom I turned on to CHPN. For a few years we had Mike who is awesome and a NY Giants fan. He is now serving folks on Laburnum. Now we have Thomas, a Georgia Tech man, doing a bang up job. I know this isn’t an answer for everyone but it sure helped me living here around 36th and Broad and having a 1/2 in my address. Delivering the mail and the newspaper are two tough jobs that many of us take for granted, including myself at times. I really appreciate the job these folks do for me and my neighbors.
I do wish we could get rid of the bullet proof glass at the post office on 25th, the days of John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd are past. Our little post office’s decor is not the most inviting as it stands currently; hope that changes for the better soon. Sending this letter first class and using a forever stamp.
I moved in September and I’m still not getting my mail. Yes, I don’t get my own mail, I regularly get other people’s mail, they don’t pick up, and my mail often gets stolen. The physical P.O. is scary, the people are hostile and the service sucks. It’s bad all around. But my all-time favorite was when I had mail returned with a sticker saying 23223 wasn’t a valid zipcode, from…you guessed it…the 25th Street P.O.
I’ve gone paperless on most things and I have all packages sent to work. I will probably end up just getting a PO Box here downtown.
The same problems in other parts of the city. I live in the Museum District and am constantly marking mail “moved-no forwarding” in big, blue block letters and then putting it back in the box at Kensington and Park. Guess what? Much of it ends up being redelivered still marked the same. It’s useless to complain or petition as they just don’t give a damn!
http://www.localsearch.com/review/East-End-Post-Office-B0500441618.html
Same experiences on this end. Sale flyers come weeks late all in one mass clump. Magazines are delivered weeks, sometimes months, late. I’ve had envelopes marked “Do not fold” folded in half and stuffed in my mailbox. We put in a hold-mail notice last year. The carrier held all of my husband’s mail and delivered mine for the entire 10 days despite the fact that usps.com specifically says one hold mail does the entire household. I tried to complain to usps.com. Guess what. They kick it back to the local branch. Fat lot of good that does.
I was getting mail for about 2 years for someone who may have lived at my address at one time. I wrote “return to sender, not at this address” on it and still would get her mail. Someone told me that I needed to scratch out the bar code on the front bottom of the envelope in order to make it stop. Since I started doing that, I no longer receive her mail. Maybe this will help…
Not just the 25th St office. I ordered a bunch of stuff from overseas for holiday gifts, and understood that delivery was going to take longer. A month and a half after no package, and lots of emails with the seller, I finally got the seller to give me the tracking info, and found out that my package had been misrouted to Powhatan, but had been sitting in the Klockner Rd PO for about three weeks.
Called and talked to the asst manager, who located the package and told me to expect it that day. When it didn’t come, I called the next day and spoke to the manager. I told him that I had spoken to the assistant the day before, and that I had been informed that the package was there by his colleague. The manager told me that what I was telling him was “heresay” and he would get back to me. I called him back the next day after not hearing and finally got my package, but not in enough time to mail out the individual gifts for the holidays – even though I had placed the order 2 months early. Just glad it was not medicine, or something like that.
I respect that they have a lot to manage, but we are still laughing around here about the mail guy talking about heresay.
Someone asked if there’s a phone number to call with complaints. I just walked to the post office at 7th and Main and asked for such a phone number. The nice (!) lady at the counter (no bullet proof glass, either!) said call 775-6313 or 775-6369. Also, 800-222-1811, but that seems to be a national number, I’d rather try the local numbers. She also said that if enough people complained about the 25th St. PO, management might listen….don’t know if it will work, might be worth a try.
LOL
Maybe we should retitle this thread to “Is there anyone who DOESN’T have issues with mail delivery”
The post office in general has gown downhill in the last few years. It used to be that if the address was slightly off but in a way that made sense, it still got delivered. Now, perfectly addressed mail often gets returned because someone is too lazy to deliver it or the machines can not read it.
And our neighborhood post office has been misdelivering mail for well over a decade now. It is just something we are expected to tolerate
Last summer, my route had a temp mail man while the regular guy (who was great) was on leave. The temp apparently hired one of his buddies and they split the uniform. I watched them work. One guy, wearing the hat and bag would do one side of the street while the other, wearing the shirt, would snag mail from him and do the odd side of the street.
@katzenjaammer nice one!
Wow! Ours is not SO bad, compared to these other complaints. We have had a few problems. We definitely miss Eric! I go to the main PO usually, and avoid the local one whenever possible. I’ve had them tell me I couldn’t mail a box because it had previous markings on it (which I had marked out with sharpie), so I took the box to a different PO and no problem.
We get our next door neighbor’s mail all the time. I thought it was just us as we have a similar address number.
Complain too much and the solution will be to raise the rates to hire better letter carriers.
1.) OK, who’s on board with this?
2.) Who actually thinks they will get better letter carriers?
Anyone?
No one?
I didn’t know that I was having an issue until the City of Richmond Circuit Court called me to tell me that I had been summoned for jury duty and didn’t show up. My summons had come back to the city with “no such address” written on it. After this incident, several friends had also told me that Christmas cards were returned to them last year. My house is from 1925 and was occupied prior to us moving in 2 years ago, so the address does exist. I didn’t care that much about the Christmas cards, but I was very unhappy with my jury duty summons being returned. I called the national number and left a message with a complaint. The manager of the 25th PO called me to address the complaint and said that she had a feeling who was doing it in the office as we both knew it was not the mail carrier, himself. Since then, we haven’t had any other major issues…at least that I know about.
cat #34 – “The manager of the 25th PO called me to address the complaint and said that she had a feeling who was doing it in the office as we both knew it was not the mail carrier, himself. ”
How did you both know that it was not the carrier? Just curious. I think it HAS been my carrier, esp. when I got an email from my friend in Maryland that he’d mailed me something in early Dec. that arrived on Dec. 31 along with a whole bunch of other stuff (first class) that was postmarked during the first week of Dec. Would you explain, please? Thanks!
After we moved to Richmond in September we did something people used to do all the time: we put our last name on our mailbox. Though we’ve never met our carrier, we rarely get mail for previous residents and we have gotten our mail even when sent with the wrong street number. Delivery is much better now than it was before we put up our name – when we would get our mail in a big lump once a week and the mail for dozen other people the other six days. We’ve measured the risks versus the benefits, and think our last name on the mailbox was the way to go.
I was having a hard time getting my packages delivered.I am home most of the time,yet the mailman leaves a card in my box saying I’m not home.I reported him two times. I get all of my packages like I should.
At CRD – It was my understanding that the mail never left the Post Office and was just returned to the sender with “no such address” written on it. If the mail had made it to the carrier, he would know that our address existed since he comes by it everyday. The manager stated that they had just hired someone new in the office who she thought was writing that on our mail and that she would talk with her.
At Joyce – I work from home and always do signature confirmation on any packages as I don’t want to take the chance of it not getting delivered or getting stolen off my front porch.
I used to get great mail service when this lady Bonnie was our carrier. Now we get different people and they are almost always on the phone (i think blue tooth is part of the uniform). I told my husband I was going to call and complain as we’re totally getting sales papers late and I’m still waiting on Christmas cards that I know were sent. Scares me to think how many issues I’ll actually receive of the 3 magazine subscriptions we just ordered for ourselves as gifts!
On January 5th I received three pieces of mail, all with expired offer dates of 12/24. And a bill I personally took to the post office took 10 days to get to it’s destination when it should only have taken 3, as per a post office employee. I can live with the shabby building. But when my mail arrives late and ultimately affects my credit rating and costs additional fees I tend to get riled up!
My name on my mailbox has not helped. I still get mail addressed to tenants/owners from 10 or more years ago!
I have lived in CH all my life and I have not had issues until recently, and that was a Christmas catalog that I received last week. All of my Netflix, whether I leave it for pick up at home or drop it in the boxes outside or inside the post office, have made it back to Netflix.
I will say that in general there is an issue. My great-grandmother has moved out of her home and the mail was supposed to be forwarded starting Dec 19th. She has not gotten anything but an acknowledgement of that from the PO, and that was Saturday. All of her mail still goes to her house. And this is a PO located in Henrico. I wonder if it is related to the people on leave for war duty that the PO does not replace due to holding their jobs. It may have hit a critical point in these last few months.
I have also visited several PO around the city and I have always had a line. There may have been two on three windows open, but the lines were that much longer, so the wait time was the same at CH, Westhampton, Tuckahoe, and Floyd Ave, and Jhanke Rd made me walk out because of the long line, so I do not think it is a CH issue. And I have yet to have a issue with someone being rude at the CH post office.
I ordered a book from Amazon that was shipped on Dec. 28 with an estimated delivery date of Jan. 7. It’s Jan. 12 and it still is not here. I have all of the problems mentioned above and then some. Had mail stopped and still delivered, bill payments that never got to the vendor, sales catalogs that came in after the expiration date of the sale. You name it. Of course, there is no number to call and the folks at the Church Hill post office are arrogant. I do like my mailman though. I avoid mailing anything of importance from the Church Hill Post Office.
Several years ago, I was getting mail for “W” 26th Street instead of “N” 26th Street, but the problem has been cleared up. I don’t want to jinx myself, but my mail delivery has been great and I have no complaints.
We are also getting mail very late, not receiving periodicals, finding mail for other neighbors, etc., etc. This is very new for us (as of ’09). Our mailman is fine, and we think the problem may be somewhere down the line. On a related issue, can we try to push for some improvements at the sad, blighted, crummy (I could go on) post office on 25th Street? It has looked like this for the whole 40 years I’ve lived on the Hill, and it’s pretty awful for both employees and customers.
Just received something in the mail today (January 12) labeled “Postmaster – Dated material enclosed, request delivery between 12/14/09-12/17/09″
#38 Cat thanks for the explanation.
#45 Melinda, I’d love to see some physical improvements but I’d also like to get my bills and magazines on time, so I’ll put a priority on that.
#43, 40 and 46 – Right now I don’t know of anything that I have not received, but if I did, I’d call 775-6313 or 775-6369, those are the numbers that the 7th and Main PO told me to pass along to you folks. I’d be interested in hearing if you get results, I’ll be glad to walk back over to 7th and Main and tell them what happens when you call.
Our delivery guy is lovely. But who ever is sorting the mail… serious issues. We’ve had packages never arrive. Books, etc. And it’s not getting stolen off the porch… UPS and FedEx is always there. It’s not getting into my delivery man’s hands.
I have had bad experiences with the mail delivery and the post office on 25th, both of which are points expressed by others previously. I came from living in the Fan and Museum Districts, respectively. I rarely received incorrect mail or late mail and the post office at Floyd and Thompson is fine; the USPS needs to step up because if a much busier PO can sustain accuracy, why can’t ours on 25th? T
I had two personal checks mailed to me from different people in different locations a couple weeks apart last month. Neither check arrived! I had to pay one person a $30 Check Stop Payment Fee before they would mail me another check. Had them send it to my office in the west end so it would arrive, which it did. Lots of late mail, delivery to wrong addresses, mail found for me or my neighbor in my front yard on the lawn, and store advertising mailings showing up 2 weeks after the sales are over!
I don’t trust the post office anymore to deliver anything to my house!
Regarding complaints to usps.com–> I filed one about the 25th Street PO not ever having supplies (specifically, no Priority Mail boxes, which are generally free and available from all other Post Offices when you send things Priority Mail). I was told I could purchase a different box or “go to another Post Office.” This polite and helpful answer was after a 20 minute wait. My complaint filed online lead to a phone call from a supervisor at the 25th Street Post Office. I have to believe that any Post Office that is so poorly run suffers from apathetic management. I know I should call back, but it seems a bit useless.
Also, I loudly second(or third) the notice of constant cell phone use by carriers. If the lady who delivers my mail was not on the phone (blue tooth) the *entire* time she’s on my porch (which is sometimes a very long time, I assume due to the difficult multi-tasking), then perhaps she could better deliver mail to the proper address. This is on a daily basis, despite my dog going crazy during the prolonged ordeal. Oh, and I’ve also had properly addressed mail returned to the sender and labeled “no such address.”
One more thing: I have never waited at the Chamberlain or Broad Street (near Lowe’s) Post Offices nearly as long as I routinely wait in line at the 25th St PO.
I mentioned this PO locale and our problems with the mail some time ago in a previous post, following our horrific time getting our mail at all, before 7 pm, or time-sensative materials. I s/w the manager who told me then they were down 7 or 8 carriers and the mail was being delivered by other carriers once their primary routes were delivered. That the mail in also sorted by someone else. Generally the mail is sorted and delivered by the same person who is acquainted by the route and is familar with the residents names (obviously within reason.) I also asked why, since they were down such a significant number of staff this CH Branch, couldn’t CH PO get the self-mailing machines. The mgr told me there are a limited number of those and they are distributed to areas with high volume….. So this week I s/w a friend of mine who is Federal Postal Inspector I told him of the trouble we are having at this branch. He said the positions are frozen within the postal service and they are not allowed to hire. Therefore it appears we won’t be hoping for any change in the near future, unless we express ourselves as a group.
The other thing is the state of the building. I reported the condition of the exterior of the building, the PO Mgr told me he had tried over and over to get that plus some interior problems solved. The building is leased. The city said at first they could not site a federal building, but when they found out it was leased they said they would “try.” That was at least 6 months ago.
On a side note, my huge pet peeve is who can’t read the NO PARKING signs in front of the mail box???????? They aren’t supposed to wait on anyone who is parked illegally out there, but that is hard to regulate.
#53, THANK YOU for mentioning the parking problem! It truly ticks me off to try to pull up to the mail box and have someone just sitting in a car, idling the engine!
As to the rest of your comments – sounds like we should not expect any physical improvements or any additional employees any time soon. How would you suggest we “express ourselves as a group”?
How about 12 on your side?
Maybe the president of the Church Hill Association will read these comments and have the 25th street Postmaster attend one of our meetings to address some of these problems. I think to get their attention, there does need to be a mass movement.
@56 That would make way too much sense! CHA doing something useful…NAH!
The Church Hill Central Civic Association meets every third Monday at the Robinson Theater at 7pm and could be a way to express the neighborhood concerns about the East End Post Office as a group. To contact this group and request more information email them at chccainfo@gmail.com. Their next meeting is Monday, February 15th at 7pm-8:30pm at The Robinson Theater.