I have been less than thrilled by the postal service in this neighborhood where I've now lived for almost two years. Practically every time I get a package that can't fit into the mailbox, nobody ever bothers to ring my buzzer. They just automatically leave me one of those stupid yellow slips. Most of the time I work from home, so I'm perfectly capable of running downstairs to get it from them, if I even knew it was there. It would save everyone a ton of hassle.
I even spoke to one of the carriers about it and handed him the slip I was about to return to my mailbox with a Post-It note saying PLEASE ring my buzzer instead of leaving a slip. He seemed as confused as I am why the other carrier(s) refuse(s) to ever ring my buzzer.
Going down to the post office to retrieve packages isn't a realistic option. I'm about as far from it as I can be without being in a different zip code (I'm exaggerating, but still, it's a nuisance). Furthermore, this post office is well-renowned for being one of the CRAPPIEST post offices in the whole city. I have not once been there when there wasn't a line of literally 15 people OR MORE waiting there. And they only have like two windows operating at a time, so the whole process can easily take an entire hour, and that's if they don't say when I get to the window, "your package is still on the truck, you'll have to come back tomorrow." *FUME* They also don't sell any fun stamps. =\
But the second part of my post is that I wonder if it isn't my own damn fault. I've never given my mail carriers a holiday gift, even at my last apartment where the carriers were really friendly and awesome and efficient. I honestly don't know what the etiquette is on that, though. Is it very much standard to "tip" your mail carrier around the holidays? Does it get your mail delivered faster/better/less crushed, folded, bent/etc.?
Tell me, how many of you holiday gift your mail carrier and why? Is it standard etiquette or just something for exceptional cases? Like I say, I'm honestly just ignorant on this one.
<3
R