I moved into my house on May 10th. One of my roommates has a dog. Our mail was delivered to us one time and one time only, accompanied by a (poorly-typed, unofficial) letter saying that we had two days to move the dog off the porch or we would no longer receive our mail. We called the post office, told them we'd keep the dog inside during the hour that our mail arrives, and they said our mail would be delivered, no problem. Since then, the dog has been indoors during mail delivery time every single day. Still no mail, and it's been over a month.
We've called them numerous times to ask if our mail has been held since then, are always told "yes" despite never receiving a notice of such, and have had to physically drive to the post office 6 times to collect our mail. Each time they give us a different, ridiculous reason for holding our mail:
1. we have a "bunch of pots and pans" on the porch. (Not true; we have a stainless steel water bowl for the dog and a food bowl, which we've even moved inside lately. Even if this was true, why would it impede mail delivery?!)
2. we have a leash on our porch. (It's the cable we clip to the dog's collar when she's let otu to roam the yard.) When we complained about this and mentioned that it was in no way impeding the carrier's access to the mailbox, we got this excuse:
3. the carrier tripped over the leash "repeated times". (Never mind the leash being out of the way-- the carrier hasn't even been to our house repeated times.)
4. our mail was getting mixed up with a house on a different street with the same house number whose mail was being held.
The postmaster was supposed to call me at 3:30 today to resolve these issues. He didn't, so I went to the post office. I mentioned that at no point did we ever receive a notice that our mail was being held, aside from the original warning letter, which we resolved; his response was that "we don't really give formal notice." And then when he heard all of the various excused we were given, this is what he had to say:
"Are you unwilling to move the leash?"
I said that sure, we can move it, but it's not in the way now so moving it wouldn't change a thing. His next suggestion was stellar:
"You should move your mailbox."
When I told him that I can't because it's bolted to the front of the house, he said we should bolt it to the pillar in front of the house instead. I said, "I can't do that, I'm a renter. And why should I have to? Why can't you deliver my mail? There is NOTHING WRONG WITH MY PORCH."
He finally agreed to come by my house after work. He came up on the porch, looked at the leash (sitting where it always does), and said, "You make sure the leash stays like this and you'll get your mail."
At this point he said the concern with the leash was the tripping hazard. To illustrate this danger, he picked the leash up from where it was, moved it to the mailbox, wrapped it around his foot, and mimed falling over. Whatever. I let it slide.
I asked him again about the formal notice and he said he'd "talked to our carrier about it," but that wasn't all... I thought it was, until I asked for the name of our mail carrier. He grudgingly gave it to me, and then he looked at the bushes on either side of our front steps and told us if we don't trim them, we won't get our mail.
OUR BUSHES DO NOT BLOCK THE STAIRS. THERE IS A FULL BODY-WIDTH OF NON-BUSH-IMPEDED STAIR.
I said as much to him, and told him that our landlord doesn't let us do our own yard work, and that I'd call him up about trimming them but we'd better get our mail. He muttered something about bushes and left.
What would you do in this situation? Do you think I'll ever get my mail?
I'm considering writing a letter to the editor of the local paper, but beyond that I don't know what to do.
Edit: We got mail today! It was delivered by a new mail carrier. I guess that's one way to solve the problem.</i>
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