We've had horrendous problems with mail for many, many years back including:


- a bill payment that took 32 days to go about 25 miles away. That made me have to pay a stop check fee, a late fee, and reissue a new check that arrived just after the cancelled check. Boy did that cause some serious billing issues and pony express would have been faster.

- had bills delivered already past due when I opened them

- mail in my box belonging to my neighbors

- mail in my box belonging to people that have not lived at this address in over 20 years.

- mail for people in another state

- mail for people in another country (you read that right, I got mail that was supposed to go to Canada once).

- have found mail laying in the grass outside that was supposed to be either picked up or delivered by the mail person.

Where I live all our mail is now routed through the central post office, which is 30 miles away. So if I want mail something to my next door neighbor, I put it in the post office, it goes 30 miles to the central post office, gets sorted, bagged according to the computer's idea of how it should be delivered (no sorting at all is done at our local post office anymore), and it's sent back the 30 miles to be delivered to my next door neighbor.

I've complained to the post master numberous times, but not nearly so bad as the time I had the bill payment not show up on time which was mailed two weeks ahead of the due date. Our postmaster gave me some lame speech about how everything is sorted by computer and is run through a machine to sort it and that if some kid tries to mail his friend a pencil it will clog the machine and the next 5-7 letters will get shredded. I thought that was a lame excuse trying to pass off the blame to some random kid rather than doing his job.

I have found that mailing from the post office itself (inside only) has greatly improved the rate that my stuff gets where it's going so I never mail anything from the house or from the outside drive up boxes at the post office anymore.

Funny thing is I've gotten to know our new mail lady. Well I say new, but she's been delivering at our house for about 8 years now. It does help our mail to get delivered correctly compared to before, only an occasional mistake once or twice a year now because she take extra time to make sure on each piece before she puts it in the box.

I was talking with her the other day and was telling me she had been arguing with someone on the phone about how they didn't get her bill payment which was mailed on time. The lady from the bill company said 'well you know how the post office is'. My mail lady said 'yes and I work for the post office so I know you got it'. Funny thing is as she is telling me this she stops, leans over and whispers, 'yup, I work for the post office, so I KNOW it didn't get there'. ROFL Even she has a problem with the postal service and she works for them!!!