Postal Capers

[Eutychus]

I'm webmaster for our church web site. The church purchased a CMS script from someone I know on another forum. They paid by check and mailed it out on March 5th. The friend emailed the script and I kept checking with him to find if he had received payment. The envelope arrived back at the church yesterday (March 25) with no explanation. We finally noticed that the only error in the address was that the city was typed as: Dallax, TX instead of Dallas, TX. The ZIP Code was correct and even a first grader should have figured out that it was Dallas.

Another friend recently mailed in his utilitiy bill. Payment was not credited after several weeks. Eventually the bill came back to his house with several Arizona postmarks! The letter was addressed to Dothan, AL with the Zip Code for one of our local post offices. But because there was a very slight ink mark at the top of the L in "AL", a series of individuals or really worthless machines interpreted it as "AZ" and ignored the Zip Code.

Is my city's postal service the only one this easily confused?
Anyone else have an interesting Postal Caper to share?

[mjc]

I am currently living in WV, my mother lives in PA. She can mail items to me (kid's burthday cards, etc) from my home town PO and they will take 4 to 8 days to arrive. She can mail them from the PO in the next town, (distance between POs about 3 miles) and they will arrive in 2-3 days. She once tested it by sending some from each post office (the differnce in drop off time was the time it took to drive between them and each was before the time the post office empties the outside drop-off boxes).

[kayofcircles]

Nothing all that funny..but it takes a BD card five days to get from here to Santa Fe..a distance of approx 70 miles..but less than three days to get to my aunt and uncle in Oregon. I once mistyped the state, and put Hurricane, TX rather than Hurricane, UT..zip correct. That came back to me 2 months later..with postal marks ALL over envelope. And definitely not amusing was the time long ago that we had moved and were starting in a new place, and I asked my aunt for a small loan. She put the check in the mail..address correct..and it arrived three months later with tire marks on it. Good thing we didn't need it desperately, and by the time it arrived..didn't need it, period. So, from such experiences, one loses a certain amount of "trust" in the postal system. I now mail early, and when in doubt, put twice the postage I think it might need..:) ..and cross my fingers.

[Budfred]

I used to send film to Seattle Filmworks and one time I got my pictures back in a timely manner, but with tire marks all over the package. Since I had them put the pictures on floppies (I didn't have a CD player to read them then), the floppies were pretty well destroyed. The post office said that since I couldn't prove they did it, it wasn't there problem.

I recently got a package from UPS that had clearly had the address label removed and a new hand written label attached. When I called, they had no explanation. I try to avoid using them now.

[malcore]

Lots of bad experiences with Canada Post.

However, the postal service here in Taiwan is excellent. I realize that it is a much smaller country though.

Anyway, I was returning a heatsink for exchange to Thermalright Far East. I mailed it from Taichung to Taipei at 12:00 in the afternoon. It arrived there at 4:00 the same day. I received my replacement at 10:00 the next morning. This was by regular post, not courier.

I think Canada Post and USPS could learn a lot here.

[GreenNV]

Being from Canada, so of course I use Canada Post and have no problem with the service. So easy to receive anything in the mail here, address can be so off it ain't funny but I'll still receive it. As long as my last name is there, that's all that matters. If the street name is off, and if the house number is totally wrong & the postal code, don't matter. As long as the province, town, and last name is there then that's all it takes. But hey, that's just my experience. ;) :D

[Mark Miller]

I have to say we were just talking about how crazy the mail is.
Bills seem to get here late, but when you make payment they are posted in 2 days.
Personal mail can take anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks. I find the best way to make your mail go a little faster is to take it straight to the post office, usually saves a couple of days
I also think part of the problem is that with e-mail, snail mail has really become hard to take. Maybe we should just step back and relax, so things take a few days, no big deal.
Mark:D

[Budfred]

I don't particularly mind delayed mail, but I do resent destroyed mail and the refusal of the Post Office to take responsibility for their mistakes.

[kayofcircles]

Mark: I agree that email is WONDERFUL, and that one does get spoiled. But one disadvantage of living out in the boonies is inefficiency at the post office. (My husband mails everything right at the PO, by the way, but doesn't seem to help.) I have to be diligent..because it is not unknown for us "not" to get the bill from the credit card company or the power company or wherever. I will realize that I should have gotten the phone bill, for example, and call the phone company, and yes, they sent it out a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't get it. So, have to request payment amount, and send it to appropriate address. And email saved us from interest charges once when my payment to a credit card company didn't arrive on their end. They sent an email saying they hadn't gotten payment, and so I paid them electronically..that mail never showed up again, either there or here. Another "lost" bill did show up a month or so ago..WAY late, had already called and paid it..with tire marks again. Look like actual vehicle tread marks, but maybe rollers in their sorting machine??