Thursday, June 5, 2014

Reader mailbag: How often does your mail get delivered?



From the EVG reader mailbag:

I know everyone agrees that the Cooper Station Post Office has sadly gone downhill.

I'm also wondering if other people in the neighborhood are having problems with their home mail delivery? As in sometimes it doesn't even get delivered?! About half the apartments in my building turn over very quickly, with college or just post-college students staying for a year and then leaving.

This results is a lot of mail for people who no longer live here. The mail delivery people lately just leave it on the floor or on the radiator and it gets strewn about the entry area. This is annoying in itself, but also sometimes I find my own mail on the floor, or mail for other people who are definitely residents. (If I know they live here, then I rescue it and slip the mail under their doors). This makes it really obvious when the mail has been delivered that day.

The second issue is that sometimes it seems like mail isn't delivered at all. In addition to there not being new mail on the floor/radiator, the mailboxes have little slots, so you can see when they're all empty. Recently this has happened more and more often -— twice a week or so. This is a lot, especially when one is waiting for a check to arrive! What the Hell?

Well, we would have posted this sooner, but the P.O. just delivered the EVG reader mailbag to us yesterday. (It was postmarked Feb. 6!)

But seriously. What the Hell? At the apartment home of EVG, someone shows up to deliver the mail maybe four times a week. You?

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Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader mailbag: Places to eat that have that old East Village vibe (45 comments)

Reader mailbag: What do I do about my new neighbors who smoke pot all the time? (52 comments)

Reader mailbag: Where is a good place to get a cup of coffee in the East Village before 6 a.m.? (25 comments)

Reader mailbag: What has happened to the Cooper Station Post Office? (41 comments)

Reader mailbag: Can the landlord 'drill' the lock to gain access to my apartment for simple repairs? (15 comments)

Reader mailbag: Should we receive a rent abatement for having sporadic heat and hot water?

16 comments:

Walter said...

I wouldn't know, 'cause nobody writes to Uncle Waltie. The only mail I ever get is the rent bill, and that always shoes up.

Anonymous said...

my mail comes everyday although when the regular mail carrier is away I tend to get mail with the same number but 100 blocks north from me.

Anonymous said...

Our mail was great for 6+ years. Then all of a sudden, we started losing letters, and they'd arrive 2 weeks later with yellow stickers on them that said "Unable to forward / For review". We had never set up any kind of forwarding. Went to the USPS store, and they gave me the phone number of the actual mailman. Didn't call since we were moving out soon thereafter, but I'd recommend trying that out.

Anonymous said...

All of a sudden they started delivering packages again, so I am not complaining.


bowboy said...

I wonder about this, too: in the last decade I've never had a piece of mail returned. I can't be that accurate. There have even been items where I was guessing at the address, and hard to believe the usps did extra work to get it delivered. I guess, I should just be happy that no one there is going off and shooting up the place... recently.

Anonymous said...

We are getting mail from 10 blocks away, and some days they just deliver either the bulk rate or the first class mail, then deliver the rest the next day. USPS is acting like LaserShip and dumping packages in the lobby. Sometimes they don't deliver them at all, when you call them they say they left a slip when they didn't, and they can't find the package if you try to pick it up. We switched back to actually going to the store to buy things instead of using Amazon for many purchases, and now we do all bill payments online, and also switched to paperless billing and statements. They are way too undependable these days for anything you must have on time.

Anonymous said...

My mail carrier broke her key and doesn't bother to get a new one. That being said, we don't get mail, just aggressive notes on the door saying, no access, no mail. Didn't realize it's the tenant's responsibility to furnish the mail carrier with a key when she loses/damages her's.

Anonymous said...

Well you don't expect the to deliver the mail when it rains do you ?

Kelly said...

live in 10009, on ave D, have not received mail on Tuesdays for what feels like a year now.

Anonymous said...

E 6th St here; mail comes sporadically. A lot of missing letters in the past couple of years.

Anonymous said...

I wrote to Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who represents most of the EV, about this two months ago. I have not heard back. Councilwoman Rosie Mendez doesn't seem to be doing anything about the problem, either. Obviously USPS has federal oversight -- this is not a typical mayoral issue -- but I'm wondering if De Blasio will help us. Or new NYC Postmaster Elvin Mercado.
Mail service in NYC is a disgrace and serves as proof that we do not live in a first-world country anymore.
Congresswoman Maloney, do you hear me now? Check your e-mailbag from 4/7/14.

Eric Bahringer said...

I have to say it seems like I get new mail maybe 3 or 4 days a week. forget about weekends - never!

Eden Bee said...

My mail sucks. Usually doesn't come on Mondays. The guy just doesn't want to deal with the build up of mail I guess. Delivery person constantly changes. New one every few months so sometimes its fine other times we don't get mail at least one or two times a week. My neighbor complained as she said her checks come late or not at all meaning her rent is payed late causing penalties and extra charges. Packages are okay lately. Horrible a few months ago. We constantly get other peoples mail in our box and so does everyone else in the building so we look for our mail on the floor or on this shelf in the lobby. Usually find stuff there every day meant for us. Cooper now closes at 5:45 pm not 7 also. I think they could be on their way out.

Anonymous said...

our mail is pretty good (i think)sometimes it's empty, - if your mail is just strewn about - call the postal inspector - the carrier is slacking off and should be disciplined and then fired.

Anonymous said...

Mine definitely comes only every other day or so. Sometimes there are longer gaps. It can't be just that I had two days in a row without any mail, because when it does come it's obviously several days' worth. Also, I got a package delivered yesterday that was sent priority mail/2-day delivery and the delivery date on the front of the package was clearly for Tuesday, June 3. Didn't get delivered until the 5th despite the promise of June 3 delivery.

This is clearly an endemic problem here in NYC, at least in the EV. But how is the average postal customer supposed to do anything about it? I don't even know my carrier's name, if there is a regular one, as I'm rarely home when the mail is delivered. But for this to be occurring so widely, it has to be a practice that is condoned or encouraged by delivery people's superiors.

Anonymous said...

Our building too—no one gets mail at least 1 or 2 days a week, usually Friday &/or Saturday. I've lived here 37 years, so as you can imagine, I tend to get a lot—or I used to. Not anymore. One or 2 pieces instead of a dozen or more. What to do???