Post office not stopping mail archived

We always leave a note or speak to the mail carrier.

In 2012 I handed in forms for 3 names at our address.
They delivered about 50% and held 50%, random for all 3 names.

This year we did not bother. We relied on our kitty sitters, who are vastly more reliable than the USPS.

I had this problem when we recently went on vacation. We returned to mail on our front door step. I was told if I didn't have my name on my mail slot (front door) they would continue to deliver items such as junk mail labeled with the previous owners name. I used to think highly of the post office and gave very generous tips during the holidays. I'm not impressed lately.

I've requested mail stoppage online and have always had good results.

https://holdmail.usps.com/holdmail/

I went in-person.

I usually have a neighbor take care of it for me, because I had similar problems in the past.

It's hit or miss. This year, I did on-line and they held it. Went late Saturday afternoon and very nice guy (didn't catch his name) gave me the accumulated mail. Didn't get delivery either Monday or Tuesday, so we had to go in person to collect and prod them to resume delivery.

The plus on doing it online is you have electronic proof you filed the request.

Use a post office box for your mail. No need to advise vacation plans, the mail is automatically held safely until you collect it.

We've used the online request for our last few trips and have returned to find our accumulated mail bundled on our porch. This thread demonstrates the main problem with the US Postal service - reliably inconsistent service.

I request the mail hold online often -- almost once a month this year. Usually works without a hitch. However, the last three time the held mail as not delivered. I had to go to the post office to pick it up directly. I'm chalking it up to my super-lame postal delivery person getting even worse as his retirement approaches.

Similar problems. Either they don't hold the mail, or they hold it but don't deliver when I return. However, last time they finally did deliver a huge batch of mail--for assorted other addresses around town.

Why on earth do people insist on tipping the mail carrier? Reading the above comments shows that this is an empty, useless gesture. Apparently the carriers do not remember being tipped, nor do they care enough to provide good service either.

Bah humbug on holiday tipping.

Unlike our experience with our prior carrier, our current carrier is excellent about holding the mail.....on the days he isn't working, however, we will find that there was a mail delivery while we were gone.

We just did this last week and it worked fine. In the past, we've had issues with them delivering the accumulated mail in a timely way.

I will add the mail accumulated mail was not delivered on the date I indicated it should be. I was told years ago that Maplewood didn't do that and you needed to pick up accumulated mail in person.

USPS simply sucks. Period. The fact that you have to hope for a "good" mail carrier tells you everything you need to know about an organization that needs a top-to-bottom gutting. I compare them to UPS (best IMO) and FedEx (close second), and it's not even a fair fight. Our particular post office in Maplewood seems to be especially poor.

While no longer in SO so can't comment on issues there, I have done hold mail about 10x over past 2 yrs via the on-line tool. I never told a carrier. The hold stopped & started back exactly as indicated and I received all of my mail on the start date as requested. Maybe try scheduling it on-line?

I've always scheduled it online since that became an option; makes no difference. Sometimes it works, sometimes (mostly) not.
I don't think it's necessarily the individual carrier--it seems to be a systemic problem at the (SO) post office. When I returned the bundle of mis-delivered mail, they seemed utterly unconcerned.

zombie_zoinks said:

We always leave a note or speak to the mail carrier.

I couldn't do that effectively even if I thought it would help. I rarely see the same one twice in two months.

I just hire a neighborhood kid to take it in when we're away, these days. The holds, online or in person rarely work anymore.

I do it on line and it never fails

I do it on line and it always fails.

We use the USPS's "Premium Mail Forwarding" service because we spend an extended time away from home. (The post office collects our mail for the week and then overnight mails it to us on Fridays.)

I costs a freaking arm and a leg and it is delivered weekly only about 75% of the time. Infuriating, but it is currently the best solution available to us.

FWIW: The Maplewood PO has had a constant stream of new postmasters. They are the folks to talk to about bad service.

I always ask for the postmaster's name and number when I leave town.
Here is the name I was given on June 15th, Jose Reyes 973-763-5841.

llcoach said:

I do it on line and it never fails

marcav said:

I do it on line and it always fails.

I do it online and it sometimes fails.

I think we have it covered. ;-)

kmk said:

FWIW: The Maplewood PO has had a constant stream of new postmasters. They are the folks to talk to about bad service.

I always ask for the postmaster's name and number when I leave town.
Here is the name I was given on June 15th, Jose Reyes 973-763-5841.

There may be a new postmaster. When I went to pick up my mail on Monday (because it wasn't delivered in bulk) my mailperson introduced me to the "new postmaster." Apparently, to review the behavior of my dogs with the new postmaster. As he and I had discussed previously, my dogs bark when he delivers the mail, so we agreed he would leave the mail on the front porch and not use the delivery slot in the door. This is sometimes done, sometimes not done.

He also needed to review an incident (which we discussed well over a year ago) where he accused my dogs of "coming through the door" when he delivered the mail. (I have a glass storm door that I assume he was referring to.) I told him that I though he was exaggerating. If the dogs came through the door then how did they get back inside? He didn't have an answer for that....only that he would be fired (huh?) if the dogs bit him.

Why the postmaster needed to be aware that my dogs bark at the mailperson is beyond me. At the end of the conversation, I said "So, currently there is no problem, correct?" The mailperson agreed and I left.

Serious question: Is there a way to refuse mail delivery? Because I really have no use for 95 percent of the stuff that comes.

The Maplewood Post Office is the worst in my experience. At my former home we had a terrific post office and mail carrier -- and she was the one and only mail carrier that I gave a year end tip to (even though that is technically illegal).

I wish we could stop the delivery of all the junk mail. If I get one more catalogue for children's toys or teenage girls clothing I'm gonna do harm to some mass marketer.

CatalogChoice.com really does help cut down on 90% of the junk mail. It is free, it just takes a little time to answer some questions and it works. https://www.catalogchoice.org/

kmk said:

CatalogChoice.com really does help cut down on 90% of the junk mail. It is free, it just takes a little time to answer some questions and it works. https://www.catalogchoice.org/

Thanks, but I invested a whole lot of time reporting these catalogues, and most of them have not been stopped (the website admits that they don't have a whole lot of influence and that it's really up to the catalogue company whether or not they want to stop sending them to you). I've found it to be about as effective as the Do Not Call registry.

It's hit or miss for us. And because of that, we cut a mail slot in our front door. We are out of town a lot but we don't bother trying to do a Hold on our mail anymore. I'd rather have it piling up in my front hall than have to worry about whether or not it's overflowing a mailbox on the house. Plus having the mail carrier come to the house every day makes it look like we're home.