"Dog at screen door..."

[KTMom91]

After a long day in first grade, I come home to a pile of mail stuffed in the box. We didn't get mail yesterday, but ever since the wonderful carrier changed routes, we've gotten random people who appear at random times (or not at all). Of the random carriers, "The Ging" has been the worst. He flipped a u-turn in the middle of our street, knocking over our garbage can, and did not get out to pick it up, all while Miss KT and I were standing there watching him. He delivers the mail with both ipod earbuds in, refuses to respond when you speak to him, probably because he can't hear you, and usually gets here around 6. We are a block and a half from the post office. I called in a complaint about the garbage can, and about his inability to hear with both earbuds in. Miss KT has called complaining about his sloth-like speed.

Today, I find a note written on a piece of mail that says: "Dog at screen door. 9/1/11." WTH does THAT mean? The dog has been at the locked, security screen door the entire summer, because we usually have the door open. There are two signs, clearly visible from the street, that state we have a Jack Russell. There should be no surprises on that front. The dog cannot get out the door; all he does is bark and jump up.

I called the post office yet again, an exercise in futility, and asked for clarification on the problem of "Dog at screen door." Dog is inside, dog cannot open the door, dog has been there for nearly 12 years with no one having an issue, and if this carrier is such a big weenie that a dog barking at him from behind a locked door scares him, he's in the wrong profession. Post office told me that was rude. Whatever. Post office will check with carrier and find out what he meant and get back to me. Not holding my breath.

 

[Mattsmom277]

I'd post a note on my screen door "Hi I'm Buddy. I'm 12 and like to talk to friends coming to my door. Please deliver my mom's mail in the professional manner of the UPS and if you don't want to talk to me through the door like the carriers have over the past 12 years, that's okay! I will probably still talk to you anyway"

 

[Marcie Mac]

We have a lazy-a mail carrier - if he even sees I have the dining room window open, he will not deliver my mail. Anything sent certified, he has YET to knock on the door - makes me go up to the post office and get it lest my dogs break thru the window. Can't tell you how many times, if I am outside when he comes, that I have been asked if I "lived" at the house.

When X moved out and did a forwarding address, they send my mail to his address - now granted, his first three letters of his name are the same as mine - but mine end in IE and his does not. Too much of a stretch for the person looking at the mail to disconcern that the names are different. And it is usually the water company bill that has ALWAYS been in my name-have had to pay two late fees, and now I have to remember to call them around the 26th to see what my bill is cause I haven't received one in months, and the water company is tired I am sure of calling me every month to see if I have moved.

I wanna claw at my face when I have to go to the post office - anyone I have seen there works at 33 1/3 speed and no faster. It takes a WEEK to get mail from my Northern office in Pleasanton - I will get stuff from New York in a day or two.

The Post Office is not one of my favorite institutions.

Marcie

 

[MuM_of_OCD_kiddo]

Mattsmom - I love this! What a wonderful idea!!!

 

[BusynMember]

OMG. I almost spit out my Coke. I'm not sure if this was meant to be funny, but I found it hysterical. I don't know what I'd do with that if I came home and saw that same letter...lol!

 

[InsaneCdn]

I'd post a note on my screen door "Hi I'm Buddy. I'm 12 and like to talk to friends coming to my door. Please deliver my mom's mail in the professional manner of the UPS and if you don't want to talk to me through the door like the carriers have over the past 12 years, that's okay! I will probably still talk to you anyway"

As Marg was saying on a recent post in another forum... (not a direct quote...)
Humour is often a great help in touchy situations.

There is nothing in that note that is rude or disrespectful - but it IS funny... AND gets the point across that this little "mutt" on the other side of the screen is actually pretty harmless.

 

[donna723]

Some of this about the length of time it takes to get something through the mail is due to their goofy new routing system. Makes no sense to me at all! For example, I live in Tennessee and I can get a card or even a package from my daughter in South Carolina in two days! But if I try to mail something to my son thirty miles away, it takes a week! I live in a very small town about halfway between Nashville and Memphis but closer to Nashville. My son lives in another little town thirty miles west of me. In their infinite wisdom they have decided that no mail will go out directly from my town or my son's town. Anything mailed in our local post office goes all the way to Nashville first to be processed. Even if you're mailing it to someone else in our own town! Even our water bills from city hall a block away go all the way to Nashville first, then are sent back here to be delivered! And if I try to mail something to my son thirty miles away, it first goes east all the way to Nashville for processing. Then Nashville sends it west all the way to Memphis (a two hour drive west of where my son lives). Then the Memphis post office sends it back east to the town where my son lives! (That all makes sense if you see it on a map). So the little birthday card I sent him was transported 424 miles at tax payers expense to end up 30 miles from where I mailed it! And why did they make all these changes? "To save money", of course! Would that make sense to anybody? It's no wonder that the post office is going broke! Actually I've been PO'd at the post office ever since they removed all the stamp machines from the lobby and had the nerve to put up those big signs that said,'FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE, THE STAMP MACHINES ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE"!!!

 

[Hound dog]

Better sign:

Warning! Vicious Jack Russel! Been known to bite the ankles off mail carriers with ear buds and sh*tty attitudes.......

Just to let weenie man know that you've got his number.

 

[InsaneCdn]

'FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE, THE STAMP MACHINES ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

Postie-speak for: "So you don't have to ask..." - because standing in line to ask is NOT convenient, we'll make this more convenient by telling you up front.

Real-life-speak response: not printable in public.

 

[donna723]

The thing about the stamp machines that made me so mad was that when I was working, the only day I could go to the post office when they were open was on Saturday. I worked in a different town and the PO hadn't opened yet when I left for work and they were already closed by the time I got home. I tried to keep stocked up on stamps but I had to use those stamp machines plenty of times and so did a lot of other people who worked.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Oh, I understand that perfectly well.
But the oxymoronic postal service? Same thing here in Canada. They do NOT get it at all.

They want US to somehow "get" their so-called "logic". But I haven't found much logic in it yet!

 

[DammitJanet]

They want you to use their software you buy your stamps online folks! They are phasing out people. If they could figure out how to get a robot to drive the car around to deliver mail, they would. Im pretty sure, PO boxes will be the only things left in the not so distant future. less workers and it could end up being robots. Email and UPS and Fedex have taken over so much of their business.

 

[BusynMember]

Janet, around these parts, they ARE phasing out mail carriers and closing post offices. So many people primarily use email and the internet (to pay bills) that they claim we don't need so many post offices. They are also thinking about five day a week mail. If that happens, and skittish-of-little-dog mail carrier loses his job, bet he'll miss the frisky Jack Russell who barked behind the screen!

 

[HaoZi]

I don't know about where you live, but here it's illegal to be listening to the ipod with earbuds while driving. Ask your local dept, they might get a kick out of ticketing the mailman.

 

[TerryJ2]

Oh, dear. He's a jerk.
I'd go to the P.O. in person, and politely speak to the mgr.

That reminds me, I placed an order online for stamps 3 wks ago and they never arrived. LOVE the note on the vending machine: for your convenience ... yeah, yeah, yeah.

 

[1905]

"Dear postman, I don't know how to open the door all by myself. Love, the dog." My father worked as a postman during a summer in college, he got done all the mail delivering before lunch and was told by the superiors to SLOW DOWN, he had to make it last all day like his fellow workers.

 

[InsaneCdn]

There are definitely some differences between US and CDN postal systems - and some similarities...

My father worked as a postman during a summer in college, he got done all the mail delivering before lunch and was told by the superiors to SLOW DOWN, he had to make it last all day like his fellow workers.

Yup. Ditto here.

around these parts, they ARE phasing out mail carriers and closing post offices. So many people primarily use email and the internet (to pay bills) that they claim we don't need so many post offices.

Ditto again - been happening for years.

They are also thinking about five day a week mail.

You have 6-day delivery??? Never heard of it. Rural is often 3x/week, newer parts of cities have local mail-box drops (outdoor) not door-to-door.
We expect at some point to not even have 5-day delivery!

Stamps... we can get at the grocery store. Bigger stores may have a mini-postal-outlet where they can weigh parcels, take registered mail, etc.

Win some, lose some.

 

[DDD]

Just got a notice that there will be no Saturday deliveries soon. The last "pick up" time now is 4 at the post office so if you have a business that closes at 5........and you need to get a postmark for taxes or whatever......you are out of luck. It's a major bummer. The "dog" issue is absolutely ridiculous. DDD

 

[donna723]

This is funny but if you could see the screen door in my kitchen ... ! My kitchen has an outside door at the end of it that opens on to a little landing with concrete steps going down. I have never used this door and it will only open up part way because my dryer is there blocking it. Occasionally though I will open it a little bit to let in some fresh air if it's nice outside. One day it was the first nice warm day of the spring season and and I opened the door about a foot to let in some air - and there was a neighbor's dog standing on the landing with his nose up against the screen, peeking in! Ragan, my oldest (and most territorial) Boston, saw that dog looking in the door, let out an ear piercing yelp, and launched herself at the door! Her face hit the screen door really hard and she bounced backwards, hit the dryer, and slid down to the floor, just like in a cartoon! Scared the bejeebers out of the neighbor dog and he decided that he better go home! And until it was replaced, the screen in that door had a perfect impression of Ragan's smooshy little face, with her mouth wide open! Looked really funny from outside, like a dog was stuck between the wood door and the screen door!

 

[TerryJ2]

Great description, Donna! ROFL!