My mailed letters are not reaching their destination. Need advice.

[Anonymous]

So far I have two letters that I have mailed and that did not reach their destination. One was a payment, another was a form to my bank. Did anyone experience anything like this? I dropped them into the post office boxes in Tenley Town. I don't know if it's a coincidence. I am 100% sure that I wrote the address correctly and put stamps. Really strange. Getting worried about identity theft cause both had sensitive info. Any advice?

[Anonymous]

Call the post office servicing that box and ask them. It is rare, but it could be on the drivers truck or tucking he box.

[Anonymous]

Stop using the post office and email.

[Anonymous]

Mailed at the same time? Or different times?

How long has it been? There have been complaints of service delays. You might want to call the post office you dropped them at and see if they can tell you if there have been delays.

Did you have the right zip code? Payments are often sent to a specific zip code. If you put the wrong one it will go to another department (although it should eventually show up)

You should definitely check to see if the checks were crashed. Mail does get stolen.

[Anonymous]

Some things that could have happened:
- Did you use the correct and corresponding envelopes given to you? Many of the envelopes (especially ones with an address window) send to you for a payment have those barcodes across the bottom. The barcodes already have the address information encoded. If you switched envelopes, then it could have gone to the wrong address even if a written address was in the window. It would take someone at the destination to process it and return it to the post office to be sent to the right place.

- Was the envelope a decent weight paper? I've seen a number of cheaper envelopes made with thinner paper get mangled by the auto address machine and sometimes the destination address gets mangled.

Did you include a return address? If the postage was incorrect or fell off, and there was no return address, it might not make it. I often put the destination address in both the destination and return address just in case so that it definitely makes it to the destination.

And try switching post offices. We've had times that one particular post office or one particular mailbox was implicated as frequently losing mail. We had one like that, stopped using that one mailbox, and didn't have any other problems. I tried that mailbox a few years later and it wasn't a problem anymore...I suspect that it was a careless carrier who was switched out from that route.

[Anonymous]

Pp, mailed at different times to different recipients. 3-4 weeks ago, so definitely should have reached destinations by now. The check was not cashed and I voided it just in case. The addresses are correct cause I used the recipients' envelopes with the preprinted addresses.

[Anonymous]

Op again. Thanks. I guess it could be this:

"And try switching post offices. We've had times that one particular post office or one particular mailbox was implicated as frequently losing mail. We had one like that, stopped using that one mailbox, and didn't have any other problems. I tried that mailbox a few years later and it wasn't a problem anymore...I suspect that it was a careless carrier who was switched out from that route."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pp, mailed at different times to different recipients. 3-4 weeks ago, so definitely should have reached destinations by now. The check was not cashed and I voided it just in case. The addresses are correct cause I used the recipients' envelopes with the preprinted addresses.

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Ok that is odd. Do call the post office and register a complaint (in case a carrier is stealing mail) and change where you drop mail. Also sign up for one of those identity services to see if anyone has taken out credit in your name. Hopefully for your sake just terrible mail service.

[Anonymous]

File a report: https://www.uspsoig.gov/

Because you dropped it at a blue mailbox, then it's considered internal mail theft, so you report it to their OIG and not the Postal Inspector.

I had this happen at a mailbox in Bethesda, and someone else in the neighborhood had it happen also. I filed with OIG, then filed a FOIA request (easily done online) to get the details of the investigation. They couldn't report back as it had been rolled into a larger investigation of mail theft at Westlake (where mail from Bethesda ends up before going to Gaithersburg). It's taken seriously as mail theft is a federal crime.

In the meantime, use another mailbox for future mail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:File a report: https://www.uspsoig.gov/

Because you dropped it at a blue mailbox, then it's considered internal mail theft, so you report it to their OIG and not the Postal Inspector.

I had this happen at a mailbox in Bethesda, and someone else in the neighborhood had it happen also. I filed with OIG, then filed a FOIA request (easily done online) to get the details of the investigation. They couldn't report back as it had been rolled into a larger investigation of mail theft at Westlake (where mail from Bethesda ends up before going to Gaithersburg). It's taken seriously as mail theft is a federal crime.

In the meantime, use another mailbox for future mail.

Thanks pp!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop using the post office and email.

Why should OP stop using email if it is snail mail that she's experiencing a problem with?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop using the post office and email.

Why should OP stop using email if it is snail mail that she's experiencing a problem with?

I think he/she means stop using the post office and use email instead. I can't remember the last time I mailed something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop using the post office and email.

Why should OP stop using email if it is snail mail that she's experiencing a problem with?

Lol IPhone added "e" to mail. Ha! Even iPhone had a comment about OP using the mail.

[Anonymous]

I sent two letters at the same time from the post office. Neither have reached their destination. It has been about two weeks since they were mailed.

[Anonymous]

This wouldn't necessarily help you if the mail was stolen or never picked up from the box, but I hope you put your return address on the envelope. I always do this and it's saved me a few times if the address was wrong or if I messed up the postage as the letter was returned to me.