We've been living with the mail delivery issues for years now in N. Libs., but this year seems to be the worst. I filed a few complaints after important mail dissappeared on several occasions (court documents, bank statements, etc.). I asked my lawyer to send everything certified, and even the certified mail disappeared!

When you file a complaint (and please do), file it with the local office AND with the federal office. The local office probably just ejects your complaint into the same black hole that they send your mail. The feds will at least call you back to take a report. Then they forward that report to the local "Consumer Affairs" dept., located in NE Phila. consumer affairs dept. takes a more detailed report and promises to look into it.

Whether they actually do look into it, who knows.

Hi John,

t the NLNA meeting on Thursday, Bob Brady (our representative in DC0 promised to look into the post office matter after the election. I want to compile all the complaints from this message board and forward them to him - just wish I could think of a way to copy and paste and get rid of the black background. Anyhow, he's going to be working this through Frank Peta - at least that was his promise.
Mary

A new neigborhood post office, maybe in Liberties Walk, would be a gift from heaven...(fat chance of that happening).

We didn't get our PECO bill this month, so now we are past due. Also cards that I have sent to my neices and nephews have arrived completely mangled or not at all.

Am in complete agreement! I have had so many issues with mail, wrongly delivered mail, mail never delivered at all, etc... Esp. where packages are concerned... some have never made it-- or just gone missing all together. It is awful! I didn't really know what to do about it until now. I have gone to our post office in the past and it is the 'pits'. Super long lines (and I know it's typical of post offices, but this one seems to be the worst I've ever experienced) -- what else can we do to remedy this?

Not only do you have to wait forever, but the people there are just down right rude!! Last time I was there, had been waiting 30 minutes (only 3 people ahead of me) and they proceeded to get the packages for the people behind me instead of helping me. When I asked why they did this, she asked me if I wanted to come back there and work. The whole time this was going on, only one window was open, and woman was sitting on her A*S snacking the whole time. Great customer service to say the least. I try to have all my packages sent UPS, but there are a whole slew of issues when dealing with them as well!

Neighbor,

I had roughly the same experience. One window was open while some fat woman sat, watched, and snacked.

The person who was "working" did her best to take as long as possible. There were 5 people in line and I must have been there about a half hour. The guy in front of me was like "What is going ON here?"

I might just get a PO box at the post office on Broad. I'm wary to have packages sent to me.

Two big postal incidents:

A) A wedding gift was returned to the sender, weeks after it was supposed to be delivered here. I never got any notice regarding the package, and the address was definitely correct.

B) I received a letter (the irony!!) notifying me that my voter registration card could not be delivered to this address. Because of that, I can't vote in this election. I think Brady might be behind this one, because he knows I wouldn't vote for him.

I too am having significant problems with my mail delivery. I live at 635B and routinely have to deliver the mail to 635A and 633A, and usually 637 get's my mail. It's a real pain. Also, about a month ago we got a Christmas card from my finace's parent's from last year (it was September when it arrived)!

This has been going on as long as I've been working & living in the neighborhood(over 15 years). Search the previous threads re: the mail service to see the scope of it.

The best thing to do is to organize your specific complaint and file it with the USPS. If you haven't already done so, it takes about 2 minutes. Here are the steps:

1. http://www.usps.com/

2. At the bottom of the home page, click "Contact Us".

3. You'll see a list of FAQs. Ignore them. Click the "Email Us" tab near the top, middle of the page.

4. In the contact form, choose the topic "Delivery", and the sub-topic "Lost Mail".

5. In the contact form enter your address EXACTLY as the USPS has it listed for you, otherwise, you open yourself up to blame.

They'll call back within a day or two. Be polite, but firm. Tell them that your street number, apartment number and YOUR NAME are clearly marked on your mailbox, door, or slot (you did that, right?).

Also, if you've got neighbors who do not put their names and numbers on their mail boxes/slots, my suggestion is to do it for them.

I freaking hate this 19123 post office. YES! they sitting on their A**! snacking and sucking on their fingers while talking at the same time. 19123 post office - you S**K A**!!!!

I only been living in NL for about 4 months now. For the past 3 months I haven't got my PECO bills in the mail. Eventually, I've contacted customer service at PECO, they told me that there is some kind mail stoppage at the 19123 office. The PECO CSR told me, I'm not the only one who is complaining about the mail deliver to the houses in ample time maanner. Not only that, when I do receive other bills or other mail they are mangled or someone step on it or delivered in water spots on them. If anyone from 19123 post office Rep is reading this thread, WELL GO TO HELL PAL!! Because I hate your Postal system, its never delivered properly...always late, always messy, sometime you skipped my house, etc... GO LAY AN EGG!!

I had to vant about this issue. Nevertheless, PECO CSR told me (very helpful), we need to gather some people and get the petion sign by all NL residents (@ 400 signatures enough file petion).

Now a days, I'm using UPS or FedEx for my mail delivered or delivered to my work or I go to one in the old city (19106). I just needed to share this issues with you all.

Keep it Cheers.

I think triple J just went "postal" back at the postal workers.
Wow.

Aside from late bills, ridiculous Netflix processing (getting things up to two weeks after Netflix said we should have it), etc., my one may beef was having to wait 12 days from the time I signed for a certified letter till actually getting it. The sender got the receipt a month and a half after that. And don't get me started on mail forwarding (though that might be the Philadelphia wide postal system, not just the 19123 serving branch).

There is something really wrong about that post office. I've lived in some rust belt cities and have never seen such problems even in the "bad parts" of town, though I've heard about people having similar problems in Trenton. On the other hand, I've seen the same lines and hard to fathom window service logic at the big p.o. down by 9th and market, and the one at Broad seems to have the same sort of run down condition (this winter I had to wake up the person at that window so I could buy some stamps, no idea what the 3 other people standing around the lobby were doing, probably getting warm). The only one which provided service as expected is the one on 5th and Chestnut.

It's all ironic and a little embarassing since the friggin postal system was _invented_ here.

John:
Thank you for your guidance and I'm going right there and doing as you suggested. And cheesesteak, your comments are dead on. Mary (and others), what can we do in the way of a petition or complaint, etc.? I never, ever send my shipping address to my home address anymore, but to my job -- but my bills, etc.. must go through USPS and that's what's most frustrating.. is that they always are received late, or never at all... it's a disgrace. Something more has to be done...

I'm thinking if we get the word out and we all follow John's advice, that is we use the customer service system as its intended, a critical mass has got to show up in their review procedure (didja notice the spike in complaints at 19123?). After all part of the problem is post office serving NL hasn't adjusted staffing in light of the recent population booms in NL, not that the service ever was all that good according to longtime residents.

If I remember my high school civics right the USPS is "independent but not" from the U.S. gov't (it's budget is largely autonomous from the federal budget, but some Congressional committee exercises some sort of oversight). I wonder if contacting local congresspeople and senators would accelerate any fire put under the postal system's mgt ... maybe if we all play up the "shame on the postal system's birthplace" to make it into a talking point.

Hi, Keep the legitimate complaints about the Post Office coming. I finally figured out how to get rid of the black background, and am compiling all the paper work for Frank to present to Congressman Brady.
I'm including the original threads as well.

I'll wait until after the election (at Bob Brady's request) so will include all the future threads as well. It should be quite a volume!
Mary

We have received bills late etc... BUT, another problem in this area is a curious amount of mail thrown about opened on the streets. On more than one occasion I have found letters opened, netflix envelopes laying on the ground. I am just saying I do not think the only problem is the post office. People stealing mail is also a problem which I am not sure how to go about fixing.

Mary, thanks for compiling a collective complaint.

Please include the fact that I never received an absentee ballot that was processed and mailed to me (according to the County Board of Elections) on October 22. I have complained to the local Post Office and Postmaster General, which got me absolutely no results, and of course I have requested another ballot. I leave the country this weekend and if I don't get it by Saturday I guess I've been disenfranchised by Spring Garden Branch 19123.

We have been in this area two years and I get the wrong mail every week. I have received credit card bills that were either open or had no envelope. I have cancelled credit cards because of this happening. I must say, I do get all my bills, I can think of only one time, when I did not get a utility bill and it was past due.

Hi Irene,
I'll definitely include your complaint to the post office, but in the meantime, why don't you contact Cora Turpin (our committeeperson, if you live between 4th St.(west side) and 6th; Spring Garden to the south side of Poplar). I'm sure she can expediate it for you. She lives at 809 N. 6th and is probably in the phone booth. Don't leave town without voting, please.
Mary

I have posted about this before -- but I had to add my two cents on to this thread. I have lived in the area for about 5 years. I have had problems with:
1. mail not being forwarded (even though I submitted a request 4 times) because of this I did not receive very important mail (paychecks) Had to contact consumer affairs
2.receiving other peoples mail - sometimes very important mail - such as THEIR paychecks
3.not receiving mail that was sent to me
4.receiving mail that was sent - but having it arrive wet and mangled - so wet and mangled that I could not even read it. I complained to one of the postmen about it and he said "it rains and stuff gets wet". (by the way - I saw the mail sticking completely uncovered out of the top of his bag)?? so whenver it rains somewhere in the US - which is daily -- people should assume they will be unable to read their mail. ok. makes sense.

Every time I have spoken to consumer affairs (which has been about 20 times over the 5 years) they have assured me I would receive a call back from the 19123 post office postmaster. How many times have I received a call? not once.

I just moved to Northern Liberties and have been watching this thread for a few days.
I am a TV news producer for a local station and I think this would be a great story. I've checked into postal issues before as a story, and discovered that there is no government agency monitoring the postal service. If you would be willing to tell me more about your particular issues, please drop me an email at carson@cbs3.com.
Thanks -
stephanie

Aside from getting the occasional mail from the neighbors (and the previous resident who I believe turned in a change of address), I actually got mail today for someone who is not even in the same ZIP code (somewhere on Marvine St in 19122).

I wonder where my mail ends up.

How ironic! Yesterday we received mail for someone at our street address - in ATLANTA, GA! Go figure! You'd think zip codes would give those postal workers a clue!
Mary

My roommate has been waiting for her voter registration card for quite a while now. She is afraid she won't be able to vote on Tuesday. She is trying to find who to contact to get an expedited one.

I also received mail this week - for Springfield, IL!!

gee, and i was just wondering where my paycheck is... uhhhggg.

Here's a good one....I once came home to find the box of bank checks I had ordered sitting OUTSIDE my apartment building...on the ground at the door for any old passer-by to snatch up. That's right, the mail person never even bothered to stick the small box inside the door. Heck, it is an unexpected treat if my mail even makes it in to my mail box. Most of the time the delivery person just throws the mail on a pile and all the tenants have to pick through the pile to find our own mail. Lesson learned: I never have any packages sent directly to my home address.

I've sent my resume to a number of law firms and have yet to receive any letters from them.

It's customary to receive a letter saying "Thanks for your interest, but we're full right now" or you get a phone call.

While I've gotten a few phone calls, I've yet to get any rejection letters, which is odd, because they should very well be there. I've interviewed at places and not heard from them.

I live in an aprtment buliding that has three outside mailboxes. The mailperson often puts mail in the wrong slot regardless of the Name or Apt # on the envelope--leaving it up to me and my neighbors to sort thru and leave the mail at various apartment. doors.
If a neighbor is away, I have to wait until they return to receive my own mail. While this seems petty compared with some of the other complaints, I think that if someone is being hired to do a job, they should do it correctly. I have complained on multiple occasions when the postal service sends their survey. Nothing improves.
I also get mail for other neighbors on the street and personally deliver them to the correct address.
As far as the post office, I try to avoid using it at all cost. They are absolutely the worst! Long lines, Postal workers chatting while ignoring customers, rude attitudes, the list goes on.
I dread the day that a notice comes making me pick-up a package there.

Has anyone heard from any ex-NL residents or current ones about their forwarding? In past cities, which have for the most part been of the "hard up" sort, I've been used to mail forwarding to actually go in effect the day on which you indicated on the form you'd like your forwarding to start. However, in my limited moving experience in Philadelphia, that hasn't been the case. When we moved from Rittenhouse to NL, we never got anything important forwarded on (car insurance, EZ pass, banking, financial statements, etc.), even after some talk with various branches and filing complaint forms (and yes, we're both very professional and polite, in fact I usually go into a default high pleasantness when I'm unusually irritated). Anyway, I am now gone from NL (though may haunt around here still cuz I got some biz in the area and I like some of the food and drink) and am a little worried. Some friends who moved back in Sept. from NL to the Center City area I've moved to are _just now_ getting forwarded mail from September (coming sort of haphazardly). A two month lag time is not acceptable by any other service I know of.

I'm wondering, do you think the recent complaints being filed to the USPS is putting some fire under the workers at 19123 to get crackin? Or is the two month late arrival a product of "it gets there when it gets there and when I feel like it" status quo of the branch?

I must say that my husband and I have been the luckiest. We have not have problems with our mail as far as we can say. Checks are delivered, packages make it or we pick them up at the station. I knock on wood and though chances are something got lost some time in the last 9 years, there is not any experience that would make it distinctive than any other experience I have had in 10 years living in New York.
Wish you all luck and ... I will keep a piece of wood near me all time to knock on it to keep things ok..
:)

So I come home tonight open up my mail box and find a letter addressed to :
Miller Lacs County Treasure
XXX(my x's) 2nd St
Milaca, Minn 56353

It looked like a check and when I put it up to the light indeed it was a check for more than $5k to a county treasurer in Minnesota. Why did this get to me? I called the guy up on the return address and it turns out that this is a check for his property and he gets penalized if it's late. I'll be sending it back to him on Monday, but I'll be dropping it in a mailbox outside of our zip code.

This post office is awful. If I have an important package or letter being sent I always have it sent to my parent's house and pick it up the next time I visit. It is very unfortunate that I'm forced in to that situation. I have had multiple bills never show up, one time I had to request duplicate bills from PECO TWICE before I actually received one. My netflix subscription is virtually worthless because if netflix says the movie is supposed to be there on wednesday, it usually doesn't come until the following monday or tuesday. Additionally, the last two movies i requested were lost in the mail, since the third one came the next week and the original two never did. I don't think netflix is going to keep believing that these got lost in the mail even though they did, how ridiculous is that? Hopefully, something gets done about this soon.

Goes to show you what happens when there is no accountability or fear of job loss. Gotta love gov't jobs. My friend, who happens to be a black female, works in a gov't gig and told me that she could literally refuse to do her job and nothing would happen to her. God forbid the city actually run some quality control and hold individual carriers responsible for their ********* performance.

Totally ridiculous, but don't look for any change for the better regardless of how many times you complain. No one at the top can do make the carriers and mail sorters care, and they certainly can't fire them.

How does your "friend" "happening" to be a black female factor in to anything you're saying about gov't jobs? I'm just curious. What are you "just saying"?

You also know, it's the U.S. Postal Service, not the Philadelphia Postal Serivce, right? So the city can't really do jack in terms of quality control but I suppose complain to the USPS and whatever governmental oversight they got. You know there are levels of gov't (local, sometimes county, state, and federal), right? The gummit' ain't some uniform force outside of talk radio.

Leo-I am pretty sure I am your neighbor b/c of the A/B thing you were speaking of. The really funny thing is that we got that letter from MN first and thought we got it because there was no zip code. So my boyfriend looked up what the correct zip for the city would be, wrote it on the envelope and resent it. Apparently that did ****.

I'd have to agree. I moved from NoLibs but I experienced much the same thing with lost packages. It might also be the worst post office in the city. If you have to go there, plan on spending about an hour in line while scummy people use the window to do all of their personal business from buying money orders to doing who knows what. I hate that place and glad I'll never have to step foot in there again. Good riddance.

Sorry, I guess I didn't specify my meaning. What I meant is, that b/c we live in a section of the city that is highly minority, most, if not all, of hte postal workers are non-white. This means that they basically cannot be fired from gov't jobs according to my friends who have gov't jobs. not like it's easy to fire white males from gov't jobs either, but it's virtually impossible to fire minority and/or female workers. So, ultimately, if your mail sorters and carriers have no repercussions for delivering 80% of the mail to the wrong place, or delivering it at 6pm, why would they make more work for themselves and do it the right way?

Sounds like the Reagan-era anti-affirmative action myths to me... I had hoped that kind of BS died with him.

Well, hopefully you're right John. I don't work in gov't so I can't vouch for any of this first hand. I'm just repeating what friends who do work in gov't have candidly told me. In fact, it was my ex-girlfriend who is black that told me that if you are minority and/or female, you've got it made in the shade in the gov't sector. Of course, I also have a white male friend who works in federal gov't, makes well over 6-figures and by his estimates works no more than 25 horus/week (flex schedule). The lucky guy hasn't worked a Friday in two years.

Bottom line, and thesis of my argument, is that our mail services won't be improving anytime soon. I sure hope I'm wrong b/c it is annoying to have to send all important mail to a friend's house just to ensure you receive it.

Hi, I'm preparing all these complaints to send to Representative Brady on Wednesday. He promised he would look into this problem with the post office after the election. Rest assured that I will remove any names that can be identified from these message board, so you won't receive any repercussions from the post office. If anyone else has any complaints, put them on the message board by Wednesday. Frank Peta and I are working on this problem together.
Mary

That's great, Mary. Please send him the other threads regarding this subject as well...it runs deep!

A half hour wait at that post office? That's like winning the lottery.

I've never made it out of there in less than 1 hour. The last time I was forced to go, I reordered checks from Commerce Bank and forget to have the checks mailed to the Commerce branch office (which is what I normally do to avoid this very situation). I was number 5 or 6 in line, which somehow amounted to 1 hour worth of work.

On that trip to retrieve my checks, a poor woman who recently moved from CA was there with her children trying to pick up certified mail; she received a notice at her home saying that her material was at the PO ready to be picked up. They had no such record when she got there. I overheard her say this was the 2nd time this had happened in a matter of weeks and the 1st issue still hadn't been resolved. When she asked for names of all involved, (clerk, supervisor, etc), NOBODY there would even say their names. They know how bad they are...those arrogant smug jerks.

She literally looked like she was going to cry or kill somebody. I can only imagine that the mail was relatively important given she had recently moved 3000 miles across the country. What a welcome to the city she had. I only hope she eventually resolved her issue.

On a separate issue, when my girlfriend lived on Lawrence Street, her US Weekly would only arrive 1 out of every 3 weeks. There would be other times that she wouldn't get mail for 4 or 5 days at a time...which is impossible given how much junk we receive on a regular basis. The mailman was clearly stashing it and or plain out not delivering it at all.

I'll just echo what everyone else says and add:

(1) we routinely get 'final' notice that packages are about to be returned due to failed delivery without ever having received a first notice.

(2) we get notice from shippers saying that the package was returned 'undeliverable' without ever having received ANY notice of a package.

and here's a great one from last week:

I hear a loud knock at the door. Now, there is rarely anyone at home in our house during the day, so the fact that I'm there is unusual. I walk over to the door and no one is there. At my feet is a package tossed on our step, the substitute postman was a few doors down the street, he had LEFT A PACKAGE IN FRONT OF OUR DOOR WITHOUT BOTHERING TO SEE IF ANYONE WAS HOME! I mean, come on, what are the odds a package sits there unattended for 5 hours until someone gets home from work???

In 2001 I recieved 2 out of 12 issues of National Geographic. I filed a complaint with usps and never heard of it again. I assume that complaint got sent with all of the letters to Santa Claus...

I have on several occasions found other peoples mail ripped open at Liberty Lands and the lot next to Bell flooring. I contacted the intended recepient and indeed it was mail that had been left on the steps.

We can echo most of the complaints here. We live on Lawrence St.

1. Packages returned because of delivery failure, but we never received notice about the package. We have even had this happen with a 2-day priority letter that could have been put in our mail slot.

2. Mail getting to us weeks and in a few cases months after it was mailed.

3. PECO checks never making it to PECO.

4. Missing financial mail, paychecks mainly. We use fed-ex now.

5. We routinely get email addressed to our house number but for Randolph St. not Lawrence. Also, mail to other houses on Lawrence is regularly delivered to our house.

6. Netflix addressed to another address delivered to us.

I went to the post office yesterday to complain that $110 worth of contact lenses had been left on my steps and stolen. The "manager" said that it is their policy to leave things on the steps if the package does not require a signature. (I am having the sender verify that this package did not require a signature. I don't believe that the sender would mail out such a package & not want a confirmation signature.) The "manager" said unless he has a note on file saying that the packages should not be left at the door, they will cotinue to do this. I have lived in NL for 12 years & this has never happened. We have always gotten attempted delivery notices, so that you are forced to go to the PO to retrieve your package. Anyway, he gave me a piece of paper and said to write the note and that he would make sure that no packages get left on your steps. I'm sure the minute I left, he threw it in the trash. I doubt there really is a system. Can someone check on that?

Referring to some posts above, if you receive netflix movies sent to the wrong address please return them to netflix. I have already had to report 4 DVDs missing and they are going to start charging me soon since there is a limit as to how many you can report missing. Thanks to all.

MWP:

I have consistently experienced number 1 through 3 -- especially number 1. Experiences at the post office were so horrendous, I swore to never return there again. Because of my problems like yours, MWP, I've recently filed complaint wiht USPS, they got back to me quickly by e-mail, I responded back with the answers they asked - and they wrote back again to assign my "case id number(s)". I have no idea what is to come of this, or whether anything will be resolved... but something must be done! Thanks again Mary for your efforts at compiling these issues!

Multiply the local electrician union by 1000 and you have the strength of federal gov't workers (esp. female gov't workers as most of our post office employees seem to be). Nothing will happen b/c nothing can happen - they are untouchable. Totally beyond rebuke. Good luck anyway with your peition.

Where's that guy who writes for The Spirit? This is totally up their alley, and maybe, if it's indeed as Philadelphia systemic as some other anecdotal evidence suggests, something larger media outlets may want to pick up on. I'm just not as cynical as Yep is about the gov't straigtening things out. Maybe no one'll get fired, but I'm thinking that's not necc what everyone wants. Everyone here just expects reliable mail service. Despite what Yep may hear, there is some accountability among gov't employees.