Wednesday rain update

Storm rain total, noon-ish update: 2-13/16 inches (with more expected, of course.)

What happens when your mail carrier goes on vacation

Just some of the mis-delivered mail

hand-sorted by my neighbors last weekend.

MB here...

Last Monday I was pleased and surprised to find the daily "Food 4 Less" circular missing from my mailbox. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that pretty much all my mail was missing from my mailbox. A few days later a client called to ask for my new address, as the check they had sent me had been returned bearing a yellow "NIXIE" sticker reading "Return to sender - attempted - not known - unable to forward". Yes, somehow, my little mailbox which had happily accepted mail for me for close to two years suddenly is refusing to accept checks. To protect me from the corrupting influence of teh filthy lucre, no doubt.

Calling the USPS 800 number yielded nothing but a promise that someone "who can handle this" would return my call within two business days.

So I lurked around the mailroom at the appointed time to harangue the mail carrier. "I don't know, I'm just a sub. You have to talk to your regular carrier. She's on vacation." I told her about the "NIXIE" sticker on my envelope. "Oh, you have a sticker? That's because you moved away and gave a forwarding address." No, no, I still live here. See? It's me, standing before you, and I'm still here. Is there someone I should talk to at the Post Office, other than just the 800 number? "No, the supervisor won't know, none of the carriers will know, no one will know anything. Your regular carrier will be back Monday. You will have to ask her." Got that? Your letter carrier goes on vacation, she takes all knowledge and accountability with her.

Now, I would think that magically disappearing and reappearing mailboxes would raise alarms in the computerized systems rather than print yellow stickers, but that is just me. I would think reliability is paramount in a mail system. Hell, I would even go so far as to think that a system as large and experienced as the USPS would have some backup systems to catch and work around the fuckwittery of a substitute mail carrier who can't find a mailbox that's only clearly marked and numbered and placed in order among all the other clearly numbered mailboxes.

Email has stolen a lot of business from the USPS, but the Post Office still plays a critical role in delivering physical things such as checks, legal papers, etc. There has been talk of dropping Saturday delivery as a way to make up for sagging sales, and I'm all for it -- if the savings are applied to increasing the reliability of the system and removing opportunities for one person to fuck up the chain of delivery all by themselves.

I would ask my regular carrier about this Monday, as the sub carrier had suggested, but their is no delivery on MLK day.

Happy new year!

Although us mommy-and-daddy types were in bed soon after the ball fell in Times Square, the younger set in our building were partying 'till oh-five-hundred, god bless 'em.

So from our little family to you and yours, here's wishing for a joy filled 2010!