Going Postal, has anyone else experienced this?

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Gregg W

Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2022
Posts
23
Location
Granbury TX
So when we moved out of our house and into our RV we left a change of address with our old post office.
The lot we moved onto had been unoccupied for some time. We erected a mailbox so the post office could deliver mail and the utilities people would know where to go to hook things up. After about a week and a half we still hadn't received any mail so I called the local post office. I asked the lady that answered why we haven't been receiving any mail, it went something like this:

Me: I'm Gregg W and I recently moved to 123 XYZ Court about a week and a half ago and we still haven't received any mail. Is there a reason why?

Mail Lady: You live a 123 XYZ Court? I was just talking to someone about this this morning, hold on.

After a some wait she came back on.

Mail Lady: You live in an RV right?

Me: yes

Mail Lady: You just put up a new mail box right?

Me: yes

Mail Lady: I'm sorry but we can deliver mail to that address since there is no permanent building there and RV is not a permanent building.

Me: Wait, What?? You mean to tell me that I've been missing mail for over a week because you refuse to deliver to my address?

Mail Lady: It's not our policy to deliver mail to non permanent buildings including campers.

Me: It doesn't matter if there's a bale of hay and two goats and nothing else on that lot. As long as there's a mailbox there you put the mail in the box and what goes on past that box is none of your business, that's your job.

Mail Lady: Don't tell me how to do my job, I know how to do my job.

Me: I don't think you do!

Mail Lady: I can't deliver there because your address is not registered with the 911 office.

Me: I was unaware I had to do that. I was never notified. Wait let me guess, you mailed me a notification.

Mail Lady: Until your address is registered we cant deliver mail to that address because it doesn't exist.

Me: If I can get utilities turned on how come I can't get mail. They seem to think my address exists.

Mail Lady: You have utilities? Please hold...

several minutes later...

Mail Lady: Hello? Do you use your RV to drive to the store and get groceries and stuff?

Me: No, It doesn't work like that.

Mail Lady: Fine, we'll start delivering tomorrow.

Immediately after I got off the phone I looked up the info for regestering with 911 and sent an email explaining our situation with the post office and to please send me and the local post office confirmation once our address was in their system. About 30 minutes later I got an email confirming our address and said that our address has been in the system for quite some time.
 
So when we moved out of our house and into our RV we left a change of address with our old post office.
The lot we moved onto had been unoccupied for some time. We erected a mailbox so the post office could deliver mail and the utilities people would know where to go to hook things up. After about a week and a half we still hadn't received any mail so I called the local post office. I asked the lady that answered why we haven't been receiving any mail, it went something like this:

Me: I'm Gregg W and I recently moved to 123 XYZ Court about a week and a half ago and we still haven't received any mail. Is there a reason why?

Mail Lady: You live a 123 XYZ Court? I was just talking to someone about this this morning, hold on.

After a some wait she came back on.

Mail Lady: You live in an RV right?

Me: yes

Mail Lady: You just put up a new mail box right?

Me: yes

Mail Lady: I'm sorry but we can deliver mail to that address since there is no permanent building there and RV is not a permanent building.

Me: Wait, What?? You mean to tell me that I've been missing mail for over a week because you refuse to deliver to my address?

Mail Lady: It's not our policy to deliver mail to non permanent buildings including campers.

Me: It doesn't matter if there's a bale of hay and two goats and nothing else on that lot. As long as there's a mailbox there you put the mail in the box and what goes on past that box is none of your business, that's your job.

Mail Lady: Don't tell me how to do my job, I know how to do my job.

Me: I don't think you do!

Mail Lady: I can't deliver there because your address is not registered with the 911 office.

Me: I was unaware I had to do that. I was never notified. Wait let me guess, you mailed me a notification.

Mail Lady: Until your address is registered we cant deliver mail to that address because it doesn't exist.

Me: If I can get utilities turned on how come I can't get mail. They seem to think my address exists.

Mail Lady: You have utilities? Please hold...

several minutes later...

Mail Lady: Hello? Do you use your RV to drive to the store and get groceries and stuff?

Me: No, It doesn't work like that.

Mail Lady: Fine, we'll start delivering tomorrow.

Immediately after I got off the phone I looked up the info for regestering with 911 and sent an email explaining our situation with the post office and to please send me and the local post office confirmation once our address was in their system. About 30 minutes later I got an email confirming our address and said that our address has been in the system for quite some time.
It's called "Government in Action" but better defined as "Government Inaction".
 
So when we moved out of our house and into our RV we left a change of address with our old post office.
The lot we moved onto had been unoccupied for some time. We erected a mailbox so the post office could deliver mail and the utilities people would know where to go to hook things up. After about a week and a half we still hadn't received any mail so I called the local post office. I asked the lady that answered why we haven't been receiving any mail, it went something like this:

Me: I'm Gregg W and I recently moved to 123 XYZ Court about a week and a half ago and we still haven't received any mail. Is there a reason why?

Mail Lady: You live a 123 XYZ Court? I was just talking to someone about this this morning, hold on.

After a some wait she came back on.

Mail Lady: You live in an RV right?

Me: yes

Mail Lady: You just put up a new mail box right?

Me: yes

Mail Lady: I'm sorry but we can deliver mail to that address since there is no permanent building there and RV is not a permanent building.

Me: Wait, What?? You mean to tell me that I've been missing mail for over a week because you refuse to deliver to my address?

Mail Lady: It's not our policy to deliver mail to non permanent buildings including campers.

Me: It doesn't matter if there's a bale of hay and two goats and nothing else on that lot. As long as there's a mailbox there you put the mail in the box and what goes on past that box is none of your business, that's your job.

Mail Lady: Don't tell me how to do my job, I know how to do my job.

Me: I don't think you do!

Mail Lady: I can't deliver there because your address is not registered with the 911 office.

Me: I was unaware I had to do that. I was never notified. Wait let me guess, you mailed me a notification.

Mail Lady: Until your address is registered we cant deliver mail to that address because it doesn't exist.

Me: If I can get utilities turned on how come I can't get mail. They seem to think my address exists.

Mail Lady: You have utilities? Please hold...

several minutes later...

Mail Lady: Hello? Do you use your RV to drive to the store and get groceries and stuff?

Me: No, It doesn't work like that.

Mail Lady: Fine, we'll start delivering tomorrow.

Immediately after I got off the phone I looked up the info for regestering with 911 and sent an email explaining our situation with the post office and to please send me and the local post office confirmation once our address was in their system. About 30 minutes later I got an email confirming our address and said that our address has been in the system for quite some time.
So the unswered question is, did the USPS have mail with your name on it for your address, and if they did and didnt deliver it, what did they do with it? The thing to have done is to have called, or stopped into the USPS and told them of you moving into that address and that you had a mail box up. There is also a form you can fill out telling who all will be getting mail at that address.
 
So the unswered question is, did the USPS have mail with your name on it for your address, and if they did and didnt deliver it, what did they do with it? The thing to have done is to have called, or stopped into the USPS and told them of you moving into that address and that you had a mail box up. There is also a form you can fill out telling who all will be getting mail at that address.
Yes, it's a change of address form which I filled out and posted at our old post office as per the procedure. It covers everyone at our address. The thing about it is, I'm pretty sure there are blanks I filled out for with email address and phone number in order to contact me if there were any problems. Neither one were utilized.
 
I see mailboxes in front of empty lots all the time. At our property in SW Virginia we were told to call the 911 folks to get an address for our property. Which we did. There was nothing on the property except an old Uhaul truck.
 
Many people THINK they know the law.. Some actually do.. I have a law or two I carry copies of because many of those people who do not know it... are cops...
Had one once tell me my Driver's license was expiered.. I was hoping she'd give me a ticket.. WHY
Well it was Saturday.. My Birthday was Sunday (the next day) so it was still valid on it's face. and under Michigan law if your birthday falls on a SUNDAY (or other non business day) You have till close of business the very NEXT business day to renew.. and that... I did.
 
Many people THINK they know the law.. Some actually do.. I have a law or two I carry copies of because many of those people who do not know it... are cops...
Had one once tell me my Driver's license was expiered.. I was hoping she'd give me a ticket.. WHY
Well it was Saturday.. My Birthday was Sunday (the next day) so it was still valid on it's face. and under Michigan law if your birthday falls on a SUNDAY (or other non business day) You have till close of business the very NEXT business day to renew.. and that... I did.
I don't know about your state but I think there's a thirty day grace period.
 
I see mailboxes in front of empty lots all the time. At our property in SW Virginia we were told to call the 911 folks to get an address for our property. Which we did. There was nothing on the property except an old Uhaul truck.
When I stopped at the local post office to get an address for our then newly purchased mountaintop property years ago, the post master showed me a map with the range of street numbers that covered our road frontage and said,"Pick a number." The only things on the property at the time were my backhoe/loader and our 13' TT.
 
When I stopped at the local post office to get an address for our then newly purchased mountaintop property years ago, the post master showed me a map with the range of street numbers that covered our road frontage and said,"Pick a number." The only things on the property at the time were my backhoe/loader and our 13' TT.
That must have been a long time ago. For some years now most counties have a 911 Addressing commission that assigns addresses for the county. That is how it is here in Iowa, I guess other states or counties may have a different system.
 
We bought a new to us house which we are remodeling a couple of miles from our old house earlier this year, and went through a few similar bits of crazy run around. For example we wanted to upgrade to a tankless natural gas water heater in place of the old tank style water heater. Doing so would exceed the flow rating for the old gas meter, but I could not get the gas company to upgrade the meter without them first sending someone out to verify the flow requirement on the new equipment. This of course required an appointment which took 2 weeks to get, for a guy to drive out to the house to look at photos I took of the data panels on the furnace in the attic and the new water heater. Why they had to be there in person to see this makes no sense to me as they are not allowed to climb up into the attic to see the data plate for themselves.
 
So when we moved out of our house and into our RV we left a change of address with our old post office.
The lot we moved onto had been unoccupied for some time. We erected a mailbox so the post office could deliver mail and the utilities people would know where to go to hook things up. After about a week and a half we still hadn't received any mail so I called the local post office. I asked the lady that answered why we haven't been receiving any mail, it went something like this:

Me: I'm Gregg W and I recently moved to 123 XYZ Court about a week and a half ago and we still haven't received any mail. Is there a reason why?

Mail Lady: You live a 123 XYZ Court? I was just talking to someone about this this morning, hold on.

After a some wait she came back on.

Mail Lady: You live in an RV right?

Me: yes

Mail Lady: You just put up a new mail box right?

Me: yes

Mail Lady: I'm sorry but we can deliver mail to that address since there is no permanent building there and RV is not a permanent building.

Me: Wait, What?? You mean to tell me that I've been missing mail for over a week because you refuse to deliver to my address?

Mail Lady: It's not our policy to deliver mail to non permanent buildings including campers.

Me: It doesn't matter if there's a bale of hay and two goats and nothing else on that lot. As long as there's a mailbox there you put the mail in the box and what goes on past that box is none of your business, that's your job.

Mail Lady: Don't tell me how to do my job, I know how to do my job.

Me: I don't think you do!

Mail Lady: I can't deliver there because your address is not registered with the 911 office.

Me: I was unaware I had to do that. I was never notified. Wait let me guess, you mailed me a notification.

Mail Lady: Until your address is registered we cant deliver mail to that address because it doesn't exist.

Me: If I can get utilities turned on how come I can't get mail. They seem to think my address exists.

Mail Lady: You have utilities? Please hold...

several minutes later...

Mail Lady: Hello? Do you use your RV to drive to the store and get groceries and stuff?

Me: No, It doesn't work like that.

Mail Lady: Fine, we'll start delivering tomorrow.

Immediately after I got off the phone I looked up the info for regestering with 911 and sent an email explaining our situation with the post office and to please send me and the local post office confirmation once our address was in their system. About 30 minutes later I got an email confirming our address and said that our address has been in the system for quite some time.
As someone who worked for the USPS for 28 1/2 years with 20 of that as a rural mail carrier I saw situations similar to this on several occasions. If I had been the carrier on that route and saw that there was a box up, and had received mail for that box that had the yellow sticker with the new address on it indicating it had been forwarded, I would have delivered to the box. If I received mail for that box that didnt have the yellow sticker on it but had seen signs that people were living there, I would have delivered it, but had I not seen evidence that people were living there, I may have held the mail in the office until I saw signs that people were living there, or the customer had come into the office and filled out the proper form, or just came in and said that they were living there and expecting to get mail there. Another possible issue could have been the manager. Since a part of a rural carrier's pay is based on the number of customers on the route, some managers are very stingy allowing new deliveries until forced to. Hopefully, this wasnt the case.

On the opposite end of the spectrum of not getting mail when you expected to, there are those who get mail when they dont want it going to that address. At one time I delivered mail to a community on a lake. While many of the residents got their mail at their lake address, many of the residents were "week enders" or "seasonal" residents and never got planned on getting mail at their lake address. So when we got mail for their lake address, the question became, what do we do with it. Perhaps, they decided to get mail at their lake address and didnt tell us, or perhaps the sender didnt know that they didnt get mail at the lake address. Some of the mail was first class and was obviously important as it may have come from the County, the State, Federal Government or a utility company or other seemingly important business. Usually, we either held it in the office waiting for the customer to come in, or deliver it, and check the box in a reasonable time, and if not picked up, we returned it to sender. Not always an easy call. Glad you got your situation worked out.
 
That must have been a long time ago. For some years now most counties have a 911 Addressing commission that assigns addresses for the county. That is how it is here in Iowa, I guess other states or counties may have a different system.
The addresses were assigned by the 911 folks, with numbers assigned to every potential building lot with road frontage. I assume they used the building code or zoning minimum lot width in determining the numbers. Since our house site was almost a mile off the road, I chose the number that corresponded with our access road location. There was no likelihood of anything being built on the adjacent frontage unless the EPA rescinded the wet land status.
 
That must have been a long time ago. For some years now most counties have a 911 Addressing commission that assigns addresses for the county. That is how it is here in Iowa, I guess other states or counties may have a different system.
My county does that, 1000 addresses per mile, except the one road they messed up and did 2000 addresses per mile, and my private neighborhood where we have a unique system and they didn't mess with it. So, yes, you need the 911 system to assign an address. It makes it easy for emergency vehicles to count off the distance based on the known numbering sequence.

Charles
 
When we lived in Japan I was approached about delivering the Stars and Stripes off base. The problem was there were no addresses. I was given a guide that said “Turn right on green pole road and take the next left. Go past the big yellow house and turn right. You will come to a house with a fenced yard and big dog. They get a paper.” The whole route was laid out that way.
 
When I first moved to Alaska the addresses were like "Mile Post 95 Richardson Hwy".

That told the mail carrier your house was between Mile Post 95 and Mile Post 96. Everyone put their last name on the mail box so the mail carrier just looked for your last name on the box. Of course sometimes your mail box was the ONLY one between two mile posts.
 
I don't know about your state but I think there's a thirty day grace period.
There is now (or was recently) but at the time that was not the case.. Still
As I said. since I could NOT renew on my b-Day.. I got the extra day WHen I did renew.
Poor cop.. There was a complete copy of the Michigan Complied acts at my office and I love to read.
 
When we lived in Japan I was approached about delivering the Stars and Stripes off base. The problem was there were no addresses. I was given a guide that said “Turn right on green pole road and take the next left. Go past the big yellow house and turn right. You will come to a house with a fenced yard and big dog. They get a paper.” The whole route was laid out that way.
30 years ago Arkansas was like that. When I enquired about the address of the place I had just moved into so I could get electricity turned on, I was told, "Tell them it's the yellow rent house on Mitchell Road."
When I told the lady at the power company, she said, "Oh, you must be the people moving in from California." My reply was, "Guilty as charged".

My wife did home health for quite a few years. She often got directions like that to new client's homes. The best ones were the ones that included instructions like, "close the gate behind you".
 
30 years ago Arkansas was like that. When I enquired about the address of the place I had just moved into so I could get electricity turned on, I was told, "Tell them it's the yellow rent house on Mitchell Road."
When I told the lady at the power company, she said, "Oh, you must be the people moving in from California." My reply was, "Guilty as charged".

My wife did home health for quite a few years. She often got directions like that to new client's homes. The best ones were the ones that included instructions like, "close the gate behind you".
I grew up in a small town where the streets had no names (I think that's a song) we just named the houses I think they went by the original owners "the Mills house" "the old Kane house" "The Eads house".
 
I grew up in a small town where the streets had no names (I think that's a song) we just named the houses I think they went by the original owners "the Mills house" "the old Kane house" "The Eads house".
LOL - for about 5 years after we moved into our rural home, when we told people where we lived they would reply "Oh, Pearsall's place". Eventually it became our own!
 
I grew up in a small town where the streets had no names (I think that's a song) we just named the houses I think they went by the original owners "the Mills house" "the old Kane house" "The Eads house".
The house we rented in England was a new build. The letting agency said it had to have a name. A few weeks later a gent showed up and attached a plaque to the front that said “MAPLEDORANS”. Have no clue what it means
 

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