Mail Call

For more years than I like to think about, I have paid the US Post Office for the honor of having a tiny box in their building where they can deliver my mail. I give this address to folks that I want to send me mail - and here's the kicker - and that I WANT to receive. Of course I have to drive to that building, normally making a special trip, to pick it up. For this honor of getting my mail I pay them a fee.

Before I continue you might want to read this article - http://www.slate.com/id/2204823/?y=1

I got this PO Box because I wasn't getting all my mail. I decided (undocumented, of course) that I had a 50 - 50 chance of getting mail I wanted and a 200% chance of getting junk. Likewise, at least once a week someone else's mail was placed in my mailbox. My favorite extra mail is for a household with the same number yet on a nearby street. I used to take their misdelivered mail to them and give it to them. This older couple acted like I was stealing their mail so I started writing "delivered to the wrong address" across it and placed it back in my mailbox with the flag up. A few days later it would be delivered back to me. I took it to the post office closest to me but they were always so quick to let me know that their station wasn't responsible. I live a few houses away from another zip code covered by the closest post office. MY post office is way out of my way to anything.

So I pay for the privilege of getting my mail delivered to a box - a very small box. Now I'm getting more and more junk mail in the PO Box. Now here is the rest of the story - as Paul Harvey says.

A few months ago I changed banks. I signed up for a box of checks although I wasn't planning on using checks very often. I had them sent to my PO Box. A week or so later I picked up my checks from my PO Box, took it home and tossed it into a drawer set aside for the banking stuff. Went on with life and all was well. HA!

A few weeks ago I needed a check for something and got out my checks. HMMMMM? This box has the wrong bank printed on it. What the heck? You have GOT to be kidding me! These are not MY checks!!! A man in New Jersey who has a PO Box in North Carolina with numbers NOWHERE NEAR my numbers was getting checks delivered at the same time and I got HIS checks. For THIS I pay extra??????

Lessons learned:

1 - The Post Office is run by human beings and can and will make mistakes.

2 - When getting stuff that is important delivered to a mailbox OR a PO Box - always check it to make sure it is correct. Immediately. Not later. Immediately.

3 - Even though this was a huge mistake, the odds on getting my mail correctly are WAY higher with the PO Box than that tin can at the end of my driveway.

One other question. Who in their right mind decided that a tin can at the end of a driveway was a safe way to get anything important delivered to you? Oh, I guess I answered that with the words "in their right mind".