Woman Moves From NY To New Hampshire But Her Mail Won't Follow
Veronica moved to New Hampshire, and as punishment the bitter, jilted New York post office refused to send her mail along. She has complained to anyone who would listen, but may as well be yelling at her mail box for all the good it's done.
She first wrote us in early June:
I have a problem and I have no idea how to fix it, or where to complain. I moved from Park Slope Brooklyn back home to southern New Hampshire. I filed my change of address request nearly a month early, I received confirmation letters at my old address and my new address stating that my mail would henceforth be forwarded. Except it wasn't. I contacted my old roommates, and a nice neat pile is amassing on the kitchen table for me. I called the USPS toll-free number to complain, and they said that the complaint would be forwarded to the appropriate post offices and that someone from the neighborhood post office would be calling me the next business day. Surprise surprise, nobody from the 9th Street Post Office called.
One of my roommates is sending me my mail from her office. But her office shouldn't be footing the bill to mail me stuff that the USPS was supposed to deliver for free. I know I should be content that at least I have a method of getting my unforwarded mail, but who can I complain to about the lack of service and the incompetence over at 9th street?
While I do miss a lot about NYC living, I don't miss the incompetence and inefficiencies of their post offices. I mean, if my town's post office services 20-30K residents and major businesses without any massive problems, why do NYC post offices have so much trouble dealing with their small piece of the pie?
A couple weeks later, Veronica wrote back to confirm that her mail is still backwarded rather than forwarded:
The manager of my old neighborhood post office called and assured me she would speak to the mail carrier to make sure the mail gets forwarded.
Yeah, that would be why mail is STILL being delivered to my old address. At least my roommate is able to mail it out in a parcel from her office....
At least Veronica can take solace in the fact that she's not getting junk mail. Lucky for her she's got an honest, helpful ex-roommate willing to do the post office's job for it.
(Photo: Jenna Belle)
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Her roommates can affix a label to the front of the envelope that says forward to, no longer at that this address with her new address and the post office will deliver the mail with no need to have new postage applied.
For serious, what if her roommates moved out of the place along with her, and the person living there couldn't be contacted or was unwilling to forward the mail? I wonder what the effect of marking it "no such person at this address" would be...maybe the roommate could try that with something worthless, like a credit card application, and see if it gets to NH at that point?
@katstermonster: OK, I don't mean worthless as in "not containing personal information," apparently...maybe a credit card application is a bad idea. But you get my point.
USPS , has issues with forwarding mail when both people have not moved. best to contact all and send them your new Address.
@benk1342:
Your assuming that her roommate works for someone else.
All the OP said is her "roommate's office", her roommate very well may be the owner, you have no way of knowing.
Been there, done that, with the post office in Temecula, California. The mail carrier was forwarding little if any mail, and it's apparently the mail carrier's responsibility to handle it.
And don't get me started on the unrelated fraud complaint filed with the postal inspectors that went nowhere.
Been through this with NYC post offices as well. One time I had to keep going back to my old apartment building (glad I kept the door/mailbox keys) for two months to get my mail. Good thing my apartment had not been rented, but not a good thing that my abusive, stalky ex lived in the building and I had to keep risking running into him. This was the same post office that used to not deliver mail for days at a time, and also about once a month you'd get a huge pile of mail, sometimes several months old. Nothing like getting a bundle of Christmas mail in March. And of course, the lazy-ass post office didn't see a problem with any of this. Now that I think of it, not one move has ever gone smoothly with forwarding, even though they always get at least a month's notice, AND they charge a dollar to do it online.
A couple of things about mail forwarding that might help her ...
First off, if mail (at least first class mail ... I know bulk mail can't be forwarded at all, and I don't know about parcels) is sent to the wrong address or needs to be forwarded or whatever, the person forwarding it does not need to pay postage. Just cross out the address, write the new address next to it, and drop it back in a mailbox.
Secondly, I don't see why USPS asked you to contact a local post office. The forwarding service is a system-wide thing. As soon as your mail is received at a processing facility, a machine will read your address and realize that you've requested that your mail be forwarded (as long as it is first class mail, that is). It then slaps a new label on it and immediately treats it as if it were going to your new address.
Agreed- the post office will never do anything about it if the mail isn't going through their system. It needs to be returned to them, or forwarded, so that their system will recognize there is a problem. Just write "Forward to: " and then the correct address and it will be forwarded at no charge. And on some pieces write "no longer at this address" and send it right back to the post office.
Call back and specifically ask to speak to the "Post Office Master." You might get the run around, and some other helpful soul may OFFER to help you, but stand firm and insist on speaking with the Post Office Master. If the employee can't or won't cooperate, ask at least to speak to a supervisor/manager. THEN ask THEM to put you in touch with the Post Office Master.
I have had this problem twice, just by moving three miles. The solution to complain to your former Congressperson. You need to go into their local office. They have a form with which to complain about mail service. Bingo. no more mail problems. I received forwarded mail for 2 years after I complained.
@katstermonster: This happened to me. Couldn't get NYC post office to forward mail from one NYC apartment (also Park Slope, Brooklyn) to another NYC apartment (Washington Heights) when I moved. The person with whom I had been living in Park Slope also moved (to the Upper East Side) and lucky for both of us, the landlord in Brooklyn contacted us about 6 weeks after we'd moved out to say, "There's a big pile of mail here for you, why didn't you set up forwarding?"
When we both replied, "We DID," confusion began to abound.
I used to move quite a bit. I always contacted the companies sending me the mail directly and changed my address through them. Don't rely on USPS for shit.
@ShiningSquirrel: Agreed. And it never said that her manager or whoever wasn't aware of it...they could be giving her permission to do it. It's just the fact that they shouldn't have to be paying for it.
@benk1342: What tells you that the employer isn't aware of this? Or, as the person above said, she's the owner. You're jumping to quite a few conclusions here.
@katstermonster: I've worked at many offices where using the office postal system (scale, postage printer, office pickup) was a perk, and you reimbursed petty cash or the secretary or whomever for the privilege.
Never underestimate the incompetence of government employees!
Same thing is happening to me. I moved back in March from a house to an apartment. They started forwarding some of my mail, but that has since stopped. Fortunately the house I moved out of still has friends living there, and weekly I have to go get a big pile of mail.
It's pretty frustrating.
I work at a dormitory from which the Post Office won't forward mail. (unsorted bulk delivery) The front desk forwards mail for residents by writing the new address on the front in sharpie and tossing it back in the mail. There's no need for the roommate to pay to mail it.
My experience with USPS mail forwarding is that having her ex-roommate forwarding the mail is faster than waiting for it to be forwarded by the USPS. Just get busy and get the address changed with the companies sending the mail.
I get the feeling from this story and many of the comments that NYC might have a problem with someone in the department not entering in the mail forwarding addresses. Can't tell you the number of times I've read stories of public workers doing their job until 5PM and anything that's not done gets thrown away / shredded / stuffed into the false ceiling / etc.
Back in the 90's water damage caused the false ceiling of an IRS office in Texas to collapse. They discovered over 5 (or was it 10?) years worth of tax returns that were never processed, and water damage caused the returns to be illegible.
Yet another reason to use online billing and other options besides the post office. Seriously, does anyone really need snail mail anymore? I only use it for my Netflix DVD's.
I did the forwarding option once through the USPS, and will never do it again. My dad and I share the same first name, with different middle names. I started getting all his mail. Plus, forwarding notices only last about six months or so. Best to contact all the entities that regularly send important mail and update with them, and forego the forwarding notice.
Same thing happened to me in an entirely different city. I set up forwarded, but I only got two pieces of mail forwarded - ever. I called and talked to the local branch multiple times but I guess whoever had that route just didn't want to deal with it.
@TCama: I was thinking the same thing. When manager said she's "speak to the carrier" I thought: How on EARTH would a poor carrier know the letter was supposed to be forwarded.
The mail should be diverted long before the carrier gets it.
I set up forwarding for my mail when I moved, and it states right on the form that forwarding is only good for 6 months. It's over a year later and my forwarding is still working flawlessly.
Personally never had a single problem with the post office. Ever.
My husband spent a semester off from college working fulltime at the main NYC post office. His tales from that experience are hair-raising, to say the least. The other people working there seemed to have no respect for senders and recipients of letters and packages. Stuff was drop-kicked if it was marked "fragile", to great hilarity. Letters were "lost", which could mean "opened and rifled for money" or just carelessly dropped and put aside. Etc. He was young then and not inclined to make a fuss, plus he needed the (pretty good) money badly. He didn't speak up, and now wishes he had.
So: manage your expectations accordingly.
I had a similar problem multiple times when I was in college. I always got different answers from the USPS which leads me to believe they really don't know how it works either. One agent told me mail only gets forwarded if the people at the old address mark it "Not at this address," another said it should be automatic in the system. Seeing as they have computer sorting and the like I would think it should be automatic but it never really works. I try to do my part and notify all my senders of my new address but some things still slip through and some companies don't update all their mailing lists properly (like my hospital for example). I went into the post office multiple times and they always said they would make sure it gets forwarded and that they would check the system etc etc... but if it isn't working now it probably won't ever be working.
Oh and good luck trying to contact someone higher up to complain. You will just get form letters explaining you have contacted the wrong department.
@HiPwr: I think you're supposed to do both. The address forwarding thing expires in like 6mos anyway, right?
I hope they include a free white kitty every time someone moves, though. But I wonder if it's NH providing a housewarming gift, or Brooklyn saying, "Good riddance".
And if the latter, I hope Cap't Duval Moneycats watches his step or he might find himself bundled in a USPS shipping box, destination, New Hampshire. Which, because of their reputed skinflintiness, I'm concerned he won't get enough donations to keep him flush in Perfect Oatmeal. And that'd just be so sad...
When my parents moved from Colorado to Montana, they put in a family forward. The post office decided that, even though I hadn't lived with them for over a year and had my mail delivered to a completely different address in Colorado, that I had moved too and shifted all my mail to Montana. To make matters more fun, my parents live so far out, the post office only makes it out there about twice a week. I put in a permanent forward and notified everybody of my still-current address. After a month, I got a letter saying that my 'temporary' forward was expiring and I would have to go back in and reapply for it. I went down to my local post office, who told me they showed a permanent forward for me, and I was golden. Of course, all my mail disappeared again. I finally paid the dollar to put in another forward online. Lather, rinse, and repeat every month for a year until I finally got around to changing my last name to my husband's.
I moved my office three blocks and filled out the mail forward cards. I was still in the same post office. They didn't deliver my mail for THREE weeks and then I had to go there to get it. It was all there waiting for it to be sent back to the main P.O. so they could reroute it back to the local post office for delivery. Funny thing was, that the P.O. is about 100 feet from my office. They could have tied the mail to a rock and thrown in through my window.
This 9th St PO is my neighborhood PO. So NOT surprised they are messing up the forwarding - this area's postal service is dreadful - they can barely manage to deliver the mail correctly up the street, never mind to another state!
My friend just moved from Park slope too, and was wondering where all his mail went. Now we know! Thanks Consumerist.
I've moved about once a year for the last ten years, about half the time the mail forward works like a charm, the other half of the time I don't see one single piece of forwarded mail. Just call anyone who sends you a bill and tell them about your address change before you move. Youre looking at maybe an hour's worth of work, tops. Yeah, the system should work better than it does, but it doesn't and it's not going to change. Have your roommate mail you all of the mail for one month, call any of the companies who mailed you something you want to continue receiving and let them know of the new address. Problem solved in less time than you've spent messing around with the post office.
Don't get me started, USPS = FAIL!!!
I'm having the same problem!!!!
I received a few letters at my new place and the rest keep going back to my old apt. One of the letters even had a sticker saying that there was no address on file.
The post office is the OP is referring to is well known for incompetence here in Brooklyn.
Someone once mailed me important documents but mistakenly sent it to my old address in Park Slope. No problem, since they sent it certified mail with return receipt. When the carrier delivered it, even if he forget I moved no one was going to sign for it at my old address.
Except the carrier simply left the envelope in the foyer of my building and returned the signature card blank. And the envelope promptly disappeared.
Story #94399494238490 of incompetence from the 9th Street post office in Brooklyn.
Sorry for typos. Fixed.
The post office the OP is referring to is well known for incompetence here in Brooklyn.
Someone once mailed me important documents but mistakenly sent them to my old address in Park Slope. No problem, since they send the envelope certified mail with return receipt. When the carrier delivered it, even if he forget I moved no one was going to sign for it at my old address.
Except the carrier simply left the envelope in the foyer of my building and returned the signature card blank. And the envelope promptly disappeared.
Story #94399494238490 of incompetence from the 9th Street post office in Brooklyn.
They need to also make sure that they black out the barcode the post office uses to route mail. Once the address is read and the barcode is applied, the post office ignores the handwritten (or typed) address and relies solely on the barcode. Absent blacking out that barcode, they'll get the mailpiece back.
Let's admit that 99% of the time the PO gets stuff where it's going without any problems for little money. Admittedly, the 1% of the time there's a problem they're not too good at handling it. Okay, so they suck with anything extraordinary.
I've moved several times so here's some advice:
When you forward your mail it helps to register all of your name variations like John R. Smith, John Robert Smith, J.R. Smith, or else use the "family" forwarding for your last name Smith. Or both.
Mail delivered to your old address anyway will be forwarded if someone crosses out the address and writes the correct one. Even if they just cross out the address but not the name it will usually get there.
Forwarding expires after six months. Yes, you might still get mail at your old address after six months so fill out another change of address before the old one expires.
If you live in a small town or know your friendly local postal delivery person, TELL them you're moving and leave them the new address on a file card to help them remember you've moved. In the end it all comes down to the person who sticks the envelope in your mailbox.
Let the people who send you mail know your new addressed. You're better off not having your mail forwarded but sent to the correct place to begin with. Especially with magazines, they need a long time to change your address. Also magazines tend to get more beat up as they follow you around.
Junk mail (bulk rate) isn't always forwarded but sometimes it happens if you're lucky. Or maybe unlucky. When you're planning a move, it's a good time to cancel catalog subscriptions and ask not to get junk mail, make a cleaner start!
As another resident of Brooklyn I can add to the stories of woe regarding the postal service in the area.
It is such a truly miserable experience to have to actually set foot in a post office here and deal with the disgruntled employee (if you are lucky you get two employees but they tend to spend more time talking to each other rather than working) that a few years ago we decided it was easier to take all our Xmas cards with us to Kansas on Thanksgiving and post them there in a nice, clean, well lit, fully staffed suburban post office.
On another note, I just filed a change of address. Crap!
I had a similar problem. Here's the solution. Go directly to your Congressional representative's office. File a complaint. Your representative is charged with handling constituent complaints with Federal entities.
I filed my complaint summer of 2007. Problem was solved immediately. Every six months or so, I still get a call from the local postmaster asking if my mail service is satisfactory.
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): In my case, I always reminded my manager about that time he sent the car hood UPS from the office. That usually gave me at least a free stamp once a week.
@gafpromise: Remember to scratch on the bar code at the bottom of the letter or it will keep coming back. Most of the mail is sorted by computers and it just keeps following instructions.
@apd09: Err...that's how it's supposed to work. I think the post makes it clear that what is supposed to be happening isn't happening. Probably, doing this would just get your mail thrown in the trash.
I had the same problem with my mail in Chicago (also notoriously bad). Two months later, what do you know, ever piece of mail randomly shows up on my doorstep.
I guess I should just be glad that it actually made it.
Government workers.
@I Love New Jersey: Yep. But don't worry, after years of incompetence, they'll suddenly all get their act together to run our health care system to perfection.
Why is her ex-roommate's employer paying for this? And you call the ex-roommate "honest?" I don't think her employer would see it that way if she is using company postage for personal business.