Problems with the USPS -- mail on hold

[swogden]

I am a frequent user of the US Postal System.  During the summer months, I frequently put my mail on hold for 3-4 weeks, resume mail for a week and then repeat thru July and August.

The USPS has a rule that mail cannot be held for more than 30 days.  If you have mail held longer than that, the USPS will then send your mail back to the place that sent it.  Bummer!  Not only do you not get the mail, you have to guess who might have sent you something so you can contact them to resend it.

So you want to be very careful to not exceed the 30 day hold period.  Unfortunately, the USPS can also make a mistake and decide that you've exceeded the 30 day rule when you haven't.

This happened to me.  I was on hold for 25 days; resumed regular delivery for 4 days; and then went back on hold (separate yellow card) for another 21 days.  But the USPS (my postal carrier) didn't remember I was on regular delivery for 4 days and sent all my mail back sometime in the 2nd 21 day period.

I'm still trying to sort out missing items and reports.  May never figure out what's missing until I get a 2nd report/bill.

Fortunately, I do not use the USPS for my cashout for FC -- use PAYPAL for that.  One less problem to worry about.   I'm also thankful that I am using the internet to pay bills and receive account information.  Less paper to clutter the mail box and less mail to keep track of when something like this happens.

In my discussions with the postal carrier, I indicated that I never filled in "stop hold" date on the yellow "hold mail" card.  I always want to pick up the mail at the post office rather than have the postal carrier bring the big load of mail on that "stop hold" date.  That, however, may have been the problem.  By not putting a "stop hold" date on the card, there is no  guarantee that the date I pick up the mail and request that mail delivery be resumed will actually be RECORDED  on the yellow card.  Hence the postal carrier does not have a record of the length of the hold period -- except his memory.

Live and learn.