PDA

View Full Version : having mail drops returned to sender?



gonewalkabout
08-29-2011, 19:04
Has anyone ever had mail drops they didn't pick up returned to sender? I know the PO will do it but di they charge postage? I asked the PO on the phone and I was told she have to look it up.

Thanks

Spirit Walker
08-29-2011, 20:25
If the package is mailed first class, it should be returned or forwarded for free.

We've had packages sent back when we didn't pick them up within a week. On he AT they'll hold them longer, but on the CDT some places had very short hold times. Jim had some birthday cookies that took a month to get to him because they were returned to sender then sent to a town we had just visited, then forwarded to a town two weeks up the trail.

Alligator
08-29-2011, 20:40
I didn't make a mail drop once that was flat fee priority and mailed to the PO. I forgot about if for a while and finally remembered to call a few weeks later. They just mailed it back no charge.

seabrookhiker
09-04-2011, 14:46
I am still in the middle of this experience - hubby sent something express mail to Caratunk. It arrived there the day after I did. I called Caratunk three days later to see about getting it forwarded south, and they had already forwarded it to Monson! I didn't think that could happen. Called Monson to see about getting it sent home, as by that point it didn't have enough time to catch up with me on my section hike.

Monson sent it back home for me, but my local PO refused to deliver it (maybe because it was express?) to my house's mailbox. We signed the card for them to leave it at the house, and they ignored it and left another card saying it was being sent to "Mail Recovery" in Atlanta. Apparently it will stay in Atlanta for six months, and if they haven't figured out how to deliver it to my house by then, it will be auctioned off.

Not the biggest fan of my local PO right now, and pretty confused about how my package got forwarded from Caratunk, but I have had other packages returned from the AT to home when I didn't pick them up. They didn't get returned for a month or more, which is just about right as far as I'm concerned. I was not charged any additional postage.

leaftye
09-05-2011, 16:28
Priority gets mailed back. Sometimes they'll wait a while before doing it unless you can really convince that you are who you claim to be on the phone. I had to do this a couple weeks ago. Because I also had a third package that was mail ordered that I told them about, they were convinced enough to forward my packages immediately. Of course I had to pay extra postage for the third package because of how it was shipped.

@seabrookhiker
If you're really pissed, you might want to mention how USPS is about to default, their head honcho is going to Congress to ask for permission to lay off 120,000 employees, and how you have pen and paper ready to write a complaint up the USPS chain and another letter to your congressman giving support for the mass layoffs. That said, I really hope USPS can continue to offer the level of service and price that they provide for their Priority Mail customers.