http://sungold123.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] sungold123.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] davis_square2009-12-16 09:04 am
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Does your mailman pick up your mail?

Okay I'm going to sound like a country bumpkin here... but before I lived in Somerville, I lived in the middle-of-nowhere New Hampshire, where if we had outgoing mail, we'd put it in our mailbox and put up the red flag. The mailman would then take said mail and put the flag down. So, I figured if I left my outgoing mail on the little hook below my now-attached-to-the-house mailbox in Ball Square, the mailman would take it. However, I've tried this a number of times now and the mailperson has just left the mail there.

According to the USPS FAQs:

Outgoing mail is picked up:
* For curbside delivery if the flag is up or if there is mail to deliver.
* For door delivery if there is mail to deliver.
* From the outgoing mail slot in a Cluster Box.

Since I receive mail literally every day, it seems like my mail should be picked up. I'm curious to find out what other people's experience with this is...?

[identity profile] en-ki.livejournal.com 2009-12-16 02:15 pm (UTC)(link)
The USPS has always picked up my mail in this way in Boston, Somerville, and Medford. I've never had a flag; I just leave it in the mailbox, usually with an effort to make sure it's visible (sticking out vertically with the lid up).

If yours is visible and isn't getting picked up, it's probably worth calling the post office and asking what the problem is.

[identity profile] ruthling.livejournal.com 2009-12-16 02:21 pm (UTC)(link)
this is how I prepare my outgoing mail, too and normally it works fine, unless it's the day my mail delivery person doesn't want to deliver mail.
jadelennox: Senora Sabasa Garcia, by Goya (Default)

[personal profile] jadelennox 2009-12-16 02:54 pm (UTC)(link)
same. I make sure it is sticking out vertically and it always gets picked up (true in Somerville and Arlington)