Post office/wrong delivery

[unbelman.livejournal.com]

I have an address which is the same as an office building in Cambridge (clearly the city and zip are different) The office building is almost entirely occupied by lawyers and social services.

I consistently have mail delivered to my address that is clearly meant for the Cambridge address. There is no mistake on the envelope or package (today's was a very large package). I'm sure much of this mail is confidential and at the very least important. Does anyone know who can I talk to to have this mail go to the correct address. Every time something is incorrectly delivered, I go to the Davis Sq. post office and drop off the item and let them know. They seem very unconcerned. Last week I was away and three pieces came to me - all addressed to law offices.

suggestions?

Comments

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

I think what you are doing is the logical thing to do. Businesses usually send important materials FedEx (and even materials that aren't that important are often sent FedEx).

If the companies were really concerned about the delays and wrong addresses, they would contact the sender.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Get a PO Box. That's what I did.
Somerville Post Office people seem to be incabable of delivering mail properly. They either jam in into a mailbox that's far too small, or they leave it out on the porch exposed to the elements. That's assuming, of course, they're delivering the mail to anything resembling the correct address.

My PO Box is at South Station. The Post Offiice there is open 24/7. I never have a problem getting my mail.

[lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com]

Every time you get an envelope for the Cambridge Address, write in BIG letters on it. PLEASE DELIVER TO CAMBRIDGE, NOT SOMERVILLE. and circle the correctly written city and zip code on the envelope.

Then instead of carrying it back to the post office, leave it in your mail box for the carrier to take back. Perhaps he'll start paying more attention if he has to carry it twice.

[ron_newman]

Is it possible that these letters and packages have the right address but the wrong bar codes on them?

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

I can see this happening with letters, but with packages? You'd think the mailperson would notice that the package had the wrong city on it.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

Most of the sorting is automated these days and only the most obvious problems are sorted by hand. Mark through the bar code on the envelope with a black magic marker and drop in the mail box. That way it *has* to be dealt with by hand.

The mistake is caused by the original computer reader that puts on the bar code.

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

Try contacting post office in Union Square. The Davis Square post office does not actually deal with delivery. And, I've found them much more concerned about issues I've had than the Davis postal workers.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i had a similar problem (there's an unrelated-to-me family a few streets away that shares my last name *and* street number) and chatted to the folks at the union square post office and things improved dramatically.

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

Call the lawyers the items are addressed to. Tell them this happens a lot and you're concerned that one of their clients might end up with something important falling into the wrong hands. Then sit back and watch the fur fly at the USPS....

in concert with contacting the union square post office...

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

that's the best bet. That way the lawyers will also be following up, and you'll be sure they'll be quite persistent.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

As someone else pointed out, if you mark 'em up and put them back in your mailbox, the carrier will see that something is wrong, and then he or she can fix it. Leave a message for your mailperson explaining what's going on. Use the same envelope you use when you leave them their Christmas bonus.

I can see the problem with regular mail happening: they sort that stuff pretty quickly. A large package, though, is more mysterious.

I haven't had great luck with the post office office, but when I've talked directly to my carrier that seems to fix things up... until he takes time off, and we get a replacement carrier ;-)

[docorion.livejournal.com]

The other option is to write (*not* call; write an actual letter) to Postmaster, Somerville, MA 02144.

I tried various means to get the carriers to deliver mail *into the boxes* at my apartment (they were leaving it in a heap on the porch for us to sort through). Nothing worked...until I wrote a letter as above. The following day I got no mail, and ever since it's been correctly delivered. I like to think the carriers were getting a little re-education the day I got no mail, but it may have been coincidence.

[alphacygni]

For what it's worth, the same problem happens in the other direction at least occasionally. I live in Cambridge but there's an identical address in Somerville. We've gotten a bit of their mail and a couple of big packages.

But they get our pizzas and even THE MOVING TRUCK, so I think we're even. But now I'm wondering how much of our mail has gone to Somerville.

It's good that you try to deal with it. I'm afraid most people would just throw it out.

[ratatosk.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid most people would just throw it out.

Or conscientiously recycle it! :)