Friday, February 4, 2011

13 Things your Mailman won't tell you.

1. Maybe your dog won’t bite you.
But in 2009, 2,863 of us were bitten, an average of nine bites per delivery day. That’s why I wince when your Doberman comes flying out the door.
2. Remember this on Valentine’s Day: It takes our machines longer to read addresses on red envelopes (especially if they’re written in colored ink).
3. Why stand in line? At usps.com, you can buy stamps, place a hold on your mail, change your address, and apply for passports. We even offer free package pickup and free flat-rate envelopes and boxes, all delivered right to your doorstep.
4. Media Mail is a bargain, but most of you don’t know to ask for it. Sending ten pounds of books from New York City to San Francisco through Media Mail costs $5.89, compared with $16.77 for Parcel Post. Besides books, use it to send magazines, manuscripts, DVDs, and CDs; just don’t include anything else in the package.
5. We don’t get a penny of your tax dollars. Really. The sale of postage, products, and services at our 36,000 retail locations, and on our website, covers all of the post office's operating expenses.
6. UPS and FedEx charge you $10 or more for messing up an address. Us? Not a cent.
7. Paychecks, personal cards, letters—anything that looks like good news—I put those on top. Utility and credit card bills? They go under everything else.
8. Sorry if I seem like I’m in a hurry, but I’m under the gun: Our supervisors tell us when to leave, how many pieces of mail to deliver, and when we should aim to be back. Then some of us scan bar codes in mailboxes along our route so they can monitor our progress.
9. Yes, we do have to buy our own stamps, but a lot of us carry them for customers who need them. If we don’t charge you, that’s because we like you.
10. Use a ballpoint pen. Ink from those felt tips runs in the rain.
11. Please dress properly when you come to the door. A towel wrapped around you doesn’t cut it. And we definitely don’t want to see you in your underwear!
12. We serve 150 million addresses six days a week, so we’re often in the right place at the right time. We pull people out of burning cars, catch burglars in the act, and call 911 to report traffic accidents, dead bodies, and more.
13. Most of us don’t mind if you pull up to our trucks while we’re delivering and ask for your mail a little early. But please get out of your car and come get it. Don’t just put your hand out your window and wait for me to bring it to you.

38 comments:

  1. nice to know, im guessing this is for america? haha :P 150million adreessses xD

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  2. Damn, interesting stuff, I hate felt tip pens

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  3. haahaha very interesting Bro ... ;)

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  4. hmmmmm now i am very suspicious of my mail man. ill keep checking back here, continue the awesome work!

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  5. I've seen this stuff before but its always good to read over again.

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  6. This is pretty good stuff. Number 3 and 4 might come in useful for me.

    Thanks for the info. :)

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  7. 2,863 in a year is much i think. My dog would do such things

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  8. my dad works in the post office like many people, good stuff.

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  10. I don't think I'd ever have the balls to go to a mailman and ask for my package immediately. Just seems douchey.

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  11. Interesting, im from England and it's a very different system over here.

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  12. lol, hilarious. It's interesting how different mailmen are from country-to-country.

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  13. Sounds amazing, keep doing this great job!

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  14. i found USPS did their duty the best and there is no need to pay extra for the fancy fedex people...

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  15. Damn, I never knew any of this stuff. Have you read the things pilots don't tell you?

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  16. Those poor mailman! My uncle works for the Postal Service here in the US. Hope he doesn't go Postal >.<

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  17. omg, I'm tipping my mailman from now on!

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  18. Nice facts, made me laugh a few times!

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  19. I'll have to look into the media mail thing, shipping tends to be on the more expensive side for me.

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  20. haha thats cool, makes me look at mail people differently

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  21. Wow, this is incredibly interesting stuff. I did not know this about the Postal service.

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  22. Media Mail. I need to remember that.

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  23. #1 is true as fuck happened to a family member just last month

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  24. Never wanted to be a mailman, anyway. Too much walking around and stuff.

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  25. woah, this is some key info. thanks for sharing!

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