Our "carrier" does not drive a USPS truck. He drives his own car, which is a mini van. Even before we gave him and his wife their first Christmas gift card, they went above & beyond the call of duty, delivering packages to our door if they found one addressed to us after we had already picked up our mail, or if it was too big to fit in the box.

And going away, they make it so simple. Just tell them or drop a yellow card in your slot. In MI we had a box at the street. Nobody but the regular mail carrier ever got it right. There was always mail being delivered to us that should have been forwarded. The temps rarely bothered to check at the post office before going out on delivery. I much prefer the way it's done here.

I have doubts about that as the other end was the common factor. This end was the only incident after many years.

We had excellent service at St. Charles for the past several years . However our long time contractor just left around Dec. 1st .
Since then I have been finding mail which belongs to others in my box and several items which I should have received failed to show up as of this PM .
The new contractor seems to not have a very good grasp of the English language . I tried to engage him in conversation to explain about the issues I have been experiencing . It was very obvious despite my best and most patient efforts that he does`t have a clue what I was attempting to convey . All he did was shake his head and say " No , No " over and over again . Oh well . In the scheme of things not that big of a problem . I`m certain that he will improve .

If they're driving USPS trucks, they are federal employees and not allowed to accept tips. Some of our stations do have Feds doing the mail but the vast majority are subs.

The procedure is that companies will bid to get the contract to deliver to the postal stations. This winner then has individuals bid for individual villages. Thus, everyone is an independent contractor and neither the government nor the lead contractor has to pay taxes or benefits. This is occurring more and more throughout the U.S.

Perhaps govt. employees are not supposed to accept tips but I have been sticking a few bucks, usually $20, in Christmas cards for most of my adult life and it has never been refused. My first job when I turned 18 was with the post office. I only did that until I got drafted but it was a great learning experience. I was a sub. and we sorted the mail for our own routes. Whatever route I was covering I always found that the tipping customers were noted on the sorting rack. Just a reminder to give these folks extra special service. Even now I always give our northern carrier his card just before we head south in September. I give our Villages carrier his card just before Christmas. It gets their attention and helps them remember us.
That's a good thing.

My great great grandfather was the first postal route mailman in what was then rural Maine. I've read his diaries and have tipped my mailmen ever since.

I also tip $20 at Christmas time. Wish it could be more. Great service in Pennecamp.

Not only that... find out the home address of your mail carrier, be it in TV or elsewhere. You can mail a gift to them privately and nobody can do anything about it.

I think I know why some mail hasn't been delivered. My husband opened our mail box (it's eye level) and witnessed the male and female postal workers "passionately" kissing. :oops:

Maybe they were on a break.:clap2:

Perhaps they were holding the annual Office Christmas Party ! :a040::a040:

I gave my mail handler $30 this year and she didn't give me $10 back. She just thanked me over and over. They really do give us excellent service and know us and address us by our names.

What he said.

We have been in Bonita for more than 4 years and have had nothing but GREAT service from our mail handlers at the postal station. Even, now with all of the crunch, my packages have always been in the big box just waiting on me to finally remember to show up.

Amazon has been experiencing quite a ton of problems with their contract with USPS. The internet is packed with stories of tracking reports showing "delivered" packages, in spite of the fact that there are no packages to be found. Carriers are logging them in as delivered, apparently to meet their on time requirements, but are not actually delivering them for another day or two.

This has not been happening with Fedex or UPS, just postal employees all around the country.

I have had this same thing happen twice (not here in The Villages). Once the replacement item for the "lost" shipment arrived before the first one which was eventually delivered by the mail lady.

In 8 years the mail people have mistakenly stopped my mail because they confused it with someone else. Their human and apparently this is a thankless job