Mail delivery problem?

[Mary Kate Leming]

Hello all - I had the following email from reader in Briny Breezes. We are curious if any of you who live in condos have a similar problem with the Post Office. Please let us know. Thank You, Mary Kate

Mary Kate, we are having a problem with the USPS at Briny Breezes and it has to do with a certain class of mail that requests address verification by the vendor. If the mail is forwarded (most of the residents do this to their Northern address) the vendor (most bills use this including FPL, citizens etc.) requests that they be notified of the address change to update their permanent address file. The Boynton Beach Post office will not allow Briny to forward this mail by crossing out the request text. This is causing, in my case the August FPL bill to be finally forwarded by Briny (with new postage in a separate envelope with new postage affixed), to be delivered to me in Oct. The Citizens bill to be returned to the sender and luckily we called and arranged payment over the phone. Briny picks up the mail delivers to full time residents and forwards mail up North. All the mail you don't need gets forwarded fine but the address correction mail is being sent back to Briny for what they consider proper handling, which means gouging us for additional postage. Calls to Boynton Post Office fall on deaf ears, that is if you are lucky enough for anyone to answer. Briny, I feel, is doing the USPS a favor by providing this service and not insisting that the USPS do this service that every other Post office does for free. Knowing that our Coastal community has many people that live in Condo type units, is anyone else having problems like this. I thought this might be a forum for this question, thanks, Paul and Anita

[Mary Kate Leming]

Paul, Anita - This response came in from a CoastalStar.com member:

Since the United States Postal Service falls under the federal jurisdiction, I suggest for Paul and Anita to contact their U.S. Congressman or U.S. Senator's office to resolve this issue. — Kate Scott

[Terry Kline]

May I suggest that Briny snowbirds put all of their important bills on auto-pay or pay online. I know, first hand, how difficult it is to get mail properly forwarded by the USPS. By the time they get your summer address straight, you're back at Briny Breezes! However, the Briny office is NOT a post office and has no legal authorization to change an address and forward (free). I still get my son's mail at my address. The only way I can get it to him, without paying additional postage fees, is by personally delivering the items...This is such a cool excuse for us to meet for lunch and mail exchange!

[Paul James Stewart]

To clarify a little more...We have put all important bills on autopay, pay online, & receive e-statements. However, I was never informed by USPS that they were simply returning my mail to the sendor over the last 2 months & we have been subject to numerous late fees, possbile cancellations of insurance policies, and cannot get through to the post office in Boynton Beach. When it comes to things such as insurance policies (we have 10+), standard procedure is that the policies are mailed in advance of receiving the actual bill to allow for policies to be reviewed for possible changes. Autopay etc. is NOT an option. Briny has discussed with USPS about providing a central mailbox location for USPS to deliver the mail to individual boxes (like they do for condos, gated communities, other trailer parks, etc) - USPS won't. I do not believe I can forward mail at the Boynton Beach post office specifcally for my unit number because all of Briny mail goes into one giant box at the post office & then Briny office personnal picks up, brings it back to Briny, sorts it FOR the post office, & puts mail into unit numbered mailboxes. Our option is to probably get a PO Box at the post office which will cost $100.+ a year which is sad but will keep our mail coming to us on time. P&A

[Terry Kline]

Hi Paul,

The post office DID forward my mail from Briny to my winter home (we are sunbirds), however, it took a few weeks to get the process reversed. Perhaps you could give the Briny office a bunch of SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelopes) and they could, more easily, do the job for you!

Paul James Stewart said:

To clarify a little more...We have put all important bills on autopay, pay online, & receive e-statements. However, I was never informed by USPS that they were simply returning my mail to the sendor over the last 2 months & we have been subject to numerous late fees, possbile cancellations of insurance policies, and cannot get through to the post office in Boynton Beach. When it comes to things such as insurance policies (we have 10+), standard procedure is that the policies are mailed in advance of receiving the actual bill to allow for policies to be reviewed for possible changes. Autopay etc. is NOT an option. Briny has discussed with USPS about providing a central mailbox location for USPS to deliver the mail to individual boxes (like they do for condos, gated communities, other trailer parks, etc) - USPS won't. I do not believe I can forward mail at the Boynton Beach post office specifcally for my unit number because all of Briny mail goes into one giant box at the post office & then Briny office personnal picks up, brings it back to Briny, sorts it FOR the post office, & puts mail into unit numbered mailboxes. Our option is to probably get a PO Box at the post office which will cost $100.+ a year which is sad but will keep our mail coming to us on time. P&A