Dealing with a bad mailman

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help79

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This is probably somewhat of a ridiculous thread, but for most pre-meds we are a bit paranoid.

Anyway, my mailman is pretty bad. We get our neighbors mail on a daily basis, and fortunately for them, my family is good at returning it to the proper residence. I'm just wondering whether some of my rejection letters/interview invites, are sitting around in my neighbors homes...

Do you think I should talk to my postal worker about being extra careful or do you think that'll just backfire and he'll throw away my mail.

I'm really not trying to be sarcastic or intentionally funny, but I was wondering if any of you had the same problem. I wish schools would just email everything. Snail mail has become increasingly unreliable. Any suggestions??? Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
 
Do you think I should talk to my postal worker about being extra careful or do you think that'll just backfire and he'll throw away my mail.


Ever heard the phrase going "postal"? These guys have monotonous and thankless jobs. The last thing he needs is some premed pushing his buttons. You'd be better off confirming with your neighbors periodically that they don't have any of your misdirected mail.
 
Do you think I should talk to my postal worker about being extra careful or do you think that'll just backfire and he'll throw away my mail.
A mailman once stole my slingshot. My friend shot him with his. I was an honest little 7 year old and I went and apologized on my friend's behalf the mailman stole my damn slingshot and never gave it back. Not too kind of him.

On a serious note, though, I would say absolutely nothing unless you want a very sarcastic reply and even less care being taken.
 
A mailman once stole my slingshot. My friend shot him with his. I was an honest little 7 year old and I went and apologized on my friend's behalf the mailman stole my damn slingshot and never gave it back. Not too kind of him.

On a serious note, though, I would say absolutely nothing unless you want a very sarcastic reply and even less care being taken.

i was thinking along the same lines as you. i don't want to piss of my postman by seeming arrogant and degrading. thanks again! i'll just try not to think about it. this is what happens when you're in interview season!
 
This is probably somewhat of a ridiculous thread, but for most pre-meds we are a bit paranoid.

Anyway, my mailman is pretty bad. We get our neighbors mail on a daily basis, and fortunately for them, my family is good at returning it to the proper residence. I'm just wondering whether some of my rejection letters/interview invites, are sitting around in my neighbors homes...

Do you think I should talk to my postal worker about being extra careful or do you think that'll just backfire and he'll throw away my mail.

I'm really not trying to be sarcastic or intentionally funny, but I was wondering if any of you had the same problem. I wish schools would just email everything. Snail mail has become increasingly unreliable. Any suggestions??? Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Are you already cordial with your mailman?
If so you can approach him in a nice way and let him know about your current goals. Use that as a segway to talking about your mail. Tell him in a nice and non-pushy way that you are really looking forward to mail from medical schools...and tell him to keep an eye out. Get him involved in the process...dont just be a weird pre-med and harrass him
 
You could try just making conversation one day and being really polite. Just mention that you're excited when you check the mail everyday because you're waiting to hear back from grad schools or whatever. Don't tell him/her how to do her job but mention enough to let him/her know that you're expecting something important.

If you think that this is risky you should definitely go with the previous advice about talking to all of your neighbors.
 
The mailman and mail service at my apartment have been pretty bad, substitutions and construction made the service horrible in the last couple weeks.

My airplane tickets for interview got sent back to my parents. My Connecticut secondary got sent back, and by the time I got it, it was a month later. Same with URochester. I also found out that my House of God book got sent back to the Amazon seller today. The problem with mail is very much alive and it is REALLY frustrating, so OP I feel your paranoia and any pain you hopefully won't have.
 
I knew someone who, when they were applying to med school some 3 years ago, received their Finch (back when it was Finch) secondary two months after it was due. Except that it wasn't the whole secondary. It was half of it. . .evidently, the envelope got caught in some piece of mail machinery and torn in half. The post office put the half-secondary in a baggie and mailed it along with a note that basically said, "sucks to be you, but we process tons of mail and this happens sometimes, nothing we can do about it. Sorry."

It would've been funnier if it weren't med school apps.
 
If you're really worried about it, get a PO box at your nearest post office and change your address on AMCAS and verify it with your schools. Problem solved. It's worth it just to save you the stress.
 
Do NOT piss off the mailman. It is possible that the SORTER person or SORTER facility is doing things wrong and your mailman is just putting the "bundles" in the right mailboxes.

Or whatever.

At any rate, don't freak out the mailman, their job is really hard and thankless and if you draw attention to your situation it may get mysteriously worse.
 
Ha. :laugh:

I was thinking more along the lines of "Get a P.O. Box", and update your mailing address with schools.
That makes two votes for a PO box. 👍
 
This is probably somewhat of a ridiculous thread, but for most pre-meds we are a bit paranoid.

Anyway, my mailman is pretty bad. We get our neighbors mail on a daily basis, and fortunately for them, my family is good at returning it to the proper residence. I'm just wondering whether some of my rejection letters/interview invites, are sitting around in my neighbors homes...

Do you think I should talk to my postal worker about being extra careful or do you think that'll just backfire and he'll throw away my mail.

I'm really not trying to be sarcastic or intentionally funny, but I was wondering if any of you had the same problem. I wish schools would just email everything. Snail mail has become increasingly unreliable. Any suggestions??? Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

I'd report his a$$ and get him fired. Seriously, file a complaint with the post office head office or soemthing - they're not supposed to screw up like. I know, i gota friend who works for canada post - too slow, too inaccurate, etc and you will be demoted or even fired if its drastic.
 
It's 6am and the sun is getting high.
He picks up the mail from the slot.
He feels the rush of excitement as he holds it in his hands,
another lovenote no one got.
 
Anyway, my mailman is pretty bad. We get our neighbors mail on a daily basis, and fortunately for them, my family is good at returning it to the proper residence. I'm just wondering whether some of my rejection letters/interview invites, are sitting around in my neighbors homes...

Sorry, I don't have any advice, but I feel the same way about my mail. In some of the places I've lived, I've regularly received someone else's mail, and I've always given it to them. In all these years, I've only ever had a neighbor give me a piece of mail one time. Considering the error rate, that's got to be a lot of lost mail. I hate neighbors.
 
File a formal complaint with your area post office (the office which receives your mail). He has a job and isn't doing it right. If you don't let someone know, nothing will change.

I have had mailman deliver important docs to the house next door which is vacant and I didn't have the owners information to contact him. 2 months later I finally got my important letter.
 
Ha! The only thing in my box today was my neighbor's mail! It sucks. I think the PO box idea would help a bit, but its a pain to change part way through an application season.
 
Did anyone read the title of this thread really quickly as "dealing with a bad man"? :laugh:

Seriously though, don't say a word.
 
Two weeks ago from this Friday at about 5PM I got a phone message from X medical school admissions office saying that I had an interview the following Tuesday and that I had not yet replied. I moved at the beginning of September changed my address with AMCAS, talked to the people moving into my old apartment, my new landlord, called each of the schools I applied to and told them I had a new address. But, my name was not on my new mailbox yet and my invite to interview went back to the post office. Luckily, I was still able to find a last minute flight for that Tuesday even though I had no informaiton about when I had to be there or even where I had to go. I made it to the interview and I think it went pretty well. My post office cost me about 400 extra bucks in a very last minute flight to an interview. The only thing that will make it all better - October 15th. You should be slightly paranoid.
 
This is probably somewhat of a ridiculous thread, but for most pre-meds we are a bit paranoid.

Anyway, my mailman is pretty bad. We get our neighbors mail on a daily basis, and fortunately for them, my family is good at returning it to the proper residence. I'm just wondering whether some of my rejection letters/interview invites, are sitting around in my neighbors homes...

Do you think I should talk to my postal worker about being extra careful or do you think that'll just backfire and he'll throw away my mail.

I'm really not trying to be sarcastic or intentionally funny, but I was wondering if any of you had the same problem. I wish schools would just email everything. Snail mail has become increasingly unreliable. Any suggestions??? Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

fine, let me talk to him. every envelope will be giftwraped and delivered every half hour after that.
 
Did anyone read the title of this thread really quickly as "dealing with a bad man"? :laugh:

Seriously though, don't say a word.

HAHAHA hilarious. i'm the OP but after reading your comment I went back and if you do just glaze over the threads, it does read "dealing with a bad man!" :laugh:
 
I also agree with the P.O. box idea. Don't say anything to the mailman, but if it worries you that much just get the p.o box. Yeah, it might be a pain to change the address and info halfway through applying, but you will know where your mail is.
 
I am mad at the USPS right now. They lost my secondary for UCSD. Fortunately, it was at the bottom of my list, so I am not going to resend it, but nevertheless they caused me lots of grief. Now, I have to file a lost mail form and void the checks that were in there.
 
I'm not a fan of USPS either. They changed my permanent address to my aunt's address because we have similar BUT DIFFERENT names but didnt even confirm it with me! And so she's getting all my mail, which I don't get for several days. I went to the post office last week and corrected this whole mess. So, hopefully they will stop forwarding my mail to my aunt's house. I had to call up my credit card companies to change my address back because they all received address changes from my post office. I dont believe this! 👎

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I'm not a fan of USPS either. They changed my permanent address to my aunt's address because we have similar BUT DIFFERENT names but didnt even confirm it with me! And so she's getting all my mail, which I don't get for several days. I went to the post office last week and corrected this whole mess. So, hopefully they will stop forwarding my mail to my aunt's house. I had to call up my credit card companies to change my address back because they all received address changes from my post office. I dont believe this! 👎

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Most of the schools use e-mail or telephone for anthing important. I would not worry anout the postal mail that much.
 
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