Snail mail/U.S. Mail, how often do you check your mailbox?

[Dan Murphy]

Not really checking the mailbox as such, Informed Delivery is great. I do check ID every day, so know what's coming. We do get some mail every day, often just junk mail. Since the mailbox is next to our front door, very easy to keep it cleaned out daily.

 

[disneychrista]

My mail box is right next to my front door. I check it most days. I only get mail a couple days a week and mostly junk mail. My daughter who hasn’t lived her for over 3 years get more than I do. My water and sewer bill are about the only things that get mailed to me.

I was out of town for a week and forget to stop delivery. When I came home I had 3 pieces of mail all junk and none for me.

 

[KPeterso]

Like others, I have informed delivery so I always know if there is something important to go out and grab. That said, I do tend to pick up the mail daily. Mail for my condo community goes to a central mailbox that is in the garage of the community. So I walk past it going out to the car or taking trash out, so might as well grab it while I am there. I also walk daily so at some point each day I go right by the mailboxes, so it is not really a special trip.

 

[Kennywood]

We're getting older, so we like paper bills which we pay with paper checks. I don't like the idea of anyone, other than us, being able to withdraw money from our checking account .

Now.....get off my lawn!

 

[LilyWDW]

Once a week, unless Informed Delivery lets me know of something I need to grab more urgently.

I live in an apartment building. Our mail is all downstairs in a big block of boxes. Sometimes I don't leave my apartment during the day since I work from home.

 

[Micca]

Check it almost every day, we have the community mailbox cluster so it's a very short walk to get the mail. If it's raining hard or if there's snow I'll wait a day or two.

 

[tvguy]

no but you can legislate that insurance companies can't require consumers use only mail order so that those who prefer to use brick and mortar as well as those who can't use mail order continue to utilize the brick and mortars that wish to stay open and have a customer base that if not prevented by their insurance would CONTINUE to use them (my local pharmacy has stuck it out since 1882). brick and mortars are essential when it comes to a prescription that's needed immediately (or at least sooner than the several days a week some of us face even with supposed 'overnight delivery').

To be clear, I am not required to use mail order. What I am trying to say is with so many brick and mortar and compounding pharmacies closing, it is getting tough to find a local pharmacy. And before my Rite Aide closed, there were some medications they did not stock and would not order for you.

 

[tvguy]

Not quite accurate for every address but perhaps mailing address. There are many homes in rural areas that can have FedEX and UPS delivery to their home address but USPS requires them to rent a PO Box in town at the post office which is their mailing address but not physical address.

My only experience is with family in very rural North Dakota. They have cluster mailboxes centrally located, about 20 in one place, but the Post Office will deliver to that. FedEx and UPS do not service that far out. You have to go their distribution center to pick up packages and that is a 30 mile trip each way. DHL would deliver, but there was some crazy surcharge for that.

 

[disneyseniors]

6 days a week I check for incoming. I put no outgoing in it due to some terrible issues with mail theft and bank fraud a neighbor endured.

I quit putting outgoing mail in the mail box when they "lost" a payment I made on a bill resulting in us getting a late fee! I think it would be easy for a piece of mail to fall to the floor and slide under the seat of the car, so I just take our mail in to our PO. No worries then.

 

[Robber Baron]

We have informed delivery, but I don't really need mail delivery because except for the once every 90 day prescription, there really is not a piece of mail important to me.

I say the USPS saves money by dropping deliver to twice a week.

 

[tvguy]

I’m in my mid 50’s, I have just turned on electronic delivery of everything I can to minimize physical mail, as have my eighty year old in laws. They never get anything from Medicare or social security.

My half brother will be 91 in October. He checks his email about once every three months! He gets very frustrated with the volume of spam he gets.
But my issue isn't with expected items, it is the unexpected items. Like refund checks, like I stated, from Medicare, which they will not direct deposit, they only send checks.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I quit putting outgoing mail in the mail box when they "lost" a payment I made on a bill resulting in us getting a late fee! I think it would be easy for a piece of mail to fall to the floor and slide under the seat of the car, so I just take our mail in to our PO. No worries then.

I've had this happen too. I've had packages get lost when I put them in a post office box outside so I bring them inside now and have an employee scan them. At least with the scan you know they "have" the package.

 

[CdnCarrie]

To be clear, I am not required to use mail order. What I am trying to say is with so many brick and mortar and compounding pharmacies closing, it is getting tough to find a local pharmacy. And before my Rite Aide closed, there were some medications they did not stock and would not order for you.

Wow we have like 3-4 pharmacies within walking distance - drugstore, walk in clinic, grocery store. Do you live really rural?

 

[MIGrandma]

We get an email every delivery day stating what mail is being delivered. If nothing is coming we don’t check it. As far as prescriptions coming by mail I do have that service through Optum, but for my meds that need to be refrigerated (Trulicity and Lantus pens) I prefer to pick them up at the Walmart pharmacy. We go camping a lot during the summer, 2-7 nights at a time, so I don’t want one of those delivered when we are away. I would be very upset if my insurance forced me to have ALL my prescriptions delivered by mail.

 

[tvguy]

Wow we have like 3-4 pharmacies within walking distance - drugstore, walk in clinic, grocery store. Do you live really rural?

Nope. Suburbs. Rite Aide went out of business (entire chain), they had two locations within a mile or two of my house. Walgreens had two locations within 2 miles of my house, both closed. There are two grocery store pharmacies and Neighborhood Walmart. Rite Aide transferred my prescriptions to CVS which is about two miles from my house. But since the first of the year, 4 of the 8 pharmacies closest to me closed.

 

[auntfrannie]

I bought a mailbox chime so whenever it goes off I go out to the mailbox! Especially in the winter, the delivery times are pretty sporadic so having the chime saves me from having to run out to the end of driveway for nothing.

 

[barkley]

Wow we have like 3-4 pharmacies within walking distance - drugstore, walk in clinic, grocery store. Do you live really rural?

I live rural and brick and mortars are still thriving-within a 10 mile radius to me there's 4 but if I go a couple miles more in one direction there's another 2 while the opposite direction will avail you of over 80 (we have 3 grocery chains in addition to Costco and walmart that have in store pharmacies which adds allot to the number).

 

[easyas123]

I’m also in a rather rural area & I have 2 Walgreens about 15 minutes in two directions, plus a local pharmacy. I could be at a Walmart pharmacy in about 30 minutes & I could get them via mail but I actually use the locally operated pharmacy.

 

[focusondisney]

6 days a week I check for incoming. I put no outgoing in it due to some terrible issues with mail theft and bank fraud a neighbor endured.

We had an issue this year in my area as well. Someone actually stole a master key that unlocks the blue sidewalk boxes. Checks were stolen & altered & cashed by the thieves. At the same time, they were also being stolen from the individual curbside mailboxes in suburban developments. The post office & local law enforcement were advising to bring things into the post office building for awhile. The person who stole the master key was arrested eventually & things have settled down. But it was eye opening for sure.

btw-informed delivery must work better in some places than other. I hear lots of complaints about expecting something to be in the mailbox based on what informed delivery has reported for a given day only to not receive it.

I think this is true for all aspects of the post office. And truthfully, most government functions too. The informed delivery works great in my area. The email tells you it is pieces that were sorted by the automated system & may not arrive that day. That if it hasn’t arrived within 7 days report it as missing. I’m sure some areas have better efficiency with that automated system than others. I get what the email tells me is coming except maybe once a year. And then it comes within a day or 2. Over the years, I’ve gotten someone else’s mail delivered to me enough that it makes me wonder what mail of mine is delivered somewhere else. That’s a huge reason I like ID. At least I’ll know if of mine is missing.

 

[kdonnel]

But my issue isn't with expected items, it is the unexpected items. Like refund checks, like I stated, from Medicare, which they will not direct deposit, they only send checks.

I’m not saying I take everything to the trash without looking. I’m saying 90+% of what I do get does get tossed with a cursory look.

Having informed delivery I know what is coming and if there is something that needs to be opened before tossed.