I wrote earlier this year (see here and here) about the problems that the United States Postal Service caused my husband and me when the agency assigned us the wrong zip code (which I have called Zip Code B). Over four months after we moved in, these problems continue. This holiday season, USPS continues to provide a gift that keeps on giving.
The issue has been resolved within the Post Office itself. The right postal branch (Zip Code A, where we live) is delivering our mail. Most days.
My husband and I subscribed to informed delivery, so we know what mail we are supposed to be receiving. After a welcome respite, the ad circulars are finding us again. Most charitable solicitations have found us. We receive most bills on time, though occasionally we find one that is still being sent to our old address (our fault) and then forwarded, or we find one that is being sent to the wrong zip code (part of the lingering USPS-caused problem).
But occasionally, we go a day or two without mail. Because of the informed delivery notices, we know we have mail we are supposed to receive. After one such occurrence, I called the USPS branch supervisor to ask if in fact the carrier was delivering mail to our box every day. “Oh,” she said, “your carrier was off yesterday. I’ll look into it.”
I suspect the substitute carrier either couldn’t find our street or simply decided not to brave all the construction vehicles to get to our community mailbox at the end of our cul-de-sac.
Another family moved into a house two doors down recently, so I’m hoping to get reinforcements in my quest to be sure we get daily delivery.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been placing lots of online orders—some for the new house, some for professional reasons (new business cards), and some for holiday gifts. Most times, I can input the right zip code now, so it appears most retailers and other vendors with online stores have updated their zip code feeds from USPS. But occasionally, I find a vendor that has not.
I couldn’t get postcards I designed online at the Office Depot site mailed to my home address. I called their customer service number to request that they update my zip code manually. Their representative could not do that. I asked if I could have my order sent to an Office Depot store near my home. Their representative could not do that either.
“So you’re telling me you can’t mail the order to my correct address, and you also can’t give me a location where I can pick it up?”
The representative fed me back his scripted response that he could not update my zip code, nor could the product I’d ordered be shipped to a store.
“Are you saying I should cancel this order?” Surely, if he realized I was about to give up, he would find a way to take my money.
Their representative again said that he could not update my zip code, nor could the product I’d ordered be shipped to a store.
I thanked him politely and canceled the order.
Last week, my daughter texted me:
If I have something shipped to your house, but the zip code is entered as [Zip Code B], will it arrive?
I replied:
Honestly, I don’t know. I have avoided finding out. If I can’t correct the zip online, or call to place the order and correct the zip, I don’t order.
After a few more exchanges, she ended our discussion with:
. . . this particular retailer . . . will not accept [Zip Code A]. But I will persist!
A bit later, she texted:
I outfoxed them all… I had it shipped to Grandma!
So we are finding work-arounds.
At this point, my bigger problem is that delivery people other than the Post Office cannot find us. We have been off the grid since we moved in.
All the online orders that I manage to get sent to the correct Zip Code A are delivered by truck drivers who cannot locate us. Their GPS devices send them ten blocks south of us to another subdivision or ten blocks north to a trailer park. I cannot count the number of calls I’ve received from drivers trying to find our house.
That’s why I wonder whether Santa Claus will find us this year.
My parents always told me that Santa could find me no matter whose house I was visiting on Christmas Eve. I told my children the same thing. But these days, I suspect even Santa relies on GPS.
I’ve submitted several requests to Google Maps and MapQuest to correct their address locators. I wouldn’t mind so much if our address wasn’t in their systems at all. It is having people sent to the wrong address that is so aggravating.
The good news is that late last week Google Maps informed me that my fourth request had been approved. Now, if I type in my address with Zip Code A, it does in fact put the locator pin in the right location. But the pin is in the middle of green space—there is no street drawn to show people how to get to the pin. Our new cul-de-sac still doesn’t exist on Google Maps. And MapQuest has yet to make any updates.
I’m still hoping Google Maps will approve my request to add a street. It’s a good thing Santa flies from housetop to housetop and doesn’t rely on streets.
Has Santa ever failed to find you?
