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General Delivery Mail and the Privacy Act
Yahoo Message Number: 105333
We have been on the road now for 10 months spending most of the time in the west.
 Just called the local small town post office where I have picked up mail already a couple of times and inquired if anything had arrived for me.
 The fellow came back after what seemed an unusually long amount of time and informed me that due to the privacy act he could not provide that info over the phone.
 I suspect that this is a local hiccup but wondered if anyone else has run into this and have things recently changed?

Jim
Re: General Delivery Mail and the Privacy Act
Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 105334
Quote
"We have been on the road now for 10 months spending most of the time in the west.
 Just called the local small town post office where I have picked up mail already a couple of times and inquired if anything had arrived for me.
 The fellow came back after what seemed an unusually long amount of time and informed me that due to the privacy act he could not provide that info over the phone.
 I suspect that this is a local hiccup but wondered if anyone else has run into this and have things recently changed?"

Jim
Have him give you the regulation # for that bureaucratic piece of B S.  It's not like you don't have to provide ID when you pick up the mail.

Chris

Chris
Formerly: 2002 30' IB
Re: General Delivery Mail and the Privacy Act
Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 105335
We've used Escapees for 6 years now. Have them hold mail, email them a new address and you'll have your mail in 3 days.  They are VERY efficient.

best, paul "Thriving not surviving" - Paul Schaye (at 2008 NYC Marathon)
Re: General Delivery Mail and the Privacy Act
Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 105337
On Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:52:46 -0000, "jcgc50"  wrote:

Quote
The fellow came back after what seemed an unusually long amount of time and informed me that due to the privacy act he could not provide that info over the phone.
Jim I am not a shill for the PO, but let's say I am on the lam and the coppers have a hunch where I might be. It would be a simple matter to make a few phone calls to area Post Offices.
 I guess you will just have to peddle to the PO on your new bike to see if you have new mail.

Cheers, Don
Don & Dorothy
Sold our LD in June of 2023

Our boring always non-PC travel blog
Traveling Dorothy
Re: General Delivery Mail and the Privacy Act
Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 105338
"We've used Escapees for 6 years now. Have them hold mail, email them a new address and you'll have your mail in 3 days. They are VERY efficient."
 Agreed! And just to add to that: when the Escapees Mail Forwarding Service sends out my mail, they email me a tracking number. With that in hand, I can check the USPS website (actually, I let the Mac's Delivery Status widget do it for me) to see where my forwarded mail is at any time.
 Thus, I know exactly when it arrives at the local post office, and I go pick it up immediately. There's never any need to call and ask "Do you have anything for me?" Thanks to the Escapees-supplied tracking number, I already know it's there when I show up to get it.
 This also means that if the local post office staff can't immediately put their hands on my package (which has happened once or twice), I can prove to them by their own tracking system that they DID get it and it IS there... so they can't just tell me "Oh, it must not have arrived yet."

Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: General Delivery Mail and the Privacy Act
Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 105345
Quote
On Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:52:46 -0000, "jcgc50"  wrote:
 The fellow came back after what seemed an unusually long amount of time and informed me that due to the privacy act he could not provide that info over the phone.
 Jim I am not a shill for the PO, but let's say I am on the lam and the coppers have a hunch where I might be. It would be a simple matter to make a few phone calls to area Post Offices.
 I guess you will just have to peddle to the PO on your new bike to see if you have new mail.

Cheers, Don ���`����,��,�`����,��,�`����,��,�`����
Don, I suspect that you have had "on the lam" experience and I would hope that the post office would help us catch you given they have your photo on display.
 So, I drove into the PO and there was lots of mail and there was the regular guy who doesn't need my ID anymore. I didn't bother to discuss it with him as it was obviously not him who answered the phone. I suspect that this was an inexperienced employee.
 Riding the bike into to town is quite a treat. It is lovely along the Columbia Gorge. It includes a nice paved trail that is uphill in both directions with a couple of nice flights of stairs that you carry your bike over.

Jim
Re: General Delivery Mail and the Privacy Act
Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 105349
I'll second that. We have used the Escapees Mail Forwarding Service for over twelve years now with nothing but praise and no complaints. Eight of those years were while we were traveling on water fulltime in foreign countries, most of them 3rd world, on our sailing yacht and 4 while part time RVing. For a nominal additional fee they will even sort your mail and toss those heavy catalogs and pesky sales fliers. I believe that SKP has the largest private remailing service in the US. USPS even gave them their own private zip code = 77399. That is one professional service oriented outfit. SKPs that is. Lutz
  To: lifewithalazydazerv@yahoogroups.com
 From:
 Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 22:42:27 +0000
 Subject: [LD] Re: General Delivery Mail and the Privacy Act

"We've used Escapees for 6 years now. Have them hold mail, email them a new address and you'll have your mail in 3 days. They are VERY efficient."
 Agreed! And just to add to that: when the Escapees Mail Forwarding Service sends out my mail, they email me a tracking number. With that in hand, I can check the USPS website (actually, I let the Mac's Delivery Status widget do it for me) to see where my forwarded mail is at any time.
 Thus, I know exactly when it arrives at the local post office, and I go pick it up immediately. There's never any need to call and ask "Do you have anything for me?" Thanks to the Escapees-supplied tracking number, I already know it's there when I show up to get it.
 This also means that if the local post office staff can't immediately put their hands on my package (which has happened once or twice), I can prove to them by their own tracking system that they DID get it and it IS there... so they can't just tell me "Oh, it must not have arrived yet."

Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: General Delivery Mail and the Privacy Act
Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 105355
Just a note on the other side of the "calling on the phone to see if you have any mail" issue.
 While still working for the PO, I was in a small rural office which, during peak tourist season, would get close to 200 people using General Delivery on a temporary basis.  Our Postmaster instituted a "no tell" on the phone, since, we would have spent a lot of the day checking GD mail on the phone, then having to go get it when the people came in.
 I suspect this is true in a lot of offices.  When I moved to another office, I was told we should never give out information about mail on the phone, since we couldn't verify identity.  I'm not sure if it's a written rule but it always made sense to me.

I'm more of the opinion that if someone a the Post Office gives you information about your mail over the phone, it's a bonus for you, but I don't believe they are obligated (or even supposed) to supply that service.

WOW, I haven't thought about these kinds of issues in over 5 years! Retirement is fine!

Kate
 http://cholulared.blogspot.com http://www.cholulared.com

Want to find us? Click below, we're #3096 http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=3096

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: General Delivery Mail and the Privacy Act
Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 105356
Quote
Just called the local small town post office where I have picked up mail already a couple of times and inquired if anything had arrived for me.
 The fellow came back after what seemed an unusually long amount of time and informed me that due to the privacy act he could not provide that info over the phone.

 Have you ever gotten that information over the phone before?  I'd think it WOULD be information they wouldn't give you over the phone.  I don't know though...in the 11 years since we started fulltiming, I've never called a post office to inquire about whether or not our mail has arrived.
 Pay the extra money to have your mail tracked...you'll get a tracking number which you can then use to keep tabs on your mail at the USPS's website.
Then you'll know exactly when it does arrive at the post office.  It comes in handy when the person behind the counter says that there's nothing in the back for you and you can tell them that, according to the USPS's own website, the mail was delivered to them.

Linda Hylton http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=1167 http://earl-linda.blogspot.com/
Linda Hylton
Re: General Delivery Mail and the Privacy Act
Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 105361
Yes, I have had the same experience at several "general delivery" locations.  So I just track the tracking number given to me by Escapees Mail and then go by the post office.  No longer have to call.

Linda and John On the road in CO

__
 
Re: General Delivery Mail and the Privacy Act
Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 105375
Quote
Have you ever gotten that information over the phone before?  I'd think it WOULD be information they wouldn't give you over the phone.  I don't know though...in the 11 years since we started fulltiming, I've never called a post office to inquire about whether or not our mail has arrived.
 Pay the extra money to have your mail tracked...you'll get a tracking number which you can then use to keep tabs on your mail at the USPS's website.
Then you'll know exactly when it does arrive at the post office.  It comes in handy when the person behind the counter says that there's nothing in the back for you and you can tell them that, according to the USPS's own website, the mail was delivered to them.

Linda Hylton http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=1167 http://earl-linda.blogspot.com/
Over the past 10 months I have gotten that information everywhere including this post office. Apparently, the person that answered the phone was new to the office.
 Moreover, I was expecting several pieces of mail from sources other than my mail service and did not have an option to select delivery confirmation which is the only way I am aware I can track mail inexpensively with the PO.

Jim