United States Postal Service — Local services in Durham

Long story but please read because this could happen to you!!!!

To preface, both of my parents worked for the PO their entire careers; both carried mail (one on foot, one on a rural route) so I am uniquely qualified to speak on this.

I have lived at my home since 2016 & never had an issue with deliveries (post office, FedEx, UPS, Uber Eats, etc) until now. Several weeks ago, my mail carrier (who I assume is new) started leaving packages in my driveway. I have a breezeway up to my front door which is covered from the elements & even has a doormat stating where to put packages so there’s NO reason to leave packages anywhere else.

I called the PO customer service number & they opened a complaint ticket for me. Someone spoke to the carrier, left me a voicemail stating the carrier thought my dogs were “aggressive” & couldn’t deliver my packages, & closed the ticket without even speaking to me. So I called back & explained that 1) my dogs are NOT aggressive, they bark at the door because duh…someone is coming up to the door 2) they always have been inside behind a double-paned door 3) my door is also ALWAYS double bolt locked 4) I work from home & because my house was added onto before I bought it, there is no other natural light that comes in besides the front door. So they re-opened my ticket & the customer service person reached out to me directly. I explained all of the above info & even offered to let the carrier meet my dogs, show her how the door locks, or whatever else she wanted; but also stressed that as a delivery person in any capacity, being “afraid” of dogs that are INDOORS is not an acceptable reason to not do your job. I especially am sensitive to mail carriers because both of my parents have been bitten by dogs while carrying mail. The customer service person promised she would speak to the manager & have the issue corrected.

I even made a sign that I attached to my house stating not to leave packages in the driveway with a red arrow pointing to the breezeway. In the meantime, the carrier left a very large, very expensive, & one of a kind item out in the open in my driveway (directly in front of the sign I posted) instead of my breezeway...just asking for it to be stolen. Then it happened again with another package. When I spoke to the customer service person again, she said she spoke directly to the manager & explained my situation but there was a man standing behind her (I think another carrier) saying “don’t believe her, she’s a liar, etc”…UNPROFESSIONAL! So they suggested that when I have a package, the mail carrier return it to the PO facility & I pick it up. I expressed that this is NOT my job & having grown up in the PO, I KNOW that my packages will get lost. She agreed & said she would take it back to the manager. That’s when I was ghosted. I left voicemails, emailed her, & have never heard back.

So I called the Post Master’s office. I explained the situation to the lady who answered the phone & requested to speak to the post master. She took my info & told me she’d leave him a message but I never heard back; Called another time & the same thing happened. In the meantime, my carrier started becoming passive aggressive & leaving my packages in precarious locations out of spite - including one she left under a leaking downspout, in a puddle. This was while I was out of the house so my dogs were nowhere near the door.

Finally, I called again & was transferred to another manager. She agreed that my carrier’s actions are unacceptable & it is NOT post office policy to leave packages in the driveway or any unsafe location & she would ensure I received my packages.

Since that time, all of my packages have fit into my mailbox…until today. I was away from home all day & was expecting a package to arrive. When I got home, I saw an email notification saying that my carrier “tried” to deliver my package but was unable (again, my dogs were nowhere near the door).

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE & the Post Master needs to take control of...

If I could give minus stars, I would. This has been my central branch since I moved to South Durham, and I have had more issues with mail delivery in the last two years than in my entire adult life! (I'm over 45!) It's a nightmare: it feels like someone's pranking me, but it's just that this branch is SO lackluster.

Mail carriers regularly do not even come by my condo community -- several times a year, my neighbors and I have reported MULTIPLE days with NO mail delivery AT ALL during the week. Feels like the carriers just decide to knock off early some days and do whatever, because they're NOT delivering to their scheduled routes.

Also, I have had letters from my doctor's office, my bank, and my student loan companies that were never delivered but instead returned to them with "no such address" -- when my address was EXACTLY correct. When this happened the first time a year or so ago, I went to the branch to find out what was up. After standing in line for over an hour, I was told that a hold had been put on my mail delivery -- by whom or for what purpose NO ONE could tell me! I never got an email, phone call, or (HAHAHAHAHAHA!) letter with any such information.

When I asked if they'd held any of the undelivered mail for me, they said YES: And handed me about 75 pieces of mail for someone whose name/address were NOT REMOTELY CLOSE TO MINE (!). I took it back and had to wait in line ANOTHER 45 minutes to return it -- and when I asked for my mail they could NOT FIND IT. Never DID find it -- and from the employee's attitudes at the branch itself, they certainly couldn't care less.

Now I'm getting calls AGAIN from friends/correspondents telling me that mail they've sent me is inexplicably being returned to them as "no such address" -- including a replacement debit card, an insurance check, and (again) information from my doctor's office and student loan companies.

Good luck calling them -- you will literally NEVER get an answer OR a callback if you leave a message. So going IN to the branch is your only option -- and that only results in wasting a couple hours to get indifferent, uninformed service. I don't have any other options to find out what's going on with my mail, so that's what I'll do but it sincerely feels pointless.

The employees in the branch LITERALLY act like it's not their problem -- the second time this happened, one actually said to me "Well, there must be something wrong with your mailbox, so the carrier just stopped the service." I live in a nice condo community, and ALL THE MAILBOXES ARE IN THE SAME STAND -- which has NOTHING wrong with it. She looked bored, shrugged and said "Well, you wanna re-start it or what?" arrrrrrrrrrgh!!! (hey, at least this time they gave me some mail back... we'll never know how much of MY mail they handed out elsewhere, but whatever lol)

Spare a little sympathy for the poor schmucks whose mail is handled here, and DO NOT USE THIS BRANCH FOR...

The mailman assigned to our apartment community is EXTREMELY unprofessional. We love in a upscale pet friendly apartment community. Our mailman has been nothing but rude, unprofessional and lazy. When he knocks on our door, our Dog which is well trained and friendly barks. Once we realize it’s the mailman we tell him to stop barking and to “stay” because we don’t allow him out the door or even to poke his head out when we open it because we know not everyone is dog friendly. Once we opened the door, we noticed the mailman standing all the way across the hall, I mean all the way down the hall....awkwardly, coldly and quite offensively despite my dog being nowhere near the door. Okay fine, I’m assuming he has a fear of dogs, although I’m not sure because he makes no mention of it and doesn’t even say hi or hello. He just stands there. He then says coldly, is the dog secure to which I say yes. My dog is nowhere in sight. He then asks the same question with an attitude again, seriously???? Why not just admit you are afraid of dogs because you asked me a question and I answered you. You cant see my dog (friendly and sweet) and he poses no threat to you and I’ve never seen you before so I don’t understand this deathly fear of my particular dog and my particular apartment as there is at least 5 dogs on my building floor alone, and at least 100+ in our larger community. Even though my dog was secure, he tells me I need to step outside to get my mail. ?????? Is this real life????? I’ve never seen such unprofessionalism from a delivery person. It is unacceptable. Humble yourself, explain your fear and ask for an accommodation. It is your job and your duty to deliver mail to us and I’m not going to purchase something to tie up my dog when you show up to deliver mail and I’m certainly not going to go get a coat and pants to step outside in the cold for you to hand me mail. RIDICULOUS! So because I didn’t step outside and close the door behind me, he did not deliver my mail. Tried to call the phone number printed on the we missed you notice to retrieve our mail and it is disconnected. Wow! Had to go out of town on business and upon returning checked he mailbox and sees two different we missed you notices dated for the same date, yet one is in black gel ink and the other with blue ink. Coincidence? I think not. Those notices were not placed in my mailbox the same day, they were made to appear as though they were and he didn’t even have the good sense to use the same ink color. He wrote on both of them, “refused to secure dogs”. We only have one dog and we did not refuse to secure him, we refused to tie him up to please a mailman who did not ask but only demanded. My guess is we’ll never receive an important piece of mail to our home again, we’ll have to drive to the RTP post office with 1 Star, stand in line and wait. Very unprofessional, rude and lazy. Terribly...