Finally got the Summons today - it took 8 days to get to Phoenix and back. According to Mary at the Court they process Summons on the same day received. Well, mine were stamped the 8th and postmarked the 9th. Seems like it takes 3 - 4 days to and from Phoenix.
My "local" post-office is a little contract station and it's about an hour round trip. The earliest you can pick up the mail is 3 pm, and you better not show up much later, because they close at 4 pm. On Mondays and after holidays, the afternoon hours are 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm.
Of course you could go in the morning, but then you only get the PREVIOUS day's mail. Apparently the mail arrives around noon, and they put it in the boxes after they close at 1 pm.
The only way to get a response to mail out on the same day would be to have your response and envelope ready, pick up the mail at 3 PM, and then immediately drive to Kingman. They're open till 5:30 there, it's about 90 miles and doable, as long as there aren't any storms and flash flood road closures. Not knowing that the Summons would actually get here, and having several mailings, I wasn't ready for that.
Of course they're not open on Saturday locally. So I thought I'd call the Kingman post-office. Looked them up on the net and got the (800) 275-8777. I must have listened to 15 VM options, somehow got to a person finally.
I asked why I can't get a direct # to my closest post-office, was told that's how they do things and I requested that my complaint about that be forwarded to management. She said she'd transfer me to a supervisor. And promptly hung up on me.
Called back and found that pushing 0 instead of listening to the VM crap, and on the next menu pushing 0 again, got me to a person, eventually.
This time I did get transferred to supervisor John, but not until after I explained my complaints.
I found out that they close at noon on Saturdays in Kingman, and he apologized for the hangup. He requested the person's name, but I didn't have it.
I asked about the signature confirmations I had paid for to mail to Fair Isaac, and online it showed only that the packages left the San Rafael facility on 7/28. He looked it up, told me he'd fax a confirmation, for all 4 mailings. Something didn't look right to him, he didn't know what I'd actually get, it's all automated.
Then I asked why my inquiry about these mailings at their web site was ignored. I had provided all 4 confirmation #s, at least a week ago, received no reply. He gave me another number to complain about web site problems: 800-344-7779.
Then I asked about the mail delivery here, and why I've been told by the Kingman post-office that I'd have to purchase a secure mailbox to put up by the road a few miles from my place for $1,600, it has numerous compartments that I can "rent out." He didn't think that was right and that I could find a much better deal on the net. And he finally gave me the number for the Kingman post-office: 928-753-2480. I need to talk to them and make sure that the delivery guy has a key.
I wasn't up for that call, I'm actually still waiting for a call back from about a year or two ago. You can't just put up a mailbox anywhere you like, it has to be where the driver can pull over safely and of course they want to limit the number of stops.
One time I requested they put a mailbox there for outgoing mailings, it really is ridiculous to have waste an hour just to mail a letter. Since there is a payphone and a little store, it seemed like a good idea to me. But, the post-office requires that at least 50 letters are in a mailbox every day, and they probably wouldn't get that. So instead of the delivery guy picking up outgoing mail (he stops there anyway) we have at least 20 people driving about 25 miles to get their bills out.
Everybody here scrambles to get their bills paid - you really have only a few days from the time you get the bill to the due date. You know how those creditors charge $35 late fees ...
Anyway, I'm not sure it's worth the hassle to buy a secure box. You have to wait till some dies or moves to get their space too. And they told me that they used to put those secure boxes up around Kingman and they got shot open a lot.
I've been accused of lying when I told people that they can't mail to my physical address because the post-office doesn't deliver. When I moved here, they even refused to give me a PO Box at the local contract station. I figured I had the RIGHT to at least get a PO Box. But that's not so.
I've read that the post-office wants to eliminate Saturday deliveries everywhere and obviously they're going the way of any business - outsourcing and getting rid of postal service employees. The local contract station employees frequently make a point of letting us know that they are NOT getting postal pay and benefits.
This is all so pathetic, I have people tell me how terrible things are in Mexico. Can it possibly be worse than this? I just can't see how.
Posted by Christine at September 12, 2003 05:59 PM