i used to have so much mercy.

[fox]

But that was before it turned out I was WRONG TO EXPECT THE US POSTAL SERVICE TO BE ABLE TO DELIVER TO A STREET ADDRESS, wtff. I get that FedEx and UPS can't deliver to PO boxes, but it had quite honestly never occurred to me that the converse might also be true.

clerk: Well, but just written like that, they wouldn't know what box to put it in.
me: ... What?
her: I mean, yes, that's an address, but - like, the address here is 8616 Second Avenue, but I've got two hundred boxes here, so I don't know -
me: Okay, I see what you're saying, but this isn't the address of a post office. It's just, you know. An address.
her: Is it an apartment building?
me: No. It's a house, which is the only thing at that address, seriously.
her: Huh. Then I don't know either.
me: Gah.

THAT'S RIGHT, THE POSTAL CLERK HERSELF WAS STUMPED. Which didn't save me paying the postage for trying it again, but was at least reassuring in its bizarre way. juice817, I await your explanation. :-)

Comments

[kass]

It's a mystery, for sure. The PO in our town doesn't deliver to any houses on our street, or indeed, in our neighborhood. When we bought the house, they told us to get a PO box at the [town] post office.

To which our response was, we already have a PO box 20 minutes north of here (we've been living rural for a long while; our last address didn't get mail either) and if we're going to have to schlep to a post office to get our damn mail, we might as well stick with the PO box where all of our magazine subscriptions and so forth are already going. Also, that PO is near the coffee shop we both like, and near the gym that Yao uses, and is convenient.

Apparently this left our local PO in a snit, because even though they know PERFECTLY WELL that we live at [address] in THEIR TOWN, when things come in addressed to us at this house, they blithely send them back instead of calling us to alert us. I would happily drive down there to fetch packages, but this seems to be not how they roll.

[fox]

I think the flaily teeth-gnashing tiny-fists-of-rage dance I did might have amused you, had you seen it. :-)

[cereta]

O.o

How,exactly, do they justify that?

[kass]

They don't. (Le sigh.)

Fortunately the folks at the PO which we do use are almost friendly enough to make up for their profoundly unhelpful neighbors to the south...