Fortunately, it was not for me.
The CERTIFIED communication from the IRS was initially MIS-directed to my daughter’s home.
Never mind that the intended person's address and my daughter's address are not adjacent – even the “+4” ZIP extension is many digits different.
How did I get the letter?
MY DAUGHTER MOVED and during a month-long transition, she had her mail forwarded to my address.
Over the years and across many states I have had mostly good letter carriers; the type you remember in December.
Here, in south Florida, save for one letter carrier who has since been reassigned to another route, many of our letter carriers leave a lot to be desired.
I signed up for “Informed Delivery” so I know what should be in my mailbox. Too often the expected mail arrives the next day – or it ends up in a neighbor’s mailbox.
Apparently letter carriers can neither READ Latin letters – the letter from the IRS had a printed, not hand-written, address -- nor know how to read the digits in an address and match them with the digits on a mail box.
Mind, these people allegedly took, and somehow passed, a Civil Service exam.
Is it any wonder that John and Joan Q prefer email to snail mail?
Not only is email faster and less expensive (figure in the cost of hardware, software, and an ISP), but if an email is incorrectly addressed, it “bounces” and a message immediately appears telling the sender than the mail failed to go through – and why.
With some email applications, such as Microsoft Outlook, the sender has the option of requesting notification when the email is received and when it is read.
The USPS offers a similar, for a fee, service. Certified mail is used in conjunction with a Return Receipt. (I wonder if the IRS got a return receipt and from whom.)
It seems more and more people who have important mail send it via a private company such as FedEx or United Parcel Service (UPS or “Brown”).
Does private mail cost more? Probably.
Does private mail arrive sooner? Probably.
Is private mail delivered more accurately, Hopefully.
The Post Office offers tracking of certified mail, but only to the extant of telling the sender if the letter was delivered or not. (Does the IRS know its mail was redirected? Did the USPS tell the IRS that the letter was delivered – it was, but to the wrong address.)
A letter carrier’s life is not a bed of roses.
In my neighborhood, mail is delivered in a small truck. It is not air conditioned – it’s amazing that no one can live without air conditioning in house, vehicle, business, wherever – and the letter carrier is liable to get wet during one of the regular deluges. (Pity the few carriers that still walk some of their route.)
What must aggravate the drivers – it certainly aggravates me – is when my neighbors park their trash cans in front of the mail box. Common sense – apparently not so common after all – would tell people to make sure the letter carrier’s truck has access to the mail box. Some carriers use the truck to push the cans away from the mailbox. Bravo!
The other day a neighbor hired a guy to install cable tv. The vendor parked right in front of the neighbor’s – and my – mailboxes; I didn’t get mail that day thanks to the neighbor and the vendor.
I suppose that reading and digit identification is “beyond the scope” of the Civil Service exam for letter carriers; it certainly seems to be for most of the ones delivering the mail in my neighborhood.
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
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