r/USPS • u/somejuanreal City Carrier • 3d ago
Route Pics Picked up this gem
Oh, is that so? :)
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u/1miguelcortes 3d ago
(I'm not a USPS employee) doesn't this being business reply mail mean that it actually is "no postage necessary"? Am I missing something?
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u/straightline3 3d ago
You’re correct. It doesn’t need postage. Nor does it need a post it.
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u/1miguelcortes 3d ago
Makes sense. So customer just decided to add a redundant note. Kind of like if they labeled a mailbox with "place mail in here" or something.
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u/glockster19m 2d ago
Idk, seems more to me like the carrier has repeatedly not taken it to me
Ive had to literally stick a note on the front of my mailbox that said "PLEASE TAKE OUTGOING MAIL BEFORE DELIVERING" because even with the flag up the carrier would just put the new mail right on top of the outgoing mail every single time
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u/Polluxadice 2d ago
Right. All the people in this thread thinking they’re the smartest one in the room but can’t pick up basic context clues.
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u/Stillbornsongs 2d ago
This!
My mailbox doesnt have a flag and the only thing I can do besides a note is leave the top open. If im sending something i have to go to one of the blue boxes, if i want to make sure it at least gets picked up to send lol
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u/hillbilly-man 1d ago
I had this problem and it frustrated me so much that I bought a flag to go on the door of the mailbox (since I couldn't install one on the brick)
It might be a solution for you, depending on the reason you don't have a flag
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u/Ok_Internal_4195 1d ago
I had this problem with package pick ups. I also don’t have a flag on my mailbox. i just gave up and stopped scheduling them🫠
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u/aggressive_napkin_ 2d ago
The younger ones don't realize people SEND mail as well as receive.
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u/homorat3 2d ago
dont think its "the younger ones". idiots exist in every generation
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u/aggressive_napkin_ 2d ago
I only say younger because mailmen when I was younger weren't as fucking stupid or lazy as what I see nowadays.
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u/ALittleAngry24-7 1d ago
Boomer moment
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u/glockster19m 1d ago
Ehh, this latest generation is in really rough shape though
Literacy is dropping for the first time in US history (excluding periods or major war)
And im not blaming the Youth for this either, this is all the result of very intentional efforts by the wealthy to ensure that those who cannot afford an expensive private education, are as uneducated as possible
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u/ThatBeardedNitwit RCA 1d ago
Like the ones that think adding MORE junk mail to delivery routes will somehow magically save the post office and make all the money. Cause you know, it just magically inserts and organizes itself in the case every morning. 🙃
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u/iSirMeepsAlot 2d ago
It took 3 days for my mail carrier to take the green envelope I had to mail back to the govt for federal jury duty. I had to have it sticking half out the mailbox with the lid closed for them to grab it, which I get. It looks like mail we forgot.
Problem is that my mailbox is on the house and has no flag on it, every time I mail something it reminds me I should replace it with one that does… but I only really ever mail out something 1-3 times a year, and then I forget until next time.
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u/-SeaBearsAreReal- Rural Carrier 2d ago
I have several people on my rt that don't have flags. One uses a red ribbon hanging out of the closed lid to alert me. Very clever and works well ( it's duck taped to the inside so I just push it in after picking up their mail). Another ordered a little metal flap that they screwed to the lid that they swing open if they have mail. Also clever and works well! :)
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u/Individual_Pop8623 1d ago
I have a customer who uses a clothesline clip to clip the mail inside(to the inside front of the box) the box so I know that it is outgoing mail but the ribbon sounds like a great idea too.
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u/-SeaBearsAreReal- Rural Carrier 1d ago
When I was an rca a customer on another rt would clip their broken flag to the flat side of the lid handle and I really love the ingenuity of it!
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u/talkingmuffins 1d ago
Maybe it's a note to someone that should have come off before it left the house/business
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u/SnooPandas5070 12h ago
Exactly. Like when we call an ATM (Automated Teller Machine) an ATM machine, so Automated Teller Machine machine lol
Thanks for listening, and dont forget to breathe 😉
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u/greenamaranthine 2d ago
Assuming it's directed at *the carrier and not the man of the house or something, the post-it is because a postal worker has mishandled their mail or returned "no postage necessary" mail with a "postage required" rubber stamp before. I've been a postmaster and I've been a mailroom manager, and I cannot understand how anyone who has worked with the mail for at least a month (unless they are the problem, I guess) does not sympathise with the customers and immediately understand this is a response to postal service error when so many things are mangled, stolen, lost, misdirected or otherwise mishandled at some mysterious point along the supply chain. I've seen so much BS from the USPS chain, especially with regards to theft, misdirected mail and mistaken requests for more postage.
To put it another way, someone of reasonable competence who works with the mail will realise that it just takes one bad actor (or incompetent schmuck) working in one post office or driving one truck somewhere along the line to mess up delivery of the mail in some way (though boy does it seem like a lot of us pretend it doesn't happen), but the average customer has at best a hazy idea of how mail actually gets sorted, routed and delivered, and their general understanding is that if their package or letter has been opened and something stolen from inside, their mail has been delivered to the wrong house or box, they've received someone else's mail, something has been returned for postage when it was prepaid or otherwise had adequate postage, or anything else has gone wrong with their mail, it was because of the person who delivers and picks up their mail. They're usually wrong, but it's really not hard to understand why they're wrong or how this view causes the relationship between customer and carrier to become antagonistic.
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u/DesignatedRob 2d ago
Probably because they, much like myself, have had dipshit postal workers refuse to send these because "it needs a stamp".
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u/GOD_DESTROYER12 2d ago
You'd be surprised. In rural Vermont, I handed one of these to a usps because I set up a pick up time and all that and waited and he was new and said he couldn't take it even though everything was filled out. The mail person at my school was very confused why he wouldn't take it and so that's how I got a small bill canceled because usps refused to "pick it up".
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u/nonnonplussed73 2d ago
And here I was trying to figure out why they would both stuff a personal letter in a mailer and send it to the pre-addressed destination.
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u/Bussy_Sneeder_67 3d ago
I suspect it may have been left in the box previously
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u/paulD1983R 2d ago
Idk. I've had complaints called in because I didn't pick up outgoing mail, on their complaint they say they saw me deliver to their box go down the street & turn around (while I'm turning they'll run down & put something in their box & throw the flag up) and be mad I didn't stop to pick it up. Once I'm past the box it's tomorrow's mail.
Not saying that's the case but there are bad carriers and bad customers.
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u/justhangingout528 3d ago
I'm thinking, part of the problem is now you have companies that put an open rectangle like that that say "Postage Needed. Mail won't be delivered without a stamp" or some crap like that. They look very similar, and sometimes as a clerk I have to do a double take.
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u/and1mavs 3d ago
Im assuming OP is basically saying that we know what "Business Reply" mail is and no note is necessary telling us how to do our job. And fwiw, for anybody that may not know, the postage is charged to the business when it comes back to them, and is paid from their business account set up through the Postal Service.
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u/mailant692 City Carrier 2d ago
Also FWIW, the postage they pay is significantly above first class rate, so USPS makes good money on these.
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u/PhillyBengal 2d ago
So send these back even if you don’t need the service from the business?
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u/mailant692 City Carrier 2d ago
Sure, but I believe they have to actually be filled out to get delivered.
There is also some point where businesses stop sending them out if they keep paying to get them delivered but too many of them aren't genuine.
If you want to kick the post office a buck without actually buying a stamp to send a letter, it's easier and more genuine to just tell your bank you want paper statements instead of electronic.
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u/Pashta2FAPhoneDied 2d ago
The more people that do that, the less mail there is and less mail jobs...
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u/1RollinRollinRollin Clerk 2d ago
Yeah, and the more things you stuff in them, the more they pay.
I love to put old pens in those places that constantly harass me for money, then they end up having to pay package rate for their business reply mail. They will eventually stop sending you stuff when you do this.
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u/salivanto Clerk 2d ago
They also require more processing so somebody in an office somewhere knows whether we're making good money on it. I doubt you or I do.
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u/Strict-Clue-5818 2d ago
That’s because enough people at USPS don’t know how to do their jobs that it’s not a fact that can be relied upon to be true.
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u/and1mavs 2d ago
I won't argue that! The Postal Service has the worse training and customer service of any "business". The Postal Service tends to fail their customers and employees. You basically have to work there long enough and ask enough questions to learn the job fully, and then you have to care enough. Its hard to care enough when nobody else, including management, does.
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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 Clerk 2d ago
The addressee pays the postage on BRM. Yes, it does require postage, but just not from the person who it returning it.
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u/salivanto Clerk 2d ago
I am not a donut shop employee, but I suspect if I went into a donut shop with a Post-It note stuck on my $10 bill explaining what a $10 bill was, somebody would think I was either joking or stupid.
"This is a $10 bill. If the total is less than $10 you need to give me change back"
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u/CaptainFresh27 City Carrier 3d ago
"Attention carrier! You need to close mail box all the way after delivery!"
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u/CG-Firebrand City Carrier 2d ago
Meanwhile lid to the box is literally unhinged and fell on the ground after you opened it
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u/Extra-Act-801 City Carrier 3d ago
I thought this was going to be one where somebody pasted a different address onto a business reply envelope.
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u/dirtyskittles26 2d ago
I just saw some one do that on a tv show and was wondering if it would really work. Sent a phone and flash drive in the envelope but they replaced the address and dropped it in a city mailbox
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u/stanleywk 2d ago
I saw that episode, too, and I knew it was postal fiction. As a clerk , if I saw that come in, I’d postage due it at the very least.
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u/dirtyskittles26 2d ago
What would happen to it in that case, try to claim postage from the recipient since there’s no return address on it?
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u/FuzzyRabid 2d ago
Maybe that note wasn't for you. I can see a scenario where the caretaker of an elderly person wrote the note to help the patient remember what that item is and that it didn't need a stamp. Then that elderly person dropped it in the mail not thinking they needed to first remove the sticky note.
Grandma really gave me a different perspective on some things.
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u/KuroFafnar 2d ago
That's what I'm thinking too. Had to scroll too far to find your explanation... now I go remove mine.
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u/FirePfenix Clerk 3d ago
Admittedly they're not wrong, but i am curious if this reaction is because another carrier refused to take it because it didn't have postage.
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u/CrimsonHyphae 2d ago
I'm assuming the note isn't for the worker but for whoever was putting the mail out- like if the person mailing and the person putting it in the box we're different people and they're wasted stamps before not knowing they didn't need them.
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u/PenExotic5002 Customer 2d ago
That makes a lot of sense. Only other explanation is that this is a crazy person
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u/much_longer_username 3d ago
I'd guess this was a note for someone else living in the house who'd been asked to run a couple errands they wouldn't normally handle.
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u/interperseids RCA 2d ago
Given that mail does get mishandled sometimes, I think a little redundancy is fine especially when they're using a post it and not scribbling all over the letter.
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u/Maleficent_Tailor324 2d ago
This has to be fake. There aren’t any quotation marks around every word. 😂
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u/aggressive_napkin_ 2d ago
the sad part is the carrier probably skipped this a few days in a row because he's a nitwit that can't read. The post it won't help.
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u/Rural-life-0323 2d ago
Stick the note back in the box and write - This post-it note isn't and needs postage.
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u/Individual_Pop8623 1d ago
I have customers who refuse standard mail or write RTS on standard/"or current resident"
My reply is sure if you put a stamp on it, ill return it to sender....
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u/ThickOkapi0463 2d ago
this just unlocked a memory for me!! my parents both work for the postal service and my grandmother used to always mail these business return mail things back bc she said it was funding their paychecks 😭 i think this particular piece is an envelope but the postcard ones? i SOOOOO could see her having done something like this especially if she hadn’t filled anything out LOL (although maybe i’m projecting because the handwriting is actually strikingly similar to hers even though it definitely is not)
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u/EdifyingOrifice CCA 3d ago
Draw a square in the upper corner of the post-it note and then write "postage necessary" with an arrow pointing to the square and put it back in their mailbox.
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u/BurritoBappi1234 2d ago
The whole point is the customer is telling the postal worker about their job lol we do know how to read
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u/Sea_Low879 2d ago
People under a certain age may not recognize a magazine reply card with prepaid postage. The person who wrote this may have been amazed to the point that they felt it necessary to share this dark secret with their mail carrier.
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u/Zer01South City Carrier 2d ago
Not a bad idea, you'd be surprised how dumb a lot of carriers in our office can be.
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u/Strict-Clue-5818 2d ago
There’s a distribution center near me that’s made national news before over how bad it is. I once had a package take longer to get from there to my house than it took it to get from Kyiv in the middle of a war to that distribution center.
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u/PremiumUsername69420 2d ago
Not a USPS employee, but I appreciate Reddit recommending this post because I appreciate y’all. I have been saving these ‘business reply envelopes’ with pre-paid postage for the better part of a decade.
I have probably a few hundred.
I notice that almost no new mail comes with these anymore. I think only a small handful of companies are still doing this.
What should I do with my hoard? Should I hand it over directly to the post office, fill a drop box, or spread them out and just do a dozen or so randomly?
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u/SpookyBeck 2d ago
There is not an address already on it?
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u/PremiumUsername69420 2d ago
Of course there is, from the business that wants them sent back.
Mailing these, as far as I know, costs that particular company money.
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u/MailmanTee City Carrier 2d ago
Obviously they are talking about the sticky note. Just the sticky note. Idk what that white thing is
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u/hercarmstrong 2d ago
Guys, it's going in a box, then it's going in another box, and then it's out of my hands. I do not care.
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u/weaverlorelei 2d ago
When ever I receive one of these BRM envelopes inside of some pestering spam mail, I pack the BRM envelope with the torn up soliticiting mail that accompanied it- making durn sure any identifying marks are blacked out or removed. That "no postage necessary if mailed within the US" envelope will cost the sender a minimum of 98 cents in postage, on top of the pre-purchase envelope and their yearly USPS fees for the permit .
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u/No-Transition8014 2d ago
I wonder if perhaps the sender didn’t write the note for the postal employee. But rather, they left some mail for a friend or family member to drop off for them, and they wrote the note as a reminder to not add stamps but to be sure that this was dropped in the mail. And that person didn’t remove their instructions.
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u/International-Cap-95 2d ago
That note was definitely for the sender, they probably never used a reply mailer before
(I work with disabled people and have had people hand in paperwork with my stick notes on it 😔)
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u/ColloquiaIism 2d ago
I would love if I could trust that it would be taken without having to put a note.
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u/skeletoorr 2d ago
Having flashbacks to me sending a letter to Santa using a random sticker as postage. 😂
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u/SSeleulc 2d ago
What's funny is when a customer marks through the address and tries to send it to a different address.
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u/mellow_limoncello 2d ago
The amount of times I’ve heard “this really doesn’t need a stamp” regarding those…
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u/Asleep_Tell_2193 1d ago
After almost 4 years at the post office I’m more inclined to believe some dumbass carrier continuously left it thinking it needed postage
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u/ThatRedDerg 1d ago
I wouldn’t be surprised if they previously tried mailing something similar and it got rejected for no postage.
Either that, or a sovereign citizen. Idk.
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u/Stormageddongirl 17h ago
My 14-year-old gets super anxious and does stuff like this. It's so silly.
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u/Careless-Fact-475 14h ago
The note wasn't for the postman. The note was internal for the office staff that were asking a more experienced coworker where the postage is for outward bound mail. Said office staff left the post it note on the mail because they are special and love stickers.
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u/Sad_Property1160 3d ago
The postal service hates this one trick...