IÛªve been subpoenaed to appear in the MayorÛªs Court tomorrow at 3 pm. Yesterday, my neighbor from across the street Û÷servedÛª me the letter. It was sent by the local PD by certified mail to my address but somehow it ended up in their mailbox by USPS neglect. It just states a case and item #. I think I know what this is about. I am a witness to a late night local crime. I guess my vent is.. What does certified mail actually mean nowadays? If I had not received this letter, would I have been in violation of the court somehow.
Certified mail means the recipient signed for it. Can't believe a USPS carrier delivered certified mail without a signature.
Guess your neighbor should show up tomorrow....
BTW - I attempted to send a certified letter to the IRS once-upon-a-time....ha, no can do.
The USPS is very lax on certified mailings. Pretty much anyone standing around looking as if they might reside at the point of delivery will be asked to sign for it. It was the wrong point of delivery, but the carrier wasn't intelligent enough to figure that out. Maybe he was just lazy. He saw no one was at home where it was supposed to go, so in order to not need to try to deliver it again the next day, he told the neighbor it was for him, got him to sign and then skedaddled as quickly as possible.
Yes. They could send an officer of the law to find and haul you into court whether or not you actually received the subpoena.
USPS has sucked here since Katrina. They were reliable once but that is history. We have revolving he or she post carriers during the week at no designated time. UPS service has deteriorated slowly too. FedEx is the only trustworthy outfit now except for their new service that brings in the USPS for final delivery.
I looked at the envelope again and there is a "certified sticker"on the face with the postage. It cost them $6.46 to Mail. The PD dept is 2 1/2 blocks away.
The back green label has no signature and my bad...2 boxes are checked Registered Mail and Return Receipt.
But it makes you wonder just how ineffective the USPS is delivering mail when they goof up a registered letter.
I had an uncle that retired from the US Postal Service. I believe once upon a time the organization was an intricate part of what made our country so great during the 20th. century.
I don't guess there is any one person that could tell the story of what happened, but something happened..for sure.
Here's how I look at it: The USPS was once a monopoly, and they blew it. They had the entire American public (and Congress) convinced there was no way to provide their services without subsidization. So we dumped billions into the Postal Service and the service declined.
Meanwhile there are at least two private companies that provide much better service, and cost more generally. The profits UPS makes could go a long way toward other things if they were a government entity.
So the need is there, and the public is definitely willing to pay...so what happened?
The only thing my US Mail carrier brings is handful of unsolicited junk mail every day..and the light bill.
I know a bunch of bail bondsmen in Nawlins. 😉
Recently mailed a check in a standard envelope to a young fellow who mows the local cemetery. About a week later I get a call. USPS managed to mangle that simple item to the point that about one-third of the check and envelope (right end) were completely missing. Even our neighborhood bank would not accept the partial check because the number amount was torn off along with half of my signature. The written-out number was fully readable. Nevertheless, the refused to accept it. So, I made out a second check, had him mail back the remnant check and envelope, and mailed him the new check. Apparently all went well the second time around.
This type of thing did not happen when local humans handled, sorted and delivered locally. No, not anymore. It must first travel nearly 200 miles and then return roughly the same distance to go the eight miles from my mail box to his. It is not even allowed to be cancelled by my post office workers. Some trillion dollar piece of Government-purchased mechanism must decipher my handwriting before being carried by $100 per hour workers in bags to the semi-trailer to join a million other pieces of mail returning to one-eighth of the entire state.
Holy Cow, post: 379140, member: 50 wrote: Recently mailed a check in a standard envelope to a young fellow who mows the local cemetery. About a week later I get a call. USPS managed to mangle that simple item to the point that about one-third of the check and envelope (right end) were completely missing. Even our neighborhood bank would not accept the partial check because the number amount was torn off along with half of my signature. The written-out number was fully readable. Nevertheless, the refused to accept it. So, I made out a second check, had him mail back the remnant check and envelope, and mailed him the new check. Apparently all went well the second time around.
This type of thing did not happen when local humans handled, sorted and delivered locally. No, not anymore. It must first travel nearly 200 miles and then return roughly the same distance to go the eight miles from my mail box to his. It is not even allowed to be cancelled by my post office workers. Some trillion dollar piece of Government-purchased mechanism must decipher my handwriting before being carried by $100 per hour workers in bags to the semi-trailer to join a million other pieces of mail returning to one-eighth of the entire state.
That's what happened here after Katrina. To get the New Orleans office and workers up andrunning again, the govt spent a lot of money to get it operating. So our local Mail is trucked to New Orleans every night and then trucked back in the morning. Some post offices completely disappeared and were reestablished at different locations. Nothing ever recovered correctly.
I do like the USPS priority mail service.
It seems to work and the flat rate shipping is convenient plus printing the postage at home. But it looks like they are starting to raise the rates too much too quickly.
I had a PO Box for my mother's estate account. Rent was due and the deadline was also a break point for a price increase. I got to PO after the counter closed so I dropped it in the mail slot, addressed to Postmaster and with a stamp. This was on a Friday. On Saturday they put the mail into a bag and sent it to the regional office where it was postmarked prior to the due date. On Monday it returned to the local post office after the due date and was not accepted. I had to instead pay the higher price.
This PO has a full time postmaster who has a lot of nothing to do now. The regional office did not have enough work so hey required all post offices in the region to forward 100% of mail to the regional office and scrapped the local delivery boxes.
All they did was increase fuel costs and lower their service level, but the regional office now looks busier. It also allows them o say the local offices are not busy enough and should be shuttered.
Paul in PA
I buy & sell items on eBay, Craigslist, Facebook, etc., so I ship & receive almost daily.
At my office, if the USPS mail lady is having a "bad" day, and she has packages to deliver, she will leave a notice in the box that no one was available to accept. Then I must drive to the PO to pick up (10 miles each way).
I filed a complaint at the PO against her for doing this on a regular basis, when there was 3-5 of us in the office, and we would gladly help unload. Her supervisor told me, and I quote..."Give her a break, she has a hurt foot"
And don't get me started on UPS, I have had 6 thefts in the past year, including a tablet and a $2,000 sign. All claims denied.....
FedEx is the only reliable carrier in my area.....
Robert Hill, post: 379128, member: 378 wrote: . What does certified mail actually mean nowadays?
If I remember correctly from my days in a mailroom, Certified denotes that a record of it actually being mailed is created, and the sender can prove they sent it. We had a book and certified the letters sent out (with a green and white label), then the book went to the PO when full. Each entry was initialled or signed.
Registered mail means that you get a signature of the recipient.
FWIW, all of my quarterly tax estimate forms get sent in to the IRS via "Certified Mail-Return Receipt Requested"
So far, the receipt form has always come back.
SC
In violation of the law, not really. Your signature means you receive an envelope. If it were me all I found in the envelope was several blank pieces of paper. Unless there is a sheriff's return of service indicating you were served a subpoena to appear at a certain place at a certain time the police department wasted their money.
I was served by a delivery company once. My attorney waited until thirty minutes before the case was to begin and had a judge quash the subpoena for improper service.
Also be sure that you haven't been subpoenaed by some sum bag attorney who thinks he is getting an expert witness on the cheap. If that is the case make it clear to the judge you have no facts material to the case and asked to be dismissed.
All non delivered certified mail will be attempted delivery so many times and then they will leave a notice in your mailbox to collect it at the Post Office.
Subpoenas must be a handoff delivery and can not be left for you to find, a signature is not required.
Every time I have received one I contact the person who ordered me served and ask why they require my presence.
It was in hope that I could aid their cause and in fact I actually did not know anything about the related cause other than what I had been told.
The only time I could have been witness was when it related to me being an expert witness that I had never received any compensation. I then notified the office of the court and said that without being compensated for my services, I would soon be in their court for a judgement to be paid.
Then the client showed at my door with payment and after reading his the complainant's cause, it related to trespass and destruction that I was never witness to.
I was called to appear before the Grand Jury once when I was a crew chief when the RPLS refused because he had not been on site. They got rather riled and put out when I did not answer their questions.
I simply told them that I measured and marked the easement and nobody except the survey crew was on site and that was all I know.
The only time I did appear in court was on an assault charge against the neighbor who struck my client in the head with a tpost.
I knew everyone on both sides and was met with great scorn when I produced a phone video recording of the whole incident as it progressed and played out with blood and all. The neighbor paid for medical, damages, fines, both attorney fees and spent some time in the pokey. Several of the other witnesses were fined for contempt and lying in court. That was 20rys ago and they still don't talk to me.
Court cases on land decisions are rather simple in comparison to being witness to a crime.
I would rather not be in court any more.
Just a follow up.
I was a witness to a misdemeanor charge in City Court. I talked to the city attorney about the USPS screw up and he admitted that there have been problems and were looking at other options (not). Turns out that he didn't know why I was subpoenaed but he was a bright guy and figured it out quick enough.
I could continue with the story but it probably shifts this to a poltical discussion. The whole city court system
Is a sideshow. It's the implementing of a debtor's prison system. There is a suit happening presently in an adjoining parish that addresses the problem. NPR recently did a report also. I got to witness it and walked away with the same impression.
Note to self: adhere to all local traffic laws no matter how inane. Don't disturb the peace and watch out for open containers.
On the subject of USPS
Today I got my electronic return receipt for some certified mail I sent out.
Here is how the mail carriers in two different states, and three different cities documented where they delivered the package to. They must have all gone to the same training.
Robert Hill, post: 379128, member: 378 wrote: IÛªve been subpoenaed to appear in the MayorÛªs Court tomorrow at 3 pm. Yesterday, my neighbor from across the street Û÷servedÛª me the letter. It was sent by the local PD by certified mail to my address but somehow it ended up in their mailbox by USPS neglect. It just states a case and item #. I think I know what this is about. I am a witness to a late night local crime. I guess my vent is.. What does certified mail actually mean nowadays? If I had not received this letter, would I have been in violation of the court somehow.
Certifed means absolutely nothing other than more money was paid. I got into a dispute with the USPS in November of 2014 regarding their incompetence in handling a certified delivery. I talked to the local postmaster about it and was told to file a complaint online. I did so and am still waiting for a response. I considered visiting the local postmaster but decided I might do something I would regret. I don't believe that they give a rat's ***
I have been sending out a fair amount of certified mail/return receipt letters and have have noticed that the USPS will deliver this kind of mail without requiring a signature, or will not even bother mailing back the return receipt.
At least with electronic return receipt I know it was at least delivered somewhere - even if they can't take the time to write the street names, it's better than nothing.
