It would really surprise me if the USPS was dumping mail. I have heard of cases of individual carriers who went a little nuts and either stored it in their basement or threw it away, but they were caught by the Postal Inspectors Service and prosecuted. It's a big time federal felony to mess with the mail, either for USPS employees or for citizens.

The company I work for mails several million dollars worth of catalogs and promotional mail each year. I get a copy of each "bulk" mailing at home so that I can track what's been mailed, how long it took to arrive, and what shape it was in when it got here. I have yet to not receive a mailpiece, and this isn't even First Class Mail.

We live in Hidden Valley and our mail is delivered by carriers contracted to the USPS, not by employees. Most of the time my mail is in our box on the main road about 1/4 mile from our house. When there's a package or something that has to be signed for, the carrier comes to our house and either honks his horn or rings the bell.

I have had both UPS and FedEx delivered to the wrong address or lost altogether. I have never missed a piece of mail, and although we are 17 miles south of town, our mail is processed in the Maricopa post office.

I think some of the problems in town are 1) the cluster mailboxes where stuff can be easily mixed up or delivered to vacant homes and 2) new streets that aren't completely in the databases yet.

Desert Dweller,

Just a little correction your mail in hidden valley is delivered by a regular postal

employee, not a contract carrier. The contract carriers deliver in town. The Maricopa Post Office has 19 regular carriers and 5 contract carriers. All new routes for the last 2 years are going to contract carriers the post office is trying to save money by letting contractors bid on a route.  Which basically means the lowest bid wins no healthcare no paid vacation. So if a contractor wants a day off they can hire anyone from the street to carrier their route no background checks or anyting.  So to all the new communities coming in good luck you will have contract carriers.

I found my mail was not reaching me becouse of late notices from utility companys and hurt brides calling to  ask why I did not attent her wedding. or shower, my  medical insurance was cancelled because I had not  received a letter to comfirn residency, because my son's income tax was returned to the U.S. Treasury, his magazine subs were returned to the company stamped Phornographic  Material when it was a subscriptipn to Western  Eastern Treasure Hunters. Wet is a porn mag. not W.E.T. I did not think 42 friends  and relatives had  died or crossed me off their Christmas card list. And the best yet did I use the gift cards yet?????  Where are my catalogues??  letters came back marked wrong box weeks later..      We even had mail returned to our box that we had mailed at the P.O. no post mark and the right postage.I have made over 28 complaints ti the P.O.  that just put me on the harass list. Especially when reporting an intoxicated  deliverer. Maybe some of you who drive to Ahwatukee daily could get a P.O. box, but I don't have any reason to leave Maricopa and find the cost for gas and the wear on my car prohibitive.

AS a former USPS employee, I have to say...You give any "average" ....oh heck any one on any job a few days on the job and they will mess up! You take an employee of the USPS, regular, PTF, Casual etc and give them 8 hours to sort, case, remove, scan, bundle, load, deliver,pick-up, unload, sort, retrieve signatures, verify, scan, unload, Etc., mail for Hundreds or thousands of people, with hundreds or thousands of names, and you are bound to get a mistake or two!!! Not to mention again that this is within 8 hours!!!No they do not sort all mail DPS mail comes presorted in delivery sequence and must be added into the cased mail (done by your carrier), then you add, parcels, BBM (bulk Business mailings) and Coupons you've got a mess. If you all expect them to be perfect, then you need to hold yourself to the same unequivical perfection. Which as part of the HUMAN race I understand is immpossible. I think they are brilliant to be able to pull off the task that they have chosen as a career and do it in a manner they do! If you think it's easy take a day and go do it.......

Boo Hoo

I don't recall anyone forcing them to work there.  If they are too incompentent for government work, where else can they work?  Really.