USPS were postal regulations violated? ripoff Malibu California

In April 2008, I paid at the counter to open a PO Box for May-October 2008.
In October '08, I paid at the counter to renew for November '08 - April '09.
In April '09, I paid at the counter to renew for May-October '09.
In October '09, I paid at usps.com to renew for November '09 - October 2010.
In October 2010, I paid at usps.com to renew for November 2010 - October 2011.

On September 26, 2011, I received a notice in my PO Box that my renewal payment was due by September 30.
After two days when the PO Box clerk was absent, I was able to contact her and was told that the PO Box had been closed and reopened at some point in the past (of which I was unaware) and the term expired at the end of September instead of October.

I went to the PO Box window and presented copies of the receipts from when I opened the account and from usps.com showing when I made the payments and when the term I paid for was due to expire, proving that I paid but she and her supervisor seemed unable to do anything about it because what was entered in the computer showed something different.

I suspect that either there was a communication problem between the computers at usps.com and the local post office
OR
the payment information from usps.com was inaccurately entered in the computer at the local post office.

I also contacted 1800ASKUSPS, but they said they can't do anything; that it had to be handled at the local post office.

I went on and paid so they could not have the excuse to close my box.

I plan to send proof of early payment for my lease periods to my local Congresswoman and to whichever part of the Executive branch seems appropriate at whitehouse.gov.

First, however, I'll try Larry's suggestion of 1-877-876-2455 and see what they can do.

While I've only been shorted of one month ($6) of the time I paid for, it's the principle that counts.  Furthermore, if there is a computer communication error between the website and the local post offices, it needs to be corrected so it doesn't happen to somebody else who might not have kept their receipts.

By the way, I'm writing from Los Angeles, California.

P.

Re: A Retired 26 years USPS employee.

I forgot to add this to my last post. The U.S. Postal Service can not by Law change your current box rent rate in the middle of your contract to increase revenues. This can only happen if your PO Box rent becomes due AFTER a rate change. A few years ago the USPS was sued in Federal Court by Mail Boxes Etc. (UPS Store) and other commercial mailing stores that offer a mail box stating that their, (USPS) box rents were competitive and unlawful. The Federal Judge agreed and mandated that all box rents nationwide be charged at a non-competitive rate of a commercial mail box in their local mailing area. A commercial business can charge less or a great deal more depending on demand of the market sector. That's why PO Box prices are different in Los Angeles compared to Podunk USA. Prior to the lawsuit all PO Boxes were charged at the same rate no matter where you lived. Cheers!

P.

As a retired Supervisor with 26 years of service with the U.S. Postal Service here in Florida I would like to clarify your situation. First, the Post Office is required by regulation to give you notice in writing within your P.O. Box of your rent being due. This is done 30 days prior to your rent being due to give the customer advance notice and have funds available to pay by the end of the month.

Now, if payment is not received by the end of the month an inner lock is put in your box so that you can not open with your combination or key. This alerts the customer to go to the customer service window and inquire as to why you can not gain access to your box.

The Post Office can not permanently close and return your mail until the 10th of the following month. Your mail MUST be held until the 10th of the month to give the customer sufficient time to pay and reopen the box. Now, the $850.00 charge they are describing is called a "Callers Service" which is only used by large companies that receive a tremendous amount of mail and they have a courier service pick it up.

It sounds like they closed your box and rerented it to another customer without the proper waiting period. If I'm correct if a box is closed due to non-payment the Post Office can not rerent that box for 30 days. Again, a safeguard if a box was closed due to negligence by the Post Office or a family emergency. If you voluntarily close the box and submit a change of address the box can be rerented the next day.

Your next step is to contact your Post Office and ask for the phone number to your local U.S. Postal Service Consumer Affairs Office. If they refuse to give it to you then contact the New toll-free number: 1-877-876-2455 that reaches all Postal Inspection Service offices nationwide and request the phone number. Your demand to the Consumer Affairs Office is that you regain your old P.O. Box number back and given credit for service not rendered.

I hope this helps in clearing up your situation. As a Supervisor I cared deeply for my customers and gave the best service I could.

First, as for the Forever Stamp, which was 'greek' to me lololol till I heard about it through a Snopes.com mailing list, I read a great article on Slate.com about whether to invest in them or not.

Okay, for those who don't know, the Forever Stamp is stamps you purchase now, for example, at .41 cents, and even if stamps are at a later time a much higher cost, you will not have to pay any higher postage if you are using a Forever Stamp. It is a stamp that is good 'forever', at whatever price you purchased it at, as they evidently intend to sell them 'forever' lololol.

The article on Slate.com is titled ''Should I Invest In Forever Stamps?'', and the answer is a resounding NO. I don't know if the link will be left intact when posting this report, but here it is slate.com/id/2166475/fr/nl/

Regarding the price of a p.o. box now being $850 versus the $100 the original poster P. was paying since they got their box 12 years ago, I can believe it. Post office boxes do go for a high price, although I have no knowledge of whether $850 is accurate or not.

But I do know that it is NOT uncommon for long-standing contracts to be cancelled, out of the blue, by any business that has 'old' contracts with longtime customers where the customers are paying rates that are substantially below the current going rate that the business COULD be charging new customers. So, to generate more income, old' contracts are mysteriously cancelled, or p.o. boxes closed, I would suppose, and such other underhanded tactics that are hard to get reversed in order to return the longtime customer's terms of service back to the place they were before the mystery event.

As for any recourse with the post office where the customer comes out the winner - hmmm. I hope P. will keep us updated on how this comes out. I am sorry this happened, P., I wish I had a less suspicious answer to offer but I don't.

Asked my mailman when the new rate on the 41 cent stamp goes into effect. The sob tells me it goes into effect about a week BEFORE it actually went into effect. So for a week I was putting on an extra 2 cents worth of postage. What an a**hole. My mistake for trusting a mailman. He was telling me I ought to go out and buy several hundred dollars worth of their "forever" stamps. That way when the next price increase comes in 18 months or so, I won't have to worry about buying any 2 cent stamps. Of course the post office gets to sit on my money for the next 18 months interst free. They're starting to act like the ripoff banks.