Postal Letter

Is it a courtesy or a legal obligation for the mailman to pick up your mail at a residential mailbox?

My roommate and I are discussing whether the mailman must pick up your mail through your mailbox out of legal obligations ("it's his job") or if they pick it up out of courtesy ("you're supposed to send it through a public mailbox").

Public Comments

1. legal obligation
2. That's a really good question, and I don't know the answer for sure. But I do see a lot of people placing letters just inside their boxes for pick-up ... and the mail carrier always seems to do it. So, as long as there is proper postage on the envelope, perhaps it is a legal obligation to pick up the mail this way.
3. Legal, it is part of their job
4. It is neither a legal oblignation nor a courtesy. It is simply their job. In the same way that a cashier is employed to scan items and checkout customers. The cashier does not have a legal obligation nor do they do it as a courtesy. It is simply the cashier's job, in the same way it is the mail person's job to pick up and deliver mail. If they do not pick up your mail, simply report it to the post office.
5. If there is mail in the mailbox then they pick it up. It's not a courtesy i don't think, it's part of the requirements. Having the mailbox flag up indicates that there's mail to be taken out.
6. I believe it is a legal obligation (in the U.S. at least). It is a Federal offense for anyone other than a postal employee to leave anything in your mailbox, even though some people don't follow this law and leave advertisements or Avon catalogs. It is also a Federal offense for anyone other than yourself or a postal employee to REMOVE anything from a mailbox. The postmaster for each city has specific requirements as to where a mailbox for each resident is placed and sometimes even the kind of mailbox. With all these laws and regulations, it leads me to believe that it is a legal obligation as long as the postmaster's regulations are followed.
7. In New York City, they don't pick up your mail--It will sit in your box until you remove it. You actually have to schedule a pick up through the post office or online at usps.com. Funny enough, they did pick up my census form though. ;) Everywhere else I've lived, I put the mail in the box, and put the flag up and it disappears, so I assume it is a courtesy or I have had really lazy mailmen in NYC that I should be calling to complain about.
8. They're supposed to pick it up. That's part of their job. If they do not pick up your outgoing mail they are not fulfilling all their duties. I had an incident once when I didn't have a stamp, so I left him enough coins to cover the cost of mailing it. He took it and it made it to its destination. I tried it again a few months later, and he left me a polite note on official post office memo paper that he does not sell stamps on his route, so I would need to visit a post office.
9. Mailman delivers mail. For u to send it. U have to mail it. Unless u organise a pick up. Thats the service. Theres simply too many people and logistically , the mailman does not have enough time to pick up everyones mail . He can only deliver it. You need to put it in the public mailbox though.
10. legal
11. At my rural location in CA it is a legal obligation.
12. Where I live, it's courtesy. The mail carriers have no obligation to check your mailbox for outgoing mail if they are not bringing mail to you. Now if they deliver your mail but don't take your outgoing, I still don't think there is any obligation to take it. I don't know specifically that part, just that if you don't have mail, they don't have to check for outgoing.
13. It is a legal obligation for them to DELIVER your mail. It is a courtesy for them to PICK UP your mail. If you would like them to pick up your mail AS A COURTESY you need to do certain things that the local postmaster may require. Some may require you to have a curb-side letterbox that is between 42 and 48 inches from the ground. Others may allow you to put outgoing mail clipped to your front porch box. The bottom line is that there is no FEDERAL requirement for the postal carrier to pick up your outgoing mail unless you have paid for and scheduled a pick up through the postal service.
14. Neither- they do it based on location and type of package. Location: It depends on where you live. You can check for your zipcode here: www.usps.com/pickup Type of package: Also it depends on what you are shipping- Individual items cannot exceed 70 pounds or 108 inches in total length and girth Mailpieces weighing more than 13 oz. bearing postage stamps for postage must be taken by the customer to an employee at a retail counter at a Post Office, Contract Postal Unit, or Approved Shipper location
15. For residential mail customers, it's a courtesy. That's why the city type mail boxes don't have "pick up flags" on them. If you have mail to be picked up and there is also mail to be delivered to your address, the mail carrier will pick your mail up. If you have mail for pick up, but they don't have any mail to deliver to your address, it's the option of the carrier if they want to stop and pick up your mail. In the rural areas it's their job to stop at the mail box and pick up mail if the "flag" is up, even though they may not have any mail to deliver. Our neighborhood had a public "drop box" where you could drop your mail. Just imagine how heavy a mailbag could get around Christmas time with the postman picking up a dozen envelopes at the houses and delivering fewer mailings! At least this was the way it used to be, unless something has changed or some areas are different.