Postal Letter

can a post office delay or withhold my mail for no reason?

just recently my landlord decided to do some construction on my apartment so he had us stay upstairs . It's the same address just upstairs apartment. we plan on going back in a few months after everything is done but my mail carrier went back there to deliver a package and saw the door knobs were missing and the apartment in a bit of a shamble so she knocked on the apartment i was in to deliver the package but did not give me time to get to the door so by the time i got there she had pulled off but left the slip in the mailbox for me to pick up the package.I picked it up half hour later but she went to the post office and told them that we weren't there and every since we have received no mail. I contacted usps and put in a complaint about the fact that i have received no mail in the past week . I was contacted by the boss of the local post office and was told that the mail carrier didn't think we were there and didn't want anyone to steal our mail so they delayed or withheld delivering my mail. which makes no sense because if she didn't think anyone was there why did she leave the slip for the package in there and since we picked up the package obviously you know we are there. I was told by the boss that they would begin redelivering my mail and still I have received no mail and it's over a week now. they have no good reason to withhold my mail there is no safety or health issues that would keep them from delivering . I have no pets and I have lived here 5 years and received my mail just fine until now. I have contacted the usps again today as well as the united states postal service consumer advocate office but would like to know if there is any other avenues i can take to ensure that my mail is not withheld. I thought that was illegal to do for no good reason. I have checks and bills coming and don't know what i have received since i have not received mail in a week . any advice would be greatly appreciated on this matter

Public Comments

1. You can get a change of address form from the post office and in your case just change the apartment number you can then change it back when the work is finished RóGéR
2. it is actually illegal for the carrier to deliver mail to a vacant address. What you really need to do is submit a temporary change of address. When you do this the mail is actually separated and special attention is given to it so that it is delivered to the proper address. As a carrier, if I saw a door was open and the furniture was gone, I would assume the apartment was empty also. I would have left the notice in the box, but would have withheld the mail. I would have done that so that you would have come to the PO and fill out a Change of Address.