The Postman Always Rings Twice....Because he can't get it right the first time

Last week I mailed off one of my monthly payments. There is something refreshing when I pay bills and I'm caught up for another few weeks. Much to my dismay, two days later, one of my payments ended up back in my mailbox. The letter was postmarked, the stamp canceled, and the envelope void of any message conveying the reason for its return. I was perplexed, and miffed that my payment might possibly be late due to this odd occurrance.

The worst part of it all is the resolution to the problem. I didn't want to spend another 37 cents to mail the letter. How in the world the US Postal Service charges that much money when we can now pay online and email anywhere in the world? It's as if they are oblivious to technology marching past them. Secondly, the post office operates during the most unconvenient hours of the day. I can't necessarily get to the post office between the hours of 9am and 4pm, or wish to spend my Saturday morning in line looking at the latest designer stamps. So, what to do.

After calling my Dad to verify the correct address that was used to send this payment, I conveyed the story to him. Being the greatest man this side of heaven, he decided to ask at his next trip to the post office - the beauty of being retired. Their answer will definitely make you laugh. They informed him that if the return address is larger than the sending address, the scanner will pick up the return address as the mailing address. Oddly, unbeknownst to my Dad, my return address label was on the back of the envelope. So, merely scanning my piece of mail backwards caused this faux pas. Dad then asked a brilliant question, "Don't your mail carriers look at what they are putting into the mailboxes to verify it's going to the right place?" And, they gave a resounding, "No." Great. Now our taxpayer dollars and stamp money are going to pay mail carriers who can't read.

The moral of the story? I decided to throw that payment back in the mail as is, into a different mailbox, in a different zip code and hope for the best. The USPS isn't getting another 37 cents more than I have to give them.