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My neighbors and I have noticed that our mail (especially boxes) smell like smoke. One of us called the post office and was told that it's legal for mail carriers to smoke in the delivery trucks and if we had a problem with it we could pay to rent a post office box or have our packages held at the post office.
I was wondering if anyone has had this problem and what you did.
Yikes! That would not be allowed in Minnesota. It is prohibited under the clean air act which prohibits smoking in a work vehicle. I do remember when I was in Texas I was in a somewhat open air mall and people were smoking and it freaked me out for a bit. (I thought the title of this thread said mall rather than mail....its 3:30 am.)
__________________ Meg from MN*madameplushbottom is a childhood nickname from my godmother*
I would really be upset. I am very sensitive to cigarettes and the smell. For me it's the additives in cigarettes that trigger flare ups. I never had a problem with my mail smelling like smoke. I did have a carrier that smoked. I would complain a lot harder. That is not right.
I feel for you. So thankful for our tight Albertan laws that prohibit smoking nearly everywhere. About the only place one can smoke is their own vehicle and home. And many don't because it stinks.
I can say the only place a smoky waftiness comes to me, makes me terribly sad-- a child's backpack at school in their locker. That tells me they are being subjected unmercifully.
wow! I would have a problem with that as well. I'm terribly allergic to cigarette smoke. If I were you I would not be happy with the "answer" I was given. At the least you could politely ask for a different mailcarrier to be assigned to your route.
Sad to think of any of my pretty cards arriving accompanied by such an off-putting smell : (
__________________ Lyssa Griffin Zwolanek, Gold EliteSong of My Heart Stampers14-time incentive trip earner
I was in a swap and the hostess posted that one of the swappers items arrived and smelled of smoke. The swapper said they don't smoke so we were all perplexed. Now I'm wondering if it could have been the mail carrier....
__________________ "May your mind whirl joyful cartwheels of creativity." - Jonathan Lockwood Huie.
wow! I would have a problem with that as well. I'm terribly allergic to cigarette smoke. If I were you I would not be happy with the "answer" I was given. At the least you could politely ask for a different mailcarrier to be assigned to your route.
Sad to think of any of my pretty cards arriving accompanied by such an off-putting smell : (
This has me perplexed as well. Honestly what is the point of a creating something in a clean environment if it is going to be willfully contaminated.
I've brought this up with the post office before. They too said it was legal. I did it on behalf of someone else; my own carrier doesn't smoke, and furthermore, he uses a mail truck, not his own vehicle. I think unfortunately the only thing to do that would solve it once and for all is to pursue legislation outlawing smoking in work vehicles like in Minnesota, except INCLUDING personal vehicles used for work. If you really, really hate it and can't stand it, I guess I would cave in and buy a box for $33 (six months). Maybe in six months, there will be a new or different carrier.
Are enough of your neighbors bothered by it to sign a petition to get a nonsmoking carrier. More people than you need to complain to the post master as well, and make sure you really are talking with a Post master as someone can be in charge of a location but not be an actual post master.
I hated it when they first outlawed smoking inside a public building so they all started smoking right at the front door, ugh. Thank goodness we now have a law that it can't be within so many feet of the building either now.
I work for a property management company located in a residential area where mail carriers walk to each home after parking the mail truck. Our former carrier was a heavy smoker and all our rent payments and other mail smelled badly of smoke....all the way through the envelope. He retired, and the new carrier told us that he had a stroke one week after retiring! No one can tell me that smoking is not bad for you. New carrier does not smoke...at least in the truck! I feel safe having him pick up my outgoing cards.
Okay, I went to USPS.com and from there went to this link: USPS.com� - FAQs
and wrote them this message:
Please consider making it against the rules for cigar or cigarette smoke to come into contact with the mail. It is unconscionable to require customers who are severely allergic to cigarette smoke to pay for a PO Box in order to avoid mail contaminated by a letter carrier who smokes in his/her work vehicle. Thank you.
Maybe you can do this too?
For what it's worth, I highly doubt anything will change... but you could give it a try.
Also, if you haven't already, you might want to tell them that you will be contacting every business who currently sends you statements or bills etc. and that you will be converting all of them to email-delivery only... Again, millions of people have already done this not because of smoke, but just 'cause it's more convenient - and still nothing has been done to try to retain customers. The postal service is still raising stamp prices, increasing the time used to process first-class mail, etc. I doubt they'll do anything about carriers smoking. Sorry to be such a negative Nellie. :(
I've brought this up with the post office before. They too said it was legal. I did it on behalf of someone else; my own carrier doesn't smoke, and furthermore, he uses a mail truck, not his own vehicle. I think unfortunately the only thing to do that would solve it once and for all is to pursue legislation outlawing smoking in work vehicles like in Minnesota, except INCLUDING personal vehicles used for work. If you really, really hate it and can't stand it, I guess I would cave in and buy a box for $33 (six months). Maybe in six months, there will be a new or different carrier.
Just some interesting info, Sophie - in Oklahoma where I live, my post person said that the postal carriers are required to purchase the little PO trucks that they drive around in. I don't think the post office provides them free to the employees. They are allowed to use their personal vehicles as well, but that would put them on the wrong side of the car to place mail in suburban mailboxes which are along the curb of the street.
__________________ Bugga in OK
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Dalai Lama
Just some interesting info, Sophie - in Oklahoma where I live, my post person said that the postal carriers are required to purchase the little PO trucks that they drive around in. I don't think the post office provides them free to the employees. They are allowed to use their personal vehicles as well, but that would put them on the wrong side of the car to place mail in suburban mailboxes which are along the curb of the street.
Oh! I had no idea! I talked with a postal worker and he said here the city carriers drive the trucks for free, and the trucks belong to the postal service. But the rural carriers have to use their own vehicles, or they have the option of buying the old postal trucks for their own use, like you said. Oh, but here they are not required to buy them...
At any rate, whether they own the vehicle or not, I think they ought to be forced to keep the mail uncontaminated by smoke for all customers. If they want to smoke in their own vehicle fine; I think then the postal service should not hire them. But I really doubt anything will change. The only way I see anything changing is if the law is changed, forcing the USPS to comply, or if Patrick Donahoe (the postmaster) suddenly develops a horrible allergy to cigarette smoke and his carrier suddenly becomes a really heavy smoker in the car. And then maybe not even then, 'cause I think Donahoe is plenty rich enough to just get a PO Box.
Edited to add: And I think in the meantime, the postal service ought to provide PO Boxes for free to anyone who can document that they are getting a box solely for the purpose of avoiding cigarette smoke in their mail due to allergies!
DH and I drove past a mail carrier smoking in his mail truck the other day, and I commented to my husband that I was surprised it was allowed. I don't think I've ever seen that before! It would drive me nuts to have to air out my mail just to be able to read it.
Mail smells like smoke
