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Forum Thread

My mailman keeps moving my trash can

26,675 2,340 August 13, 2012 at 08:21 AM in Help
I live at the dead end of a narrow lane. The garbage truck has to back down to get to me b/c there's no room for them to turn around.

I leave my trash out on Mondays. The can sits about six feet in front of my mailbox. There aren't a lot of other places to put it where I can still get into/out of my driveway + the garbagemen can still see the can. Any further up the lane and it blocks my neighbor's driveway. The other side of the lane is overgrown & the two times I've tried leaving it there, they either didn't see it or ignored it (either way it wasn't emptied).

My mailman is very lazy & doesn't like to get out of his truck. On multiple occasions he's rammed my trash can, knocking it over, dragging it around my driveway, etc. I know it's him but had no concrete proof until today.

I pointed my home security cameras out the window and watched as he rammed the trash can, shoving it back several feet. I'd left him a note in my mailbox asking him to stop doing this and informing him that I'd set up my cameras to record such incidents.

He jumped around angrily for a while, then moved his truck and put my trash can back close to where it had been. Then he took pictures of it from four angles and wrote me what I assume is a very nasty note.

This guy has on past occasions left me other notes. Once when I parked too close to my own mailbox in my own driveway he wrote me a long-winded screed about how federal law mandates I leave so much space in front of the box, etc. I can't wait to see what this note says.

Anyway I didn't get good clips of him doing all of this b/c I'm new to recording stuff on these cameras. I have him taking his pictures and I have his mail truck in front of my mailbox with the trash can not there. Next week for sure I'll have figured out the procedure and get the entire thing but... I'm wondering if there are other ways to approach this.

The asshole in me says to get rid of the mailbox altogether & put a mail slot in my front door. That way he'd have to get out of his truck every damned day instead of just on Mondays. I can't really move the mailbox right now but I'll have a fence built eventually and may move it then.

More info about this guy: one Saturday when I was working in my garden & had a pile of yard waste set out for a scheduled pickup, he came by to deliver my mail and I guess the bags were in his way (honestly - I could've driven around them to line up with the mailbox but I guess he couldn't/didn't want to). So he got out and kicked the bags of several times. He didn't know I was in the garden. I wish I'd confronted him then but all I could do was stare at him throwing this tantrum like a little kid. He also drives like a maniac, coming down the lane at like 40mph and taking a really wide turn to come up to my mailbox. He backs up so fast he throws gravel everywhere most of the time, in addition to the other asshole stuff he does like moving my trash can around (one time he hauled it all the way into the middle of my front yard).

I'd like to complain to his supervisors too but I'm not sure it would do any good? I hardly get any important mail but I'd hate to jeopardize anything. Plus some shippers only send USPS... part of me says "get a PO box and be done with it" but part of me also wants to WIN this war.

What to do?

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Joined Jan 2006
Nerd Circus: Ringmaster
> bubble2 19,213 Posts
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AggieMom
08-17-2012 at 06:16 AM.
08-17-2012 at 06:16 AM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
Really?

I think it will be just the opposite. Now the mailman has learned that the last time he rammed the trash can he received delicious free produce fresh from the garden. I would expect him to continue this behavior.
He's going for peppers this time. nod
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Joined Sep 2006
IVIodel citizen
> bubble2 19,431 Posts
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Fallacy
08-17-2012 at 06:23 AM.
08-17-2012 at 06:23 AM.
Quote from veritableqndry :
I suppose I do owe an update. It may not be spectacular or exciting but the tomatoes seem to have worked. Or anyway he left me a very apologetic note on Tuesday (admitting again that he'd rammed the trash can by the way) going on about how badly the Post Office is doing these days and how much pressure letter carriers face... then Wednesday he left another note thanking me for the tomatoes and telling me how in his country (Nigeria) they eat a lot of tomatoes and how his wife was very happy to have the ones I left and she'd be preparing them for his dinner that evening in a stew.

Both notes have somewhat personal info (he addressed them to me personally and signed with his name) so I haven't taken the time to scan them in & obscure those portions (I've also been really busy at work). I may do that yet.

All of that said, we will see what happens on Monday when I put the trash can in the same spot (making sure to take pictures from all angles showing how much space I leave for the mailman) and set up the cameras again (this time with knowledge about how to record clips properly). There may be more to come. Or, the proper action's already been taken. Dontknow

TL;DR: tomatoes cure cancer
If on Monday he deposits a cashiers check in your mailbox, DO NOT CASH IT!
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Joined Jul 2008
L9: Master
> bubble2 5,257 Posts
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AbbyGabby
08-17-2012 at 07:47 AM.
08-17-2012 at 07:47 AM.
Quote from AggieMom :
He's going for peppers this time. nod
Quote from Fallacy :
If on Monday he deposits a cashiers check in your mailbox, DO NOT CASH IT!
these posts, directly behind one another, were enough to make me snortle loudly (snort+LOL) and everyone in my office is wondering what's so funny laugh out loud

how do i explain this one Rofl2
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Joined Dec 2005
L8: Grand Teacher
> bubble2 3,605 Posts
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StarNova
08-17-2012 at 09:34 AM.
08-17-2012 at 09:34 AM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
Really?

I think it will be just the opposite. Now the mailman has learned that the last time he rammed the trash can he received delicious free produce fresh from the garden. I would expect him to continue this behavior.
You could be right. OP, you'll have to feed 'em to keep him nice.

It is a good sign that the postman fessed up to hitting the cans and apologized.
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Joined Jan 2007
The Mistress of All Evil!
> bubble2 22,510 Posts
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Maleficent
08-17-2012 at 09:41 AM.
08-17-2012 at 09:41 AM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
Really?

I think it will be just the opposite. Now the mailman has learned that the last time he rammed the trash can he received delicious free produce fresh from the garden. I would expect him to continue this behavior.
If you give a mouse a cookie... Whee
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Joined Jun 2007
Not Banned! :)
> bubble2 16,282 Posts
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Clivefrog
08-17-2012 at 10:32 AM.
08-17-2012 at 10:32 AM.
I was kinda saddened that this ended so amicably.
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Joined May 2005
Proud Barner
> bubble2 36,606 Posts
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TigerStar
08-17-2012 at 10:33 AM.
08-17-2012 at 10:33 AM.
Quote from Clivefrog :
I was kinda saddened that this ended so amicably.
Oh, it's not over.


It's not over until someone loses an eye.
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Joined Apr 2004
Mr llama llama
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The Llama
08-17-2012 at 11:50 AM.
08-17-2012 at 11:50 AM.
Quote from Clivefrog :
I was kinda saddened that this ended so amicably.
Seconded.
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Joined Jul 2005
Older than dirt
> bubble2 9,406 Posts
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VorlonFrog
08-17-2012 at 12:04 PM.
08-17-2012 at 12:04 PM.
Who says it's ended? It's not over until VQ says it's over.
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Joined Jul 2003
L10: Grand Master
> bubble2 35,473 Posts
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DC
08-17-2012 at 03:25 PM.
08-17-2012 at 03:25 PM.
Quote from Maleficent :
If you give a mouse a cookie... Whee
You get a fatter mouse? look around

Quote from TigerStar :
Oh, it's not over.


It's not over until someone loses an eye.
Then it's Hockey??bounce
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Last edited by DC August 17, 2012 at 03:26 PM.
Joined Jul 2012
L2: Beginner
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wontoothee
08-17-2012 at 04:03 PM.
08-17-2012 at 04:03 PM.
get that guy fired or file mutiply complaints to have him rerouted.
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Joined Jul 2009
Permanently Bland
> bubble2 15,176 Posts
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PaintTheSkyGrey
08-17-2012 at 04:09 PM.
08-17-2012 at 04:09 PM.
Quote from wontoothee :
get that guy fired or file mutiply complaints to have him rerouted.
Can he not do math right or something?
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Joined Jun 2005
Live Like No One Else
> bubble2 8,512 Posts
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stealth
08-20-2012 at 02:17 PM.
08-20-2012 at 02:17 PM.
Sadwalk

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Joined Jul 2005
Scarydevil Monastery
> bubble2 26,675 Posts
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Original Poster
veritablequandary
08-20-2012 at 02:22 PM.
08-20-2012 at 02:22 PM.
Quote from stealth :
Sadwalk

I didn't have enough trash to put out the can today.

Also I had to go to a client site way up in Maryland and I got nervous about getting there on time in DC area traffic so I forgot to set up the cameras.

And I'm not home yet so I don't know if he left any notes.

I am full of teh fails today. Sadwalk
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Joined Jun 2005
Live Like No One Else
> bubble2 8,512 Posts
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stealth
08-20-2012 at 02:26 PM.
08-20-2012 at 02:26 PM.
Quote from veritableqndry :
I didn't have enough trash to put out the can today.

Also I had to go to a client site way up in Maryland and I got nervous about getting there on time in DC area traffic so I forgot to set up the cameras.

And I'm not home yet so I don't know if he left any notes.

I am full of teh fails today. Sadwalk
Doh
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