Other owners seeing my mail

Hope someone can help. Our resort has it's own mailroom that employees 4 of our owners(ladies)to sort and place our mail in our individual boxes. Once the USPS drops the mail off our employees's take over. The ladies that work in our mail room have been known to discuss other owners mail with there friends. I filed a complaint with our manager and he sided with his employees(also owners). Now if you had trouble with the IRS or a ton of credit card bills everyday etc. would you want a fellow owner knowing your PRIVATE and PERSONAL business and afraid they may spread your problems around? There has to be a conflict of interest here. Please if anyone can offer any help I would really appreciate it. Thank You

David,
Your problem seems to come with the territory. But unless you are recieving lots of porn or other illegal mail, I would not worry so much about it. They aren't opening up your mail I hope so this is part of what goes on when your mail comes into your private facility for sorting. Maybe you could volunteer to work in there and see what goes on. We have become a society of paranoism so I would just stop the worrying.

Mary and Donna.....forgive me, but I'm going to disagree with you both. THAT has never happened! LOL

David has a perfect right to the expectation that his mail IS and SHOULD be private. It doesn't matter if it contains porn, is from the I.R.S., is an invitation to his ex-wife's wedding, a court document or anything else. It's an invasion of privacy when anyone other than the sender, the mail delivery person, and the recipient see it.

I'm not familiar with where he lives or how things work at his "resort" yet it sounds much like a "hotel" setting where the "clerk" places the mail in the "pidgeon holes".

Best advise: Get a private box at a mail outlet.

Ellen,

I never said that everyone is paranoid. David said that he thought this might be an invasion of his privacy and a conflict of interedt. Pretty strong stuff against a few old ladies sorting mail in his resort?

Donna,

Then explain what a "society of paranosim" means. Old ladies gossiping IS an invasion of privacy. My point is that a few old ladies should not be sorting mail for any reason. They are not postal employees and there has to be a better way to avoid this sort of thing. I would never allow this.

It's probably set up just like a hotel or a private mail center. The deed restrictions, HOA covenants or resort membership probably contains agreement that mail will be provided via the mail room. The Post office probably treats the "resort" as a single private business address, with all legalities attended.

The resort may still be obligated to respect privacy and keep information about sorted mail confidential -- that may also be true of hotels and private mail centers. Or not; I don't really know; it's just a thought. It's certainly unprofessional, but if this is done by owners, then they are not professionals, strictly speaking.

You chose to live where you have a private mail center, which is not to your liking.
1) You could choose a different private mail center from your address; you might find one that is convenient and suits your needs -- you probably have plenty to choose from.
2) You could complain to the post office or escalate with the management, and you might get some action or not. You would bear the onus of complaining about little old ladies (your neighbors) who would probably gossip about that; they also probably won't be chastised, won't stop, and don't care.
3) You could politely and respectfully tell the matrons you feel this is unfair and troubles you, and perhaps they may show you more courtesy in future.
4) If many of your neighbors share your unhappiness and are willing to pay for a mail clerk, then perhaps you could get this changed through your Association (if you have one).

It's a little to easy for me to say it, but those are the breaks.

Michael,
I know things are different in many states but are you implying that a "Resort" (defined as a commercial business) has a legal interest in how the US Mail is routed to individuals? What if an individual don't belong to the "Resort". They may have to belong to the HOA or POA but the Resort????? Another question is why would any Resort have an interest or desire to deliver mail? Think of all the Rural Post Offices in this county. I have never seen one that didn't have some secure handling of mail, why would living in a Resort be different. But giving you all consideration and say a Resort can handle mail, they would still have to have a contract with the U,S, Postal Service and bide by specific mail handling requirements.

A private mail carrier, to my knowledge is someone hired by the Post Office to delivery mail to individuals under the restraints and conditions as are all mail carriers of the U.S. Postal Service, even private trucking companies that haul US Mail. Because a truck can drive down the street with your mail in the back does not give the trucking company authority to sort and deliver mail to anyone.

The post office tends to differ between individual carriers and post offices, in my experience, but the rules are Federal and should not differ between states.

I think the OP said this happened at "our resort." I'm assuming it is technically a business address. I don't know if it's an upscale living complex or an upscale retirement facility or a vacation facility, whether it functions a bit like an Association or more like a residential hotel. Either way, the impression I had from the mailroom situation and the term "resort" is that it's a business address, like a hotel, as far as the post office is concerned -- not a collection of residential addresses.

So, a hotel, a resort and a mail receiving shop are responsible to the Post Office for receiving mail as a business address, and obligated to deliver it to the guests or customers as a business service. If they are not guests or paying customers, then they shouldn't receive mail at that address, I suppose. Postal mail carriers just deliver to the address -- I don't think they usually sort into the boxes for guests or deliver to individual rooms in a hotel or villas in a resort (assuming those don't have postal addresses). The front-desk clerk or staff does that. I guess the OP didn't say if their boxes are at their dwellings/rooms or on a wall near the office, but I assumed the latter.

DavidS23, do you want to give us more details about the arrangements and nature of the "resort" or Association?
I was not referring to contract delivery services hired by the Post Office. It was private mail receiving center/shop/business. Look up Mail Receiving Service in your yellow pages or find a UPS Store in your area. Yes, they (and hotels and resorts) probably have legal obligation to respect privacy, both under Federal postal regulations and as a standard contract with their paying customers.

David,
With reference to the posts on this I would conclude you should duke this out with the Postal Service.

As an aside, I personally have always had trouble with the word "Resort". I don't think there is any qualifications to be a Resort. An HOA has a legal definition (at times I wonder about that), a Resort is sort of like saying I am anything you may want to imagine and I am as large as your imagination and I can be a ten room hot sheet motel or the southern half of California or all of Miami including to the shores of Cuba. It's funny, folks that own here and rent, extol the place as located on a Resort Island. I, in my conversation tend to describe the Island as a private Residential Island.

The more I think about it, you might get some action from the Postal Inspector if you complained about your privacy. I think it's more likely they won't be interested in gossip, if there's no tampering (opening of envelopes), but I really don't know much about it.

Most likely, long-term living facilities (which are buildings with rooms, not apartments?) and "mobile home resorts" have legal and contractual obligations for handling mail that is placed in their care for private individuals who live there. That may also be true of hotels and private mail centers; but those may be a bit different, since people choose to go there as a business arrangement.

I think what you may be looking for is more professionalism and courtesy, rather than a case about the rules. A private mail center could give you that.

I agree with Glen; annoying and perhaps embarrassing, but certainly not an invasion of privacy. IMO, that would only occur if your mail is being opened. Also, in a community of 1200 homes, I doubt you are the only property owner whose mail is being gossiped over. And, speaking of gossips it best to develop the attitude of: "if they're gossiping about me then they're letting someone else alone".

The fact that one receives mail with "refinance your mortgage" stamped on the envelope doesn't mean they've solicited the info. I've received many such solicitations and haven't had a mortgage in over 10 years. I've also received mail -- addressed to me -- from single's clubs --- I've been married 44 years and certainly don't frequent those type places!!!

I would like to think anyone who is handling mail would be cautioned on the proper way to do so. I think the USPS would frown on any mailhandler gossiping about the type of mail any one receives. However, as Kirk says, you would certainly need to prove your case. A call to the local Postmaster could be to ask if it would be possible to have individual mailboxes installed. If this is not an option then perhaps the next question would be: is there any training required for the mail handlers?

David,

After thinking about this, exactly how would you like to solve this problem? Hire someone from the P.O to sort the mail? Install private boxes outside of each home? You have to understand that in these close communities, everyone knows alot of everyone elses business. I'll bet your office volunteers know more than you think and the laundryroom is a good place to find out more dirt.

IMO, it's a bad idea to have neighbors handling each others mail, which is what you both describe. Mary, I think your HOA is lucky that the mail situation is well-managed and your neighbors are diligent and respectful, but it's still a problem waiting to happen.

David, I don't see the Post Office as a good solution -- either complaining or trying to get them to extend their service to even sorting the mail in your mailroom. I'm not saying either will necessarily fail, but I would not be optimistic.

If you just want to keep your mail private, get an alternate address (i.e., receive you mail at a mail-receiving shop). This has a number of other advantages. (The USPS delivers mail to each of our homes. Mail is often mis-sorted and delivered to someone else; if it gets returned to the Post Office as wrong-address-delivery, then it often never appears again. We have thieves who drive through most local neighborhoods and rifle through the mailboxes. The Post Office does not want us to install locking-mailboxes, because they are not USPS-approved.)

If you don't want to try that, or if you want to solve the problem for your entire community (not just for yourself), then I think the best option is the expense of a paid mail clerk. You said the sorters are your fellow homeowners, and I don't recall if you said they were paid as employees of the MC or volunteers. A junior (relatively low-wage) employee who is not a homeowner and works part-time sorting the mail should not cost too much, if you can get your Association interested enough to pay the MC for that additional cost.

As I'm not going to throw "sorry, more hearsay" right back at you, I should admit that I simply glossed over the details of my own situation.

Many of our mailboxes are encased in brick housing. This makes it a bit expensive and undesirable to replace whole mailboxes.

It is actually the mailbox inserts that would solve this problem cheaply and simply that are not USPS-approved. If anyone here can tell me of a company that makes USPS-approved locking inserts, please do.

Postal carriers vary widely. Ours is just a jerk, as was his supervisor. I got notes on my box asking me to remove the insert. I ignored them. They got a new supervisor. Since I mentioned the problem to him, some of my mail has been going into the locking insert. Even when it goes on top, the space above the insert is small, and I think my mail is less likely to be pilfered.

Both times I started by asking if this insert got in the carrier's way, slowed him down, or made it more difficult to do his job. The first supervisor said, "No, but if someone asked me in advance, I would have to refuse, so I have to refuse you." More bad logic with circular reasoning and avoiding the issue. I just told him thank you, and waited to see what they would do. Things worked out reasonably well, but the other problems abound. I see no point in complaining; I just try to find solutions that will help me and not create more problems.

I tried.

I would think that it would be a good idea for the HOA to have their lawyer draft confidentiality agreements for the employees/volunteers who handle the mail to sign and abide by.

I would think that there is a level of privacy that accompanies the mail and it should be respected. Are these volunteers reading the magazines received for free (that would be stealing)? What if unemployment checks come in the mail, or birthday cards with cash. Information obtained simply by looking at the envelopes can be harmful when in the wrong hands.

I would prepare some envelopes with fake sender name and address in the return address on the envelope and address them to just one of the ladies in the mail room periodically. Possible senders could be:

Bureau of Infectious Disease
Girls Gone Wild Contestant Search
NORML
Herpes Information Center
Office of Probation & Parole
Sex Offender Registry

I've seen similar, authentic-looking envelopes for sale in stores.