<p>If I put a properly stamped letter in my home mailbox, will it get posted? Will they treat it the same way as they would a letter that was put in a blue federal mailbox?</p>
<p>Thanx</p>
<p>Just remember to put your “flag” up so your mail carrier knows there is something outgoing in your box.</p>
<p>Yes. I make sure the mailman can see the outgoing mail. Sometimes he just dumps all the credit card offers and loan consolidation mail into the box and can miss the outgoing. (My mailbox is on my front door, but if you have a “rural” box on the side of the road, you have to put up the flag)</p>
<p>Oh no. I don’t live in a rural area, so I don’t have a flag on my mailbox.</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>I <em>do</em> live in a rural area, but I have had mailboxes with and without flags. Around here, they are used to picking up letters for us. We rarely go to a “federal” mailbox. </p>
<p>If he picks it up, I think you can be confident it will be posted just as if you had dropped it in a blue mailbox. If he doesn’t pick it up, well… I guess he needs some training. :)</p>
<p>Er, what the postal carrier is supposed to do and what he actually does are two different things. If it is something important, especially something that needs to be postmarked by a certain time, I think its safer to use a regular mail box. For college apps I went to the post office, used priority mail with tracking, and got a dated receipt. </p>
<p>Maybe I’d feel differently if the local carriers were better about delivering the right envelopes to the right houses…</p>
<p>Totally agree, calmom. It’s such an integral part of our rural mail processes that I am comfortable counting on it for run of the mill stuff, including paying routine bills. I would NEVER entrust a college app, my tax return or anything requiring verifiable post date to this “system.”</p>