In late February, Ann took the package to the post office in Turlock to ship it to their tax preparer in San Jose. She paid $10 to send it by certified mail. They waited and waited for their tax man to send them back the finished product so they could mail in their returns.

"We kept after our tax preparer -- 'Why are you not sending our stuff back?' Ann said. "They said, 'Because we never got it.' "

In late March, the Milhouses gained a greater understanding of what certified means. They received notice that their package certifiably had been delivered to the wrong address.

Worse yet, that wrong address was the Internal Revenue Service's facility in Fresno, meaning their packet of personal information is sitting in a heap waiting to be processed. And that won't happen because their accountant never received their information and thus never completed their taxes.

And even worse than the worse-yet part, Ann can't seem to get through to an actual person at the Fresno IRS office to ask if someone will find the information and return it to them so that their tax man can work his magic. "Whenever I try to call, I get put on hold for 30 minutes," she said.

In fact, the only response and help they've gotten from the IRS -- never known as a warm and fuzzy bunch -- is a letter stating that if they do owe money, to pay it on time.

At least she learned her lesson

She finished collecting the replacement documents last week and soon will send them to their tax preparer -- using UPS or FedEx

mydogfarted

Oakland, NJ

June 2003

APR 14, 2009 02:54 PM

So... they sent it to the wrong address? The entire government is flawed because one idiot screwed up and probably has this sitting on their desk? I'm not really sure what you're getting at here... more trolling?

If you're going to post about hating the government, why not post something about the U.S. blowing trillions of dollars on a war built on false intelligence?

Stiles

Oakland, CA

November 2002

APR 14, 2009 02:56 PM

What kind of idiot ships all of their critical original documents without making copies?

Everyone knows mail gets lost and damaged sometimes (by everyone, UPS and FedEx included).

Cigarette

Cleveland, OH

April 2004

APR 14, 2009 02:57 PM

Yeah, that sucks and all, but I think certified mail is pretty low on the list of reasons to hate the government.

hawkorhandsaw

Chicago, IL

March 2009

APR 14, 2009 03:17 PM

do you spend this much time trying to figure out reasons to hate everything that you deal with in your life? do you nitpick your girlfriend or mother like this? is this why you have so much time to post nonsense on SG? is this why you have no friends?

mamet

Charleston, SC

March 2005

APR 14, 2009 03:37 PM

I have always, as long as I've used the internet, hated when people ask "why is this news?" But, seriously, newspapers are reporting on a lost piece of mail? Modesto must be a pretty boring place. Fuck's sake.

StarBelliedBoy

Philadelphia, PA

December 2003

APR 14, 2009 03:45 PM

NEWSFLASH!

Post Office loses mail!

Keith

Oklahoma City, OK

August 2002

APR 14, 2009 03:48 PM

Seriously if you're going to hate on the government, the mail service is the last place to start, because it's generally a damn good example of an agency providing a good service under budget. And if this woman was on hold for 30 minutes, she should have waited 45. Or an hour. Or two. It sucks, but it's April, what are ya gonna do?

Coyotemike

USA

May 2006

APR 14, 2009 03:48 PM

Anybody else think it is possible that the wrong address was put on the package by the sender by mistake?

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA

July 2004

APR 14, 2009 04:08 PM

Hey. Lay off the post office. You'll be sorry if you don't.

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

APR 14, 2009 04:09 PM

Coyotemike said:
Anybody else think it is possible that the wrong address was put on the package by the sender by mistake?

Seriously. How is the postal service going to randomly send a package that's supposed to go to one person, off to the IRS processing center, without any idea that it contains tax preparation information, unless something on the outside of the package included the Fresno office's address?

The opening comment up there reminds me a whole lot of this anecdote from Sean Quinn of 538 about his experience with the DC Metro system on the weekend of CPAC.

cabaretic

Birmingham, AL

March 2005

APR 14, 2009 04:18 PM

bean said:

Coyotemike said:
Anybody else think it is possible that the wrong address was put on the package by the sender by mistake?

Those guys are always such dicks. One learns quickly to never ask the station manager anything unless you want to be greeted with hostility. If they do anything for you at all, they act like it's the hugest imposition in the world.

As for the situation described, transferring balances can be very tricky, unnecessarily complicated situation with the old paper cards. It's the reason why I promptly got a Smartrip card, as should anyone who stays more than a few days in DC, in my humble opinion.

There will always be people who are incompetent or flat out rude, and the negative impression left often colors our entire perspective of anyone in a related job from then on out.

meatpieboy

Korea, D.P.R.

June 2004

APR 14, 2009 04:21 PM

This is not why people hate the government. I'm pretty sure about that.

MrCrisp

I'm lost

August 2004

APR 14, 2009 04:29 PM

let's stop paying our taxes! that'll show them! fucking post office.

now excuse me while i go mail in some more teabags.