With first hand knowledge of this work field, remember this time of year the Post Office hires seasonal drivers due to the increase in volume. These drivers generally aren't trained as specific as normal hires do, so expect certain things that you normally may not see with a half way decent usual mailman.
Expect later deliveries, all hours of the night, and 2 or maybe even 3 different drivers dropping mail off in a single day at completely different times.
Expect possible 'you weren't home when we attempted this' notices online when tracking packages. Attempts you know were never made (most likely due to driver laziness when forgetting the pkg the first time around)
Expect the possibility of drivers to not have the entire uniform on (or even not having it on at all) when making a delivery. Lots of times you'll see a guy not even wearing the full uniform, maybe an open USPS jacket over his street clothes. Sometimes not even that. Don't be alarmed, this is most likely due to USPS not providing a fitting uniform to a seasonal employee. Usually by the time their clothes are ordered and arrived, the seasonal driver would have already completed his seasonal obligations. So most of the time they don't even bother ordering them uniforms, especially if they aren't in the 'one size fits all' category.
Expect possible mis-deliveries to neighbors.
Expect drivers you have never seen before. If you see a new face, who doesn't look familiar or look like he knows what he's doing, chances are he's just a seasonal driver that is inexperienced. Adding to that, don't even be surprised seeing a driver deliver mail just to you, and ride off before delivering anybody else's on that street. Especially Priority and Express mail, as they most likely are assigned to deliver just those types of packages, and you may be the only one on your street receiving one.
Don't be surprised to see someone deliver a package at 8pm in the evening in his personal car without a uniform. Most likely is a supervisor or somebody taking action for a non delivery situation caused by a rookie driver. This is actually more common then one may think. I don't think a X-Mas season has gone by since I've used DNM's where this didn't happen at least once.
Don't be surprised for drivers to request (or even deny delivery without) a signature on packages that clearly don't require it. This happens. Especially on Express packages even in situations where the Waive Signature box is clearly marked. Some veteran drivers make this mistake on occasion, so it's not impossible by any stretch for a rookie to make the same mistake.
All sorts of things like that are more common then you think this time of year. While I absolutely implore to stay safe when ordering, if one of these (or similar) occurs with one of your orders. Try and hopefully ease the paranoia about something sketchy going on in the works with LE, and realize it's very more then likely a rookie driver mistake rather then a setup.
I had 3 packages expected to arrive today. Upon my first mailman's arrival, none of them were in my batch of mail. 2 of the 3 were delivered by 2 additional drivers hours apart later in the day, while 1 of them required me to follow up with my tracking number to see the mix up as to why I didn't receive it. They were one Express, One Priority, and One First Class deliveries. All of them were 'delayed' due to simple seasonal driver mistakes, and all of them arrived safely. Just goes to show that when not just 1, but 3 expected deliveries didn't arrive today when they 'should have', there was a simple reason and solution for those instances in the end!
Stay safe as always!! Safety is concern number 1. Keeping that in mind, if something seriously doesn't feel right when not receiving a delivery (especially if it's dealer amounts) use your best judgement in how to proceed with that in a case by case basis. Don't assume there is 100% nothing to worry about in a non delivery this time of year, but equally don't 100% assume it's LE coming to get you if such situation arises. Always use your judgement and assess each situation separately. Just remember 99% of the time it's the most simple/harmless answer regarding your problem. With pretty much all those 'problem's' getting solved without the need for you to personally do anything other then to wait!
Thanks for the reminder! We need it, especially with all the FUD on this sub. I also had no idea USPS did this