New Jersey mom complains about her mail carrier’s parking. Then she says her mail is now being held hostage

A mother of two in New Jersey has accused a USPS mail carrier of repeatedly blocking her driveway with a postal van, according to a post on Reddit. The mother, who posted under the username Chemical-Degree-5378 in the subreddit r/usps_complaints, said the carrier appeared to be using the spot in front of her driveway to deliver mail to the rest of the street, including homes on the opposite side.

The mother said the issue first came to her attention on June 18th, when she reportedly had a doctor’s appointment and found her driveway blocked. She said she and her family later realized the carrier had apparently been parking there on a regular basis. According to her account, when the family asked the carrier to stop blocking them in for what she said was about 20 minutes a day, the carrier allegedly responded, “I can park wherever I want.”

The mother said she filed a service request with USPS after the incident, and a manager told her that the carrier had been informed she could not block residents’ driveways. However, the mother said the same issue happened again on July 3rd, prompting her to file a second complaint.

The mother says the carrier marked a package as undeliverable despite having access

According to the mother’s account, a supervisor called her again after the second complaint and said the carrier “didn’t understand the previous conversation” the first time. The supervisor reportedly told her the carrier had been instructed to stop a second time, but also said there was no other safe place for the carrier to park on the street, since the community does not allow postal workers to use guest parking spots across the street.

The mother said she was told that, because of this, all residents on the street might experience delays receiving heavy packages, since the carrier had nowhere else considered safe to park. She said she responded by ending the call.

The mother said the situation escalated further when she was expecting a package containing two pairs of shorts from Old Navy. According to her post, the carrier marked the delivery as having “no access to delivery location,” despite the mother saying the item was scanned before the carrier had even passed her house. 

The mother said she also has a separate mailbox down the street that the carrier has a key to access, which she said meant the carrier “legitimately had access to deliver my package.” She claimed to have contacted her leasing office about the situation, but staff there were unsure how to handle it. 

She said she then left a voicemail for a supervisor explaining what had happened. In her post, she said she believes the carrier is “seemingly holding my mail hostage” because she would not allow her driveway to be blocked so the carrier could deliver mail to neighboring homes. In another case, a Virginia mother discovered a gunshot sensor installed on her property without permission.

The post included a photo showing a white USPS van parked in the street near the family’s home, with its side door open. The mother said the family lives in military base housing, which she said may make the situation different from complaints in areas governed by a homeowners association.

The post drew a range of reactions from other Reddit users, including some who said the situation may not be as one-sided as it first appears. One user who said they deliver mail to military housing wrote that in their own experience, “there’s no parking near the boxes so I’m forced to park in front of garages near the curb,” adding that they typically ask residents to let them know if they need to leave so they can move the vehicle. 

Another commenter raised a safety-related point, arguing that carriers who choose to park on grass instead of the street may be trying to avoid a different kind of risk, since walking through grass can pose its own hazards, including uneven ground or hidden trip hazards, and management may hold carriers responsible if they are injured on the job.

One commenter suggested the mother document the pattern more thoroughly before escalating further, recommending she take photos of open parking spaces near the home and gather examples of how other vehicles in the area are parked, to support her complaint with additional evidence. A similar dispute occurred when a Texas hotel manager received a ticket for parking in a handicap space.

A separate commenter raised a question about the property itself, asking why the community does not allow delivery drivers, including USPS carriers, to use guest parking spots when dropping off packages that residents have ordered. The mother responded in the comments that she wished the carrier were permitted to use those spots as well.

The mother said she has now filed a third online complaint with USPS and is seeking additional numbers or offices to contact beyond her local post office. As of the writing of this article, it is not clear whether USPS has issued any further response beyond what the mother described in her post and subsequent comments.