Unites States Postal Service (USPS) Nitemare

[bilbo]

Maybe I've been lucky, but my experience with USPS has been mostly positive. In my former (very small) town we had the postmaster's cell phone number and she would help us out with any issues. Here it's been pretty good too, I can't thin of any issues we've had.

UPS on the other hand, I have some choice words for.

 

[Brain75]

This is 20+ years ago, and has been that way ever since but some time around '88 they added a regional processing center in Colorado Springs CO, and I lived on the farm - 30 miles from a town of 8,000 and a couple hours away from Colorado Springs. It used to take a 1st class letter/bill a day to go from the farm to "town" or intown to intown. The new rule was everything had to go to regional processing to be sorted, even the intown stuff. 8 days minimum to get anything sent anywhere. Sat in the "to COS sort" bin for a day before leaving, and took a day to "distribute" (re-sort) once it got back. Did not reduce the number of letter carriers or staff by a single head. All done to "save money", "reduce costs", "improve delivery time" - did none of those.

The one thing it did do, was caused a $1000 expense to remove the separate "in town" and "out of town" boxes and turn them into one single "in" box.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

The postal service has been a problem for a long time. I’m blaming mismanagement and the union for most of the problems because I saw it. The union keeps a stranglehold on things, all of the “career” positions are union and they get away with whatever they want including sleeping on the clock. Only the “career” employees are allowed to run the equipment including forklifts and because forklifts are required to always drive around in reverse for safety, nobody wants to run them. So you go to unload a trailer and find that the load starts with two pallets and there’s nobody running equipment, nothing gets done. And don’t even think about grabbing a pallet jack to get them out of the way, the union will be all over you for that…

 

[sgtsandman]

The postal service has been a problem for a long time. I’m blaming mismanagement and the union for most of the problems because I saw it. The union keeps a stranglehold on things, all of the “career” positions are union and they get away with whatever they want including sleeping on the clock. Only the “career” employees are allowed to run the equipment including forklifts and because forklifts are required to always drive around in reverse for safety, nobody wants to run them. So you go to unload a trailer and find that the load starts with two pallets and there’s nobody running equipment, nothing gets done. And don’t even think about grabbing a pallet jack to get them out of the way, the union will be all over you for that…

Some places have a real problem because of that. You get caught doing someone else's job, because it needs done and they aren't doing it, you'll stir up a real shit storm and the greivences start flying.

 

[JoshT]

It's easy to blame Lajoy but the problem preceded him by decades

Sure. The new regional facility i mentioned was probably earmarked and approved long before he took over. What he did have control over was the processes for bringing that new facility online. He had a chance to make things work smoothly and he did just the opposite. Then in typical bureaucratic fashion he dodged answering all of the questions at the Congressional hearings about why things went so bad and how to fix them.

 

[MaicoDoug]

If you want free stuff order it today and when it takes 4 weeks to arrive, it's free by that point! Works almost every time ordered this time of the year. Sad but true. Don't get me started....

 

[Jazzer]

More good news

What’s changing for USPS in 2025?

The new rates require approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission before taking effect.

www.newsnationnow.com

 

[Jim Oaks]

The package finally came back to my post office 15 DAYS after I mailed it. I went to the post office to get it since tracking said it was there.

The box I used was one I got an order in from Amazon. I removed the address label to me, added my own address label, and then took it to the post office where they added they're own shipping label. The package got all the way to Chicago on its way to Pennsylvania (I don't understand why a package going from Dallas to Pittsburgh goes through Chicago) and then started a return trip back to Dallas and then my local post office.

While at the post office, the employee looked it over and found an old address label on the bottom of it addressed to me. It seems that Amazon had placed two address labels on it. That's weirs because I always check old boxes for address labels or bar codes before I re-use them. Somehow, I missed that one. The lady said it was her fault for not catching it when I mailed it, but it's just as much my fault as it is here. Although, I'd think the two new shipping labels should have overridden that one.

Anyway, after 15-days those homemade sugar cookies were no longer fresh. The night before I had a package of sugar cookie mix left that I decided to make for myself before it expired, so I ended up throwing away the cookies in the container and replacing them with these.

Them, I drove 1.5 hours to the only UPS Store I could find open on New Years Eve and shipped the package again.

The kid at the UPS store asked what I was shipping. He gave me a weird look when I told him it was Christmas gifts. I should have asked him if they would get there by Christmas.

According to UPS, my son and daughter-in-law will get their Christmas package on Wednesday. Exactly 2-weeks late for Christmas and 23-days later than when I first shipped it.

 

[2011Supercab]

Although, I'd think the two new shipping labels should have overridden that one.

Actually you got pretty lucky it made it to either one of you that quick, some packages with 2 address's on them like have been know to get stuck in a loop.

Address #1 gets it half way across the country in the correct direction to a sorting facility,

That sorting facility catches address #2 and sends it out on the truck going back the way it came from.

That sorting facility catches address #1 and puts on a truck going that way, and on and on and on.

Some packages after being handled and processed so many times are in such bad shape they end up being "reboxed" new address label printed, could be address #1, could be address #2, and 6 months later show up

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Actually you got pretty lucky it made it to either one of you that quick, some packages with 2 address's on them like have been know to get stuck in a loop.

Address #1 gets it half way across the country in the correct direction to a sorting facility,

That sorting facility catches address #2 and sends it out on the truck going back the way it came from.

That sorting facility catches address #1 and puts on a truck going that way, and on and on and on.

Some packages after being handled and processed so many times are in such bad shape they end up being "reboxed" new address label printed, could be address #1, could be address #2, and 6 months later show up

A lot of that sort of thing is the automatic scanners for the bar codes. And contrary to popular belief, a horizontal stripe through a bar code does not make it unreadable, you need a vertical stripe that connects a couple bars into a big block. Use a Sharpie, the chisel point ones work great.

 

[Curious Hound]

A lot of that sort of thing is the automatic scanners for the bar codes. And contrary to popular belief, a horizontal stripe through a bar code does not make it unreadable, you need a vertical stripe that connects a couple bars into a big block. Use a Sharpie, the chisel point ones work great.

Or a piece of brown paper packaging tape over the label.

 

[Shran]

They use contractors for mail sorting and some deliveries here. My buddy's ex wife worked there for a while as a contractor and said morale was terrible. It was really hard to get hired on full time and contractors had to take up all the slack from normal employees and got no benefits. Small towns are way better - it is not great here, I get other people's mail all the time and stuff just gets lost and is never found.

I'm not sure that I like the modern alternative which is random people doing gig work showing up at my house to deliver stuff. My wife ordered a tube of lotion last week from Walmart and they insisted on shipping it... some lady in street clothes showed up in her own car. Amazon is doing the same thing, they just let you "work" and deliver packages when ever you want. Sounds like a great way for thieves to pick out places to rob and get paid to do it.

 

[JoshT]

USPS strikes again...

Relatively minor at this point and I'm sure I'll have my package by the weekend, but this tracking information is stupid. You may recall my complaining about the new regional USPS facility in Palmetto, GA and how the procedures for routing mail have changed. Well those problems showed again in my tracking info today.

My tracking initially showed delivery for Saturday or today. Actually it showed Sunday, but only Amazon packages get delivered here on Sunday. The package actually arrived in GA yesterday. It departed the Palmetto facility this morning and arrived in Macon, GA a few hours later.

To put this into perspective, the distance from Palmetto facility to the Macon distribution center is approximately 100 miles. The distance from Macon facility to my local distribution center is about 25 miles.

My package Left Palmetto at around 11am and arrived in Macon at about 1pm. At around 2pm it departed Macon. Guess where it was next It was logged? Back in Palmetto at 5 pm. It had to be offloaded and scanned to get logged at macon, so it isn't like the truck was turned around. My best guess is that it was routed from Palmetto tro the wrong local center, then it had to be sent back to Palmetto to be rerouted to the correct distribution center.

It's gun parts, nothing pressing. Decided to do some spring upgrades on my Canik, and won't be swapping them until I get a little more range time in. It's been a while and I want to do a little before/after comparison. It'll be a few weeks before I'm ready to install anyway, it's just funny and annoying to watch the ineffeciencies of this organization. Also depressing to know that my tax dollars are helping to pay for it.

 

[Brain75]

On a happy note, my package "permanently delayed in LA" arrived days ahead of schedule... Three days after the fire started USPS updated all the tracking and showed a flurry of activity filling in the blanks for every one of the 3 missing days. Package left LA at midnight and the "everything from LA is delayed, probably indefinitely" came out at 8 am, 8 hours later... I figured the semi driver got his load, went home to the missus and planned to take off in the morning - truck went up in flames. Looks like the driver got his load at midnight and headed straight out.... wish a guy could say that for the next several days service though..

 

[Curious Hound]

I currently have a package that was supposed to be here Saturday. Then delayed to Sunday, which I could understand due to the winter storm we had Friday. Sunday, I got an email saying Wednesday. Now it says Thursday due to severe weather in the delivery area. Really? 90% of our ice and snow melted Saturday. The roads were only bad overnight Friday night. My 81 yr old mother with an artificial knee was able to go to church on Sunday.