Bragging on USPS

[lowell holmes]

They cannot deliver if their trucks are under water or blown off of the road. The postal carriers and newspaper distributors are often taken for granted.

They should not be.

[Jim Becker]

They also cannot deliver until the roads are clear and safe from things like downed power lines and trees...

[lowell holmes]

I was frustrated, but the postal carriers do a good job most days and we are spoiled by it. The next time a carrier puts mail in my box. I will smile and thank him for his service.

[Brian Elfert]

I was being sarcastic about the rain or shine thing. Over the years we have heard a lot about how the Post Office delivers no matter the weather.

[Curt Harms]

I was being sarcastic about the rain or shine thing. Over the years we have heard a lot about how the Post Office delivers no matter the weather.

I do wonder if there is less emphasis on timeliness than there used to be. 50 years ago if you needed to get urgent documents from here to there, the Post Office was the only game in town. Today the Post Office is more of a bulk mail/parcel delivery service than urgent document/small package delivery service. Anyone with an urgent envelope or small parcel probably isn't using USPS so less need for USPS 'prompt delivery at any cost'. If SWMBO gets her fliers a day late it's hardly a big deal.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I do wonder if there is less emphasis on timeliness than there used to be.

Not that long ago I could put something in the mail today, and it would be at its destination the next county over tomorrow. There might be an occasional item that took two days, but that was rare.

Now, it is taking up to three days to go across town (i.e. going from my box to the local post office to another box served by the same post office).

And no, conspiracy theorists, this did not start with the current postmaster general. There has been a steady decline in service for several years, and then it got much worse with COVID.

[Bruce Wrenn]

In our are, growth has been exponential. Our county, one of five in metro area, averages 85 new residents per day. That equates to a mid sized town per year, complete with another zip code . The post office has to service each address six days a week. Add to it the stay at home, and online shopping, at that's a bunch of mail being added daily. Our mail used to come around 9:30 AM, but now comes around 5:00 PM. Because of mail volume, carrier has to return to PO a couple times per day to reload her vehicle. But to despite it all, she always has a smile. If I get a package that won't fit into mail box, she drives up to house and leaves it on back porch, which is covered. Last week UPS left a package leaning against a tree near road, with no bag of any kind over it. Thankfully we found it before the rain set in (3+ inches that night) Even with the threat of rain, Fed EX leave packages of front stoop. FYI, it's only 28' further to back porch, and trucks can drive right up to it

[Jim Koepke]

Someone* was complaining about postal carriers having to drive 20 miles down a dirt road to deliver mail to one customer. Does anyone know of such situations?

In most rural areas I know of, the mailboxes are along pubic roads. Drivers and people in the Post Office have told me it is at the carriers discretion as to whether or not they drive on a private driveway to deliver a package. One of the rules is the drivers are not supposed to back up except on Post Office property.

*The term 'someone' was used here purposely to omit the name of the person who said this to keep it from being about the person instead of the question.

jtk

[Brian Elfert]

Not that long ago I could put something in the mail today, and it would be at its destination the next county over tomorrow. There might be an occasional item that took two days, but that was rare.

Now, it is taking up to three days to go across town (i.e. going from my box to the local post office to another box served by the same post office).

The USPS started closing mail sorting/distribution centers a numbers years ago. The USPS also announced at the time that First Class mail would no longer be delivered overnight in most cases. It doesn't make sense to me to send First Class mail going say say 20 miles on a truck a hundred miles or more to supposedly save money.

The USPS has admitted that closing the sorting/distribution centers has only saved a small percent of the money originally projected. Who would have thought that shipping mail hundreds of miles more than necessary might increase costs?

[Brian Elfert]

Someone* was complaining about postal carriers having to drive 20 miles down a dirt road to deliver mail to one customer. Does anyone know of such situations?

A public road can be a dirt or gravel road. There are plenty of public gravel roads just in the city I live in. I go out west into some sparsely populated areas where houses are miles apart. I have no doubt there are houses twenty miles apart out there that have mail service.

[Bert Kemp]

In AZ its not uncommon to drive 20 miles down a dirt road. Crown King is 26 miles from the nearest paved road. It a very bumpy windy twisty up over the mountain road to get the mail up there.Its a town with its own zip and the mail comes up everyday. If you want a sense of what its like watch this.and this is the easy way LOL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0xlnRruyts

Someone* was complaining about postal carriers having to drive 20 miles down a dirt road to deliver mail to one customer. Does anyone know of such situations?

In most rural areas I know of, the mailboxes are along pubic roads. Drivers and people in the Post Office have told me it is at the carriers discretion as to whether or not they drive on a private driveway to deliver a package. One of the rules is the drivers are not supposed to back up except on Post Office property.

*The term 'someone' was used here purposely to omit the name of the person who said this to keep it from being about the person instead of the question.

jtk

[Bert Kemp]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQVlWgTpT2A

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks Brian & Bert for the responses.

Rural free Delivery is a legacy of the Postal Service. For some folks, it is as important today as it was 100 years ago.

jtk

[Bruce Wrenn]

When we moved to Apex forty years ago, in town residents picked up their mail at the post office. Each house was assigned a box number, which wasn't actually a box, but a mail slot in the back. Step up to the counter and request mail for box # XXX. Clerk fetched mail, and handed it to customer. Mail addressed to Joe Smuckerelly, care of general delivery, is still handled this way. BIL lives in Baton Rouge, but owns a cabin in the NC mountains. When they are in mountains, they get their mail by "general delivery." Stop at the post office a couple times a week on their way to town, and pick up mail. It's such a small PO, that PO will call them and tell they have mail. Now that's service!