USPS Follies

[lowell holmes]

I went to the post office and complained. They said a dog was out front in a yard down the street. The owner went to the post office and now there is no dog out any where on the street. We will see if mail delivery resumes.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

I ordered an item directly from the manufacturer. Tracking through USPS showed it was shipped the next day. According to USPS tracking the item has been sitting at a facility in St Louis, MO since October 29. over week in one place. I am beginning to wonder if it is gone forever. I figure I will give it until Monday and then contact the USPS. I remember when truck loads of parcels ended up sitting for months at a sorting facility in Maryland 30 years ago. I thought with tracking, things had improved. Like a computer would raise a flag if a package or group of packages had not moved in several days.

[Kev Williams]

Don't forget a judge recently ordered over 100 USPS facilities to search for undelivered ballots. But then, supposedly, they never did. Regardless, I have to think a whole lot of confusion ensued and we're all suffering for it.

FWIW-- yesterday, tracking for a 1st class package I sent Tuesday to a customer in town, normally 1-day service, showed the 9th as the target delivery date...

[lowell holmes]

Mail has returned.

[Bert Kemp]

Lets Talk about FEDEX LOL I ordered a pair of pants from Wrangler in Edmond OK . It 913 miles from there to here or 13 hr drive. Its been 11 days in transit and as of today its only made it to Gallup NM yes they had a snow storm on Interstate 40 but that only held things up for a day.

[Jim Tobias]

We received a Christmas Card postmarked De. 19 on January 25th..... and numerous other delays.
And then 2 days ago after waiting 2 weeks for a delivery of 4 small palm turning blanks. The end of the box was just totally blown out and they delivered it to my box with the others 3 pieces about to fall out. It's almost like they are saying: " shut up and be glad you got 3 of them".

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[Bert Kemp]

it seems like all of the mail services just don't care anymore. It use to be a thing of Pride for the USPS to deliver on time and in tact now you get it opened , missing stuff and you have to jump thru hoops to file a claim and even then they deny it half the time saying its your fault.

[Jim Becker]

We received a Christmas Card postmarked De. 19 on January 25th.....

Got one yesterday from my "sister from another mother" in Florida...it was postmarked 17 December 2020. The funniest ones are political campaign bulk mail pieces that are much, much older. Got one of those two days ago, too.

[Alex Zeller]

UPS and FedEx just don't seam to care. It use to be the drivers would leave the packages at our neighbor's house so they didn't have to drive up the hill in wintertime. Now they just leave them at the mailbox on the main road. If you don't pay attention to the tracking info it could be days before you realize. No wonder packages get stolen all the time.

The USPS has it's own issues. From what I read they don't pay well, maybe $40k a year but it's easy to just work unlimited overtime so making $60k or more is the norm. If you have a large portion of your work force making 50% of their salary at time and a half you clearly need more workers. Since the post office is always broke an attempt to fix the problem by cutting down OT was tried. That should have highlighted the problems and forced congress to act but it just lead to partisanship.

Of course the pandemic and people buying on-line have multiplied the problem. I'm just wondering when will Uber get involved so people can get their side hustle on dropping off packages.

[Jim Becker]

My UPS delivery drivers have always been excellent and go beyond for us. Al, the man on the route for many years became a bit more than an acquaintance over time and it was both happy and sad when he finally retired after 35 years and also stopped getting talked into helping during the holidays. (it was hard for him given it was way north of $35 an hour to incent him to do the deed) Our current driver is a great fellow, but even the occasional substitute has been everything expected. FeEX Home, on the other hand, is all contractor delivered, so who get the run affects the outcome. Most of the drivers bring the stuff to the house and honor the clear signs that direct them to a specific door. But occasionally, a lazy one will leave a package in the mailbox...it's parcel size, but only supposed to be used by USPS. Honestly, our regular USPS driver is also a great guy, although he's clearly a cigar lover. LOL

[Brian Tymchak]

Just got a CC statement Monday showing I missed my last payment. Funny since I mailed it Dec 26, 22 days before the due date. Got on the phone to the CC company and they got the payment last Friday, Jan 22. 27 days to get from Columbus, OH to Philly. They said it was happening to many of their accounts. They dropped the late fee and interest, and added notes on the account that it was a mail problem. Guess I may have to start doing all financial business electronically.

However, I got excellent service from FedEx in early January. Ordered 50 lbs grass seed from a company in Oregon. Had it in 5 days, even coming thru a big snowstorm in Iowa.

[Bert Kemp]

Yikes pay bills by snail mail ummmm Nope . All mine are done electronically and auto pay. Never have to worry about being late or forgetting to send it

[Jim Becker]

Just got a CC statement Monday showing I missed my last payment. Funny since I mailed it Dec 26, 22 days before the due date. Got on the phone to the CC company and they got the payment last Friday, Jan 22. 27 days to get from Columbus, OH to Philly. They said it was happening to many of their accounts. They dropped the late fee and interest, and added notes on the account that it was a mail problem. Guess I may have to start doing all financial business electronically..

IRS still hasn't cashed the check I sent them on 30 December...I'm sure I'll have to be calling in to argue the same point.

As an aside, all of our statements for everything financial come electronically and have for as long as that's been available. I don't need the paper and it ends up just having to be shredded. It's rare to not pay something electronically, too, in our house... But that's a personal decision.

[Brian Tymchak]

IRS still hasn't cashed the check I sent them on 30 December...I'm sure I'll have to be calling in to argue the same point.

As an aside, all of our statements for everything financial come electronically and have for as long as that's been available. I don't need the paper and it ends up just having to be shredded. It's rare to not pay something electronically, too, in our house... But that's a personal decision.

I'm slowly moving to all electronic payment. You all convinced (shamed? ) me last summer into efiling when our taxes sat in the IRS inbox for months after they closed their centers due to Covid. So, I at least file estimated taxes electronically. Time to go all the way and do the billing electronically.

[Jim Becker]

What I really appreciate, Brian, is that "push the button and it's paid" feeling. Even before the current mail challenges, I hated writing and mailing payments. For my cards, I use their interface to schedule the payment for the day before the actual due day. (we never carry balances...cards are used in lieu of cash) Things like utilities and vehicle payments are automatic. Where CC is used, it gains points which saves money later. It's a lot less work to do it this way.