Midwest Chick's Place

(A.K.A. Non-Original Rants)

–Co-opting good stuff from all over the ‘Net and maybe some original thoughts—ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

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You know the USPS is bad….

But you know it’s REALLY bad when you get an email from the power company saying the following (edited to remove company and location):

We are aware that many of you are currently experiencing delays in receiving your electric bills, and we acknowledge the inconvenience this situation creates. However, these postal delays are not unique to THIS COMPANY; they are a widespread issue affecting deliveries nationwide and are beyond our control.

Although our organization is local, we do not mail the electric bills from our LOCAL location. Instead, all bills are printed and mailed from a facility out-of-state, a process we have maintained for the past 15 years to ensure efficiency. With the ongoing postal delays causing your bill to arrive later than expected, we encourage you to be proactive in managing your payments during this time.

At this point I know that if something is being shipped via USPS, even stuff from Amazon, then it’s going to take an extra 3 or 4 days (or longer). I’m on a first name basis with the lady at our local office whose job it is to find lost packages. I’d send her a thank you card, but I’m not sure it would get to her.

The USPS just signed on with DOGE so hopefully things will improve, but I’m not holding out much hope.

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Midwest Chick

21 responses to “You know the USPS is bad….”

  1. Don Curton Avatar
    Don Curton

    Our local post office here is xxxxxx Texas is also just horrible. Stuff is late, gets, no accountability, etc. I’ve pretty much taken all my billing online now so that I don’t have to worry about late bills. In fact, about the only thing the post office does for me is junk mail and a few magazines. We could easily disband it (I know, constitutional amendment time) and not miss it.

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  2. avraham Avatar
    avraham

    HTP I used for shipping

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  3. Peaowed Avatar
    Peaowed

    If the USPS could simply route mail from origination to destination via the most direct route, there would be no issue. I have lost count of how many times I watch an expected parcel take an “around the U.S. tour.” Multiple times a parcel originating in the Mid-Atlantic (and destined for the Mid-Atlantic) will travel right past my house to New England, back to the Mid-Atlantic, over to the Mid-West, then to the West Coast, then back to New England, then to multiple locations within the Mid-Atlantic before ultimately making it to my mailbox. At most the parcel should have transited 3 or 4 USPS facilities but actually hit a dozen or more. That’s textbook government efficiency. Even if the parcel does make it to my local post office, there’s no guarantee of when I might receive it. My wife is signed up for “Informed Delivery” (I think it’s called) wherein she receives an email each morning indicating what mail we’re supposed to receive that day. Comparing what actually appears in my mailbox against the email list rarely coincides. That foul-up is on the local carrier.

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  4. B Avatar
    B

    Between Civil Service laws, Affirmative Action, Set Asides, Empowering Women and now DEI, the USPS is full of people who simply can’t be fired or disciplined,

    And it shows in their entire performance.

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  5. Frank Avatar
    Frank

    Seem to remember that the Post Office used to occasionally move employees around. Hope this has stopped. Hard to drum up enthusiasm for the job when all your customers are strangers you’ll won’t see in the future.
    The benefits of centralized hub movement, with all the promise of high efficiency…or so they say. Direct shipping would benefit the customers more.

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  6. Joe Avatar
    Joe

    It took 8 days for a Christmas card from my daughter to arrive. She lives 2.4 miles away.

    The Pony Express took 10days to deliver a letter from St Joe, MO to Sacramento.

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  7. MrLiberty Avatar
    MrLiberty

    The ONLY solution is to abolish the government-protected and violence-enforced MONOPOLY on first class mail delivery and allow ANY AND ALL competitions to vye for everyone’s business in an open marketplace. Handing the monopoly over to some favored government friend ( some have suggested Amazon) only ensures that the corruption, waste, etc will eventually return. ONLY the presence of competitive market forces can ensure improved quality, lower prices, and better service. Just ask Lysander Spooner.

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  8. Nemo Avatar
    Nemo

    I’ve lived in a condo complex for 30+ years that has a central mail delivery point. The mail boxes are 4″x 4″x12″. There are separate larger boxes for packages. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten neighbors mail or had the key to the larger package boxes deposited in my unit’s regular mail box. Rather than putting the mail or package box key into the outgoing mail slot, I usually deliver it to the other condo resident, then call the post master to complain about misdelivered mail.

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  9. Unferth Avatar
    Unferth

    One of the customers that I called on years ago was the USPS. The sales rep negotiated the sale, and it was down to dotting the ies and crossing the tees.

    The buying agent was adamant that the product not be shipped by USPS; any other means was fine, just not USPS. As we were leaving the facility, I noticed a number of UPS trucks making deliveries.

    Looks like things haven’t improved much since then.

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  10. FLAwtha Avatar
    FLAwtha

    its been a few days, but a past job had me going into the inner workings of the main postal facility in Jax Fl. its a wonder that anyone gets anything delivered . . . . for every 1 guy working 10 or more were doing nothing & the “supervisors” couldnt do squat. (thanks unions!) back then registered mail was the only thing that was certain to get from point a to b but now i would doubt that. ANYTHING the govt touches turns to dung.

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  11. VMS Avatar
    VMS

    I used USPS Express Mail (now called Priority Mail Express) once. I had to send an important check from New York to Connecticut that absolutely positively had to be there the next day. It never made it to its destination, so I went to my post office to track it. Lo and behold, it was sitting in a post office in North Carolina after misdelivery to a business there.

    After a lot of paperwork, the post office gave me my postage back. After presenting proof to the intended recipient of this fiasco, the recipient agreed not to cancel the contract for nonpayment of the initial payment on time.

    Needless to say, I opened a FedEx account right after that.

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  12. Stefan v. Avatar
    Stefan v.

    They’re wasting a lot of time photographing everything for the Gestapo, and permitting certain kinds of employee to steal certain kinds of packages.

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  13. GARY L GLAENZER Avatar
    GARY L GLAENZER

    Did you know that a mis-addressed or otherwise ‘undeliverable’ piece of mail does NOT go directly back to the sender ?

    It goes to a facility in St. Paul MN , THEN back to the sender.

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  14. Rick Avatar
    Rick

    Getting rid of the USPS requires an amendment to the Constitution. Article I Section 8

    I think anyone calling for closing that department should at least know the Constitution of their country.

    A couple of years ago a case of ammo hadn’t arrived. The company said it had. It took me two weeks to track it down. A supervisor at the local Post Office had forged my name as taking delivery. She had them returned it to the local sorting facility. I drove 80 miles round trip to pick it up.
    Two weeks after it had been delivered.

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  15. Rick Avatar
    Rick

    Gary, a friend in Florida sent me a high quality carving knife. The knife being very sharp was shipped in a protective sleeve.

    It was mailed from Tallahassee, went to Kansas, then Indiana then to New Orleans. That too two days. It sat in N.O. for one week.

    From New Orleans to Ontario, California to Phoenix to Las Vegas and finally to me at Los Campesino Blanco Rancho.

    The shipping box had been opened at least twice. The kindly folks at New Orleans had put an inspection card inside. The knife hadn’t been put back into hits protective sleeve and the blade was sticking out of the box. The delivery mail man said he had nearly cut his hand. The serrated edge is unbelievably sharp. So sharp that I – who keeps my knives very sharp – must remind myself how sharp that carving knife is.

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  16. Edward Bastion Avatar
    Edward Bastion

    I’ve reached the point that any supplier I purchase from that routinely uses USPS to deliver its orders does not care about its customers’ experience.

    I notify such suppliers of this and let them know that whenever possible I will purchase from a company that respects its customers enough to ship via other carriers.

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  17. p2 Avatar
    p2

    The USPS stands for Unbelieveably Stupid (or Slow, if you’re feeling amicable towards them. I rarely am…) Postal Service.

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  18. Old NFO Avatar
    Old NFO

    I’ve had them lose a pistol and not care… and now I’m missing one of my prescription meds from the VA. And they don’t CARE!!!

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  19. crazyeighter Avatar
    crazyeighter

    For now, my meds are handled by Express Scripts in the Saint Louis MO area and I’m in the Memphis area. Express Scripts fills the Rx, packages it and hands it over to DHL to deliver to the USPS.
    Yeah, I worry a lot about whether I’m going to get my meds or not.

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  20. avraham Avatar
    avraham

    I meant DHL. sorry. They made sure what I needed, got to me

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  21. Midwest Chick Avatar
    Midwest Chick

    Don–Same and agree.

    avraham–I like UPS.

    Peaowed–Our local office is pretty good. But USPS is messing with the bounce-around offices and that’s causing problems.

    B–Agreed.

    Frank–Direct is always better. Too many points of failure.

    Joe–The irony, right?? She would have been better off dropping it off. Because it doesn’t go from her to the local office and then out to you. I’m betting it goes through nearest big city twice and back to local office.

    MrLiberty–I’m a big believer in free enterprise.

    Nemo–I do the same thing. We finally got a mail center where big packages go with organization and shelving. It has helped.

    Unferth–I think it’s gotten worse.

    FLAwtha–Agreed.

    VMS–Had a similar situation a couple of decades ago.

    Stephan v–Agreed. Maybe if they just stuck to mail delivery….

    Gary–Did not know that! Thanks for the heads-up!

    Rick–Yes, unfortunately Franklin got it into the Constitution. I don’t want it shut down, just want it to work. I do think unions are the issue. And yes, stuff does go missing–at least you got it even if your guy almost got skewered.

    Edward–I do the same.

    p2–It does fit!

    NFO–And that’s the problem. And depending on the prescription, it’s probably being sold on a street corner someplace. I’d hate to think about the pistol….

    crazyeighter–And that’s kind of a bait and switch to me. If it’s shipped via DHL, it shouldn’t be passed off to anyone.

    avraham–See above. DHL is great unless they pass off to USPS. Other shippers do it too, but I don’t think that’s right.

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