USPS Issues

[JTQ]

We get pretty reasonable service. I did get my neighbors mail about a week ago, but that's not very common. However, I did have some medication delivered to my neighbor on the other side, who's house is an AirB&B, and it sat in their box for about 3 weeks before I started searching for it and found it there. That was inconvenient.

Our delivery guy drives a truck and puts the mail in mail boxes on the street. The last two neighborhoods that went up near ours, have an outdoor station with post office boxes like you'd see at in an apartment complex, where the residents go to get their mail. I found that pretty interesting, but I suppose it's more efficient for the USPS driver.

After Hurricane Sally in 2020, we got mail within a couple of days of the hurricane, but as we moved our debris to the front yards for pick-up, and pick-up didn't come, the post office stopped delivering due to the debris. They cut us off for a two to three weeks.

[camsdaddy]

Its government and often union what could possibly go wrong? We have great service once it is marked out for delivery. I can only imagine they have issues with retention. With the addition of amazon their load has certainly increased. It a lot like UPS and Fed ex except they work six days a week, drive their own vehicles and dont make as much money.

[TGS]

Notices in my mail box advising that the carrier allegedly attempted to deliver a special delivery to my home, but that there was nobody home (when in fact we were home on those days, and nobody attempted to deliver a package to us).

Ugh. Sing it.

The carriers would do that every single time at the last address I lived at. Without fail, the first delivery notice would instead be a final delivery notice and that it's being RTS'd the next day if I don't come pick it up.

Every. Single. Time.

[Tensaw]

I'm sure some of the problems are systemic, but the system is comprised of people - and people matter. At my old house, in a rural area but on a well-trod paved county road, our carrier was atrocious. The wife and I used to "joke" that she had to be on crack... At the new place, kinda back in the holler, service is pretty decent. The other day we got a piece of mail and the only thing correct on the address was the street number and extended zip code. It was kind of incredible that that piece of mail made it to us. Even with that, I continue to be astounded at the reliability of UPS (in particular) and FedEx as well. Those jokers run like clockwork. It's a little crazy that the Big Brown Truck of Joy hauls packages up and down our gravel road which is barely maintained by the county. I like my UPS guy.

[vcdgrips]

Executive summary-it depends. And really depends who is working at the “station” that is delivering your mail.

4 data points

1. My brother is a maxed out tech for USPS. He was trained to maintain all manner of sorting/mailing equipment. They took that stuff out of his station last decade. They will not transfer him to a station where it now resides, they will only put him on voluntary TDY when the demand hits. At his home station he does everything from maintaining locks on P.O. Boxes on and off site to ferrying vehicles for service to literally pushing a broom. At a maxed out tech rate.

For years -the mantra was mail in the station is delivered that day. PERIOD. If that took until 1700/1800/1900 so be it. Now, maybe.

2. I have used USPS as my primary shipping method since I started VCD Grips in 2008. I can count the number of package lost on 1 hand. 2 of which were sent down south in the Katrina time frame, 1 was likely stolen by the customer, the other two really seemed to be lost. Intra and post COVID, tracking has been a bit wonkier but all in all -no complaints.

3. I have informed delivery on my house and that of my mother’s. Near daily, the scan misses pieces of mail. Most of the time what is on the scan comes with 1 day.

4. My son is based on a very che che island on the east coast. Over and under one any 3 bedroom is 1mil plus. Sky is the limit on the top end.
The USPS service there absolutely sucks. Priority stuff takes 2x-3x as promised. Tracking will show it there before noon and it is often 2 days after before the window staff can seem to find it etc. If USPS is involved, Amazon Prime takes 6-7 days.


Bottom Line for me overall, I given them a B. Having said that, if it really has to get there in a particular time frame FED EX if it small/UPS if it is big.

[BJXDS]

Service SUCKS.

[flyrodr]

I had to laugh at the post about the counter people disappearing into the back when the line at the Post Office lengthened. It happens all too frequently at my local Post Office. Poof - - - just like they get a secret signal.

And the horror stories about carriers made me appreciate mine. When she's on duty, she comes tearing (safely) down the street in the standard USPS "truck", as it gasps to produce enough power to at least give gravity a bit of help. If I'm out in the yard, she waves, shouts hello as she stuffs the mostly junk mail in my box and continues down the street. If she's carrying an oversized package, she hops out to hand it to me, or if I'm not there, she carries it up to the front porch. Does the same for all the neighbors.

When she's not on duty, her replacements don't operate at the same level; no where near.

If the USPS could just clone her (and charge junk mail generators first class rates, which might get rid of most of them), I'd think most of the complaints would go away. At least it'd be nice to think so.

[Borderland]

We live on a rural route and a vehicle drives to our mailbox which is 1000' from our house.

The nearest post office is 12 miles away. They've had a help wanted sign there for almost 2 years and the signs keep getting bigger. The post office was built about 35 years ago and the population in the area has increased 5x.

I check the email delivery every morning to see if I need to get the mail. I usually don't but enjoy the walk.

I've noticed that when I send a package to my sister in San Angelo she gets it in 4 days. My brother lives a few miles out of San Angelo and it takes 7 days. I ask him why and he said they closed the post office a few miles from him but he still has the old P O Box address. So they try to send it to a non existing post office box several times. After a few days they figure it out. I ask him why he didn't get a new P O Box and he said he didn't want to pay for a P O Box 20 miles away. I then said why not rural delivery. He said it was too much junk. So now he drives the 20 miles once or twice a week to get his mail and packages, but he doesn't pay for the P O Box.

I had a P O Box for awhile but it got so loaded up with junk it was unusable. They put bins in the lobby but soon it looked like a transfer station with mountains of junk mail. So they took those out and installed more mail boxes?

I recycle all of my junk mail and burn the personal stuff. I know, air pollution, but I saw 50 RR cars full of coal heading for China or Europe yesterday.

[TGS]

I'm sure some of the problems are systemic, but the system is comprised of people - and people matter. At my old house, in a rural area but on a well-trod paved county road, our carrier was atrocious. The wife and I used to "joke" that she had to be on crack... At the new place, kinda back in the holler, service is pretty decent. The other day we got a piece of mail and the only thing correct on the address was the street number and extended zip code. It was kind of incredible that that piece of mail made it to us. Even with that, I continue to be astounded at the reliability of UPS (in particular) and FedEx as well. Those jokers run like clockwork. It's a little crazy that the Big Brown Truck of Joy hauls packages up and down our gravel road which is barely maintained by the county. I like my UPS guy.

UPS is a beast. They have a very high turnover not because of unhappy employees, but because they have something like a 97% or 98% efficiency rating on their employees, meaning if you screw up with any regularity you get fired. Those guys and gals are huffin' and puffin' everyday to make their marks, which justifies max'ing out the payscale very quickly (4-5 years) with pay that is dramatically higher than similarly unskilled positions (I think a max'd out delivery driver is making about $120k on average right now, total compensation including benefits is about $170k, which made news a couple months ago). If you work harder and finish your route early, you have the option to go home or take another load, and you start OT pay as soon as taking that extra load...not after the end of your regular shift hours like we would expect. The company is very open that you're there to be used and abused and treated like a pack animal, but that you'll at least be paid well for it while you last.

Very few of them last a decade+ due to the performance metrics and physical burnout of the job.

(note: I was told some of these bits by someone that worked for them a while back, may have changed)

[kwb377]

I'm thinking, and might eventually come up with a better example of poor service than the USPS here in my neighborhood in AZ, but I doubt it.

Nothing in their system works. Lost mail is almost as common as delivered mail.

Mail in my mail box addressed to other addressees. My mail in other people's mail boxes.

Ten day delivery for special delivery that is "supposed" to take two days.

Notices in my mail box advising that the carrier allegedly attempted to deliver a special delivery to my home, but that there was nobody home (when in fact we were home on those days, and nobody attempted to deliver a package to us).

Snail pace service when we go to the local post office to pick up the mail they are holding because we allegedly were not home when they "attempted" to deliver to us. Same when attempting to mail a package. I have personally witnessed 10+ customers standing in line while being waited on by three clerks. As if some silent signal is sent, two of the three clerks simply disappear and walk in the back out of sight (coffee break? lunch? who knows?). And they never return, at least not while I am still in the post office. This is common, not unusual.

Trying to recover your loss when the USPS loses something you mailed (insured) is almost impossible and they almost always have a reason they cannot honor your claim. I sold $150 of reloading dies to a person out of state and mailed them via USPS Priority mail with $200 insurance on them. They were lost in the mail before they ever got out of Phoenix (where they were mailed). My claim for reimbursement was declined once and resubmitted with receipts, photos, etc. The claim is still being assessed. It has been 10 1/2 months since they admitted they lost my goods.

I have absolutely stopped using the USPS, except when there are zero other alternatives. Third world service at its best.

In my neighborhood, it's become "Postal Roulette"...never know what house number a package will land on. Also, the local PO will have their lobby hours posted and be randomly closed during those hours (not included the listed closed times for lunch).

About half the time, when I have a package showing "Out For Delivery", I'll check it later and it will show, "Attempted, Delivery Point Inaccessible". This is how "inaccessible" my mailbox and front door are...

(Once, I was literally standing 20' up my driveway from my mailbox when the carrier dropped letter mail in the box and drove off. Knowing I had a package out for delivery, I went inside and checked the tracking number...sure enough, "Delivery Point Inaccessible". YGBSM...she was literally close enough to speak and call me over to hand the package to me.)



Another time, I was expecting two packages that showed out for delivery...one was dropped off but both showed "Delivered". I tracked down the carrier a couple blocks over and explained the situation. He said, "Yeah, I remember delivering that package." I took me 10 minutes to finally get him to understand the difference between "that package" and "those packages {plural}".



As far as filing an insurance claim...I sold a mountain bike fork and insured it for the $500 sale price. Sure enough...it was "lost". I went to the local PO and they referred me to a link on the USPS website (apparently, you can buy postal insurance at the local PO but they can't do anything when it comes time to file a claim). So you go to the link on the USPS website, fill out some info, then you have to call a special phone number to speak to someone. Then you have to go back to the website and submit more info. I submitted the copy of the ad I had posted showing the sale price, and copy of the Paypal transaction showing how much the buyer paid, and the shipping receipt showing where I had purchased the insurance. About 10 days later I got a notice in the mail that my claim was denied because I didn't submit a receipt from where I originally purchased the item. "It came mounted on a fucking bicycle you stupid fucks"...but realized that it was just a bullshit excuse to deny the claim. To appeal the denial, you have to go back to the website and submit...and of course I never heard back.

Fuck the USPS.