Venting, or the United States Postal Service is worthless

[Rusty Shackleford]

I guess I'll just consider it a $200+ lesson learned. I sold via Amazon and mailed four textbooks back in late December, early January via the USPS in separate boxes. Got delivery confirmation, kept the mailing receipts (all of which I still have). None of the books reached their destination. I refunded the money via Amazon and went to the post office facility from which they were mailed looking for answers. In the six months since, I've been up there more than a dozen times and still have not gotten my books back, nor have I gotten my money back. At this point, it's less about the money than it is a personal mission to get them back just for the sake of doing so.

This type of incompetence is why the USPS is hemorrhaging money. This type of incompetence is why I will never again mail anything requiring more than a single stamp via the USPS. This type of incompetence is why I won't shed a tear when this organization finally goes belly up (this isn't the first time they've dicked me over. Guess I should have learned my lesson earlier...).

End of rant.

 

[murphyc]

We use a USPS permit for sending out our weekly. Put nicely, the local USPS has been a nightmare to work with. We're a block away from our post office, but had to switch to one across town because the nearby one simply would not work with us. Kept making us jump through one hoop after another. The one we deal with now isn't much better. One a-hole in particular keeps changing the regulations and rules we have to follow, each of which of course costs more.
With the USPS hemorrhaging money like it's going out of style, you would think they would want to, oh I don't know, work with people. I don't know if it is just arrogance on their part, stupidity or a combination.

 

[Dyno]

After I moved last year, I started having major issues with my mail. Bills went missing, magazines arrived days later than they were supposed (or not at all), mail that was supposed to be held when I was out of town wasn't and more. I complained to my local post office, to no avail (the manager barely spoke English). I complained online and got a call from a consumer affairs person at USPS. The woman could not have been nicer, but she pretty admitted I'd just have to deal with it because there was nothing they could do.

When I do have to go to the post office, I'm always amazed by how long it takes for the employees to do simple tasks. I swear it took almost 5 minutes for me to buy a book of stamps.

To murphyc's last comment, I think it's a combination of apathy and stupidity.

 

[bigpern23]

I was actually going to post a thread the other day about the USPS but got sidetracked. I was wondering how long until the government shutters it.

I have a PO Box from my last address and I moved at the beginning of May about a half hour from where my mail is delivered. I'm lucky if I check it once every two weeks. In that time, all I've received are bank statements (which I long ago asked my bank to stop because I check them online), some magazines and junk mail.

I'm pretty sure I could go Kramer-style and tell them I don't want to receive anymore mail and never miss anything.

It seems like the USPS is only good for delivering junk mail now, and maybe the occasional check, but really, how much longer are people even going to mail personal checks?

I know shutting it down would put a ton of people out of work, but how much longer is the government going to continue supporting this institution that is vomiting money all over itself? My guess is 15 years before we no longer have a U.S. Postal Service.

 

[zebracoy]

There was a post office in the town I used to live that was notoriously slow. It wasn't much anything the workers could do, outside of have additional folks there; the lines were always 10-12 people deep for two windows, despite going at 9 a.m. or 1 p.m. or 3 p.m. It was always a task to go there.

But then I moved, and there's a post office down the street that's been absolutely fantastic. I've had no problems with anything and it's been a fantastic experience.

This doesn't help all the griping, but I figured I'd just throw it out there.

 

[HC]

We just had a postal strike/lockout and I didn't really notice except that my Entertainment Weekly didn't come. I get all my bills electronically and pay them the same way.

 

[WolvEagle]

I wonder about the intelligence of postal workers in my hometown. We periodically get mail for the woman who has the matching address on the next street north. I usually just drop it in the mailbox here at work, which is in a different city.

When it happened a couple weeks ago, I happened to be going for a walk in my neighborhood and going by a mailbox, so I dropped the magazine in the box. The next day, the magazine showed up in my mailbox AGAIN. The next day, I put it in the mailbox at work - and haven't seen it since.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

I guess I'll just consider it a $200+ lesson learned. I sold via Amazon and mailed four textbooks back in late December, early January via the USPS in separate boxes. Got delivery confirmation, kept the mailing receipts (all of which I still have). None of the books reached their destination. I refunded the money via Amazon and went to the post office facility from which they were mailed looking for answers. In the six months since, I've been up there more than a dozen times and still have not gotten my books back, nor have I gotten my money back. At this point, it's less about the money than it is a personal mission to get them back just for the sake of doing so.

This type of incompetence is why the USPS is hemorrhaging money. This type of incompetence is why I will never again mail anything requiring more than a single stamp via the USPS. This type of incompetence is why I won't shed a tear when this organization finally goes belly up (this isn't the first time they've dicked me over. Guess I should have learned my lesson earlier...).

End of rant.

If you received delivery confirmation, perhaps the receiver is scamming you.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Yet another government agency that needs to be privatized.

 

[MacDaddy]

As people have already said, post offices are either great or horrible, and it all seems to depend on the staff. Some postal employees actually do their job well, but it seems like the majority are some combination of incompetent or mindless.

I had to get a post office box a few months back, which was much more hassle than it should have been — took two trips because the mindless clerk insisted that my automobile registration wasn't proper identification because it wasn't within the past 90 days, even though nothing in the paperwork or on the website said anything other than "current." Then I had to wait seemingly forever for them to swap out the lock on the box because the key didn't work.

If there were a similarly priced alternative the USPS would not be getting my money now.

 

[bigpern23]

Yet another government agency that needs to be privatized.

At this point it just seems to be a government subsidized way for credit card companies and retailers to advertise, no? How much useful mail does anyone receive through USPS these days?

 

[MacDaddy]

Yet another government agency that needs to be privatized.

At this point it just seems to be a government subsidized way for credit card companies and retailers to advertise, no? How much useful mail does anyone receive through USPS these days?

They deliver 177 billion pieces of mail annually. At least a few hundred of those have to be useful.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

How many billions do they lose annually?

 

[Dyno]

Yet another government agency that needs to be privatized.

At this point it just seems to be a government subsidized way for credit card companies and retailers to advertise, no? How much useful mail does anyone receive through USPS these days?

I got a birthday card with a check in it today. That's pretty useful.

 

[Mark McGwire]

They'll pick a letter up at my house and deliver it anywhere in the US for 44 cents.

As soon as the free market can match that, privatize away.

 

[TigerVols]

I wonder who the hell opens the junk mail fliers that stuff mailboxes weekly? I guess carpet cleaners and pet food makers must assume someone does, but for the life of me I can't figure out who.

 

[dixiehack]

One of the products we sell to businesses is a customized direct mail setup. We tell them that a 1-2% response rate is considered successful.

 

[Dyno]

I wonder who the hell opens the junk mail fliers that stuff mailboxes weekly? I guess carpet cleaners and pet food makers must assume someone does, but for the life of me I can't figure out who.

I open them. A deli and the car wash I go to have coupons in a monthly mailer I get. Saves me $$.

 

[HC]

I found my dentist from a junk mail postcard.

 

[westcoastvol]

For years, I've been waiting for the USPS to try to attach postage onto email. That would set off the biggest citizen revolt ever.