Having trouble with the USPS?

Rob-F said:
I just got a text saying that the M4P is out for delivery! Almost safe now!

I'll dig out the address for the PG. It's in the basement.
Click to expand...

Good news! And thanks...

I'm going to switch shipments that are over a specific value, to use Fedex or UPS. Inexpensive items will still go USPS but I'll use shipsaver insurance, which is pretty cheap.

No shipper is perfect, but when there is a problem, it really helps to be able to talk to someone directly, which just isn't possible with USPS. One must fill out online forms and hope you get contacted.
 
The USPS may be having problems but I still think their service is better than UPS and especially FedEx. The latter routinely mishandle packages labeled fragile, and this has led to damage on several items I've received.
I still believe in the USPS and we need to use them and hold them to a higher standard. If it means contacting Congressional members and petitioning, then so be it.
Phil Forrest
 
Haha, I've never seen any package handler pay attention to "FRAGILE" stickers, it's entirely up to the shipper to pack things appropriately, assuming that the box will be thrown around like a football.

This can be a big problem when buying gear on ebay, as many sellers simply have no clue how to safely package...

As far as the service goes, USPS offers a good value for the money, although their prices have gone up significantly in the past year or so. The vast majority of the time, packages arrive on time, and everything is good.

The problem with USPS is when things go wrong, and they will eventually, it's virtually impossible to reach anyone that can do anything.

Fedex or UPS may cost slightly more but the support is infinitely better than USPS; that's where the additional cost is going.
 
I'm fond of re-telling this story about the time I had ordered two items; one from California which was expected to arrive next Monday, and another item from much closer to home (Indiana? Michigan? One of those...) and it was expected to arrive sooner; on Friday. I followed the tracking each day and was delighted to see both items arrive at the main Chicago Hub within minutes of each other on Thursday. This means they'll both arrive on Friday, right, with the California item coming earlier than expected. Not quite. The California item, being "early" cooled its heels for the whole weekend before finally departing the Chicago hub late Sunday night. I still got it "on time", on Monday, but it really made me wonder who is it that intervenes and makes sure it couldn't possibly arrive early.
 
I've also mailed a few items which somehow disappeared in the "system" for several days (one was a couple weeks!) before finally getting their first scan. When I've tried asking what happened/where is my item I was told "oh, its not lost, it just hasn't been scanned yet". Sure, for two weeks?
 
Just to add another data point: I live just west of Orlando (sounds like some people above have had problems with USPS in Florida). I've ordered several sets of prints recently from snapfish.com, for clients.

Snapfish prints them reasonably quickly, they get from Maryland to Orlando (via UPS Mail Innovations) within 2-3 days. But then the tracking info shows they've been transferred to the USPS in Orlando--and they disappear. Sometimes for well over a week, with no updates.

So far, they have all arrived (I'm still waiting on some in transit at present), but I can't fathom why, when UPS can get them here to Orlando in three days or less, it takes USPS in Orlando over a week to get them to me from that point, Covid or no Covid.
 
Yes, it's pretty common for things to disappear for days at a time when looking at tracking.

Pre-Covid, many, many times I've gotten orders late on Friday, they've been picked up by the carrier on Saturday, and they've been delivered across the country (shipping from Texas and heading to California, Washington state, etc.) and they've been delivered on Monday.

For a first class package that costs about three bucks, this is the equivalent over overnight service from Fedex/UPS that would cost around ten times as much.

Post-Covid, I can't recall this happening. Nearly every shipment is taking longer.
 
Oh, just having read the article ChrisPlatt posted the link to (https://fortune.com/2020/07/24/usps-mail-delivery-postmaster-general-louis-dejoy-us-postal-service/), now I can see why. More idiocy from Trump appointees--can't the man appoint *anyone* who has any competence in the field he's dumped them into?!?--coupled with other GOP perfidy from 2006. Makes "sense" now, someone's trying to get rich--and help their friends get rich--off what the Constitution says is a mandatory public service.
 
Nothing wrong at all with fixing fundamental USPS management problems so they stop hemorrhaging money.

Bear in mind, the USPS has lost $4 billion in 2018, and $7B last year...not to mention all the billions lost in previous years ($69B since 2007.)

Of course, the narrative in that article isn't surprising, seeing as it's coming from the perspective of the postal union...

The Postal Service has built-in advantages that UPS and Fedex will never have, yet they still fail to compete.
 
splitimageview said:
Nothing wrong at all with fixing fundamental USPS management problems so they stop hemorrhaging money.

Bear in mind, the USPS has lost $4 billion in 2018, and $7B last year...not to mention all the billions lost in previous years ($69B since 2007.)

Of course, the narrative in that article isn't surprising, seeing as it's coming from the perspective of the postal union...
Click to expand...

There really aren't any major "fundamental USPS management problems" though. A Congressional mandate forces USPS to pre-fund retirement benefits—something that no other Federal agency must do.

From the USPS website:
Unlike any other public or private entity, under a 2006 law, the U.S. Postal Service must pre-fund retiree health benefits. We must pay today for benefits that will not be paid out until some future date. Other federal agencies and most private sector companies use a “pay-as-you-go” system, by which the entity pays premiums as they are billed. Shifting to such a system would equate to an average of $5.65 billion in additional cash flow per year through 2016, and save the Postal Service an estimated $50 billion over the next ten years. With the announcement of our Action Plan in March, we began laying the foundation for change, requesting that Congress restructure this obligation.

​
The solution to this is not slowing down service or selling it to a hedge fund (which will raid the retirement fund and file for bankruptcy—the Bain Capital model).

Here's a good overview based on the work of an actual expert at Notre Dame. https://news.nd.edu/news/postal-ser...ressional-mandate-not-low-prices-expert-says/
 
Last edited:
There are challenges, of course, put in place in previous years by politicians who have no clue how businesses run.

But the postal service needs to be profitable. There is no reason it can't be, considering the built-in competitive advantages. Tax payers actually should *demand* that it be profitable...
 
splitimageview said:
There are challenges, of course, put in place in previous years by politicians who have no clue how businesses run.

But the postal service needs to be profitable. There is no reason it can't be, considering the built-in competitive advantages. Tax payers actually should *demand* that it be profitable...
Click to expand...

Of course I agree that there’s nothing wrong with profitability and indeed Tax payers should demand this. But as we are repeatedly told by these same politicians, regulations stifle competitiveness and kill innovation. That’s exactly what is happening with these unreal regulations imposed only on USPS. If they were meant for UPS or FedEx, they’d be deemed anti-competitive regulations.


Edit: On the other hand, one could also argue that pre-funding 75 years worth of future retirement benefits—cushy benefits for employees that are yet to be born, in essence—is "Communism." Heh heh.
 
I have problems with all three carriers —*UPS, USPS and FedEx. All of the drivers lie; when it's raining suddenly there's a "Delivery Attempt / no one home" kind of note, even though I am home the whole time.

Also, I am astounded by all of their inability to use a simple search engine to check an address with a typo in it. Recently a FedEx package sent to me from China for work was RETURNED TO CHINA because a single digit in the zip code was off! ONE DIGIT. Had they spent all of 3 seconds entering the address in Google it would have corrected the zip code. What happened to the information age!??!

Same with UPS —*a recent package sent to me had the wrong zip code and so comically bounced around four states for three months until it made it here. Don't they automatically check zip codes?

As far as the USPS: it seems obvious that the long-term goal of the leading party is to crush it so they don't lose the election. It's also because he hates Amazon, which relies on the USPS.
 
Try the postal service in other countries. I mailed two post cards in Mexico the same day two different postal boxes but near each other. One arrived in two weeks, and the other two months later. Same with the mail in Panama. I mailed a letter to my mother telling her when I would arrive in Oregon. I came a month later and beat the letter by a month.
 
USPS has been doing pretty well and understandably delayed here to Hawaii. But sometimes the packages come surprisingly fast (2-3 days) with priority mail.


But usually packages are delayed 1-2 days due to covid.


I have a package that's stuck in new york since june 12, I should probably contact the seller soon, I wonder if they lost it.
 
We have to repeal the Republican 2006 law (Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act) that forces the USPS to pay for 75 years of post-retirement health care costs. It would help out a lot business-wise (not that any government agency is asked to make a profit in the first place). What is the GOP doing “forcing socialism” on the USPS? It’s not ironic that they would do such a thing, since they’d like to privatize the USPS.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-bill/6407
 
ninadp said:
There really aren't any major "fundamental USPS management problems" though. A Congressional mandate forces USPS to pre-fund retirement benefits—something that no other Federal agency must do.
Click to expand...


The USPS has been a quasi-private entity for decades, passed by I don't know (and don't care) Congress. All private businesses are required by federal law to "pre-fund" their pensions plans to a per-determined level.
 
aizan said:
We have to repeal the Republican 2006 law (Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act) that forces the USPS to pay for 75 years of post-retirement health care costs. It would help out a lot business-wise (not that any government agency is asked to make a profit in the first place). What is the GOP doing “forcing socialism” on the USPS? It’s not ironic that they would do such a thing, since they’d like to privatize the USPS.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-bill/6407
Click to expand...

The bill was bipartisan: introduced in the House by Tom Davis, R-VA; cosponsored by John M. McHugh, R-NY; Henry Waxman, D-CA; and Danny Davis, D-IL. Passed by a voice vote.

USPS has been quite reliable overall in my experience, I've shipped thousands of packages over the past ten years or so.

Post-COVID, reliability has definitely suffered.

Support is mediocre at best, but luckily it isn't often required. Support post-COVID: poor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

W
WTF? M4 with part of a M9/MP finder in it?
Replies
5
Views
261
Bill Blackwell
Bill Blackwell
A
The mystery photographer of '60s San Francisco and undeveloped Kodachrome
Replies
16
Views
2K
bcostin
bcostin
caila77
Which camera made you fall in love with photography?
3 4 5
Replies
95
Views
6K
38Deardorff
38Deardorff
M
Breaking with my anti-EVF prejudices
Replies
9
Views
664
DownUnder
D
raydm6
Doctor With A Camera
Replies
10
Views
741
raydm6
raydm6
Back
Top Bottom