USPS revisited

Pitch

Well-known Member
Week or so ago there was a thread about package services.
I just received a package mailed from Oakland,California mailed on the 18th.
Cross country to NY in two days! No complaints here
 
Yeah, I won an Ebay bid on a recent Saturday, and had the tool in my hands the following Tuesday. I'm pretty happy with my postal service - only problem I can think of offhand - a couple of years ago the carrier left a package on the porch that wouldn't fit in the mailbox, and our dog destroyed it. Now they set packages inside the screened porch for us.
 
I ordered a part for my shop furnace online and paid extra for 2 day priority mail, I received it 7 days later! Used the tracking number and it left the warehouse same day as promised but just floated around in mail.
 
I was going to say,I can't complain, but I did a couple of weeks ago. We have a new guy on the route and he seems to just throw the mail in the box. Or pack it in tight just so he doesn't have to bring it to the house. Had a box one day that was a snug fit in the box and the rest of the mail gets stuffed around it. My wife went out to get the mail one rainy day and an envelope with a payment in it was laying on the ground. I took it to the post office and chatted with the postmaster. Glad it wasn't a credit card payment that might of gotten lost. I talked to the carrier and explained he could drive down the driveway drop packages on the back porch and drive right out the other side. The FedEx guy likes to leave packages on the front porch that never gets used and packages lay there til an email tells me they have been delivered. Caught him the other day and explained he doesn't have to walk thru 2 ft or more of snow, he can drive down the driveway leave his package and drive on thru.
 
Priority mail is pretty good. Fast and safe. The old standard mail (used to be called Parcel Post) will save you a few bucks but it takes the slow boat. Not really, it travels mostly the same as the rest.....IF there is room on the truck or plane after Priority goes first. It could get shoved back in the warehouse for days or weeks waiting a ride. AND, Standard Mail is handled mechanically. Think dump trucks and end loaders and you will be pretty close. NOT for fragile packages.
 
(quoted from post at 15:18:25 12/20/14) I was going to say,I can't complain, but I did a couple of weeks ago. We have a new guy on the route and he seems to just throw the mail in the box. Or pack it in tight just so he doesn't have to bring it to the house. Had a box one day that was a snug fit in the box and the rest of the mail gets stuffed around it. My wife went out to get the mail one rainy day and an envelope with a payment in it was laying on the ground. I took it to the post office and chatted with the postmaster. Glad it wasn't a credit card payment that might of gotten lost. I talked to the carrier and explained he could drive down the driveway drop packages on the back porch and drive right out the other side. The FedEx guy likes to leave packages on the front porch that never gets used and packages lay there til an email tells me they have been delivered. Caught him the other day and explained he doesn't have to walk thru 2 ft or more of snow, he can drive down the driveway leave his package and drive on thru.

There is a FedEx driver here that puts packages on the step to the front door that we never use. Sometimes we have forgotten about ordering something and it may sit there for weeks. I saw a different driver today and he told me that I have spoken to him about it before, and that he would put in an order to get the instruction to come up on the delivery ticket.
 
My FedEx driver is terrified of my large but harmless dog. Does a drive thru - drops packages in middle of drive. One time supervisor ran the route. We had words. Dog is always on a chain when we are gone. Not a barker. Not agressive.
 
Usually I am happy with USPS and I use it a lot but right now I a little anxious because I sent a new banjo to Alabama on Wednesday and it was supposed to be delivered today but it hasn't been scanned since Thursday morning. It's insured and I hope it will all turn out okay.
Zach
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I got a Christmas card from NY yesterday. Actually I got the front and separately, the back of the envelope in a plastic bag saying they were sorry for the damage and hope it was not an inconvenience! No contents, just the envelope halves. I must add that this is unusual, I normally get great service.
 
I usually have good luck with the USPS and UPS, Fedex not so much and my son works for them. My mail carrier and most of the UPS drivers are friends and they leave my packages in which ever truck I leave at the house. The only trouble I have with USPS is when I send something to my daughter in WI. For some reason It either takes forever or is returned undeliverable and she has had the same address for 7 years. All other destinations I have no trouble.
 
A couple of weeks ago I posted about USPS losing a hard to find antique tractor magneto that I won on ebay..Well for an update USPS just notified the seller that the magneto was stolen so I guess they have internal issues at a sorting center.....The seller has refunded my money thru paypal..After years of great service this is the third problem that he has recently had...Two of them involved tractor magnetos..

Some guys I know that sell tractor parts on ebay (mostly magnetos and carbs) have had USPS lose 3 packages this year...I recently had a book order from Amazon that got lost and two years ago another book order got lost..I will say that USPS has never broken anything and usually they are pretty fast and reliable..

All in all over the years USPS has done a good job as we do lots of business buying and selling on ebay..In 16 years and over 3000 deals on ebay we've only had 3 problems involving USPS..We have a wonderful rural mail carrier..

In over 30 years we've had only one problem with UPS..They broke a rare Cottonwood Acres toy MM tractor in to 8 pieces and didnt want to pay the insurance claim..My best UPS story is one night coming home from work I hit a deer at 11:15 pm and broke a headlight...At 11:30 pm I was on ebay ordering a new one..At 2 pm the next afternoon the UPS driver delivered it..

We've had no problems with Fedex but seldom do business with them..Just recently they delivered some Cockshutt parts from PA to MO in 3 days..
 
I had ordered some items from rock auto, and Amazon. Both shipped FedEx, due the same day. One arrived via the FedEx truck in the morning, the other was stopped off at the post office and delivered by our mail lady in the afternoon. That one threw me for a loop... I knew they delivered stuff for FedEx and ups, but seriously, the same day?

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
We get along pretty good with USPS and Fed X. But we do not allow UPS on our property! Not going into details , but they screwed up big time several years ago. They had there chance , but blew it. clint
 
wasn't from the western NY area was it ? mail truck delivering to distribution center flipped over spilling mail all over the road. Bill
 
Since the subject is opened I can't figure out the sacred cow aka Saturday mail delivery requirement.

It's been going on for some time now but the post man brings parcels to your door now rather than putting a little pickup ticket in the mail box. This is very convenient for me and yes it was necessary to compete with the brown truck.

I do most of my mail manually even though a roll of stamps is 50 bucks but I am in control of the withdrawals from my account and that's worth the added cost.

What I don't like is the junk mail that just fills up the local land fill and gets sent for pennies. You can't tell me that USPS makes any money out of that to speak of.

Anybody have an educated reason why we can't do without Saturday delivery?

Thanks,
Mark
 
Not trying to be smart here but, I don't blame him a bit. I used to read elec. meters and you always here that story about a dog being harmless, just likes to bark, etc. Go get bit by someone else's "Harmless Dog" then you might see what the mail person is against day after day, dog after dog. If your dog is so harmless why is he chained up? "They" say a barking dog never bites. They will stop barking once they get a hold of you. I have a friendly dog just like yours, except he has never been chained up. Friendliest dog in the world, you want stop by when I'm gone and check on him?
 
My dad was a postal employee for years, after running his own business. From a businessman's perspective, he couldn't understand why Saturday delivery was such a big deal...especially to Congressmen. And Dad's been gone over 20 years now.

Of course, there were a lot of changes in his time that he thought were stupid...such as eliminating a lot of the local post office sorting and cancelling, and just dumping mail into a tub to go to a "regional processing center," just so all the local stuff could come back the next day.
 
I have a real problem with the USPS in our area. Seems as a cost saving measure they hired independet contractors to deliver our rural route.

As a result we don't reliably get our mail. This is/was a real problem as back in the day if I didn't get a bill in the mail I didn't know to pay it. No system in place to keep up with them. I now have all bills emailed and or directly debited out of my checking.

I no longer use USPS & haven't bought stamps in I don't know how long. Only mail we get now is junk mail.
 
What I don't like is the junk mail that just fills up the local land fill and gets sent for pennies. You can't tell me that USPS makes any money out of that to speak of.

Anybody have an educated reason why we can't do without Saturday delivery?

Thanks,
Mark
I was a rural mail carrier for over 21 years.

Actually, the USPS makes more off the junk mail than you realize. If not for that, your first class stamps would cost even more than they do now. And apparently it pays off for the business that send it, or they wouldn't be doing it. Evidently not everyone is throwing it away.

Regarding Saturday delivery, first of all I believe it's still the law. Secondly, it's a service to the customer, whether they appreciate it or not. Thirdly, from a carrier's standpoint, every day that mail is not delivered makes for double the load the following day, which only serves to put the carrier behind schedule. I used to always hate those Monday federal holidays, especially the minor ones like Columbus Day, etc. All that did was to give us twice as much mail on Tuesday!! Eliminating Saturday delivery would do the same thing. Mondays were always busy enough the way it was, without adding that into the mix!
 
Well if you're walking the beat I can understand that. Maybe that's
the reason. Here in rural America it's via the Jeep. Glad to hear
that junk is making you money.

Thanks for the comments.

Mark
 
(quoted from post at 22:52:33 12/20/14) Yeah, I won an Ebay bid on a recent Saturday, and had the tool in my hands the following Tuesday. I'm pretty happy with my postal service -

I did an Ebay buy now thing on a Sunday night, had the part on Wednesday. No complaints here either.
 

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