USPS Really Screws It Up

[FL-JOE]

We use a life long friends address down in Florida as our permanent mailing/legal address. We provide her with those large priority mailing envelopes so about once a month she can stuff them with any important mail and forward it to us where we are traveling. Of course it usually isn't anything significant and if it is she has already photographed it and sent that along.

A couple weeks ago she addressed a priority mail envelope to us where we were camping up in Illinois. When it didn't arrive on the 4th day we tracked it. It was sent to Honolulu! Our friend sent us a copy of her receipt on our phone, it was very clearly addressed to central Illinois, not sure how they sent it clear to Hawaii.

Anyhow, it is finally back in some hub around St Louis and we might have it in Illinois soon. Of course now we are out west. Makes you wonder how the Feds get anything right anymore.

 

[Neal]

Why do they have to get it right? A business that doesn’t have to worry about success.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

Unfortunately we have experienced a few of these situations over the past year of being full time. When it really matters, we don’t use USPS and have to pay the big bucks for FedEx or UPS.
When using USPS we ALWAYS use tracking so we can prove to USPS, using their system, that they messed up…again.

 

[Fish]

I sent my request to cash in my 401K in a registered letter last October. It still hasn't arrived.

I did it because I was getting ready to leave for Florida in a month and wanted it all cleared up before I left. Luckily I managed to get it done through email.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

We’ve had similar problems with USPS over the past few years. Unfortunately, it is not the “postal service“ of the past. It is now run by “an independent commission” that fills leadership positions that neither the President nor Congress can overrule.

Congress saddled USPS with massive debt some years back by requiring them to pre-fund its retirement fund up front. Imagine trying to run a business where the day you hired a new employee, you had to pony up their entire 20-year retirement fund immediately. As a result, staffing has plummeted. And, the “independent commission” appointing a succession of postmasters general on the basis of political affiliation rather than expertise certainly hasn’t helped either.

It is a MESS and doesn’t look like it will be getting better any time soon.

TJ

 

[JRS]

Wow Hawaii!!! We haven't had any issues yet with mail forwarding in just about 2 yrs now. We end up having MyRVMail forward our stuff only once/month and all campgrounds have approved shipping vs going to the local post office. For sure recommend spending extra and going with Priority Mail for tracking purposes.

 

[FL-JOE]

Wow Hawaii!!! We haven't had any issues yet with mail forwarding in just about 2 yrs now. We end up having MyRVMail forward our stuff only once/month and all campgrounds have approved shipping vs going to the local post office. For sure recommend spending extra and going with Priority Mail for tracking purposes.

It was a USPS priority mail package! We purchase several of them in advance of our summer travels and leave them with our friend. She loads them and forwards them when we need her to do it. That is how we knew it went across the ocean because we tracked it. She does everything a paid mail service does, except we don't pay her for it.

Just to add insult to injury, when the package did arrive it was tore open and several things were missing. Over the next few days two magazines showed up that had dropped out of it. A credit card statement and a couple other envelopes never showed up. They must have blown out of the plane somewhere over the water.

 

[Sonic]

Sorry to hear they screwed up your delivery. I've had more issues with FedEx and UPS over the years and they deliver a small fraction of the 130 billion pieces of mail that USPS handles each year.
Just a little love for our postal workers.

 

[FL-JOE]

We recently read somewhere that everyone should now expect delays throughout the USPS system. Due to a family death we are in the process of dealing with mailing documents to several insurance companies and brokerage firms. We may start looking at using FedX next day air delivery options instead.

 

[sanda]

Sorry to hear they screwed up your delivery. I've had more issues with FedEx and UPS over the years and they deliver a small fraction of the 130 billion pieces of mail that USPS handles each year.
Just a little love for our postal workers.

Everytime the USPS tries to close a post office the residents go to their congressman and get it stopped. That is a major problem when trying to balance the books. Years ago USPS tried to get UPS or FEDEX to take over delivery. Both agreed they wanted the large population areas but would have nothing to do with the outlying areas. They recognized the money pit involved. Just about every tiny town nationwide thinks they must have a post office. Now USPS is advertising for new employees and cant get enough help to handle the mail load. Our government has never allowed the post office to run as a business so this is what we are stuck with.

 

[JRS]

MyRVmail.com just started offering FedEx options and their 2-3 day delivery cost (with tracking) only cost slightly more than USPS.

 

[Ilovemaui]

I’ve had just as many issues with fedex and ups as I have with usps. Last year fedex admitted losing a package and still denied my insurance claim. They all make mistakes and none if them honor their own standards.

 

[FL-JOE]

Due to a recent family death we have a few legal papers to mail this month. We obviously won't be attempting to send them USPS, so FedX will probably get some business. But yes, they certainly make mistakes also.

 

[91CavGT]

I’ve had problems with every one of the delivery entities. Don’t even get me started on other government bureaucracies with loosing paperwork. Social security lost my paperwork that I dropped off directly to the office that needed it!

 

[FL-JOE]

USPS is still having trouble keeping up. Delivery times are sometimes double what they were last year. To make matters worse our resort decided to change their mail delivery system this year. They sort after the mail truck drops off, then if you have a package they put a notice in your mailbox. You have to being the notice to the mail room to get your package before 3pm. The problem is the mail truck doesn't get to the resort until after 1pm so by the time they get notices in our boxes that we have a package it is already after 3pm. The result of their "new" policy is that it adds one more day to us getting any type of package which is being delivered by USPS.

 

[redbaron]

My small community of 2500 has a Facebook group setup to handle mis delivered usps mail.

The postmaster here is not very good, and the clerks are worse.

One clerk announced on the page that she just got a better offer and was quitting. She said the rest of her route was being dropped off at "ernies place". Only about 15 addresses affected but it was the bottom of the barrel for our local post office.

We are in an area where ups offloads final delivery of amazon to usps, and that has really hurt our small PO. The extra volume is too much. Even though the number of boxes are small, the land mass is very large. Often is more than 1 mile between addresses

 

[FL-JOE]

Dang, with all the $$$$ being spent in Washington you would think that the USPS would get funds to modernize and expand to improve. Instead they are heading in the opposite direction.

 

[STANDERSON]

My 2nd federal retirement (1st was Navy) was from the USPS. After 21 years, I finally threw up my hands. 30% absenteeism due to Covid. Mail getting delayed. 12-16 hour days.
Told my boss "I'm retiring"
"When?"
"Today is my last day"
Handed him my work cell and laptop.

 

[Buly]

How many times postman/woman were caught dumping bags of mail in a dumpster and going home to watch soap operas?
They know nobody can touch them. Union will protect them.
People complained about long wait times for service in the post offices. Their solution was to remove the big clocks hanging on the wall. No joke?

 

[STANDERSON]

I have so many stories.