U.S. Post Office

[AugieTN]

I think something is seriously messed up with the U.S. Postal Service, maybe it's regional or a fluke.

First case: I got my Home Depot bill. It was due in 12 days. I wrote a check and mailed it at the Post Office the same day. 3 weeks later it gets cashed. Yes exactly 3 weeks later it was cashed. I got a new bill from Home Depot with a late fee and interest ($60 total). I call Home Depot and they keep repeating they are not responsible for the mail service. I kept on repeating was it the mail service or is it your bank being behind processing mail in payments?. Finally they took off the late fee and interest and I closed the account.

I told this story to a friend and he told me you have to start paying electronically. Which I have started doing. I didn't want to start banking over the internet, but i decided to give it a try.

Second case: I got my Visa bill on December 5, 2022. The Visa Bill says it's due November 3, 2022 (See attached photo) . I called Visa to tell them my December 5th bill came and it is due November 3rd.

So at this point I think it's a post office problem. Anyone else run into an issue like this with the postal service?

 

[ocnbrze]

this is why i only pay my bills online. i trust the USPS only for things that are not time sensitive or money related. when i do mail in voting (please do not make this statement political), i drop it off at the Post Office.

 

[Dannydet]

I've never had any mail issues like that, and those are uncalled for.
I'd contact my local post office and complain until they get their act together.

 

[svim]

The USPS is undergoing a massive changeover in operations. All of us here in the U.S. need to readjust our expectations on mail and packaging. It's just not going to be the same as it used to be, another victim of our societal push to privatize a public service.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/04/08/usps-dejoy-crisis/

 

[AugieTN]

I've never had any mail issues like that, and those are uncalled for.
I'd contact my local post office and complain until they get their act together.

I stopped using hold mail at the post office when going on vacation because they would still deliver some mail. The last time i used it they over stuff my box which opens from the top and the mail got soaked and ruined.

I went into the post office to tell them what had happened and I asked for a supervisor. They told me there is "no supervisor" and gave me a 800 number to call.

What I plan on doing tomorrow is calling the postal workers union and tell them what has happened. I'm sure a BA from the union will listen.

 

[The_Chief]

I only mail my mortgage payment each month (I don't trust those skunks with my bank account): I use a Pilot G2 blue pen for the check because it can't be "washed" by acetone and a new payee written in; I tape the ends of the flap to make it harder to tamper. Then I walk it inside the post office and hand it to a clerk. I NEVER use an outside mailbox for outgoing checks.

The United States Postal Service has been on fumes for decades, kept alive by annual congressional funding - even though it's technically not part of the federal government. Thanks to postal worker union contracts that prevent firing or layoff, and mandatory routing to support legacy postal workers (not efficiency), rates go up and service goes down.

EXAMPLE: To get a letter from Nashville to me, the mail truck literally drives past my town on the interstate and takes the letter all the way to to Chattanooga, where it's cancelled and routed back to my town for delivery.

I have long argued that if UPS and FedEx can take over routine postal materials like newspapers and junk mail (er, "marketing opportunities"), USPS can be liquidated and sent into the history books.

 

[jhtalisman]

UPS and FedEx are sometimes better, but I have had packages shipped from West TN to me in Nashville/Middle TN area, that went from Memphis to Knoxville to Kentucky before making it to Nashville.

It's logistics, I know, but it isn't really that efficient.

 

[puppykickr]

The USPS is basically a turd.

I have actually witness a mailman driving away from mailboxes that the mail was blowing out of as he drove away.

I flagged him down (I was on a bicycle) and pointed out the mail in the road.

He was completely unconcerned and continued on his route.

Now I realize that Amazon should deliver the mail.
Hell, I see more Amazon trucks than mail trucks anyway!
They do door service, and move much faster.
Seriously, dump the USPS, and let Amazon deliver the mail.

 

[ozonetrooper]

There is a Federal investigation going on here about our very poor postal service. Mail is being stolen out of drop boxes and checks washed and amounts rewritten and cashed.

I have been victim to two incidents where my mailed rent checks disappeared and never reached their destination.

I have had to call credit card services when I did not receive any mail for weeks and when it did arrive the due dates had passed and I had to pay late fees. One year I had over 200 dollars in late fees and negative marks on my credit history due to not getting my mail in a timely manner.

All of my bill pay is online now, sign up for paperless option and cut the USPS circus lose !



https://www.galvnews.com/news/free/article_747386a6-aa43-5c1e-9578-2662d90c9abd.html

 

[Dannydet]

I pay everything online and am very pleased with the experience.
No more stamps to buy or needless trips to the mailbox or post office.

 

[rootabaga]

We send cards and letters and the occasional package via USPS. Everything else we do in person or electronically.

And for all it’s faults, USPS is still pretty darn good. A bit over a half-dollar to send love to someone in a letter who is half a continent away is a steal of a deal, even if you ignore the cost of fuel. Absolutely it has awful employees and a passel of problems, but any monstrous enterprise has that as well. Yes, they need to work on things, and they won’t ever be able to fix everything. Still…

And pretty much anything is better than FedEx Ground…at least in my experience.

 

[Bearsyzf]

I agree about FedEx, they take forever to send me my Shoes

 

[The_Chief]

Lemme tell you about FedEx Ground!

Spoiler

The Darling Bride and I are both at the point, physically, that firm mattresses hurt us. Our $3700 mattress just didn't have enough "give" for us anymore, so we ordered a Puffy Royal Hybrid online. Puffy shipped it immediately. And then it got hung up at a FedEx depot 30 miles from here... or so the web tracking said.

(Meanwhile, we're waiting to donate it to a couple in dire need)

It was "delayed and "pending" for over a WEEK and Puffy was ready to reship a (very expensive) mattress when they informed us that they'd received a call from someone who said they got our shipment. It was a warehouse less than TWO MILES from our house! We drove there and got the box, which looked like it had just come out of a war zone. Our shipping label was even gone! The only thing left was a FedEx bar code.

Despite the outer box, which was barely held together with shipping tape, the inner, vacuum-sealed plastic seemed undisturbed. We pulled our old mattress off the base, cut open the new mattress and allowed it to expand in place.
(Even though it can take 24 hours to 7 days to fully restore its shape, sleep on this mattress has been sheer ecstasy: it is supportive but very embracing, eliminating our pressure points. OMG I love this thing)

Needless to say, FedEx has yet to "find" our mattress. My suspicion is that the warehouse delivery was an 18-wheel semi, and the driver did NOT want to drive that thing down our hilly, curvy road... so he just dumped our box off while they were busy unloading pallets of their stuff. Thankfully, they called Puffy (name is all over the box) and advised them that they had this thing no one had ordered. Puffy emailed us, and we went & got it. I urged Puffy to file a claim anyway, because someone at FedEx (I'm looking at you, driver) has some 'splainin' to do.

(In the event you're interested in a Puffy mattress, PM me because we can get you a referral promo code)

 

[mikedt]

Paying a four figure sum for a mattress?!
Wow, that's baller.

 

[The_Chief]

You get what you pay for... you spend 1/3 of your life in bed, asleep. If you don't get good, restful sleep, the other 2/3 of your life aren't running at peak condition. We buy nice clothes, nice cars, nice gadgets... and then skimp on the bed! BAD IDEA

 

[AugieTN]

Remember when a first class letter would take 3 days?

Granted it's a package from California to Illinois. I just got a notification from Amazon that my package has been shipped and here is the estimated delivery date from USPS

Hi August, your package will arrive:

Friday, January 6 -
Monday, January 9

10 to 13 days for a small package. The item weighs 7.4 ounces

They need a new Post Master who can bring standards back

 

[Unforgiven]

Remember when a first class letter would take 3 days?

Granted it's a package from California to Illinois. I just got a notification from Amazon that my package has been shipped and here is the estimated delivery date from USPS

Hi August, your package will arrive:

Friday, January 6 -
Monday, January 9

10 to 13 days for a small package. The item weighs 7.4 ounces

They need a new Post Master who can bring standards back

I never trust Amazon's shipping estimate when they use USPS. I grab the tracking number and check it directly at the USPS and it is usually less time (and more accurate). I'm not sure if it is the data feed from USPS to Amazon, or if Amazon doesn't care.

 

[AugieTN]

I never trust Amazon's shipping estimate when they use USPS. I grab the tracking number and check it directly at the USPS and it is usually less time (and more accurate). I'm not sure if it is the data feed from USPS to Amazon, or if Amazon doesn't care.

I just checked USPS and it said "Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item MONTCLAIR, CA 91763 December 27, 2022, 4:28 pm" Their time is really messed up it's 1:18 CST 2:18 EST

I'll keep checking it and report back when USPS gives a delivery date.

 

[olbriar]

I wish you the very best luck if your package is shipped via USPS from California. My last USPS package (a brake sensor cable weighing zilch) took two weeks to travel from California to Kansas. Oddly enough, I order my bulk pipe tobacco from a vendor in New York, that is also USPS shipped. It is consistently a two or three day shipment and weighs over five pounds. There seems to be a problem that delays shipments from California.

 

[AugieTN]

Item arrived yesterday.in regular mail. It was sent as First-Class Package Service. Given the holiday, 5 days is acceptable.

 

[nickdalzell]

OP is just now reaslising it?

There was a time that if you demanded a refund if the payphone wouldn't give you your dime back, they'd send the 10c refund in an envelope with a 37 cent stamp!

I also heard that at one time you could circumvent needing a stamp by mailing a letter with the destination address as the return address and it'd return to sender to that instead of coming back to you.

Around the rural areas here, they drive around in beat up old cars instead of proper postal carrier trucks and I keep confusing them for lost Dominoes delivery drivers. They don't have any stickers indicating they're postal carriers at all, just barely going 20 on the highway belching blue smoke. It always takes some time before I know they're postal workers and not some poor schmuck with a failing transmission.

The only ones worse than them are UPS. I call them 'United Parcel Smashers' precisely because they see 'Fragile' as a sort of challenge. If you mail say a vintage phonograph via UPS, it's going to be all busted up on arrival.

 

[ozonetrooper]

 

[AugieTN]

Something else I have noticed with the Post Office over the last year. Some days a Post Office truck never shows up in the neighborhood. and mail does not get delivered that day. I'm guessing the new rule is, if someone is sick or taking a personal holiday they don't let another carrier do the route on overtime.

I know the Post Master want to turn the Post Office into a profit making business which is stupid. Getting the post office to break even should be the goal. They could do that by eliminating the bulk mail rate. It's all junk mail to me. Raise the postage rate. 66 cents to mail a letter is way to low. I think the rate should be at least a $1.00 or up to $1.25. Here's a chart comparing our rate in 2020 to other countries:

How our postal rates measure up to other countries

 

[olbriar]

I don't know that we've ever missed a day's delivery. We get some sort of junk mail daily.

 

[AugieTN]

I don't know that we've ever missed a day's delivery. We get some sort of junk mail daily.

If I walk into the post office and ask, they won't answer and they will give me a 800 number to call, which is so stupid.
I'll call the postal worker union on Monday and ask about non delivery days.