Like everyone else, I've been learning to adjust to USPS delays and lengthy shipment times, even for Priority Mail, but this is the first time I have seen this kind of notification in USPS tracking:
"A train derailment has delayed delivery. We're adjusting plans to deliver your package as quickly as possible. New Stanton, PA"
Trains are delaying my trains!
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Suspect convenient alibying. Think the current Post Master General disposing of 100's of modern sorting machines has a lot more to do with the delays.
I have like five projects on hold due to USPS delays. some days over due, some weeks over due. From all the delays from last Christmas. Just nuts.
Almost all the parts, supplies, etc. that I have ordered this year have shown up within 5 days regardless of being 1st class or Priority. I do have one order via media mail (almost always slow........) that appears to be lost in Baltimore. But, lost in Baltimore seems to be normal now.
In Dec, things were bad; I rarely buy anything in Dec expecting the worse; I stop selling late in Nov. It's just not worth the pain of going to the PO that month.
@JBuettner posted:Like everyone else, I've been learning to adjust to USPS delays and lengthy shipment times, even for Priority Mail, but this is the first time I have seen this kind of notification in USPS tracking:
"A train derailment has delayed delivery. We're adjusting plans to deliver your package as quickly as possible. New Stanton, PA"
Trains are delaying my trains!
I had one of those late last year, but in Arizona. Was a first for me. Just took a week to get some paint from Arizona, "first class", no train wrecks. I've gotten it before, same dealer, same shipping, in 2 days.
Something to add, for those who this could apply to. I sold a Lionel F3 truck on eBay. I shipped it the next day priority mail small flat rate box. Tracking on eBay showed USPS had possession, and the package moved from my local PO to a sorting center. There it sat for three weeks! USPS wouldn’t let me file a lost claim, because they claimed it was just delayed, not lost. The buyer filed a claim with eBay, and eBay refunded his money from me. Meanwhile the part did arrive almost a month late. I’m not sure what could’ve been done differently other than not use USPS, but in this instance eBay’s buyer protections can really help stiff a seller.
@mark s posted:Suspect convenient alibying. Think the current Post Master General disposing of 100's of modern sorting machines has a lot more to do with the delays.
And I thought anything which purposely delays the mail is a Federal offense!
They got tired of using COVID as an excuse....now they use RAIN.SNOW.SLEET ETC.and anything else they can think of.....the times,they are a changing....
@Sam Jumper posted:Something to add, for those who this could apply to. I sold a Lionel F3 truck on eBay. I shipped it the next day priority mail small flat rate box. Tracking on eBay showed USPS had possession, and the package moved from my local PO to a sorting center. There it sat for three weeks! USPS wouldn’t let me file a lost claim, because they claimed it was just delayed, not lost. The buyer filed a claim with eBay, and eBay refunded his money from me. Meanwhile the part did arrive almost a month late. I’m not sure what could’ve been done differently other than not use USPS, but in this instance eBay’s buyer protections can really help stiff a seller.
If you now have prove it was delivered ebay should be able to make you whole if the buyer doesn't.
@joe krasko posted:They got tired of using COVID as an excuse....now they use RAIN.SNOW.SLEET ETC.and anything else they can think of.....the times,they are a changing....
Right!!!! My monthly medication for Asthma, from my local VA Hospital, was picked up by USPS (parcel select) on February 16 (because February 15 was a national holiday), even though the VA Pharmacy had it "ready for pick-up" on Friday, February 12. I live about 20 miles from Hines VA, in the western suburbs of the Chicago area. When the package didn't show by February 19, I called the VA and got the USPS tracking number; low and behold it was in Pittsburg, PA!!!!!! I started calling USPS, and eventually discovered that, yesterday (Feb.23) the package was in the LaGrange, IL Post office, i.e. NOT the Western Springs Post Office where we live! Since it is only 2 miles, I drove over to the LaGrange Post Office with my tracking information, and explained to the nice man behind the counter what has been transpiring. He said he would look in the back for one of those "puffy white plastic bags, with meds in them". Took about 15 min. and sure enough he found it, and explained that it was a really good thing that I drove over to his post office, as the package was obviously in the incorrect location, and would subsequently be "forwarded" to the Fox Valley Distribution Center. I said, "Well since it has already been to Pittsburg, PA, nothing surprises me anymore.". He got a good laugh at THAT, and just rolled his eyes.
What even happened to"neither rain nor sleet nor snow!!!!!!!!!!!"
@Richard Cuozzo posted:What even happened to"neither rain nor sleet nor snow!!!!!!!!!!!"
Long gone! We didn't receive our mail for more than 5 days, not including the President's Day National Holiday, because of the SNOW. Quite a different work ethic in our country anymore.
Having grown up in a small town and then moved back to it over 35 years ago, everyone seems to know or lives next to someone who works at our local post office. In speaking with the postmaster I was informed there were three main reasons for the delays we all seem to be experiencing: "In the last half of 2020 the newly appointed Post Master General made three decisions: Remove high speed sorting equipment from many locations; Reduce employee overtime; Handle all incoming mail on a "First In - Last Out " basis, meaning anything that was not processed the day it was received went into a pile to be processed later on a time available basis working from the top of the pile (Last In) down opposed to working from the bottom of the pile up (First In). In the USPS record keeping methods this method kept their delivery numbers up!" 
On 2/12 I ordered a small item from Burlington, WI (small town between Chicago & Milwaukee) to be shipped to my home about 45 NW of Albany, NY. Yesterday it left Spokane, WA. where it had been resting for 8 days. Tracking info here.
Funnily enough, we got mail on President's Day.
I am still awaiting a package shipped 11/6/20. At this rate, it might be in time for NEXT Christmas.
PITIFULL! :-(
Our experience here around the holidays was horrible...presents shipped to a family member went back and forth, back and forth for a month. Recently, for us, USPS service has been as good as ever. Just received a small shipment sent Monday by Priority Mail from the other side of the country. I was expecting arrival tomorrow according to the tracking info and it showed up today
Dejoy and the Board need to be fired immediately.
@Hot Water posted:Right!!!! My monthly medication for Asthma, from my local VA Hospital, was picked up by USPS (parcel select) on February 16 (because February 15 was a national holiday), even though the VA Pharmacy had it "ready for pick-up" on Friday, February 12. I live about 20 miles from Hines VA, in the western suburbs of the Chicago area. When the package didn't show by February 19, I called the VA and got the USPS tracking number; low and behold it was in Pittsburg, PA!!!!!! I started calling USPS, and eventually discovered that, yesterday (Feb.23) the package was in the LaGrange, IL Post office, i.e. NOT the Western Springs Post Office where we live! Since it is only 2 miles, I drove over to the LaGrange Post Office with my tracking information, and explained to the nice man behind the counter what has been transpiring. He said he would look in the back for one of those "puffy white plastic bags, with meds in them". Took about 15 min. and sure enough he found it, and explained that it was a really good thing that I drove over to his post office, as the package was obviously in the incorrect location, and would subsequently be "forwarded" to the Fox Valley Distribution Center. I said, "Well since it has already been to Pittsburg, PA, nothing surprises me anymore.". He got a good laugh at THAT, and just rolled his eyes.
Sorry to hear about meds....about the only thing that does come on time are my VA meds....
@modeltrainsparts posted:In speaking with the postmaster I was informed there were three main reasons for the delays we all seem to be experiencing: In the last half of 2020 the newly appointed Post Master General made three decisions: Remove high speed sorting equipment from many locations; Reduce employee overtime; Handle all incoming mail on a "First In - Last Out " basis, meaning anything that was not processed the day it was received went into a pile to be processed later on a time available basis working from the top of the pile (Last In) down opposed to working from the bottom of the pile up (First In). In the USPS record keeping methods this method kept their delivery numbers up!
Postmaster General DeJoy is testifying before Congress right now. People who don't follow the news and understand what's been happening to the Post Office Department should tune in. The issues have been going on for a long time. One thing DeJoy is proposing is the following, this from the Washington Post:
"Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told a House panel Wednesday that his forthcoming strategic plan for the U.S. Postal Service may include slowing first-class mail and removing a significant amount of mail from air transportation."
There's also a move on to replace some of the members of the Post Office Board of Governors due to issues, and to remove DeJoy, appointed during the last administration, for mis-management.
By the way, if you have to put a by your statement, you may have missed all the news (and there was a lot of it) about at least some of the reasons all this may have happened, and the timing, late last fall.
The Post Office is in the Constitution. Screwing with the USPS violates the intention of the Constitution and Ben Franklin, who put it in.
Breezinup, Thanks for your remarks. The only reason for was referring to the counting method, nothing else. I have not missed all the news and reasons, but do NOT want this post to become political but remain focused on the difficulties some of us are having shipping and receiving trains and train parts. I've edited my post to add quotation marks around what my local postmaster said.
My Postmaster told me the lack of flights causes delays due in part to no space. I send a package from Maine to Oregon three days Maine to Boston a week! No rhyme nor reason to the delays and the pricing is getting absurd.
Gunny
I had a priority mail pkg that was mailed January 3 and finally arrived Feb. 17. At least it arrived in perfect condition.
Dave
A big problem the US Postal Service has had since it's inception 50 years ago (replacing the old US Postal Service) is that it's basically banned from earning a profit - if some aspect of mail delivery is profitable, they have to leave it to private companies to do. They kinda get the leftovers.
I'm not excusing USPS in general for delays - recently a check I sent to the dealer I buy from near Pittsburgh took nine or 10 days to arrive, from Brooklyn. There were no weather issues at the time. I just mailed another one this week. We'll see. I seem to get better delivery times when I drop it off at/outside the post office, instead of at a neighborhood collection box.
To this one - there was a Norfolk Southern derailment in Newport, Pa., northwest of Harrisburg earlier this week. Intermodal. Delays were expected in shipping along that route.
David
We really did receive some Christmas cards in the first week of February. Our mailman said it may have been caused by two mail/baggage cars derailing coming into my staging yard. It took awhile to extricate them which I am sure was a good enough excuse for Mr. Dejoy..
The reality is that we have claims correspondence which some folks still mail that can take 3 to 4 weeks to travel 1200 miles. On our end we use FedEx for all client's important HIPPA or financial papers.
In our world this is a system problem, our experience with carriers and counter clerks is very satisfactory.
Ship it all UPS or FEDEX. Later for usps.
@modeltrainsparts posted:Breezinup, Thanks for your remarks. The only reason for
Thank you for your post.
Texas mail slow. No power in post offices. During ice storm.
I'm still waiting for some parts to repair a damaged item I purchased. It was damaged by the postal service when it was sent to me and now the same people are holding up the parts to repair what they damaged. Go figure. The parts were shipped November 25th. Still waiting, waiting, waiting .............
@Richard Cuozzo posted:Ship it all UPS or FEDEX. Later for usps.
Well, the latest package I received was a UPS delivery I picked up on Monday. It was 10 days late. I'll give them a few days leeway for weather, but it was delayed before the weather hit, and was further delayed for 4 days after everything cleared out.
A FedEx package I received, also from the West Coast and mailed about the same time, was delivered 3 days earlier, so it seems UPS just dropped the ball.
I haven't had any problems at all with USPS Priority Mail packages (the way I always ship, and usually receive) being delivered timely, although I didn't send/receive any during the storm. Home mail got backed up several days here (TX) with the storm.
@Tom Tee posted:We really did receive some Christmas cards in the first week of February. Our mailman said it may have been caused by two mail/baggage cars derailing coming into my staging yard. It took awhile to extricate them which I am sure was a good enough excuse for Mr. Dejoy..
Except,,,,,,,,,,,,,I'm pretty sure that the U.S railroads lost the contract to transport mail back in the early 1960s! To my knowledge, the U.S. Mail has NOT traveled by train in, what,,,,,,,,,60 years?
The reality is that we have claims correspondence which some folks still mail that can take 3 to 4 weeks to travel 1200 miles. On our end we use FedEx for all client's important HIPPA or financial papers.
In our world this is a system problem, our experience with carriers and counter clerks is very satisfactory.
I was under the impression that bagged mail/parcel still travels by rail in some areas. Sorting en route is long gone, of course.
@palallin posted:I was under the impression that bagged mail/parcel still travels by rail in some areas.
How? There are no more "baggage cars", outside of Amtrak which carries checked baggage for train passengers. Freight railroads no longer have "baggage" or "mail" cars. The "Eagle Express" lines, is the USPS system of moving mail, i.e. over the highway TRUCKS.
Sorting en route is long gone, of course.
I had a package from WA state delivered in 3 days to me in eastern PA, yet one from Baltimore, MD took 5 weeks. Another from Ohio took 4 weeks. All USPS.
I had a Priority Mail parcel take about 3 weeks to get here from Wisconsin, with the average being about a week. I took advantage of CVS free prescription delivery and the store is about a mile from here and it took 4 days to arrive because our efficient USPS shipped it to my via Sarasota which is about 60 miles from here lol. I have to give credit to my carrier she always rings the door bell when she leaves a parcel even tho my door bell camera notifies us and if the car sin't here she hides it behind the trash bin in the carport. And I never had any delivery problems with her in the last 2 years she was delivering my mail.
One word of advise when dropping off parcels at the Post Office, UPS, Fed Ex etc, always insist the scan it in for you. It isn't covered by the insurance until it's scanned. I had a parcel vanish at a Fed Ex Office a few years ago that I was told I can just leave it on the counter.
@Richard Cuozzo posted:Ship it all UPS or FEDEX. Later for usps.
I know folks like to pile on USPS and think that FedEx and UPS are the answer to everything, but they're not.
I have a FedEx package that left Sparks, NV on Friday, February 12th and I still haven't received here in South Florida. Tracking said that it was scheduled to be delivered by Friday the 19th, then it changed to 20th, then the 21st, and so forth. It sat in Concord, NC from last Saturday to yesterday, and is now in Orlando. Current delivery is projected as tomorrow, but we will see. Reasons provided by FedEx on their website was the weather and COVID-19.
@palallin posted:I was under the impression that bagged mail/parcel still travels by rail in some areas. Sorting en route is long gone, of course.
@Hot Water posted:How? There are no more "baggage cars", outside of Amtrak which carries checked baggage for train passengers. Freight railroads no longer have "baggage" or "mail" cars. The "Eagle Express" lines, is the USPS system of moving mail, i.e. over the highway TRUCKS.
I'm pretty sure that the U.S railroads lost the contract to transport mail back in the early 1960s! To my knowledge, the U.S. Mail has NOT traveled by train in, what,,,,,,,,,60 years?
44 years, to be exact, since the mail last traveled by train.
"With competition from highway and airlines, the decline had started to set in, and by 1967, the Post Office eliminated many routes, as railroads, which carried the RPO cars in their passenger trains, dropped them because of low ridership and mounting financial losses.
By 1977, the "New York & Washington" route, with a daily northbound and southbound mail-only train — no passengers were carried — were the last such trains operating in the country.
The final run for the trains was scheduled for June 30, 1977, with the New York train, No. 4, departing Washington's Union Station at 10 p.m. — which stopped at Baltimore around 11 p.m. — while its sister left New York's Pennsylvania Station at 11:40 p.m.
Emotional mail clerks on both trains stood by open doors waiting to salute their comrades for the last time, as they passed at 1:02 a.m. at Frankford Junction, north of Philadelphia, in a hail of mournful locomotive whistles.
Train No. 4 arrived in the bowels of Pennsylvania Station on time at 2:50 a.m., with its counterpart ending its run at Union Station a little after 3 a.m.
The necessity and romance of such trains had now passed into the nation's history."
I live in western Pa. and the mail in December & January was very slow, but now seems to be back to a new normal.
My son lives 2 hours from me in W.V. Normally it takes two or three days for regular mail to reach either of us. I got a birthday card from him this month 8 days after my birthday. He usually sends me a card two days before so I get it on time, so I thought this card took 11 days by USPS, but then I looked at the date he sent it... He was a week late by his own admission. So USPS was off the hook (& so is my 46-year-old son because, with all the great cards he has given me over the years, this is probably the greatest son to father word perfect card I ever got. It has a special place).
D.
I was in Union Tower in Baltimore watching the last run of #4. One of our little group was down on the platform and handed up a bunch of SASEs to get the postmark; a last day cover. Note that the block operator was one of us.
Here is good history of mail service. Mail is still carried by train just not in the traditional manner we are used to.
@Hot Water posted:
I have read of bags of presorted mail being carried in sealed boxcars long after the mail clerks and RPOs were retired. The info I read has nothing to do with the date breezinup posted. Please see GG1 4877's link.
There is a fair amount of mail, loaded in semis, that still travels by rail. I think it used to be called "Piggyback?" A lot of the USPS Express Mail is also subcontracted to FedEx and so may be in some of their trailers on flat cars.
The previous Federal Administration had a lot of members who believed that many of the service industries that the government operates, the mail and passenger railroads, would be better operated by private industry, those who could turn a profit doing it. The mindset was that it should not be taxpayer dollars paying for these services. It is strictly my opinion, though I am sure I am not the only one with it, that these Federal administrators would be willing to make those service industries fail to get their way.
Yo "Hot", It's 1953 in my train cave...quantum space time.
Besides that, excuses from upper management do not have to make any sense. Upper management has no idea of reality so misunderstanding and mismanagement can make sense to them.
And it's only going to get worse....
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/24...ng-about-mail-delays
Let Bezos take over. He will have it turning a profit in no time.
Someone was telling me in Europe, they have re-invented their postal service. Some countries have turned there post office into convenient stores. Just like full service gas stations, get a coffee, snacks, or what have you. We have all these post offices right here sitting mostly empty. Time to think outside the box with the USPS.
From my experiences in Europe, it varies by Country.
In Sweden, most of the POs have been closed - You buy stamps at convenience stores, mail packages at service desks in Supermarkets - Packages are delivered to the closest supermarket and you get a text message or postcard in your mailbox where to pick up the package.
In Austria the POs are thriving and you can buy cards, bank, get phone service, buy a cellphone and get lots of other services at the PO.
From what I understand part of the problem in the US is that postal unions do not want the work outsourced to a grocery store, Staples, etc.
When I was growing up in Scranton, PA, in every neighborhood had a pharmacy that had a PO counter. When I moved to Amherst, MA in the early 80s the pharmacy in downtown had a PO counter where you could mail a package or buy stamps anytime the pharmacy was open. Alas, the pharmacy has been replaced by a CVS where you can just buy books of stamps.
In the 70s in Providence, RI, the main PO had driveup window that gave some services 24 hour a day. I'm not sure that trend continues to this day.
Of course, now 95% of my work-oriented mailing is done by email, so a late open PO is not always that needed.
Same thing happens with UPS ground. If the location show Hodgkins, Ill it means it is somewhere in the rail maze of Chicago. I had one item involved in a train wreck there and that took several days to straighten that one out and recently Chicago weather delayed the trains in that location for 24-48 hours.
Luckily, I have not had to deal with major delays in the USPS since 80% of the things I purchase originates in my state or in the adjacent ones.
My postman and I sometimes shoot the breeze when he comes to my house. In the land of COVID, it’s nice to see another person so we will talk about everything any anything. He is a fantastic guy who has been delivering my family's mail since I can remember. From what I understand from my inside source these are the big problems for the USPS: mismanagement, Amazon using their own in-house delivery, COVID, and lack of profit-making mail.
Mismanagement can cost millions to large organizations; this sadly is nothing new with the post office...
I in my rural area, the local post office would normally get 8-12 pallets a week from Amazon during the Christmas season as there was a contract signed that the USPS would be the primary delivery service for Amazon products. Bezos started an in-house delivery service starting in late 2018-early 2019. To prevent further business losses after Bezos started Amazon deliveries, the USPS are charging Amazon below-market rates on packages. If the USPS makes Amazon pay market rates, they are fearful Bezos might go fully in-house and they will lose even more money.
The only exception to this "new" Amazon shipping doctrine was this past Christmas Season. USPS was handling most of Amazon's deliveries in the weeks prior to Christmas since all but one of Amazon's distribution centers were shut down due to COVID. I was very surprised to see my postman delivering me my mail on a Sunday. He said that it was all hands-on deck and even the senior union members, like himself, were called in for the two weeks before Christmas.
COVID caused the operation and transportation costs of the USPS to increase $2.3B and $630M respectively. This was due to "surge in package volume as a result of the pandemic, along with increased overtime hours and paid sick leave stemming from the national health crisis" and " increased package volumes and the limited availability of commercial air transportation due to the pandemic, which necessitated shifts to higher-cost modes of transportation. Furthermore, the pandemic significantly increased the Postal Service’s expenses for supplies and services, such as personal protective equipment (PPE), to ensure the safety of its employees and customers." These quotes are from the 2020 Fiscal Year report . My postman has told me that COVID has hampered deliveries and sorting in the USPS as they are following all guidelines on social distancing and "flattening the curve." They need more people to work and deal with the increases of e-shopping but there is COVID guidelines to also follow. Catch-22
The USPS makes money on mail that does not have weight. Letters, priority mail, and small parcels are where they make profit. Oversized and/or heavy items like our trains is where the USPS barely makes money or sometimes just breaks even. With the advent of emails, the number of traditional letters has decreased, especially in the younger generations. I am one of the only people in my friend group (20s) that mails people cards for Holidays, Birthdays, etc. The rest send texts, emails, or direct messages.
Obviously, some areas have it worse than others for myriad of reasons: external events (i.e the train derailment mentioned in the original post), number of workers at a USPS building following COVID guidelines, population density, etc.
Now the $64 question is, does the federal government do one of the following?
- Privatize the USPS and "que sera sera."
- Keep the USPS a quasi-government entity and bail them out.
- Make the USPS a regulatory body for the feds and contract mail delivery to a company
- Make the USPS a completely government run organization and find the money to supplement funding
- Invoke OMB A-76 on the USPS (another "que sera sera" scenario if private industry wins out). For those who aren't familiar with OMB A-76, the simplified version is: Who will give the American taxpayer the most quality and bang for your buck? Private industry or Government? The one who has the best bid on the contract wins.
As shown in the USPS 2020 Fiscal Year Report... "package volumes will remain higher given what looks to be a potential permanent shift in consumer behavior, we do not expect our package revenue growth over the medium-to-long term to make up for our losses in mail service revenue caused by COVID-19." Long story short: The USPS is caught between a rock and a hard place.
Bryce
I was a Rural Carrier Assistant mailman for 5-6 weeks. Figured it was govt job and not so dependent on the economy. You try it. 753 addresses you are supposed to deliver in 8 hours and it takes 12. I was there 2 weeks and the woman who was supposed to train me went on vacation for 2 weeks and they expected me to do the route by myself. Impossible. You couldn’t sort the unsorted mail fast enough if you didn’t know every address by heart. And that takes time, time I wasn’t given. No training, no breaks, no lunch, a woman boss on my a** all day, it was stressful. It did get me through a winter with some extra dough in my pocket, but man that job... I’ll leave it there. There is constant turnover and now I know why. Just sharing. Be nice to your postal carrier, they are most likely doing the best they can. It’s a rough gig. I was told by other carriers it takes 3 months to learn a route, they expected me to figure it out in 2 weeks, I have to admit I failed miserably, and I consider myself a pretty sharp guy with a lifelong work ethic. Was glad when I deposited my last check. Cya!
Cheers, W1
I started talking with my money and stopped using USPS. Time for government to get out of the package game and stick to flat mail with stamps which are subsidized by taxes. It is unfortunate that it's run so poorly because the people at my local PO are great! The Harrisburg distribution center is terrible. I'm sure a lot of people gaming the system with 'covid symptoms' who know it's virtually impossible to get fired from that place. My bet is that nothing will change anytime soon.
@superwarp1 posted:Someone was telling me in Europe, they have re-invented their postal service. Some countries have turned there post office into convenient stores. Just like full service gas stations, get a coffee, snacks, or what have you. We have all these post offices right here sitting mostly empty. Time to think outside the box with the USPS.
I have heard that in some countries the Post Office can do things a bank can do like lend money or credit cards and they can offer services like notary, copies, etc. As a postal employee I have always been in favor of this happening to our US Post Office but Congress never allowed it. So the thought has been there for many years but the powers that be won’t let it happen.
I cannot speak for other plants but where I work we are all caught up on Letter mail and packages.
Our Rural Carrier is a great worker and very helpful.
The USPS distribution system is a Byzantine shell game played on a table full of holes.
My town has two post offices, and two ZIP codes. They overlap, geographically. They will not deliver mail, to any address, ever. We all (2,500 in the winter and 10,000 in the summer) have to rent a P O box and drive to one of the two buildings every day. The population has expanded during COVID to the summer numbers, as the summer people have become the year-round people. 5,000 people, figure over half are retired age, up to 100 years old, each driving on narrow roads daily, in all kinds of weather, and in various states of mental acuity.
The USPS will not divulge the P O Box number of any customer. If a piece of mail does not have a proper box number, it is returned to sender. If you don't know the box number, you are SOL.
Companies that will not ship to a P O box refuse to service us via the USPS. If a package is sent via UPS or FedEx (who each have some sort of "last mile" arrangement with the USPS) to a street address, and the package winds up at one of two post offices, the package, even having been originally sent via the other carriers who insist upon a street address, gets sent back because it lacks a P O box number.
Government documents (enhanced driver licenses, tax bills, jury notices, registration renewals, etc.) without a P O box number get sent back, causing legal problems for the (non-) recipients. Prescription drug companies who offer a monthly automatic delivery of pills often will refuse to ship to a P O Box. People who depend upon drugs to stay alive...well...
The lines to send or pick up packages are out the door most days. The poor dears who work in the buildings are old and feeble, in the last throes of their careers, because no one wants to serve at these two offices. The post-mistresses, being, by regulation, "in charge" of the offices, set their hours at will. One closes at 4 pm, the other at 5:30 pm.
Questions are answered with a snarl, if at all. Neither office has a listed telephone number.
There used to be two slots for outgoing mail at each building. One slot said "OUT OF TOWN" and the other said "LOCAL 11964 - 11965." The local slots are now blocked, and all mail, even from one building to the other, a distance of 3 miles, or even from one box in a building to another box in the same building, a distance of, say, 4 feet, goes to a place on Long Island about 75 miles away, across the bay, in a private truck, to be processed, then sent back, possibly to be delivered. In the past, mail within one building got delivered the same day, or even within the hour. Mail between the buildings got delivered the next day, at worst. People have taken to leaving their boxes unlocked so that birthday cards and invitations from friends can be illegally placed in the boxes and therefore will arrive in a timely manner.
We have learned, through experience, to sneak in a phrase like "suite 474" at the end of a character string that includes a street address, to indicate that the delivery needs to go to P O Box 474. Many companies' software will immediately kick out an address entry that includes the word "box." Like this: "53A West Neck Road, suite 474..." and we always use ZIP+4, to include the box number, like 11964-0474. Sometimes these ruses work.
Kindly tell me if you think that the USPS is doing a good job. Move here, and find out. Drop me a line to let me know when you're coming! ha ha ha
Maybe for some here postal delivery service problems are new. For us it has been developing for some time. Amazon and E*Bay were just the latest issues. The postal employees here are not shy in talking about what is going on and how it is affecting their ability to deliver mail.
While we have had some delays, our local postal people are great and make an extra effort to see that packages and other postal items are delivered in a timely manner.
On 2/23/2021 I ordered an item from Lenexa, Kansas to be shipped to me in Florida, expected to arrive on 2/27/2021. That evening it was processed through Kansas City, Kansas. This morning 2/28/2021 it was processed through Denver, Colorado! Five days to go from Kansas City to Denver, and in the wrong direction to its destination! Please don't blame Covid-19 or the weather for this snafu.
Stuart
@Stuart posted:On 2/23/2021 I ordered an item from Lenexa, Kansas to be shipped to me in Florida, expected to arrive on 2/27/2021. That evening it was processed through Kansas City, Kansas. This morning 2/28/2021 it was processed through Denver, Colorado! Five days to go from Kansas City to Denver, and in the wrong direction to its destination! Please don't blame Covid-19 or the weather for this snafu.
Stuart
Just had a similar experience. Bought an ho engine that shipped from Florida to New Hampshire. No tracking info after 1st day. A week later got updated info. Package in Iowa. Another week goes by no tracking info again. Then I got tracking that it was out for delivery. 2 weeks total. Why does the P.O. even have tracking. Once you give it to them they have no idea where the Blank it is going anyway. I am surprised they only lost 4 billion. John
"Departed USPS Facility Springfield, MO Feb 18 2012 at 9:41 PM..." poof!!!!
I am currently waiting for a USPS package that is needed for a mid-March event. It was shipped First Class on February 17th with an expected delivery date of February 20th. It made it to the local PO in Iowa and then to the Cedar Rapids, IA facility leaving there the evening of the 17th. It's been in transit to the next point since then. Even the railroads can get a freight car from Iowa to Massachusetts in this much time.
-Lad
Very creative excuses. They stated the delay on one of my packages was because my business was closed for the holiday (Presidents day). They are delivering to my home mailbox as usual!! I think it was their business that was closed for Presidents day.......... Sometimes packages show they are shipped from the center in NJ to Harrisburg and back to NJ 3 times before they are delivered here - amazing productivity.
We all have our horror stories, but we need to keep it in perspective - despite the huge increase in volume, overtime and additional machinery have not been approved by top management. Postal workers are judged by impersonal metrics - whenever this happens, there is a human temptation to tell the system what it wants to hear. Postal workers are overwhelmed right now, and all they hear is criticism - let's give them a break.
Imagine you had a racehorse that had a chance to win the Kentucky Derby, so you decided for the six months before the race to cut it's daily food intake in half with the idea that a leaner horse would be even faster. Do you think the horse would win? It's kinda that way with the USPS (and government in general). The price we pay for having the lowest taxes compared to other industrialized countries is we are among the worst in services, health care, transportation, etc.
p.s. I'd second William1's comments, I was an RCA off-and-on over the course of a year.
I ordered three items from Amazon last week. All items were shipped via USPS. The first two items have already been delivered and were received as promised - one in 2 days and the other in 4. The third item is a book that I believe is being shipped via media mail. The promised delivery date is "late March to early April." Hope I don't forget about it as I've already been billed for it.
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