It looks like things are getting better in my neck of the woods! BHQ shipped an order Saturday, and it made it from Utah to Omaha today at 1am, from Omaha to Des Moines by 7am, and is on its way to my local PO right now. First class mail, nothing special, but this one is moving much faster than orders were a month ago.
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Postal Packages
- Thread starter nikoknife48
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I respectfully disagree -- I almost always ship USPS, as they have the most fair pricing, a fairly evolved technlogical platform for printing labels/postage etc. from the comfort of your home, and a stellar "Daily Digest" facility that scans and sends me the images of day's mail. Oh, and I do like the social interaction at the local PO.
(That said, I do understand your frustration at the case being closed w/o any notification or action, and possibly the venting of it here).
Package shipped (received by USPS) - according to USPS Tracking - 26 days ago; twice sent to the wrong city. Disappeared from Tracking entirely as of December 21, 2020 - two weeks ago. No telephone communication allowed, local PO has "busied out" its telephone. I understand the frustration, as USPS refers all inquiries to local PO, which likely has nothing to do with the problems - when USPS is not totally ignoring inquiries.
Could be its another IRS-like situation. Congress controls the resources and the prices charged.
However, USPS also has to deal with an all-powerful union. I was a Chistmas temp and got in trouble for finishing my route in half the time scheduled - easily. The APWU steward set me straight and told me where to hang out for the afternoon before returning to the PO.
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Gastonknife
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A very good point that was not mentioned prior. When you try and make some changes to run a tighter ship, respond to customer needs, increase efficiency and eliminate some waste - Guess who is going to get all bent and start propaganda and complain to anyone that will listen - especially the media/politicians. That is where some of these conspiracy theories start. If you try and change the way a driver runs their route - they don't like it - because they have done it that way for 10 years. They don't care if it is more efficient or saves money. If you make a few schedule changes to minimize overtime - guess who get's mad???
It's so predictable. Also, when you make changes a few things may not work as intended or may take some time to work out kinks. But to be good - you have to adapt and change is inevitable in any business.
Now, I am not blaming any of the PO workers/mgmt for the poor holiday service - it's not their fault honestly - the system just got overwhelmed and they could not turn away any customers...which compounded things for them. What I am pointing out is one of the main origins of these false media narratives and misleading stories blaming new mgmt. and nonsense accusations of purposeful slowdowns, etc.
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Reordered meds delivered by UPS in 82 hours. Meds sent vis USPS almost a month ago still missing. NO Tracking for sixteen days. USPS had the local Postmaster call to apologize. As the problems have nothing to do with him or his reportees, he could only apologize, which he is doing almost 100% of his time. he told me A total insult to him and customers. What a broken bureaucracy! The taxpayers will be asked for nearly $20,000,000,000 to cover USPS losses in 2020 - well, really the printing presses.
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nikoknife48
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There was movement then all of a sudden everything is back to arriving late status!
The deliberate slowdown is real. Denying it is the nonsense here. Service was at a crawl way before the holiday rush. Again, other companies adapted. The USPS did not, on purpose, a result of decisions made at the top. The workers were made to take the brunt of this epic organizational failure that is resulting in millions of unsatisfied customers. It is disgusting really.
I wish it were as simple as an unprecedented Holiday rush in a pandemic. Hopefully no permanent damage was done but I fear there was. I know I won't ever trust the USPS as much as I once did...
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TV claimed last night that USPS Cleveland Distriict had second worst delivery record in the Country. Sadly, all our USPS mail from outside our county goes through Cleveland Main, with the trucks full of mail or awaiting mail parked outside for several weeks.
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Gastonknife
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Craytab, you are a good dude, but >
Do you realize how silly that sounds? Do you really think that the USPS purposely sabotaged our country's mail service/their own operation during a pandemic???? Why would they do that? I can assure you that USPS, FedEx nor UPS would ever purposely plan to provide poor service.
Do you have first hand knowledge of this? Please provide specific details if you do...….and not some article from a biased reporter who never set foot in a delivery van or something someone posted on the internet.
Now did their service stink ………….. yes it did (and even does somewhat now)………. big time … just not on purpose though.
I'm not going to get into this further other than to say there is plenty of evidence out there that is not at all hard to find, if you care to look, that is not just biased reporters. The facts are out there. And I'm not saying the whole of USPS slowed down their service. I am saying it was a top down initiative, and it is documented by those who implemented it. You'll have to read between the lines here because if I go any further in explaining, I'd be getting political and that isn't allowed here.
Last thing I'll say, and I've said it before in this thread, in my area we had sorting machines removed for no reason. Hiring and overtime freezes. All this during a pandemic, the holiday season, and a mail in election? Any numskull could have predicted this would be a horrible time to do these things. I wonder why they were done?
Edit: I'll just drop this wikipedia link. Looks like someone put a lot of this together in one place! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_Postal_Service_crisis
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Gastonknife
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It has to be true ……...someone posted it on the internet and I read it…………..
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FedEx for me from now on. They actually have decent prices and fast delivery for the express boxes. I wish they had other dimensions, the small box is a flat large rectangle, I would prefer one with more height and less length. $12 for 3 day shipping across the US. And it actually goes there!
My PO told me there are a number of things causing delays, most have been mentioned here. Of course COVID, lack of overtime, but also fewer domestic flights. They usually use FedEx and UPS flights as well, but there have been fewer so there is not enough room.
I have had a 1k knife sitting in a sorting facility in Maryland since early December. It is driving me nuts. 5 other packages that are over a week late with no sign of progress. Just insane.
My PO told me there are a number of things causing delays, most have been mentioned here. Of course COVID, lack of overtime, but also fewer domestic flights. They usually use FedEx and UPS flights as well, but there have been fewer so there is not enough room.
I have had a 1k knife sitting in a sorting facility in Maryland since early December. It is driving me nuts. 5 other packages that are over a week late with no sign of progress. Just insane.
Seems that one of the policy changes that has really impacted things is the way late packages are handled. New policy is to not let late stuff bog down the current stuff so let it sit. What happens when it is all late?
I hear what you are saying and won't dispute/comment on but one thing: "Any numskull could have predicted this would be a horrible time to do these things."
Yes, my same reaction upon learning that the MA DOR was "updating the website" or something to that effect on the day that sales/use taxes are due such that there is parsing of "late," "on-time," proof of either and due dates. Ahem, just wait a week or do it a week earlier? No, this is the way things seem to run in certain cultures. Why shut off service at 6PM on the day everyone will be scrambling to meet a deadline?....
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Interesting Wiki article that you cite. It notes that the financial problems of USPS began at least as far back as 2006. Obviously, we know whose fault that was, but I agree that we cannot name names.
IRS has had its budget cut seven of the last ten years and has been denied funding for new computers and software for over thirty years. This has had consequences. Again, we best not name names. We all know its "his" fault, like the Precambrian Mass Extinction and the begining of Global Warming 17,000 years ago.