U.S. Postal Service = World-Class Suckage

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warden41272

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Just finished up 18 knives and sent them off to Paul Bos for HT. Sent them out on 1-13. It's now 1-20 and they still haven't been delivered. One of the few packages I didn't insure...got lulled into a false sense of security since I'd had no problems recently. My fault. But they're going from Louisiana to Idaho. I sent a package out on 1-18 to Connecticut, and he got it today! The lesson here: always insure your stuff, because USPS sucks butt (with lick).
 
Did you use Priority with delivery confirmation?

I have yet to have a problem with Priority mail. no matter where I have shipped in the U.S.

Hope all turns out well.
 
Sounds like your jumping the gun a bit. I've had priority packages that have taken 7 days before. Where are you sending from? Stuff always ships faster going from West to east. Give it time, man.
 
They will most likely show up. I have been using the Post Office for over 15 years shipping knives and never had a problem, late sometime but they always get there. I do ship Priority or Express overnight.
 
Thanks, guys. I actually feel a bit better about it. This is actually the first problem I've had, and I probably jumped the gun a bit. Just had a lot of $$ tied up in that box. Shoulda insured it, though. Lesson learned.

I'm just wondering this, now that I think about it: Would it take longer since I used the USPS Priority Mail Flat-Rate Box, rather than Priority Mail based on weight? With the flat-rat box, it doesn't matter how much it weighs, as long as it fits in the box. I was thinking "Priority Mail is Priority Mail". Maybe I was wrong, and that's why it's taking so long.
 
I'm alittle pissed with USPS, too. A guy in Phoenix, Arizona mailed a watch to me on the 14th, (via First Class Mail), and it still isn't here (the 20th)...6 days later. I sent a package to him on the same day (but via USPS Priority Mail), and he received that package on the 17th...In 3 days.
.:grumpy:.
 
The worst part about the USPS, though, is rampant "pass-the-buck-itis" It's almost impossible to find someone who can actually answer a question. It's always "I'll look into it, or, It's not my department" if you can speak to anyone at all, as opposed to an automated directory. Their prices go up, while the service goes down. There are good people in the postal service, don't get me wrong, but they never seem to be in positions of authority.
 
I used to be in a position of authority. :)

There are questions we couldn't answer. Not immediately. Like, WHERE'S MY PACKAGE ??? How would I know ... there were a few million pieces in the pipeline every week to my post office alone, and few of them had any kind of tracking. We could have tracked them all, but it would take a l o t l o n g e r t o p r o c e s s t h e m.

I would like to hear that more postal people sounded like they wanted to resolve these problems quickly, but we had been running about 750,000 employees, literally all over the country. Quality varies.

Like everything else, you have to help yourself, too. Make sure the item is wrapped and addressed right. If it's delayed, have the information ready to go with a complaint. The Postal Inspectors audited complaints, to find which parts of the system gave us the most trouble.

Have a little patience. It's not the internet. It's real, solid, physical items. There can be delays and mistakes, but while it's still in the system, it cycles through and will get to you. The biggest problem is at the end, if it's delivered to the wrong place. That's pretty hard for anyone in authority to answer for immediately, when you call.
 
Went in to deliver 2 things. An olive drab sling for an H&K rifle and a book. The book was headed to Canada, the sling to California. Some newbie gal informed me I could NOT ship military items to Canada. I told her the last time I looked a book was not a military item. She harassed me about every 3 minutes about whether or not I was ready to send my items. I was NOT at the desk, I was standing at a counter doing fun stuff I don't normally do, like fill out a form for Candadian customs, fill out an international address, etc. They weren't that busy so I am not sure what her damage was, i.e. not enough attention as a child, dropped on her head, etc. If the UPS counter help here was a lot better, I would ship through them. Unfortunately this gal would not be considered surly enough to work our local UPS counter....
 
When you consider the shear number of peices that pass through the USPS on any given day, they in fact do quite a good job.

Think about how many pieces we have all mailed in our lives, then how many have we had get "lost"?

I'll be 39 in a month, and I've had 1 thing not arrive in all that time.
 
TLC, your point is well taken...

Brian E,

I'm confused, because you state that your at the PO, yet you use UPS, there is a difference 'tween USPS and UPS, ya know? Preston
 
Esav Benyamin said:
I used to be in a position of authority. :)

There are questions we couldn't answer. Not immediately. Like, WHERE'S MY PACKAGE ??? How would I know ... there were a few million pieces in the pipeline every week to my post office alone, and few of them had any kind of tracking. We could have tracked them all, but it would take a l o t l o n g e r t o p r o c e s s t h e m.

I would like to hear that more postal people sounded like they wanted to resolve these problems quickly, but we had been running about 750,000 employees, literally all over the country. Quality varies.

Like everything else, you have to help yourself, too. Make sure the item is wrapped and addressed right. If it's delayed, have the information ready to go with a complaint. The Postal Inspectors audited complaints, to find which parts of the system gave us the most trouble.

Have a little patience. It's not the internet. It's real, solid, physical items. There can be delays and mistakes, but while it's still in the system, it cycles through and will get to you. The biggest problem is at the end, if it's delivered to the wrong place. That's pretty hard for anyone in authority to answer for immediately, when you call.
Click to expand...

You're probably right. Mistakes happen, I just happen to be depending on this particular package more that usual. Given the sheer volume of mail going through the system at any one time, I suppose it's inevitable. As far as "helping myself", though, I always use computer-printed labels, to avoid misreading my handwriting and things like that. Package was heavily sealed, and all contents individually wrapped and padded.
Your commment to another poster about not knowing how everything works is pretty well founded, though, and probably the cause of most complaints. When people don't understand what's going on, the stress level rises exponentially, because they don't really know how to go about rectifying the problem, and don't trust the people they have to go to when they have one. I'm a police officer, and that's a common thing. It's somewhat easier on my end, though, because people can always call my supervisor or,worst case, their friendly neighborhood leech...I mean lawyer. The Postal Service is so large, and there is no "point A to point B" linear fashion in which to rectify problems. We have to treat people's problems individually, though, and the post seems more of a "not my package/not my problem" kind of place.

Patience is kind of a problem when you've got a major investment you can't afford to replace in the hands of a third party you don't know. Hence, my aggravation at the USPS. For the most part, I guess I'm pretty happy with the service they provide, but the one time I really needed a package to be on time, and they let me down. I'll probably continue to use the USPS (don't have much of a choice most of the time), but I'll certainly lower my expectations.
 
warden41272 said:
Your commment to another poster about not knowing how everything works is pretty well founded, though, and probably the cause of most complaints. When people don't understand what's going on, the stress level rises exponentially, because they don't really know how to go about rectifying the problem, and don't trust the people they have to go to when they have one.
Click to expand...
I once had to send a specially valuable package from my grandmother to her sister, of needlecraft that dated from their parents' generation. It took months to go from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Perfectly packaged and labeled, and lost in space ... irreplaceable family artifacts. But they did get there.

How can this happen? Where do these packages go when they take so long to get through the system?

One problem I know occurs when volumes rise significantly is that mail that isn't sorted one day can become backlogged and the rolling stock it's in is pushed up against a far wall for the next day. But if the next day's mail is pushed in front of it, whatever isn't worked is left there, in front of the previous day's backlog. This will go on for generally no more than a week, with another couple of days once the volume returns to normal for this backlog to get worked off. Right there you've got a 10 day delay.

That's wrong. The oldest mail should have been pulled out front, with later mail rolled around behind it. Then the delay for anything would only be one day. But careless staging of the workload leads to exacerbated delays.

The one time I saw this, I pointed it out to a team of Postal Inspectors who were auditing the operation, and they got it straightened out in a couple of hours.

The Postal Service is divided into three main operational areas: Finance (the window clerks), Mail Processing (sorting mail and dispatching it from city to city), and Delivery (the letter carriers and local stations). When you have a complaint about an undelivered package, you go to your local station. They know as little about Mail Proc as you do, and have next to no access to anyone in charge of it. Who couldn't find one package among millions anyway.

Since I worked Mail Proc before I transferred to Delivery, I had access to every headache in the business. :)
 
Most abject apologies to the USPS....finally got hold of Paul Bos today. He said my knives had been delivered on the 17th, and are on their way back to me now. The USPS never marked my package as delivered (and still hasn't), hence the confusion. Guess I shoulda been a bit more patient. Lesson learned.
 
Glad to hear it. I ship and order dozens of items using the Postal Service, including all of this year's holiday gifts to family all over the country. Only one time ever have I had trouble with USPS. I have had UPS problems exactly once also. FedEx is a headache about 50% of the time.

-Bob
 
Something else to take into consideration is the date the person actually mails the item,without a DC# all you have to go by is the persons word on when they mailed it. I only say this because out of the dozens of packages ive mailed and have had mailed to me via USPS priority in the past 10 yrs only two have been late and both were a result of the person not mailing whem when they said they did. Keep in mind for those of you that do this, the date will be on the package so we will know eventually duh :rolleyes:
 
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