USPS Starting To Worry Me

[made2cut]

I've been lucky so far with packages being delivered but there is another street close to mine with a house that has the same number and I get their mail all the time. I'm sure the reverse is true. I wouldn't blame USPS as a whole but sadly every organization has knuckleheads working for them. With all the trouble you have had I would start using a different carrier when possible.

 

[thombrogan]

if you want good tracking Go UPS they are really good or FEDEX

Tracking is only good when the person correctly inputs the information. FedEx recently delivered two pieces of my three piece cabinet to me and the third piece to my neighbor (found out later when he said "Hey, this is yours!"), but their tracking system said it was all delivered to me. UPS frequently gives my stuff to the same neighbor; apparently 1.5 and 3 only look like distinctly different numbers to me and one of the two UPS drivers who have my route; but the tracking info says it was delivered.

My normal postal carrier is sometimes creative, and once in a blue moon might misdeliver the mail, but she knows that 3 and 1.5 are different numbers and that makes all of the difference in the world to me even though the tracking isn't as detailed as USPS's competitors.

 

[hlee]

While I have gotten all of the packages that have been delivered to my home, I do not believe that it is due to the diligence of the post office employees. I live in a multi-family home (large house divided into three appartments) and the mailboxes on the front of the house are clearly labeled with both the address (street, number, and appartment) and the names of the tenants. I don't know who sorts the mail, whether it is the mail carrier or someone at the PO, but the second floor tenant and I regularly get each other's mail. The problem stems from the fact that my first name and my neighbors last name are spelled similarly. Not the same, but the same first and last letter and one letter difference in length. Neither of us ever get the 1st floor tenant's mail. I realize that we are dealing with government employees, and most likely unionized ones, and they are handling literally tons of mail, but couldn't they have some sort of reading test for mail sorters and carriers.

Quoted from Esav Benyamin...
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It ain't rocket science. There are a lot of special services and problems with forwarding mail, but straight delivery of clearly addressed mail should be done right every time.

It is easier for the regular carrier because he sees the name and automatically sorts it to the right part of his delivery sequence.
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End Quote

Apparently, it might as well be rocket science for some, and easier doesn't mean easy for these individuals.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Actually, I retired 14 years ago ... which is why I mention how we worked back then more than sure and certain knowledge of current operations. The basic system is still the same, though.

The USPS website gives you a lot of information, including access to postal management for questions and suggestions. (See 15 Have a question, compliment, complaint, suggestion?)

There's no reason for delay in delivery confirmation with computer scanning of the label. I don't know if all the small or contract offices actually have scanners. But any real point-by-point tracking is probably going to continue to be reserved for Registry and Express mail, where it is really a security procedure for USPS rather than information for customers.

One reason USPS may not track ordinary packages is that it would be expensive to maintain the computer system for what is not a major postal operation -- UPS and FedEx and others do handle most of the domestic package business.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I don't know who sorts the mail, whether it is the mail carrier or someone at the PO, ...

Everybody sorts the mail!

First, mail processing gets the mail, and breaks it down by area, which may mean sending some of it across town or across the country. Once it arrives at the right town, the clerks sort it again, breaking it down to the delivering office. The the mail for each delivering office is broken down again by carrier route.

Once it gets to the delivering office, the letter carrier gets the mail for his route, and breaks it down by address. Then he takes it to the street and breaks it down again by individual customer. In NYC, this can mean separate mailboxes in a building with anywhere from a few to a few hundred apartments.

There is so much mail for some NYC routes, we have carriers working at night who only sort mail and never deliver it. Since they don't get out into the street and keep up with who still lives where, they may sort mail for tenants who have moved, and the delivering carrier has to catch that. If the delivering carrier is a replacement, he may not know either, and that mail gets handed back to him the next day, delaying its ultimate delivery.

It's not rocket science, but it's not simple, either. Incidentally, similar names are the bane of delivery under any circumstances. In big buildings in New York, we routinely see multiples of the same names, and correspondents leaving off the apartment numbers give us no hint as to which Goldberg or Rodriguez or Smith they mean.

I realize that we are dealing with government employees, and most likely unionized ones, and they are handling literally tons of mail, but couldn't they have some sort of reading test for mail sorters and carriers.

Gently, gently. What does being government employees have to do with it? They are contractual employees working for an independent operating authority wholly owned by the Federal government, not traditional civil service workers.

They are unionized, and the unions have about as much influence over postal operations as you do. They collect dues, show up at contract time or disciplinary hearings, and hope management takes it easy on their membership.

Not only do they have reading tests, but clerks running letter-sorting machines get tested regularly for accuracy. Clerks and letter carriers get training in simulated post offices before hitting the work floor. Drivers get area familiarization training at their new stations.

We could avoid misdelivery altogether if we could implant a morale monitor chip in each employees head that beeps out "I will always do my best, I will always do my best, I will always , I will, I ..."

 

[Mick57]

USPS does not offer tracking on Priority Mail. It does offer Delivery Confirmation, which means the scan it at entry and at delivery. Sometimes there are intermediate scans, but you are not paying for a tracking service.

Well, the gun that went to the wrong town was sent Priority mail. I was given a # by the seller to go online to the USPS site & put that # in for "Track & confirm" If they don't offer tracking on Priority mail, then why is that # going in a "Track & Confirm" box?

 

[empty5853]

I've had pretty good luck with the USPS. Haven't lost anything yet and everything I've sent has arrived, safe & sound.

Now, DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON UPS!!!.

All I can say is, take a look at "Paddling Man's avatar. That pretty much describes our UPS personnel. At least down here where I live.
I've never, I do mean NEVER, in 14 years of living here. Received a package from them that wasn't damaged in some way. Corners crunched, holes poked in it somewhere, rips on it, etc, etc.

I'd sooner send a package by carrier pidgeon then use them.

Just my 2 cents. I'll shutup now and go back into my hole

Mark T.

 

[mycroftt]

Well, the gun that went to the wrong town was sent Priority mail. I was given a # by the seller to go online to the USPS site & put that # in for "Track & confirm" If they don't offer tracking on Priority mail, then why is that # going in a "Track & Confirm" box?

Because the service is Delivery Confirmation and you are going there to confirm delivery. The website seems to be used for services other than just Delivery Confirmation. I'm looking at a Delivery Confirmation receipt right now, and on the back it says: This service provides date and time of delivery and/or attempted delivery upon inquiry. It's not a tracking service. I'm not sure what it is when it doesn't provide the date and time of delivery upon inquiry!

 

[Ruzster]

Guess I'm just lucky to be living in a small town. My USPS carrier goes out of her way to make sure everyone on her route gets absolutely top-notch service.

When her mother died a few months back, I know of more than a few families on her route who gave "thinking of you" notes and small gifts for her replacement to take back and give to her upon her return. Ahhh, life in a small town!

Gotta say (knock on wood) that I've never really had any serious problems shipping USPS either.

 

[Knife Outlet]

The USPS is pretty reliable. The problem is that, when they are not reliable, there is no recourse. If it doesn't get delivered it is gone. What they put merchants through to make an insurance claim simply keeps us from buying insurance since we really can't make a claim very effectively. I once had a misdelivered package returned after 14 months. It is the only time I've ever recovered one. There is no real tracking with USPS at all and the delivery confirmation is not nearly as reliable as the delivery itself, which I said was quite reliable.

I had a long chat with my local Postmaster the the other day and it seems there is a move afoot at the big eagle to start getting serious about effective package delivery services. I doubt we will ever see tracking on first class mail but the Postmaster believes it will happen for package delivery fairly soon. With that and some good software like the private carriers provide to their customers and a useable insurance program, the USPS could well become a very effective package delivery service. After all, they have delivered a few billion packages in their day and they already have the infrastructure. It's just a matter of will and effort to put it all together.

 

[SIFU1A]

2 letters have been missing from my mother to QVC and mastercard this month, i do all her mail so i know they were dropped in the box, one showed up at QVC after 18 days, they both have checks in them, no one has tried to cash the checks, never had probs before.

 

[1Tracker]

I try and use USPS as much as I can; UPS on the other hand has been the very bane of my existence. My driver is so poor, I have his cell phone number as well as the number of his boss's direct line. Quite often, near the end of the day (my driver is SHOULD BE here around 1:30 PM PST) I will look at tracking numbers and often I will find something marked delivered and I don't have it. "Hey Forrest, How come I don't have this package that you marked it delivered". UUUUHHH, I'll drop it off on my way back to the barn. "Thanks, Forrest, I need that." I usually follow up with a call to his boss, well this has been going on for nearly 3 years now. I guess there absolutely no accountability for the drivers. Maybe one of the last strong remaining unions perhaps? By now, he should know that he's not gonna pull a fast one, he's not smart enough.:jerkit: Smart as a brick, maybe. I have been lucky with USPS, never lost a thing. But USPS will not ship some things. My place is very easy to find, hard to get in and out of because of traffic late in the day, easy when he SHOULD be making the delivery. I got the phone numbers after my 4th trip to UPS in a month. Doesn't the fact that I can call my driver tell you something about UPS.

Hukk, you think your UPS driver is below par I was having all kinds of 'late, delayed by a day, missed' deliveries for awhile there too. Then one day I was leaving my place to go to town, and I see the UPS van parked a few doors down, ok, my package should be there when I get home in a few minutes. Nope, there's the van still in the same spot I gotta check on this I think to myself, so I stop, and walk up to the house. I hear something going on around the back, so I look and what do I see? The UPS guy pronging my neighbors wife Now I know where all his 'lost time' was being spent, and my lack of packages :jerkit: seeing as how I'm a rural address, this driver was using that excuse to buy time to do his own thing. I caught his eye and left, few minutes later he's dropping the package at my door red faced as all get out I laugh, and did'nt say a thing <just gave him one of these, and he left without saying a word. He left a slip on my package with his cell number that says, call for free pickup anytime So since then not a one of my packages has ever been late, nor have I had to pay pickup charges so I guess he got the message

 

[Mick57]

I've had pretty good luck with the USPS. Haven't lost anything yet and everything I've sent has arrived, safe & sound.

Now, DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON UPS!!!.

All I can say is, take a look at "Paddling Man's avatar. That pretty much describes our UPS personnel. At least down here where I live.
I've never, I do mean NEVER, in 14 years of living here. Received a package from them that wasn't damaged in some way. Corners crunched, holes poked in it somewhere, rips on it, etc, etc.

I'd sooner send a package by carrier pidgeon then use them.

Just my 2 cents. I'll shutup now and go back into my hole

Mark T.

Mark,
No need to go in that hole buddy. That pretty much mirrors my experience with UPS. While I can't say that all of my packages have arrived damaged, far too many have been left at my door banged up in some way. I won't use them anymore unless I absolutely have to. And when I order something & have a choice of how to have it sent, I always go with USPS.

 

[1Tracker]

Well, I've used their tracking with Priority mail (pointed out to me by the clerk who took my package) & I think it does in fact leave something to be desired. All it tells is when a given article was accepted at the Post office & when it arrives at it's destination. No info in between. Helpful to a degree, but in comparison to UPS that shows a day by day progression, sorry, no comparison there. UPS wins hands down. And believe me, I'm no big fan of UPS, as I've had my share of problems with them. Frankly, I'll use the Postal system over UPS most of the time. I realize no system is perfect & on whole, I think USPS service is very good. But my feelings are similar to those of the original poster of this thread. It just seems that on balance, lately they're dropping the ball more than what I'm used to seeing. It almost seems like there's been an internal change in the system or something that we're not aware of. From what I've experienced lately, their service appears to be slipping. But overall, I still think they do a good job.

Yeah, I agree with the part...."USPS, their service seems to be slipping...and there's been some kind of internal change customers have'nt been told about'.

I got 4 things to say about this, first, they are using FedEx for 'their' Priority Shipping, which old to me by my local Postmaster when I inquired about the apparent conflict of interest a FedEx box posed right outside the front door next to all the USPS mailboxes:jerkit:

Yeah, they want to raise the price of postage so us poor working smoes can pay for all the raises/bennies they keep giving themselves:jerkit: It's unjustified, especially in light of how their service is worse than ever; and the mail is slower, even with email these days taking a lot of the First Class mail burden away from them:grumpy:

Amazing how the 'difference' between First Class mail and Parcel Post is 'only' 25-75 or so cents, yet one is supposed to go by lear jet, and the other by an over loaded donkey the way the clerks tell it:jerkit: You ask them to weigh it, and then for the 'cheapest rate' and 'somehow' the computer computes the difference is only less than a dollar most times

How's this for gumption on the part of the USPS; I send off a package, WITH a Delievery Confirmation, paid EXTRA for this at the clerks insistence, I realize after shipping that the buyer(Ebay) 'claims' to have had their id jacked and that 'they' did'nt buy the item in question, which happened to be an LE item. Ok, no sweat, it's only been 72 hours, from NJ to GA it can't be there yet, I track down the PO phone number and call the PostMaster, who turned out to be a woman. I explain to the clerk, since the PM is'nt in, that POSTAL FRAUD is about to take place and I need their cooperation to prevent delivery of said parcel. She told me, "it's not in the box yet, so call back.." I dutifully called the next day, and get the PM on the line, and explain to her the story. I read her the delivery confirm number I have and tell her that's how I tracked it to her PO. She tells me, 'That's funny?:jerkit: you can't use 'deivery confirmation' with a PO Box' So I figure the clerk at my end sold me a bill of goods knowing this She checks the PO Box in question and tells me, "it's been delivered, but not picked up yet.." I say, 'great, could you remove it and mail it back to me please?' The PM tells me, ' Oh no, I can't undeliever mail once it's been delivered', I tell her, 'it WAS'NT delivered yesterday when I called and told your clerk to MAKE a NOTE NOT TO DELIVER IT I tell her again this is MAIL FRAUD and she tells me I have to contact the USPS Inspectors' office in GA!! Which, after 5 months has turned into nothing but a circle jerk! Ebay begged off saying it was'nt their fault, even though the same person continues to use that ID, which I reported to www.ebayersthatsuck.com

No resolution ESAV, what say you?

 

[Esav Benyamin]

A lot of these service problems are very individual -- as some of you have mentioned. It's the individual deliverer that can rescue or negate the entire organization's efforts.

I get a lot of mail-ordered items. I do like to specify USPS because they have access to the building and the mail ends up locked inside. UPS and FedEx leave packages outside the door, subject to depredation.

There has never been any. In 10 years here, I haven't had a real problem with any delivering agency, and to the best of my knowledge, neither have any of my neighbors.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

No resolution ESAV, what say you?

You're kidding. I can't even make out what the problem is, I don't have access to any of the documents involved, and as I said, I've been out of the loop for 14 years, so I can't imagine calling the PM involved.

I don't even want to go through your post answering your complaints about normal postal operations, which I think you have either misunderstood or are too mad about this ebay fraud to care.

 

[Will Power]

PS. It is the sellers duty to make sure the item is delievered to you. YOU, do not need to buy insurance. Ebay and the government requires that bought items be delivered to buyers. Insurance protects the sellers not the buyers.
If you have lost items, contact sellers of items, and tell them you want a refund, be it an Ebay seller or other.

When people on Ebay say they are not responsible for items after they are shipped.... well, they are mistaken.

Interesting to hear this as I am in dispute with an e-bay seller over total non-delivery of goods (he's had my paypal money OK&is turning all nasty about my paypal claim and neg.feedback but won't directly address me,but with now 21 neg feedback in a month I reckon he's not delivering at all:barf: )

So e-bay are responsible for deliv of goods too?

I live in the EU and have found USPs to be fine,no problems at all. Royal Mail from the UK is a really good post-office, but the top prize goes to Japan Post,fast, clear ,efficient and inexpensive plus an easy to use tracking system.

Wooden spoon goes to Deutsche Post, real slow-worms, France's La Poste is non too lively either but they get here,eventually:foot:

 

[Will Power]

1 Tracker the link you posted about e-bayersthatsuck is mysteriously out of action,any up-date on this please? This character in Washington is really ripping me off and e-bay seem more interested in protecting his right to continue to prey on foreign customers....hope I'm exaggerating!

 

[dtownknifekid]

esav is it true that it is the sellers responsibility to make sure a pakage is delivered?

 

[Esav Benyamin]

willgoy, I just checked out the site and they have an announcement up

Please be patient while the E.T.S crew revamps the site into a cool new place. In just a few weeks you can let down your hair, talk about eBay, and rant and rave.

No longer can Meg Whitman silence the masses

Email us ( blacksambellamy@aol.com )