USPS RANT (Update)

[gunman42782]

I have never had any trouble to speak of out of the post office anywhere I ever lived but here. And it seems I have had nothing but trouble from the Shepherdsville, KY post office! We get other peoples mail, we don't get ours, etc. Ordered some grips off a fella on the forum. Had the tracking number, supposed to be here yesterday, the 2nd. Mail came, no package. Later on in the day I checked it again, showed it being delivered. So I call the PO and talk to the lady. She puts me on hold 10 or 15 minutes. When she comes back says my package accidentally got thrown in with a bunch of other packages that was going to Amazon! It's no freaking wonder they don't make any money, they are so incompetent! I sincerely doubt I will ever see my package, but I just had to complain. Yeah, I am going to send them an email too, but it never does any good.

 

[ronto]

I never had a problem with the USPS no matter where I lived.

 

[Dave P.]

Yup, plenty of wrong deliveries.
Our box ( rural motor route ) is well labeled and we get somebody
else's mail about once every 2-3 weeks. I used to to just walk
over to where it was supposed to go and hand deliver. Complaining
to the local post office did no good.
For the last few months I've taken a big red felt marker and written
across the front " delivered to wrong address" and put it back in the box.
That way whoever gets it knows the post office has been screwing up.
Dave

 

[Heavy Barrel]

Rural also,never had a problem with USPS or FedEx,now UPS is another story !

 

[Jeepnik]

At least you get mail. My regular postman can barely walk. And this is after knee surgery. Now you’d think they would put him inside and get a healthy person to do the delivery. But no, they split the route and give part of it to a guy with a back injury

We’ve gone days without mail. Had a Sunday delivery and after four days without mail had three deliveries in one day.

When the USPS started to hire folks just to get them off welfare things started going bad. It’s just finally getting to a point folks are seeing it.

 

[Kevin]

We've always had trouble with the post office. Somedays we just don't get any mail, like the person took a day off. I can't subscribe to any magazines anymore. They would come once every 3 or 4 months.

Sorry about your grips. I would love to see the Post Office privatized. So what if it costs more. You can pay bills online, and a more costly, private postal service would drastically cut down on junk mail.

 

[redhawker]

Oh yeah...USPS...I'm pretty convinced our route is a training route. We seem to have a new letter carrier every couple of months or so. I'm constantly taking mail to neighbors that get delivered to our house and vice-versa. One of the biggest jokes is their "Informed Delivery Service" where you can sign up and they email you a picture of the mail that is supposed to be coming that day. Lots of times we get the email and all it says is "there are mailpieces coming that we don't have images for" other times they'll have pictures of the mail but when we get it there's one missing so I go online to their website and report it missing. This is likely an exercise in futility because I have NEVER heard back from them about anything I've reported as missing. I think the big one though (which I've mentioned here before) was the time I sent a very large check and legal papers to my sister in Salem, Oregon from my dad estate. I sent it registered, tracking number, signature required with return receipt, certified, etc. I tracked it as far as Portland on their website and then it stopped. (This was long before the current problems in Portland). After a couple of days I put in an inquiry on it and the results of that..."we can't find it". So I had to go to the bank and cancel the cashier's check and get another one, get duplicate legal papers from the lawyer and I sent that up to her overnight FedEx. It arrived the next day. 78 days later my sister calls me and tells me the original USPS package showed up at her house.

 

[Pat-inCO]

IMO, it is the Post Master that determines the effectiveness of a given location.
There are tales of minor to MAJOR problems with USPS in general, but the ones
I've experienced (negative and positive) seem driven by the PM.

When the PM is good at his/her job AND takes good care of their people, those
people respond with good to excellent work. Not so, if not.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I can't complain. Mostly good, most of the time. Very regular service although it seems to be getting later and later. The mail comes about 6pm now. I see the female postal person many days and take the mail right from the truck, just like when I was a kid and the milk truck would come by. Once in a great while we get a wrong letter or something but not enough to complain about.

 

[foxtrapper]

Try ,just try to collect insurance on a lost or mis delivered pgk!

 

[sfhogman]

USPS in my area is simply making each mail carrier's route larger and larger as employees retire. This according to a carrier friend who just retired.
The carrier on my route is a sweet little Chinese lady who works very hard. Sometimes I see her delivering mail well after dark, using a little light on the bill of her hat. I'd offer her a cup of hot tea, but she's always going as quickly as she can.

Jeff

 

[kentucky yeti]

Try ,just try to collect insurance on a lost or mis delivered pgk!

Just today I got a pm from a member here that I bought one thing from. Box arrived destroyed-contents were missing. I messaged him to file a claim. He filed a claim and just a week or so later- he messaged me today that he received a check from the post office for his claim.

 

[jimd441]

Over the years I have enjoyed nothing but positive experiences with the USPS. However recently, on a few occasions I have received mail addressed to someone close by so I just deliver it to the proper address.

Apparently the USPS has some service that my wife accesses where she can see what mail we will receive that day. According to that service we have never missed any mail but of course that doesn't address any problem that might occur before the mail reaches our local post office and gets into the database.

Jim

 

[blume357]

Few (lots) of years back the town one over from where i grew up had a post master that was a real butt, he liked his power and used it not only on the other postal employees but also those getting their mail.... a 2nd or 3rd cousin was one of the delivery people for a rural route.... one day he had enough and walked in the post office and shot his boss.... but then he also shot the other workers there.... it was actually the start of "going postal".

 

[Mobuck]

"It's no freaking wonder they don't make any money, they are so incompetent!"

LET ME MAKE THIS CRYSTAL CLEAR---BY LAW, USPS IS NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE A PROFIT!!!
Now, I'll discuss the problems. USPS has a lot of employees that are not what I'd call "top notch". I had a chat with my rural carrier yesterday in which he gave me a quick update on what's going on within USPS and it's dismal. This Kung Flu thing has made it worse same as all the other delivery services. Rant all you want but for some US citizens, USPS is the lifeline that keeps them going. Lots of folks bluster about online bill pay and plastic money being the way of the future but there's others who just keep paying their bills with a "check in the mail". I remember the cycle of bill paying from 40 years ago. About 3 days before due date, there would be trays and trays of envelopes going to the electric, water, city services and so on. The Postmaster who hired me answered my comments by saying "Every one of those envelopes has a stamp on it that's what keeps both of us in a job". Fast forward 25 years and the new big thing was online or auto bill pay. Now all those overworked (yah, right) folks could poke a button and not have to waste their valuable "free time" writing checks nor waste brain cells remembering to mail the checks. Mail volume fell like a stone in yuppyurban communities. Then the trend went nationwide with similar results.
Experienced USPS employees were cut, given an "early out" like me, or simply not replaced. Career employees were replaced with "PTF employees" (back in the day PTF often meant partially trained flunky) who might be assigned any number of jobs in which they had little experience. Postmasters, clerks, or carriers who had decades of experience were replaced with the first applicant who could pass the exam(and now there is no exam).
Here we are in a position of receiving nearly everything by delivery service and voting by mail after disemboweling out primary source of house to house delivery.
What could one reasonably expect????

 

[Fox Mike]

I guess I can say that I am fortunate. I have never had an issue with any delivery service or the USPS. I am RFD and have been here nearly 40 years.

 

[gunman42782]

UPDATE: Here is the response from the PO:
Dear Tim Perkins,



Thank you for contacting the United States Postal Service. I regret learning of the inconvenience you have experienced.

Please accept our apologies for the disappointment you experienced because of this unfortunate incident. I want to assure you that this is not an example of the service we normally provide. Your call has increased our awareness of this problem, and we will be taking the necessary steps to correct this situation.

We have researched your package with tracking number 9500 1103 4281 0304 6794 23 addressed to180 Beech Grove Rd and discovered it was misdelivered on 11/02/2020. Multiple attempts were made to retrieve the package, but they were unsuccessful.

At the time of mailing, you have the option of purchasing insurance. Our Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express services include a minimal amount of insurance. When insurance is not included and you do not elect to purchase insurance, and the article is subsequently lost or damaged, no indemnity can be paid. Unfortunately, you will need to reach out to your shipper for anything additional. You can use this letter as proof to your shipper that you did not receive your item.

I regret that we are unable to honor a request for reimbursement of expenses incurred in this matter. The U.S. Postal Service is specifically excluded by federal law from liability for “any claim arising out of the loss, miscarriage, or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter” (Title 28, U.S.C. Section 2680(b)).

While I realize that an apology does not diminish the seriousness of your complaint, I hope you will accept ours in the spirit in which it is offered. Every effort will be made to serve your future needs in a manner more consistent with your expectations and our standards.

Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to respond. For additional resources the United States Postal Service Official web site offers a wealth of information for both senders and receivers of mail and packages. Some of the commonly accessed pages include: Find USPS Locations, Buy Stamps, Schedule a Pickup, Calculate Prices, Look up a ZIP Code, Hold Mail, Rent a PO box, Click N Ship, Track a Package, File a Claim and Change of Address services. We invite you to visit us online at usps.com and familiarize yourself with our online services and information.

If you have any other questions regarding this package or if your shipper needs to reach post office personnel, please feel free to contact (502) 543-6417.




Sincerely,

Willy Allen

OIC



(502) 543-6417

In other words, I'm crap out of luck.

 

[Dave P.]

Lots of typing just to say "$%&* off".
Dave

 

[Dan in MI]

So now call the sheriff and get the address where it was delivered.

 

[redhawker]

So now call the sheriff and get the address where it was delivered.

I thought it was a crime to open someone else's mail. Shouldn't the postal inspector be on this, especially because they know where they "misdelivered" it and they aren't getting cooperation on getting it back? Sounds like a theft of mail to me at this point.

 

[Mobuck]

"So now call the sheriff and get the address where it was delivered."

I have personally accompanied a city PD officer to a residence and demanded a misdelivered package be handed over. Word got around and I didn't have to do that again. When I was promoted to another office, I did have a repeat of that scenario but again, only ONCE and it was understood I wasn't tolerant of such activities.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Do we know where it was "misdelivered" to? We know where it was addressed to, but the ultimate destination . . . :?:

I'm not asking for the ultimate destination, just wondering if the Post Office knows exactly where it went.

 

[gunman42782]

Do we know where it was "misdelivered" to? We know where it was addressed to, but the ultimate destination . . . :?:

I'm not asking for the ultimate destination, just wondering if the Post Office knows exactly where it went.

The lady on the phone told me it was in with a bunch of other boxes delivered to Amazon. Not only is there two Amazon warehouses here, they are both huge. I know where I work if a package is delivered to our place by mistake there is NO attempt to make sure it gets to the right place at all. It usually is tossed in the garbage. Or sold at the employee store.

 

[Mobuck]

"I know where I work if a package is delivered to our place by mistake there is NO attempt to make sure it gets to the right place at all. It usually is tossed in the garbage. Or sold at the employee store."

Who developed THAT policy????????? I probably still have the number for USPS Postal Inspectors.