Our USPS at work

[Bill in Oregon]

Friend mails some .44 WCF brass priority from Vermont on January 10. Here's a partial screen grab. I am particularly impressed by it spending five days in Fort Worth before being sent back to Dallas.

[Lassiter]

Bill, I worked for the postal service for 30 years and I'm embarrassed at what the post office has become. I bought a book on line recently out of Oregon and it spent 6 days going back and forth between Dallas and Ft. Worth. I bought some .338 bullets from a guy in north Illinois. I sent him a letter with cash in it for the purchase (dangerous move) It took 3 months for the money to reach him. (from central Arkansas) In the mean time I repaid him with paypal (not really a fan) when he got my original letter, he put it in an envelope and sent it back to me. It took 3 days to get to me. Thes are just two instances of lost or delayed mail that I've experienced in the last couple of years. I could drone on and on... I watched the current post master general testify before congress recently about the pitiful state of the post office. He gave himself an A+ on the job that he has done. When a congressman disagreed with and told him what a sorry job he has done he put his hands over his ears like the hear no evil monkey! The clowns are truely running the circus...

[Bill in Oregon]

Lassiter, my man, I have the greatest regard for the actual employees of the Postal Service. My letter carrier in Sweetwater, TX, became a personal friend. I have had very good luck over the years with the USPS. I still ship long guns that way, and only had one stuck for two weeks in the Memphis hub once --during the height of Covid. But every once in a while these anomalies occur with mail bouncing back and forth between distribution centers like a steelie in a pinball machine. Baffling.

[AmBraCol]

First of the year we were sent a check for funds to pass on to a Christian school down in the llanos. It arrived last week in a plastic USPS baggie that stated "we care". It looked like the post office's guard dog's puppy had worked it over. The address was at least legible enough to get to us, but so was the sender's address. The check was shredded to the point it was uncashable/undepositable. If they really cared they should have sent it back to the sender and refunded the price of the stamp! I contacted the sender, sent the pics that our forwarding agent sent and they'll be sending a replacement. In the meantime, the school could use the funds... We'll get 'em to 'em ASAP once the replacement check makes its way through the hazards of the mail system.

[Bill in Oregon]

Sorry to hear this Paul. I had a small flat rate priority box mangled last fall. Thankfully, the 1903 Springfield bolt and the Manson .25 Remington reamer were intact on arrival at my gunsmith's in Davenport, IA -- but then I mail a lot of stuff.

[jeepnik]

You must remember. Regardless of what you pay to the post office, delivery is merely a suggestion. Often one best ignored. No refunds for failure to deliver on time are issued.

[AmBraCol]

You must remember. Regardless of what you pay to the post office, delivery is merely a suggestion. Often one best ignored. No refunds for failure to deliver on time are issued.

There's nothing like lack of accountability to ensure quality of product/service - or rather lack thereof.

[2ndovc]

The ins. co I work for is on a mad push to deliver checks electronically. The USPS loses about three out of ten of my checks that are sent. Some people however still demand a paper check because they don't "trust" the electronic payment process.
i usually tell them let me know if that changes when the P. O. loses your check! Doesn't seem to matter what age group it is. I've had as many insureds in their 30s and forties refuse the elect. payment. as I have had people in their 70s and older. No getting around goofballs.

jb

[Eddie Southgate]

I sent a USPS MO to Michigan on 16 December and it took over three weeks to get there from North Alabama. That's normally a 4-6 day trip. The items coming back only took 5 days .

[COSteve]

Things might be 'achangin'. Have you all seen this?

https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/6367444990112

[earlmck]

Meanwhile my letter-carrier lady saw that I my car had been gone for a few days (I made a visit to Boise) and she moved a couple packages from my front porch to my back step so they wouldn't be so vulnerable!

[Bill in Oregon]

Good carrier you have there, Earl. My priority package finally arrived from Vermont -- 12 days after being mailed.

[black river smith]

I have waited awhile to post my two latest issues with USPS and Ebay purchases, until I finally received one of the items.

Item one a very nice condition Lyman hammer FL resizer in 38-40 with box and instructions(no rod). Purchase Jan 9th and given to post office on 10th in Michigan. Departed on the 12th at 4:28AM and arrived in my town 12th at 12:23AM. GREAT RIGHT! well that is where it ends. On the 13th at 3:30 it want to another postal service zip code in my town. Then sat for 6 days and on the 6th day departed to take a 2 day trip back to the first zip code location arriving on the 21st at 4:00AM. WHY??? But then, suddenly got rushed through the processing system to arrive at my house on the 21st. HOW the Heck is that possible? So 11 days, instead of possible only 2 + maybe another 3-4 for total of 5 or 6.

Item two is even a better situation. A .41 Short Colt Hollywood sizer die purchased from a seller some 45 - 50 miles south of me in Missouri. Purchased on Jan 16. Given to a post office on the 18th in a town maybe 35 miles from mine at 7:00AM, that then reaches my town the same day at 11:30AM. THIS is GREAT! Item to be delivered the 21st because of holiday on the 20th. GREAT! Then a tracking update is added, that the item is in transit on the 19th, that is a Sunday, WHAT??. The next update on the 20th states the item has ARRIVED in INDIANAPOLIS. WHAT the Heck is it doing there? As of today the 22nd at 12:12PM, the item has departed Indianapolis. BUT I WONDER WHERE IT WILL END UP NEXT??? EDITTED UPDATE: This item did not leave Indianapolis yesterday according to todays tracker updates -- it left today the 23rd at 3:03AM. Now definitely not getting to me on Sat 25th like stated earlier. EDITTED UPDATE ON 24TH: This item surprisingly reach my town at 9:30 on the 23rd at a different zip code distribution center. It was processed through and departed this facility at 4:13 today the 24th. Then it went through the normal postal branch zip codes to get to mine in almost 1 hour, NOT NORMAL under NORMAL TIMES. Under normal times it would hit the 1st post office and sit one day then to mine zip code post office and take 2 days to go through there two tiers separation system to finally reach the post deliver truck for OUT FOR DELIVERY notice. WELL surprisingly this item is stated to be delivered today 24th by 9:00PM. I am sorry but this 'by 9:00PM' is another CODE for NOT REALLY today but tomorrow. WE WILL SEE!

This processing of our mail and packages in general really stinks. Something is WRONG with the reading machines or handlers.

After this, I am leery about buying from EBAY anymore. These were not the worst issues I have had. Something was thought to be lost for two weeks, then suddenly showed.

PS -- Thanks for the ear with this ranting.

[Lassiter]

Rught now I've got an ebay purchase that I bought out of Colorado that is going from Texas to Georgia back to Texas and now it's back in Georgia. I'm in central Arkansas so it's either going through me or over me on each trip.

[jeepnik]

Honestly, I think the problem with the USPS, is pretty simple.

Background first. My father retired from the Postal Service in 1985. At that time the USPS was on the cusp of its long slow slide into the inefficient and corrupt entity it is today.

So what happened. First it became a dumping ground for folks that were unemployable elsewhere. Second, brought on by the first, was a loss of pride in their work.

Could it be turned around? Yes. But it would have to begin with hiring self motivated and ethical employees. And, terminating those that don't meet new and significantly hire standards.

This isn't a problem with the system heck it's automated and more efficient, in many ways, than when my dad retired. It's solely a people problem. The only way to fix that is replace the people. The myth of retraining and motivating poor employees is just that. A myth.

[Lassiter]

Honestly, I think the problem with the USPS, is pretty simple.

Background first. My father retired from the Postal Service in 1985. At that time the USPS was on the cusp of its long slow slide into the inefficient and corrupt entity it is today.

So what happened. First it became a dumping ground for folks that were unemployable elsewhere. Second, brought on by the first, was a loss of pride in their work.

Could it be turned around? Yes. But it would have to begin with hiring self motivated and ethical employees. And, terminating those that don't meet new and significantly hire standards.

This isn't a problem with the system heck it's automated and more efficient, in many ways, than when my dad retired. It's solely a people problem. The only way to fix that is replace the people. The myth of retraining and motivating poor employees is just that. A myth.

I agree completely!! I was a rural mail carrieer from 1978 to 2008. Managers that couldn't do the job they had were invariably prompted it seemed like. The first 15 years there I loved my job but the last 15 years I hated it a little bit more every day. I loved my customers and tried my best to do a good job for them but the idiots running the show made it increasingly harder. I retired at the very first oppertunity but even after 18 years I still have nightmares about that job...

[AmBraCol]

Good carrier you have there, Earl. My priority package finally arrived from Vermont -- 12 days after being mailed.

Glad to hear it, Bill!

[stretch]

I loved my customers and tried my best to do a good job for them but the idiots running the show made it increasingly harder.

That's the problem - the idiots running the show.

Dr. W. Edwards Deming famously stated that 94% of the problems in a system are systemic problems - the purview of management -
and beyond the ability of the average worker to correct.

Ineffective, incompetent managers are trying to run the system with the idea of cutting costs everywhere, and making the system pay
for itself. They're trying to run it like a business, the object of which is to make the highest amount of short-term profit for the shareholders.
Problem is, the USPS is a public service. It's therefore gonna be inefficient in some places. Rural mail delivery will NEVER be PROFITABLE. Mail
delivery is MUCH more economically efficient in areas with a high population density. But rural mail delivery was instituted with Home Carrier Routes,
Star Routes and the like to improve the quality of life for ALL Americans. The idiots in charge of the USPS have lost sight of that. Good service
costs money, and in this case, good service to ALL Americans WILL cost a little bit more. The morons in Washington are trying to micro-manage
every little detail from Washington, when they should be delegating many decisions to regional or local managers.

Certainly the USPS has it's issues - but I still like it better than any other option, including UPS, and ESPECIALLY FedEx and DHL.

-Stretch

[piller]

We mail a lot of packages. USPS tracking is just insane. Going 5 or 6 hundred miles to get somewhere that a 20 mile straight line should go is not understandable. The USPS is as bad as is humanly possible to be.

[Bill in Oregon]

Brian, great to hear from you!

[gcs]

Have you seen the caliber of employees in your post office lately?......

Appear to me to be DEI hires, doubt they can pass the civil service test...or even speak english..Some are good, but the rest drag the system down to their level

[black river smith]

I just put up another EDITTED UPDATE in my original posting above for this day 24th. According to new tracking info it may be arriving today, but we will just wait and see.