The Forestry Forum

My mail service has been terrible for years but in the last year it has gotten even worse.

I live on a good private drive about a 1,000 feet from my mailbox at the road.  If I understand the rules correctly the mail carrier should bring packages to my house if they won't fit in my box.  Only happens about a fourth of the time.  I have found my packages in the ditch at the road.  Lately I have started to document how my packages are delivered.


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I live on a fairly busy road so packages are in plain view. Doesn't matter if rain is forecast or not, they plop the box on top.

In the last couple of months its reached the intolerable point.  Two weeks ago I had a package with a tracking number.  It showed delivered to my front porch.  The mail carrier didn't come down my drive as I was outside close to the driveway all day.  Filed the lost package form and after about 5 days the post office local supervisor called and said my package had been lost.

Today another package with tracking showed delivered to my mailbox at 4:55PM.  I was there at 5:05 and no package.

I would get a post office box but the post office is in town 12 miles away. 

My post office has a phone but they don't answer it.  If I go to the post office and ask for a supervisor he/she are in a meeting.  I have filed lost package forms and complaint forms through the internet.  Always get a nice response but no resolution.

I know what the problem is, gross mismanagement at the top for years.  I can't fix that, but I would like to improve my mail service.  Maybe the solution is only to have packages delivered by UPS.  I've never had a problem with them or Fedex.

Think its time to start playing real hardball.  Maybe a facebook group, would 60 Minutes be interested?  A letter writing campaign to my Senators and Representatives?  I'm *pithed!  Open to suggestions.

I'd comment on the USPS and also one of the drivers for UPS that services my area, but this thread would get an instant trip ta da restricted area.  :(

It's everywhere, they are horrible.  We get the same "service" here.  Had a shipment of live chicks put into a very cold room one time, A/C on blast, because "they were peeping and this made it stop" - well no kidding, they killed a pile of them.  Another time a local post master went and changed our address as a way to show more business in their sector so they could get more money.  It caused an issue with me voting, so I went a little ballistic and by the time it was all said and done I had some high up from DC standing at the end of my driveway - which is in the middle of no where - apologizing and telling me that things would be corrected right away - to his credit they were, but it never should have come to that.  

Larry raise enough heck and maybe you will have a big wheel at the end of your drive apologizing like SouthSide 😂😂

Probably the only way it will ever work, get a bigger mailbox.  ::)  ;D

Quote from: thecfarm on August 29, 2020, 04:55:41 AM
Probably the only way it will ever work, get a bigger mailbox.  ::)  ;D

Disclaimer. I have a part time job helping a friend with her Rural Mail run. While it's not perfect, NZ Post is run a a commercial company (although it's Govt owned). But they have competition, and the ability to adjust their business model as times change. Most of the local Post Offices are closed, with "Post Agents" in bookshops etc. A lot of the delivery folks are now independent contractors, and the Rural Delivery folks all are,  and free to deliver for both NZ post, and competing couriers. USPS / DHL / etc,  it all goes in the same van.
I'd also suggest a larger mailbox. Back in the day we had a "mail box" that would have made a decent dog kennel, about 3ft cube with a tin roof and a door.   Couple of our folks have an old fridge just inside their gate. Others have a box that barely fits a letter, then wonder why their parcels get a "card to collect". 

I think it is a matter of poor attitude on the part of the driver.We live on a dirt road and have the same mail carrier for 15 years.He is top notch. His substitute not so much.
 We have had terrible experiences with Fedex. Once again it is an attitude problem. In this instance it was the tone set by the manager of the local distribution center. I'm talking home delivery,Fedex freight is not a problem in my experience.
 UPS is usually pretty good.Christmas time both Fedex and UPS more or less toss the parcels in the snow bank at the end of our well maintained 1/2 mile drive. The driver's are under a lot pressure from there bosses to perform so in all fairness to them I am sympathetic.

We get the "card to collect" and go visit Dale down at the PO, great guy, no worries. UPS, Bubba knows everyone, he'll drop off stuff at the job if he's seen us there, or at a friends house who he knows I'll be seeing, or at the sawmill if I haven't been seen about. I finally realized these guys are all talking to one another so if I pass one I've been geo located and they know which driver has what and where you are. FedEx, I'm not sure they have ever really successfully delivered anything on the first try. Our driveway sucks, it even keeps the Jehovah's away. A little FedEx truck comes in one day, the driver is white knuckled and bug eyed. He's telling me our driveway is impassible for his rig, he had really taken his life into his hands to deliver. I'm standing beside the knuckleboom and a load of logs. I dunno, I guess a blimp dropped them off :D.

Nice to have your own blimp ;D. 

I was having trouble with my primer bulb so I ordered a new one along with a new fuel pump, just to have on hand.  Ordered Aug 12.
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Priority 2 day stamped Aug 12.    You would need to cut and past to see where all it went but it wouldn't all fit on one picture.
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Post office was in possession Aug 12.   It then goes on a sight seeing tour.
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Delivered to my mail box on Aug 24.   In good condition I might add for all the handling it got.  It must have liked Memphis as it went there twice.  Tim

All good here in the swamp as regards USPS

Once it gets to Iuka all is good here as well,  but between point a and b anything is possible. I use to sell on eBay, I dreaded any time something went to the big Apple.  Tim

We're fortunate,  good service here by all the carriers,

Have to agree with
@thecfarm (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=436)

D

Post office has been awful lately.  Lost a wedding gift i made for best bud with 2 day delivery and tracking. Have had letters take 3 weeks.  


Dont trust them with anything.

Quote from: Larry on August 28, 2020, 10:41:21 PMMaybe the solution is only to have packages delivered by UPS.

Many packages that start off with UPS are passed off to USPS for final delivery.  

I have no problem with UPS nor USPS.  

In defense of those institutions, most but not all problems I've had, have been with drivers. I think I live on da training route, 'cause a good driver gets transferred to a different route real quick.  ::)  This is especially true with UPS.

We are not having any issues with the  post office deliveries on our rural route, however do have issues with some of the Fed Ex-UPS deliveries at different locations along our driveway. on a side note, here in Oregon we have been voting by  mail for about 20 years with great success.

I have a driveway that has a loop at the top so they can pull in and never put the car in reverse and back up. The local carriers  have said they are pretty much banned from ever backing up. My packages are usually sitting inside my garage entry door  or on the front porch. Sometimes they hand them off early if they see me at the office too. They still have to drive by the place to log the delivery. Route must be done as they are dictated. Fed ex and ups say the same.  I have to say we get taken care of pretty well, most of them have pets. :)

My lane is about a half mile long.  Its off a main highway.  The post office gets my stuff back to the house whenever necessary with no problem.  If they can stuff it in the mailbox, they'll do that.  UPS has been pretty good.  My zip code makes only rural deliveries.  The town is by PO Box.

Fed-Ex is absolutely terrible.  They can't find our house.  I had something I bought that they were to deliver.  They said they delivered it.  It wasn't here, so I had the seller send another at their expense.  When Fed-Ex decided to actually deliver, there was 2 of them.  They have also botched another delivery in the past month.  They said it was delivered, then that it was delivered to another address, then it was lost.  Its still not resolved.  They don't like coming back my lane, I guess.  It slows them down.  Its to the point that if Fed-Ex is going to deliver it, I won't buy it.

   Sorry for your bad experiences.

   Our carrier is a contractor for the post office. It is an HC route which means it is a Highway Contract Route. Our  carrier is a young lady name LuAnn and does a great job. If we are going to town and meet her before she gets to our box we stop and she digs through her box and hands us our mail while we talk about how her 101 y/o grandfather is doing. She ran over a rattlesnake on the route a few years back and brought it to me to skin it for her. That is how I met her grandfather when he killed one in his hay field about 29 years ago. No complaints about service on our route.

    I replaced our small mailbox with a big one many years back and very few packages we get through the mail will not fit in it.

    Our UPS drivers routinely pick up or drop off packages on my front porch. I'll get home and find a box of re-sharp bands or repair parts or my wife's photo supplies there waiting for us. No issues with them either.

Didn't realize what great service we get.  Once in a while the neighbors drop off a piece of mail that was delivered to their box, but not so bad.  Once in a while I just don't get a piece of mail because they dropped it off to the wrong box, of someone we don't know and they must just drop it in the trash. Have yet to miss getting a delivery of something we ordered.

We have great service from UPS and USPS. If it doesn't fit in the box it is brought down a 1/4 mile drive to the house. A little maple syrup as a gift at Christmas may have something to do with the good service. Fed Ex has a problem finding my house. Packages have been left at a nearby abandoned home at times. I find the service is directly related to the attitude of the driver.

A retired (but much younger) officer that used to work for me now lives in Arizona and he asked if I might have a small piece of walnut laying around... of course.  He has a friend who was making a knife for him and he wanted a walnut handle and about the only thing his friend had available was mesquite.  I looked around a bit  and sent him a box of handle-sized blanks from about 10 different, local to us, woods.  It was a 12x12x6 box, sent it by USPS to Arizona, well south of Tucson, arrived in 1.5 days.   :)

Some time later, my friend asked how I like the knife.  I said, "what knife".  He said that his friend appreciated all of the blanks and had sent me a camp knife as a thank you.  A week later he asked if I got it, nope.  The package was about 2x2x10", sent by USPS - 22 day delivery time.  I didn't have the tracking info but it was "First Class" and only moved an average of 53 miles a day.   ???

Tom,

   So are you saying it is much faster to get out of Kansas than it is to get in? :D

I ordered something from California, it was shipped UPS to Canada Customs in Vancouver then Canada Post to my home. FOUR WEEKS!  I should have driven to LA to pick it up. Another package arrived from Boulder CO via Fedex in four days.

Service has always been great here and it don't get more rural than here. I use a community box, if the parcel is too big via Canada Post they bring it up the road or leave a card to go to post office to pick up. UPS has been good to, except I have to tell the driver sometimes in winter not to attempt to drive to the end of the road and over the hill to the next paved road because it ain't plowed. Nope, you got to go back down the road and make a left at every intersection to get to the Mars Hill Road (Canada side). That will be 4 lefts. Simple. ;D

UPS freight delivery last Thursday August 27th. Order was placed August 12th. Cooks got it right out. Sat in Columbus Ohio, then Toledo Ohio and I finally received it. 8)


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Apparently the do not double stack doesn't mean anything.


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I think everything is ok. I wasn't home to inspect so my wife took "Bob" out with the forks attached to haul it up the lane from the road to my shop. I gave her instructions to inspect it before she signs for anything.
She said the UPS driver was great and said he'd take it if I didn't want it.
I imagine he would!! :o

Brent

I've shipped and received packages all over the world .USPS from Ohio to Florida or the west coast is about 3 days.Australia is 4 to 5 .Ont Canada is upwards of two weeks to go 200 miles .There are a lot of differences all over the world but the USPS is the best .
BTW I get what few scripts I need from Canada ordered from India .They ship it through Sweden for some reason and it takes about 1 month from the time I order  them .I've been told the hold up is because of this world wide health thing we are experiencing .Not a big deal because I have about 1 years worth ahead .

worst drivers/deliverys  we have seen has been the brandy new Amazon delivery service.  I can't type the words I want to use to describe them. They will pull into a driveway and then just back on our without looking, even if your driving by in a loaded 10 wheeler!  They have stickers, or magnets with there names and can or route number on them. I enjoy watching them be in the Amazon can one week, see it pick up some dents, then they are in a Budget or Uhaul the next week...

Nice fella came down my drive last Sat.  He tried backing up and turning around 6 times before I could get there and "help" him back up. When I got him turned around and he was driving away that's when I noticed the dag-gum thing had a back-up camera :-X,

Delivery time on my in stock book via Amazon prime was around 10 days :(

We do not mail checks in the mail anymore for payment of bills.  Too many issues with checks never showing up. 

Oh those new Amazon drivers are a breed of their own. Already had to pull one out when he just kept on driving, past the well marked delivery box, past the house, past the mill building and then the milk house, 100' greenhouse, pretty much right into a pasture.  I think he would have headed into the woods if the mud didn't stop him. 

Quote from: WDH on August 29, 2020, 08:40:42 PM
We do not mail checks in the mail anymore for payment of bills.  Too many issues with checks never showing up.

What's a check? I haven't written one for so long I have forgotten how. :D I don't think my bank issues them anymore.

If a mail package doesn't fit in my large mail box, the mail lady usually comes to the house, which I think is great. But for all the home delivery people, if I don't meet you in the driveway,  please don't leave my packages (re-sharps) outside where they will get rained on or leave them where a dog can shred it, especially stuff like my mail order pills. 

I should put up a sign to put them inside the car or truck.  

Where I used to live for 40 years, the mail service was excelent. My house was one mile off the county road, so I had a large box that most packages  would fit. Large packages would be put in a plastic bag behind wooden fence. I moved to the other part of the county eight years ago and the mail service is terrible.  My house is 75 ft from county road. I have found packages in the ditch and if she brings them to the house, they are placed in front of the garage instead of putting them on the front porch out of the rain. I don't complain because the service could get worse. My brother complained a few years ago and he didn't get any mail for a week including his milk check.

Be careful who you start complaining to :)
Junk Mail - Seinfeld - YouTube (https://youtu.be/On3cQ0sPvSY)

I still pay by cheque for some, my health insurance don't except online payment and my life insurance just started. But I have mail cheques for years, always arrived on the other end. But dad's sister mailed a hearing aid from her place in southern NB and was to arrive at dad's. Never did see it. And you know what they cost. Now everything is tracked. 15 years ago you could go to the post office and the only thing modern was the scales. Register would be from the 70's, around the time when the first calculators came out. And rural tracking is only since Amazon came on the scene, they only tracked between the big hubs, once it hit NB it was anywhere you wanted to guess. I've seen packages come from Ontario overnight and sit in Dieppe, N.B. 3 days. :D

Always liked Wilford Brimley characters, such a great actor. :D

My wife is a rural route carrier for USPS (an employee of) and our carrier I've known since 94'. We used to work together before that other company went belly up. Because of our common interests and connections between us three, I have good service from the USPS. FEDEX, UPS, Amazon and other private shippers (whatever they may be) not so much. But my USPS carrier, TOP NOTCH. Her name is Dorothy but goes by Dot. I only wish that everyone could get as good service as she gives.

We had a mail lady named Dorothy that was great, but she retired.  Don't know the name of the new one.  We have one of the big mail boxes, and she throws the mail all the way to the back.  But like pigman I am afraid if I complain things will get worse.  Tim

 i was very surprised today .One of my flea bay  purchases was delivered today by Fedex and it's Sunday.It was  not that big of a deal just a power cord for a Milwaukee drill . I have a lot of power tools by that company and another day or two would not make that that much difference .That said I like to keep all of my power tools up to snuff so to speak .Just the way I am .Too old to change my ways .   

UPS has lost a package coming to me  last week.  Driver notes said it was picked up by me at an access point.  But that access point (ups store) has no record of the tracking number.  Their website wouldn't work to file a claim.   

Last week tuesday morning I sent a check to Wisconsin.  4 business days(not including Tuesday) and a weekend later and still no check/letter there.... 

Quote from: sawguy21 on August 29, 2020, 09:03:32 PM

Quote from: WDH on August 29, 2020, 08:40:42 PM
We do not mail checks in the mail anymore for payment of bills.  Too many issues with checks never showing up.

What's a check? I haven't written one for so long I have forgotten how. :D I don't think my bank issues them anymore.

I remember going into the bank and each teller window had a pad of counter checks...

I'm pretty much old school and I write checks ,some times called cheques by some .Stick it in a envelope with a postage stamp and send it off .
I guess I'm so far out of the loop I'm not certain how you would pay off a credit card balance if you didn't use a check .Debit card maybe which I do not nor ever will use .
What I find concerning is the fact everything I supposedly own is nothing but a file on a computer some place .It just doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling so to speak .Couple that factor of your very existence  that you even are who you say you are is a computer file .Makes me wonder will it ever end .

   I was the office manager for a project in Norway for a couple of years in 2007-2008 and had the only bank account for the project. I never saw a check used over there anywhere. I paid all the project bills by cash, credit card or, mostly, on line. If somebody on the team had a parking ticket to pay or needed to reserve a ski lodge for the weekend they'd bring me the bill and the cash and I'd pay it on line and put the cash in the petty cash box.

   It worked fine for us but it drove the auditors crazy when they came over and checked my books because they were used to seeing dual signature checks used for everything. They also did not like me paying personal team expenses out of the same petty cash account even though I had separate books clearly showing billable and non-billable expenses. My thoughts, which I sold to the project manager, were it was more cost effective for the guys to spend 5 minutes in the office with me rather than having to leave the project in a company vehicle, which was all we had, a couple hours during working hours to go to the bank which was the only other alternative in most cases to pay such things. The auditors spent too much time in an office instead of trying to run a project anyway IMHO.

@Al_Smith (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=2054) If you bank online you can enter the credit card number on your account as a payee. You can set it up to to automatically pay the balance or manually enter an amount of your choosing. It works well for me, I check the acccount balance at least once a month for unauthorized transactions which the bank will reverse if notified in time. It has happened to me, the bank takes the hit.

I'm not ready for this"brave new world " ..my goodness not only everything with a computer but now this so called digital currency .Sounds like a suckers game to me .
Whatever happened to gold,silver ,furs , whiskey .At one time a big round rock with a hole in it  in the Pacific islands would buy a wife which would really be a suckers game except if it had a no reason return policy like Lowes on power tools .
Having an attempt at humor in my retirement all my funds are by wire transfer .I get a statement once a month which is fine .Also all my private holdings are listed monthly .Now whatever I did with the milk cans buried in the woods full of money  I'm not certain of,misplaced the metal detector . 

Old Thread, new gripe. HOLY COW I have never seen such a cluster flock as what the USPS has become now!
 Check this out. I ordered a simple digital thermometer with 3 remotes to monitor my shop, kiln, and trailer temps from the house. It was shipped USPS on 6/17, sat at the local town in NJ for about 3 days. That's 118 miles south of me. Then it showed up at a distribution/sorting center in MA, about 70 miles NE (past) me. Then it goes to Newburgh, NY, about 35 miles SE of me (again, going right past on the thruway). Next it shows up back north in my local sorting facility (Saturday, 6am) about 12 miles east of me. I figure it will be here Monday, but no. It sat there until last night at midnight, when they shipped it to....wait for it........ Flushing NY, about 95 miles south of me.... or about 15 miles from where it started.... 8 days ago!
 SO this little package has traveled over 425 miles in a week+ just to get back to where it started. It still has 100+ more miles to reach me, if it comes straight here and not through, oh, I don't know, maybe Ohio or perhaps NJ again?
 This is ridiculous, and they say this new system they put in a few years back is supposed to be saving them money. Sorry, I am not seeing it. I wonder what percentage of every load they have on the highways are covering redundant and unnecessary miles? Maybe 50%?
ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!

Just by contrast, and maybe this is partly why I am SO tweaked, I ordered cat Food, Litter, and some meds from Chewy YESTERDAY AFTERNOON. It showed up today. I hate to rant like this but geez, what else can you do sometimes?

Well, I,m typing from my playstation 4 because Wifi went out on the laptop. I tried to order by phone at staples, which can be done. Trouble was their headsets don't work. As soon as they talk it goes to noise. The first time I called, we got to the point where she was entering my mailing address, but the address fields weren't  coming up for her to fill in,she said. She put me on hold so she could check if the site was working. After 10 minutes of music I figured she flicked me off like a booger. Second time I called, same thing with her headset. I said I can't hear anything but noise. She hung up. The closest store doesn't do phone orders but I can go in and use a computer to order. So I will order thursday on my way to the docs clinic. Lord love us.

I ordered a couple of chicken deboning cones from Australia earlier this month.  They shipped them through their postal service and they were at US Customs in maybe three days.  They clear customs and enter the local USPS system, of course things go to a crawl.  Well finally they are out for delivery last Tuesday.  The delivery lady pulls into the driveway because 1) it won't fit in the box and we have a package shipping and receiving area and 2) it needs a signature.  So the good for nothing, lazy, over paid, USPS employee who delivers our mail drives up to the shipping and receiving area and blows her horn.  Can't get her 40 overweight lbs out of the car, blows the horn.  There are 6 employees working 100 yards away and one starts to walk towards her, gets within 30 yards and she drives off after looking at him, then proceeds to drop a "signature required" slip in the regular box.  So we call the local PO which is only open from 2:45 - 4:45 Monday through Friday and the girl there tells me the package isn't there.  Guess what the next day was - a Federal holiday - June 19th - so no Post Office, no delivery, etc.  I call the distribution Post Office on Thursday and speak with the Post Master to ask him where my package is and what that was all about, thinking he would want to know of how amazing their customer service is.  The dude tells me, he was also in the car, also saw my employee heading her way, and told me that he told her the employee was heading her way, he was doing her evaluation!!!  I kinda lost it at that point.  I mean to do this is bad enough, to do it when your boss is there, and is conducting your evaluation just shows nobody there cares at all.  So I filed a complaint with the Post Masters boss, of course nothing will come out of it, and I had to wait until 2:45 that day to get the cones that we needed 3 days earlier.  Well when I go to the local PO guess who was there conducing yet another evaluation - yup the Post Master, he didn't say a single word the whole time I was there, just passed over my package.  Yea - that whole system needs to be flushed out, fire each and every one of them, no pension, no nothing - get out and start over.  

I am thankful it's not like that here. (Yet) we take care of the mail carriers animals, several other post office employees too, We get taken pretty good care of. 

I can echo what Nebraska just said.  I would have to rate our USPS service and carriers as caring, helpful, and pleasant to interact with.  

Maybe it is a regional or individual issue.

Fine time for postal problems, with brick and mortar stores closing and going to order through the internet.  We are depending on the government to deliver and maybe control our orders. Futere generations need to pay attention.  For me, he local drug store is looking more dependable vs. mail order. 

To agree with MM, the local postal people are very helpful and overworked.  UPS should consider delivering their own packages instead of dumping them at the local Post Office.  

I have no problems with the local carriers, well almost all of them, but yeah, they just push any complaints on down the line. None of the carriers and local PO's like this new distribution system either, they know it sucks.
 My big issue is with this new routing system they have and seemingly nobody paying attention.
 When last we heard, the small package in my tale of woe has returned to within a dozen or so miles of where it started it's trip. 2 hours later the package was back in Newburgh, NY in the exact same building it was in on FRIDAY, 35 miles SE of me again.
 I think it left there yesterday afternoon with no idea of where it is headed next. The predicted delivery has been today, but I don't have my hopes set very high. 10 days to travel 118 miles is nothing to brag about, of course this package will have traveled over 500 miles at least when it gets here.

No problem with local PO, but Amazon now dumps a lot of package mail off at USPS. Then it can take a circuitous route as described in the OP. Part of an Amazon order will come via their Prime trucks/vans or a Uber-like driver, with another part of an order dropped off at USPS. Those "parts" are often late. 

USPS workers are paid good, but cannot be fired easily, and for sure cannot for being lazy. Union protects them from anything other than serious things. So they are not held to much and there at work to get a paycheck and good pension. Keeping good contact with the local post office and the carriers is important. When they make a comment at package delivery time like "I like coming here", that is a good feeling and a good sign. 

Postal service is great here, I like that all parcels are delivered and don't have to go out of my way or worry about the time of day to dodge open hours to get my stuff. Other carriers have also been good.

Quote from: Sixacresand on June 26, 2024, 07:58:00 AMFine time for postal problems, with brick and mortar stores closing and going to order through the internet.  We are depending on the government to deliver and maybe control our orders. Futere generations need to pay attention.  For me, he local drug store is looking more dependable vs. mail order. 

Here in NZ, Post is very aware of the online shopping, coupled with steadily falling mail volumes. We are more parcel delivery than mail now. Being rural we also end up with ALL the other companies items. Amazon / Fedex / UPS / USPS and all the local delivery outfits, plus an independent mail company. But for most of the country, there is plenty of competition for the parcel, and even mail delivery. Actual delivery staff are mostly contractors now, not Govt employees. NZ Post is run as a regular Company, not a Govt department, even though the Govt is the company owner, it operates under the same rules as any other business. (You can be fired for not actually doing your job)

System isn't perfect, but misdirected parcels are the exception, usually simple human or machine reading error, and easily corrected. 

  Try cleaning a rattlesnake for your USPS carrier. Ours does a very good job. I know ours is a contractor and not perfect but she tries and is very friendly. She ran over a 3' canebrake rattler several years ago and her dad called and they brought it to me and I skinned it for her and we looked through the slab pile for a nice cherry board to stretch it on. Oh yeah - I take her and her folks a big mess of catfish fillets a couple of times every year too but I have not heard complaints from anyone on the route even without such special treatment.

    Our UPS lady is the same way and is super friendly and always has a kind word and a treat for Sampson.

    I have had my issues with stuff I sent that had to go out of state and such bit our local delivery folks are super.

Just to close this out, the 'thing' arrived today. Of course at the time of delivery the tracking still showed it 40 miles away. Let's move on.

Quote from: Old Greenhorn on June 26, 2024, 07:49:52 PMJust to close this out, the 'thing' arrived today. Of course at the time of delivery the tracking still showed it 40 miles away. Let's move on.

Not sure about your systems, but here it only updates when we actually scan. 

So driver scans "out for delivery" as he loads up at the depot.  I was doing a delivery to one of our regulars, runs a business from home, and family are online shoppers. I was scanning out the various parcels from the van, and the guy's phone pings. He picks it up, and "Parcel delivered". I then hand him the parcel.   ffsmiley

One thing we have is "Authority To Leave" (ATL). Sign the form, and we will leave your package as instructed. Now if the gate is shut, and the dog is lose, well you get a card. Most farm dogs I'm cool with, and know the regular ones, but some just get parcels slung over the gate. Basically, if a gate is shut, we don't go in. Big plus is that we have a regular route, and know most of the residents. When you get to know their dogs by name, then you are sweet. Dogs aren't dumb, and know the mail van sometimes delivers dog chow.  ffcheesy

USPS has lost 3 checks from NJ to me just this year alone.  They are terrible.
But all the junk mail shows up.
I will join the chorus of ranters about the USPS.

It never ends.  Two days ago, we had the front gate open expecting a parcel.  The mail person shows up, not the regular, a substitute driver.  We were in our neighbor's yard talking and saw the whole thing.  The driver pulls up to the 16 foot wide, open gate, with the address in big letters on it, stops, does a U turn around and drives off.  Martha gets in the Polaris and chases the lady down as she is delivering to other mailboxes, and successfully gets the package.  When asked why she didn't deliver ours and instead turned around, the mail lady just said "I don't do gates."  The gate was wide open and she didn't even try to go down the driveway to the house.  We know she was a substitute because Martha asked her.  Totally ridiculous. 


Yeah.  I wonder why the USPS is going bankrupt. 

Louis Dejoy.
If you want to privatize for profit a public service like education or a postal service, first put in place an appointee who will slight the service. This creates complaints and the outcry we are seeing. Next is the call to defund the agency and replace it with private for profit service. And the privateers take the guilty fishing.

We may have a new record here. A part I ordered originated in Upland CA., in the 6 days the USPS has had that part it made its way to the City of Industry, Ca.  This is the trip it ONLY took 6 days to complete.    28 min (24.1 mi) via CA-60 E and I-10 E
and it's only 2206 more miles ta git ta me  :tickedoff2:

I went on a trip recently and went to the post office to put a hold on my mail.  The woman behind the counter didn't know where the form was for me to fill out.  I asked "don't you put that in your computer?".   I ended up writing my name, address and the dates on a sheet of paper.

This takes some of the pain out.

Informed Delivery (https://www.usps.com/manage/informed-delivery.htm)

My local carrier is worthless but "Informed Delivery" is pretty good and lets me know what should be in my mailbox at the end of the day. It also works to stop mail when out of town. Not hard to sign up and navigate the site.

Quote from: rusticretreater on July 17, 2024, 10:41:45 PMI went on a trip recently and went to the post office to put a hold on my mail.  The woman behind the counter didn't know where the form was for me to fill out.  I asked "don't you put that in your computer?".  I ended up writing my name, address and the dates on a sheet of paper.

We can do it online, and we get an official "hold" notice sent to the depot, usually 2 days after they wanted it held :wacky: . But most folks leave a note in their box, "hey can you please hold our mail to X day". That's not infallible either. You put a note in their slot, but you have to remember to check when they want it resumed....  :uhoh:

I can say that I had a good run today, but missed ONE parcel on the "out for delivery" scan. So not 100% on the scanning.  :veryangry: Probably some tiny Ali-Express trinket in the bottom of the tray. It got delivered, but I'm only 98% accurate on the scanning. Never mind.

Quote from: Don P on June 27, 2024, 09:02:42 AMLouis Dejoy.
If you want to privatize for profit a public service like education or a postal service, first put in place an appointee who will slight the service. This creates complaints and the outcry we are seeing. Next is the call to defund the agency and replace it with private for profit service. And the privateers take the guilty fishing.

Exactly,hit the nail on the head .Every thing ran fine and dandy before he was appointed which if you cut through all the nonsense was fostered for political reasons .It was in effect like hiring the fox to watch  the hen house .If you think back it all took place prior to a national election with mail in voting .Which I might add did not stop the mail ins but did cause much consternation and frustration and pointing of fingers  .Ponder that and with that I'll just stop .

Quote from: Larry on July 17, 2024, 11:30:18 PM"Informed Delivery" is pretty good and lets me know what should be in my mailbox at the end of the day

I enrolled and will see how this works.  ??

   I ordered a 4" idler pulley from WM on Friday. They took the order and when I got e-mail confirmation I was it was $24 shipping so I called Saturday to see if they did not have cheaper alternatives. I asked about mail and they said was $10 as priority mil so I changed to that. It shipped Monday and got here Wednesday noon.

I moved about 3 years ago and can no longer get Informed Delivery. Probably wouldn't help, anyway..

All I want is my bank statements in a timely manner. There is no reason for them to take 3 weeks ( That's WEEKS ) to get from upstate NY or Ohio or anywhere !!!

The same bank manages to deliver my mortgage account statement in about 5 days. Where the heck is my checking and savings account statements ??? !! 

This morning the tracking info on my part extended the delivery date by 2 weeks, This afternoon I got notice that my part was now on track to be delivered on time. SURE, delivered on time, 2 weeks late.  :veryangry:

Sign of things to come?

Denmark is basically dropping standard mail delivery, due to lack of demand. They will of course still do courier / parcel delivery, and you can put a small parcel sticker on a regular envelope, it get gets tracked and delivered same as any other item. 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360607170/european-countrys-postal-service-will-no-longer-deliver-letters

We aren't at that stage here in NZ (Yet), but it's certainly heading in that direction.

Of course mail delivery has been bad here too.  That being said, our actual Mail carrier is good.  She can't be blamed for what happens in Indianapolis or wherever else the system fails.  I have to be honest and share what happened to us.  We mailed a large envelope to DC along with a return shipping envelope inside that.  We thought it had disappeared, so we shipped again this time using UPS.  Well, miraculously our return service envelope showed up at our house and we were amazed.  Turned out we were originally tracking the return envelope instead of the original.  Believe it or not USPS did their job and we messed up.

This weeks chuckle was doing a delivery to one of our regulars, who has a couple of large / loud dogs. But they are usually behind a tall gate, and the guy has a large box beside his mailbox to put oversize items in, and a signed Authority to Leave, so it's all cool.  

But I pull up to his mailbox with an oversize parcel, and his bull terrier comes running up to the van barking. Hmmm, might have to skip this delivery today. But I put the window and say "Hi there" to the dog. It stops barking, looks at me, looks around, and seems to realise it's "outside the wire", with no backup. It turns around, climbs back through a small gap in the fence, and resumes barking, through the gate, beside the German Shepard. 

I did keep a close eye on it, but it stayed on it's side of the gate while I dropped off the parcel. 

But it was the expression that it made when I actually talked to it that cracked me up. 

He realized his guilt but it is easier to be brave when you have backup.  ffcheesy

Expect an uptick in service.  The newz says the Postal Service is cutting 10,000 people.  Folks will be running scared.
  
https://www.newsweek.com/how-usps-layoffs-could-impact-mail-deliveries-2044678 (https://www.newsweek.com/how-usps-layoffs-could-impact-mail-deliveries-2044678)

Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver said on X, formerly Twitter: "Any attempts to privatize the USPS would be a betrayal to the more than 640,000 postal employees who work tirelessly every day to ensure mail is delivered to every corner of the country."

President Donald Trump, regarding bringing the USPS into the Department of Commerce: "We want to have a post office that works well and doesn't lose massive amounts of money. And we're thinking about doing that."

  My mail carrier is a contractor and does not work directly for the USPS. I am sure she does not get the same benefits and retirement and such a direct Federal employee gets. I do not know exactly how that works and whether she has to periodically re-bid on the route or if she works for a big company who bids on the various routes then they pay her.

    I know she has to be bonded and comply with all the regs and such. We used to meet her along the route when we'd be going to town and we'd stop beside her and she'd hand us our mail out the window but sometime last year evidently someone complained and she said she had to stop or risk getting fired. Whomever the cranky soul was probably had to stop an extra 30 seconds on his way to town while she passed somebody his mail out her window.

  When I think about and hear people, and especially politicians, complaining about cutting the federal work force I remember my last assignment in the USMC. I took over the section and we had 50 employees. Less than 2 years later I was down to 23 and we had more than doubled the support we provided cutting transportation costs for our field exercises by half. All that was just by getting back to basics so people can't tell me you can't cut costs and provide more service without increasing manpower.

Quote from: Larry on August 28, 2020, 10:41:21 PMThink its time to start playing real hardball.  Maybe a facebook group, would 60 Minutes be interested?  A letter writing campaign to my Senators and Representatives?  I'm *pithed!  Open to suggestions.

After starting this thread over four years ago I did decide to play hardball. Wrote emails to my US Representative, face to face meetings, and documented everything. With slow progress I suggested we have a open "Town hall meeting" and invite the press. Delivery immediately improved and I got my packages. I declared a truce.

Another issue has started and I really don't know what to think. NW Arkansas is going through a population explosion. Everybody wants to live here. I'm on the tail end of my route and used to get mail around 5 PM. As more folks move in the mail gets later and later. Normal delivery now is 7-9PM. I think some days it gets so late the carrier holds the mail and delivers next day.

I've seen the carrier on the route at 8am and guessing she probably started an hour or two sooner. I would think these kind of long hours everyday could be a safety issue. I can't imagine putting mail in mailboxes long after dark is any joy. I feel sorry for her now. I would think overtime pay is off the charts so maybe it's worth it for her.

And you say the Post Office is going to get rid of 10,000. That should really improve my service.

My stepson is building a new house, not far from his old house.
But they decided to sell their old house now. So, they moved into an apartment building not too far from their old house.
Next, instead of changing all their stuff to the apartment address, they are changing to the new house address. This means all their mail will come to the new address. So, they had to install a new mailbox. Their new driveway is on a busy street. He told the story to us that he went to the post office an asked where should he put the new mailbox. He had selected a spot where the mail carrier could completely pull off the street and park next to their mailbox and not hold up any traffic.
This new site worked great for two weeks. The mail carrier was delivering mail to the new mailbox and all was well.
They got a notice to move the mailbox. So, he went to the post office and asked what the issue was? The man there told him he had to rotate the mailbox 90°. If he did that the mail carrier would have to park in the street side drainage ditch. He took more pictures and showed the post office man. He stated that the mailbox had to be moved to the opposite side of the driveway. He explained that this new position the mail carrier's vehicle will be in the street and blocking traffic. He said this did not matter. My stepson explained that now at the new location that he will have to park in his driveway and then get out of his vehicle so that he can walk over to this new mailbox location and get his mail. In the old location he could park next to his mailbox reach in and get his mail. The post office man said he did not care. He moved the mailbox. Not happy about this at all. It seems that their new location they changed mail carriers and the new one did not like the old mailbox post location for some unknown reason.

At my house across town we used to get our mail anytime after 5pm or so.
Recently our mail carrier got changed. They took my street off the old carrier's route and gave her another street. And we got a new carrier. This new carrier delivers out mail around 2 to 2:30pm. I know this as my incoming mail tracking numbers send me an email saying that the package has been delivered to my mailbox.

Jim Rogers

What you got is the mailbox regulations snafu.  The regulations are written for all mail boxes and have no loopholes for situations such as yours.  By reporting the mailbox location, the postal person gets a brownie point on their record in the computer.

I had a situation back when I lived in a townhouse.  Around the mailbox area were tons of rubber bands from the mail delivery.  I also noted the local post office had lots of them in the restricted parking lot too.  I got miffed, so I picked up all of the rubber bands around the postal boxes and sent them to the local postmaster.  The problem stopped and I noticed the post office lot got cleaned up too.

I happened to talk to my postman awhile later and found he was a fella who was on my youth football team.  Of course he said "It wasn't me."  Later, on my baseball team I had a fella who worked for USPS and I told him the story.  He said "That was you?  We had a big meeting and got told about waste and appearance to the public."

I'm sure it was local as the folks didn't want the news to go higher up.  But who knows. I did move the needle though!

I ran into the moving mailbox thing. Every time a federal election came around the box needed moved. It moved to 3 places. You can see up the road 1/2 a mile and down the road a mile from any of the locations. They put it at the intersection, which really is not such. It's an old farm road with a stop sign on it to my uncle's and not even plowed past 500 yards in winter so there is zero traffic except the comings and goings of family. It was nothing but a pain in the but to me because the plow would come down there and shove all the snow into the mail box and my lower driveway until we got someone who knew how to plow. I use a community mailbox now, let them deal with it.  :thumbsup:

It seems that we have to train the carrier every time there is a new one.  We live next to a business that puts boxes on trucks.  Our mailbox is out along the highway.  The business doesn't have a box along the highway, but does have an address there.  Their mail is delivered to another entrance.

Seems like we had a substitute driver on a few days the past couple of weeks.  Our mailbox has the number on it and it has the number inside the mailbox door. 

The first week we had to retrieve some mail down at the business's other entrance.  The second week we had to take the business's mail back to the post office, since they put it in our box.  I suspect the postal service doesn't have an entrance exam for substitute carriers.

Quote from: Ron Wenrich on March 16, 2025, 08:02:04 AMI suspect the postal service doesn't have an entrance exam for substitute carriers.

What? They missed the opportunity to heap even more regulations and costs into the USPS budget?

We've gotten to the point here on the Oregon Coast where if it doesn't fit in the mailbox it doesn't deliver and they leave a salmon colored sorry we missed you ticket in the mailbox. 

Quote from: Ron Wenrich on March 16, 2025, 08:02:04 AMIt seems that we have to train the carrier every time there is a new one.  We live next to a business that puts boxes on trucks.  Our mailbox is out along the highway.  The business doesn't have a box along the highway, but does have an address there.  Their mail is delivered to another entrance.

Seems like we had a substitute driver on a few days the past couple of weeks.  Our mailbox has the number on it and it has the number inside the mailbox door. 

The first week we had to retrieve some mail down at the business's other entrance.  The second week we had to take the business's mail back to the post office, since they put it in our box.  I suspect the postal service doesn't have an entrance exam for substitute carriers.

Ron,

   Try writing "Misdelivered to wrong address" on the outside of the misrouted mail you get and put it back in the box.

    Then when the recipient finally gets it they see why it is several days late and can see the correct address was there all along. That method really rattles the postal carrier as their boss sees it and gets the complaints. I have had several in the past tell me not write on it and just put it back in the box but I find writing on it stops recurrences. My current mail lady is real good and no problems in a long time.

Then there was the time I found the package with my new lens for my camera sitting on top of the mailbox.  Only $150. Nothing to really worry about.  :shocked2:

My wife took it to the post office.  She was going to give it to the neighbors, but I told her it didn't solve the problem.  You get to talk to actual people there. 

If it's a one off mistake, just put it back in the box, and it gets fixed. If it's on-going, then write on it. We get all sorts of mail with strange names, old residents? Fake addresses? You get the idea. In that case, write "gone - no address", or "doesn't live here". After a few of those we get the idea and just send them back. But you deliver as addressed, because people move in to a house, with the original resident. New girlfriend / daughter's boyfriend / boarder etc. 

Other thing is to have an actual number on the box. It's not so bad for us that have driven the same route for years, we know the residents by first name.  A new or relief driver won't, and confusion ensues. 

Had my doc renew a script for me and send to my mail order script company. That was on March 6th. Got an email on the 9th that my script had shipped and had a tracking number through USPS. Stated 3-5 days shipping. After 10 days I called Express scripts. They said they shipped it and out of their hands. Checked tracking number and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Started out in Atlanta on the 9th , made it to 2 different USPS facilities in Chicago, made its way to some place back in Georgia where it sat for 4 days then back to Atlanta on the 19th of March where it sat for a few more days. At this point I'm pretty fired up so I call customer service at the USPS. The guy I talk to was great and he couldn't believe where all this package had been and still hadn't made it to Ohio. He said if you could see all the automation a package goes through you'd see how things get lost. So yesterday I check and it made its way to Columbus Ohio and I finally received it today, March 24th. Much to my surprise the plastic bag of an envelope was still intact. 15 days in the system. Hmmm?? I've been out of my meds since the 12th. Glad it wasn't a life or death medication. And ya wonder why a stamp cost so much nowadays.
Oh well, carry on!!

Brent 

L Dejoy USPS Post master general stepped down
https://apnews.com/article/postmaster-general-louis-dejoy-resigned-738d373d5f6cc1b24d2cd536359c9727

Not sure the service will improve with his departure. I can say, the
route driver we have actually cares about the service he provides
and is pleasant as the day is long,

D

New option for the post office Informed Delivery app. You can turn on a option that will send a email when a letter is put in your mailbox. It's similar to the option for package delivery which has been around for a long time. To turn it on go to the settings menu in the app.

I like it as my mailbox is a 1/4 mile from the house and my mail normally arrives sometime between 4 and 9PM. If it gets too late I think the carrier waits until the next day to deliver.