MTFCA Forum

What an ordeal !! After decades of postal shipments their record is still perfect, as of today. They have never lost a package or piece of mail from us. Ever. HOWEVER, it took 52 days for a priority package to arrive to our poor, frustrated customer in Mississippi. We have been recently getting first class mail ourselves that is taking 7-15 days to get to us, even from neighboring states. Customers have been inquiring where their items are and we haven’t even recd payment yet. We’ve always taken pride in getting things right out the door, and this all makes us look real bad, too.
We stopped sending anything first class several months ago when all this stuff hit the news. Only priority shipments now, and that’s $4-7 more out of our pocket. Very frustrated ! Be aware , if you send something first class, you just may never see it again. At least with priority, there is supposed to be tracking. But, 2-3 day service, not bloody likely!

Depends where the package was routed through. I was told by a postal worker that they have had mail trucks stolen, vandalized, and the contents looted in some riot prone areas. The stuff get recovered, and put on the back burner until it can be sorted and rerouted to its destination.

I have been looking at airplane parts, and Univair states that they will no longer ship anything through USPS, due to lost and delayed items. They ship ups and fedex only.

Since the panic started, we have had regular mail delivered to our home as late as 9:55pm on a week night. Sometimes we get no mail pick up or delivery at all for several days.
This interruption has cost me close to $100 in late fees. Mind you, the mail was put out in plenty of time to get there with time to spare, but when I get my statement the following month I see that they got the payment a day or two after the due date. An extra $21 wound up going to the California DMV for registration on my '26 Touring because the payment needed to be postmarked by the due date. Didn't happen.
None of this is due to the fact that I live in a remote rural community. I live in Bellflower California. We're about 25 mi. Southwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Far from a sparsely populated farming community.
I asked my regular mail carrier what was going on. He told me that because of the current pandemic, when he has a day off, there's no one to deliver the mail.
Apparently, according to Phil the mail man, because we live at the very tip of the Northwest corner of town, sometimes he gets called by our Postmaster to help other mail carriers because they have a large load and they can't work past 10pm.
If the mail at my house isn't picked up on Friday, I take it to the post office on Saturday morning. That's ok, they'll be looking to raise the rates soon.

Having trouble too. Talked to the local Postal Inspector, said the Pandemic, anticipation of Mail-in ballot volumes, and the forth coming Holidays with expected high volume of shipments has caused them to hire more staff. So there is a learning curve. I had a purchase from NJ (1st class) get routed to a suburb of Chicago were it sat idle for several days, notified USPS, a few days later is was routed to the Chicago Distribution Center were it sat idle for a few more days, notified USPS sill sat idle. Chic ago is just 3hr drive from my home. The Seller sent another one 1st class went from NJ directly to Moline in 3 days. 2 days later the one from Chicago arrived. Total cost of the item with shipping was $10 - seller said to keep it didn't pay to send it back and refund the shipping to me.

Same in Australia

It's pretty good here but there are a lot of background things going on we don't think about.
One here is the number of Amazon shipments coming in to rural America. They are all treated as priority and there is so much volume that the carriers are swamped. Where they used to have mail for only a percentage of their route they now have a delivery to every house every day because of the political mailings.

It's a mess.

A lot of it has to do with current conditions and work ethics, it is everywhere. I have personally seen this happen for years not only with the USPS, but other carriers and businesses. It will not get any better anytime soon. Not being a Debbie Downer but a realist. Constantly giving in to cry babies at the top, cutting benefits to those whom perform, what do you expect, better morale and services?

Just my $0.03

Hank

I had 2 packages shipped FedEx from Chicago to Milwaukee. Only part of the address was on both packages. I received one and not the other. Finally called FedEx and they informed me that the package was on the shelf awaiting address clarification. Even though it was coming to me, I was told that I cannot clarify the address. That has to be done by the sender, even though they could look it up since they had my name on file. It is not just the USPS.

This is why I don't believe in the plot theory of history. The existence of vast conspiracies would require a sudden, widespread outbreak of competence.

I sent a postal money order to a locksmith company in San Antonio for an ignition switch for my modern car. After a couple weeks I called and they said they had never received it. The post office said I could open an investigation and get a refund if the money order isn’t cashed after some time, 6 months maybe, but there’s no way to track first class mail. Since then I’ve spent the extra couple dollars and sent money orders registered or priority mail. I kept watching the tracking on a package coming to me in Texas from California once, and it went to Puerto Rico first for some reason.

There could be a problem with the intellect of the workers too. I posted a parcel, ordinary mail, to Sydney. A week later my customer was on the line and I advised of the day it was posted and gave her the item number so she could check its whereabouts. Another week passed and I got a delivery. it was the parcel I sent two weeks before. I contacted the post office and the investigator proudly informed me the parcel had been delivered and the photo taken by the deliveryman clearly showed this. When I informed him it had been delivered to the sender, his response was silence. The parcel had been delivered to Sydney on the delivery address written in red marker pen directly on the parcel in a block some 10" x 8". Some drongo in Sydney had then read the "from" address on the invoice in the clearfaced envelope and sent it there. ie, back to me!
The only way I could get it on the way again was to repost it at the usual expense and then lodge a claim for a refund for the initial stuff-up. That took another 3 weeks.
Contrast that with the latest parcel Lang's sent to me via Fed-ex, 6 days from ordering to delivery!

Allan from own under

I am awaiting some small piano parts from Illinois, sent in a first class padded envelope. I have a tracking number even---but all I get is that it was scanned into the system and is "enroute" and scheduled to arrive here "on time." What time??? Whose time? When???
I have horror stories from just about every shipping service, so it's not just USPS!
I shipped a T part via UPS to the northeast US--according to tracking, it got to the distribution center 30 miles from the destination--and the next time it was scanned, it was in Florida!! And that was a few years ago too!! (can't blame it on the virus nor riots)

Steve J said "This is why I don't believe in the plot theory of history. The existence of vast conspiracies would require a sudden, widespread outbreak of competence. "
I agree 100 percent!
And blaming these problems on "the virus" is just too easy. We had been observing severe declines in delivery competence for a couple years now. And internet package tracking systems are both a blessing and a curse. About a year ago, months before 99 percent of the people in the world had heard of the "Wuhan Flu", a package we needed carried by the USPS went from the mid-West, to Utah to Southern Califunny (okay so far?). Then to Sacramento to Grass Valley to Auburn to Sacramento again to Grass Valley again to Auburn again to Sacramento then to Vacaville with stopover in Oakland back to Sacramento again to Vacaville back to Sacramento and finally Grass Valley and our place. Took over two weeks after it left Southern Califunny.
And please, DO NOT send us ANYTHING by Fed Ex!
I think we are cancelling our account at Amazon, and writing them off entirely. Their new System has been a nightmare here! (They sent us a few things by Fed Ex.) If I can't buy it locally here? It will be less trouble to drive down to Auburn and buy it myself!
I could go on for pages!

david_dewey wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 25, 2020 12:16 am

I am awaiting some small piano parts from Illinois, sent in a first class padded envelope. I have a tracking number even---but all I get is that it was scanned into the system and is "enroute" and scheduled to arrive here "on time." What time??? Whose time? When???
I have horror stories from just about every shipping service, so it's not just USPS!
I shipped a T part via UPS to the northeast US--according to tracking, it got to the distribution center 30 miles from the destination--and the next time it was scanned, it was in Florida!! And that was a few years ago too!! (can't blame it on the virus nor riots)

I had that happen. It made it from Florida to Redlands, Ca. Next time I tracked it, it was in El Paso Texas, Then Denver, then back to Redlands. Two weeks for a 3 day delivery.

make America great again!!!!

This is not to take side of USPS, just telling what happened to me with a shipment. Had a high dollar item coming by USPS so I was following the tracking number. Well everything was great till last day. Tracking showed it was received at my local Post Office at say 11:35 am. Then 2 minutes later it was received at another Post Office 200 miles away. WTF! The PO must have the transport machines from Star Trek. Was told that their system will automatically post it where it should be NOT where it really is. Great way to run a railroad. Package could not come to me from that PO, had to go to lose mail depot 600 miles away then to me. Took 2 more weeks.

I need to expand a bit. IMHO , our dedicated postal employees are the best of the best. You need to pass a competitive test to even be considered for employment. I’m 63 and have been a fan and patron of the PO forever, and will continue to be. We’ve never had a problem until the last couple months, and it seems like it’s gone to hell in a hand basket. I think problems would have very little to do with the pandemic, and it’s sure not because of lack of dedication by the rank and file.
I’m convinced whomever is making decisions on changes is the problem. Harry Truman famously said “ the buck stops here” You can’t just be in charge when things are going well.

BUT DON'T WORRY ABOUT YOUR MAIL IN VOTE!!!!

I saved the postal service the trouble and voted in person. Works every time

Well it arrived on time

Steve Jelf's post of October 24 hit the nail on the head. During my lifetime the USPS has done a great job. It's only recently that things have gotten FU.

From time to time I hear of a traffic accident involving a UPS, FEDEX, or USPS truck with packages scattered all over the highway or of a parcel carrying truck on fire. I have always wondered what happen to the packages and how that is handled.

They have an adjuster on call that goes to the scene of the accident, determines what (if anything) is salvagable, salvage what they can and scrap the rest to get the insurance payout for the load. Pretty much SOP fror that business... I knew one that worked for Amazon from dealing with a number of their wrecks, it happens a lot more than you think...

Also when you order something, and you get a "delay in shipping" notification, likely that was the delay - your "stuff" was involved in a wreck and they need to reprocess your order. If it's "cancelled due to unforseen circumstances" or "order cancelled, item not in stock", likely it was spread out all over a highway somewhere, not salvagable, and went to a landfill somewhere...

A few years back a friend of mine said he went to the Post Office to Mail a parcel in a Priority Mail Flat Rate box only to be told that it couldn't be shipped that way, it had a slight bulge. When asked why not? He was told because the top wasn't flat.

I have only ever had two items shipped by USPS to get lost. The latest was a set of nickle plated head bolts that I bought back in March on EBAY for a faction of what the vendors sell them for. The last USPS tracking showed then in Nashua, NH. The seller made inquiries to USPS but appearently, they could care less, so he refunded. Since then I had two shipments go way out of the way to get to me. One package from Mass., finally arrived after going by way of Seattle,WA. Another package shipped from Ga. got to me after going by way of L.A., Ca.

Oh, and don't try to tell me politics doesn't play a part in the post office's delivery problems. Last month, when the Post Master General was catching so much heat, the Democratic House Representative for this district, made a visit to San Antonio postal facilities to see if there were any problems. Well the head of the San Antonio postal workers' union said he would have seen plenty, but the Washington post office bosses sent the order to San Antonio that he was coming and to clean things up. So, bags of mail that were up to a week old were put on postal trucks and trucked to Austin, TX postal facilities so they wouldn't be seen by the U.S. Representative

I was told by the traffic department where I work that this year has been the worst for shipping damage and delays in our 70 year history. We ship millions of dollars of produce each day so losses are not insignificant.

This summer I had a shipment sent to me from France that FedEx "lost". It arrived 4 weeks late and was completely destroyed. What I received were the remains of a $35,000 robot that became spare parts.

I love the USPS, and prefer them over all the other methods of shipping.
I have a close relationship with my local carrier, as I see him nearly every day.
He has tales of rapid sorting machines being taken out of service for no reason, and reductions and eliminations in overtime work, even if they are swamped.
Baby chicks are shipped via the USPS, as after they hatch, they need no care for 3 days. If they make the trip in 3 days, they are fine. If not, they die.
The USPS is experiencing a huge surge in deaths of baby chicks that are not being moved in a timely manner. The decisions are being made at the top of the Postal Service, and have nothing to do with typical mail-persons. Those people have to follow the rules that are imposed from above, whether they like them or not.
Post Office discipline is strict and draconian, to say the least. I agree with Steve Jelf's analysis. The current postmaster has millions invested in companies that are trying to replace the USPS, at the same time that HE is directing the USPS, and seems to be doing everything in his power to ruin the USPS.

My SO has been a small town/rural carrier for almost twenty years.
She has to has constant evaluations by somebody from "evaluation" teams who ride in the back of the van and time how long it takes to move from one mailbox to the next. They are never there when it's thirty below with the wind out of the northwest and somebody is moving cattle but expect her time to be the same as July.
Idiots!!!! She is getting close to retirement and can't wait.
She used to love the job.