The USPS Sucks
Yeah, they suck BAD. My mailman is a jerk, too.
I’ve filed yet another complaint. So, aside from the complaint I just filed, my complaints include theft of property (believe it or not, he stole my beatup and battered US flag that was rusted into the mount– I complained, and the next day it was back, rolled up neatly, on the side of my house), harrassing my pets (knocking on the glass to make my cat run from the door– we saw it from the kitchen), and improper delivery procedures (received first and last notice on Jan 16th to pickup Christmas gift containing food items sent on Dec 5). He makes us go to the post office for every single priority mail package we get– no matter how small.
I’m sick of these jerks. I’m about ready to remove my mailbox from my door and put in a forwarding to my post office box.
Check out what these pricks did to my 8×10 prints:
October 22nd, 2005 at 12:45 pm
Oh yeah, I forgot. We’ve complained about receiving other people’s mail, too. We’ve lived here for going on 3 years– I think it’s time they realized that the former occupants of the house are just that– FORMER.
I am just so pissed off. I’ve had these pictures printed 4 times, and each time they are screwed up by someone.
October 28th, 2005 at 3:32 pm
OMG there is absolutely NO excuse for that. Is your mailman named Newman by any chance?
October 28th, 2005 at 4:01 pm
Nah, he’s some dude who seems more concerned with talking on his cellphone than delivering the mail. One problem is that our mailboxes are physically on our houses here, and not at the curb. So, the carriers have to park at the end of the block, load up their bag, and pound the pavement. That forces them to stuff all the mail in a bag, and basically ensures that any items marked as not bendable will almost certainly be bent.
Snapfish sent the order again, and again it was damaged. They sent it out UPS 2nd Day, and put it in a standard UPS envelope without marking it as “PHOTOS ENCLOSED - DO NOT BEND.” They put cardboard on one side of the images only, and– of course– the opposite was damaged. The UPS guy stuck it in my door– even though I was home– and the envelope bent again. If he had knocked, I would have refused delivery on the damaged envelope. Judging by the shape of the envelope, they were damaged before they even made it to my door. There are creases in the images that are about a half inch long right in the middle of the images– not suitable for display and definitely not suitable for a gift.
I got a refund and cancelled my account. If they can’t send out replacement 8×10s in boxes, I won’t order from them. It’s that simple. Next up, PhotoAccess/PhotoWorks.
And oh yeah, why is it that an HP company needs me to foot the bill on customer service phone calls? Our little website with a budget in the very very very low $X,XXXs has a toll free number, but HP? Noooooooooo…! They can’t pony up the 10 cents a minute to satisfy their customers!
I’m almost ready to just give up on getting prints. These companies all suck. I can’t believe they are even in business! Send 8×10s in the FREE boxes that UPS, USPS, and FedEx provides, or lose my business, and the business of anyone who is serious about quality prints.
Mike
October 29th, 2005 at 12:25 am
Man, this mailman seems to have it in for you or something. That is terrible!
October 29th, 2005 at 12:46 am
Heh… he probably does because have it in for me because I complain when I get bad service. The USPS is just a terrible organization.
One time in Illinois, we lived at an apartment. We were there for a year, and then decided to move since the building was for sale and the landlord was marching people through our apartment several times a week. So, we moved and put in a change of address with the post office. Well, a few days after we moved, we received 12 gas bills from our last apartment– one for each month we lived at the old place! They were postmarked a month apart, showing they were sitting at the post office the whole time we lived there! We never even called the gas company to setup the gas since the only gas appliance in the apartment was a furnace that didn’t look very safe, so we just spot-heated with an electric heater. It turns out that the hot water heater for the whole building was on our gas line, and the landlord set up the billing for us, the nice guy he was. So, I was sent to collections, and it went on my credit report! I eventually convinced the gas company that I would pay the gas cost and no penalties or late fees, and that they would remove their negative entry on my credit report. I basically asked for proof that I asked to open the account, and they couldn’t provide it, so we settled. But, it was a pain to deal with and temporarily damaged my credit. It was completely the fault of the USPS, those jerks– I’ve never ever been late on a bill otherwise.
Another time when we lived in Illinois, Jaime and I were going on vacation. We asked the post office to hold our mail for a week so it didn’t appear like we were out of town. Of course, we get home from vacation, and we have a week’s worth of mail overflowing our mailbox. It was great.
Really, though– the USPS can’t survive as a business. They let FedEx setup drop boxes on their property! That is like Coke letting Pepsi setup a machine in their cafeteria. Morons. They deliver to everyone in the country, six days a week, for free. How stupid is that?
November 19th, 2005 at 12:01 pm
I have lived at my current residence for more than seven years. I’ve lived at several other addresses in my life. NEVER have I had such poor service from the USPS as I’ve had here.
I live in a six-apartment building. Every so often, the mail carrier decides to stuff all my neighbors’ mail into my mailbox, or just randomly stuff mail for one of us into another of our mailboxes. I’ve had mail not picked up. I’ve had my credit-card payment misdelivered, so that I recently had to pay my credit-card company a late fee — the first time in my life I’ve ever been “late” with a payment. Earlier this year, my excise tax bill was not delivered, so I ended up owing a collection agency $30.
After years of complaining to a series of postmasters, and trouble still occurring, I lost my cool and wrote a very angry email the other week (this was after my credit-card company told me they hadn’t received my payment…I’m trying to build up enough credit to qualify for a mortgage and I don’t need this on top of all the other stress in my life). I had a long and, I thought, productive talk with the new postmaster the other day.
Well, maybe 20 minutes ago, I was walking out of my building to my car. The mail carrier — and, get this, he’s delivering mail from his personal car, not from the USPS truck — is walking up to my porch. He turns and asks me, “are you Reginleif?”
I said, “Yes,” figuring maybe he had a package for me he didn’t want to just leave there or something.
So he starts yelling at me, “Well, I want to thank you for that RUDE, UNCALLED-FOR email you sent…and for not even DISCUSSING the matter with me…” I mean, I’m standing out in the street, and he’s on my fucking porch yelling at me!
I just said sardonically, “You’re welcome,” and drove off. I guess I was kind of in shock and didn’t want to get into a yelling match. But after I got around the block, I started shaking with rage, and I immediately went back. He was gone. I went back into my apartment and, very upset, fired off another email to the USPS, then called the local postmaster again. He’s on lunch break, I guess…I’m sitting here trying to calm down and waiting for him to call back. In the meantime I talked with another supervisor who promised to talk to him.
If ANY employee in the private sector bitched out a customer for complaining — or for any reason at all — they’d be fired, on the spot. Yeah, I know customers can be assholes. I’ve waitressed, I’ve been a secretary. But all I want is my goddamned mail delivered properly. With all the taxes I pay, and especially with the rise in rates coming in January, you’d think they could handle that.
December 1st, 2005 at 10:32 am
Has anyone had any experience with the USPS not letting them move their mailbox from the road to their house? Mine keeps getting barrelled over by people driving down my street. They have refused to deliver my mail to the new box I mounted on my house. I can’t pick up my mail because I work the same hours they do and out of town. Today will be the 4th day that they refuse to give me my mail! I have talked to everyone, including the postmaster. Anyone have any ideas where to go next? Oh…did I mention that my paycheck is in that mail that they refuse to deliver? I had to borrow money from my parents until I can figure out what to do! If I wouldn’t have borrowed that money and deposited it into my account, I would have bounced check fees on top of everything else.
December 1st, 2005 at 3:40 pm
Chris,
I did a bit of research and found that the USPS has a whole slew of crazy rules and regulations.
For example, did you know that your newspaper mailbox cannot use the same post as your USPS mailbox?
Here’s a couple of links about customer mail receptacles:
http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm/D041.htm
http://www.medfordmailboxshop.com/merchant/pages/guide/mailbox-sizes.htm
As for getting your box off the curb and onto the house, I think you may be out of luck. If everyone has a curb-side box, you need to have one too if you want to get mail.
I’d say you have two options:
1. Brick. Build a mailbox mount out of brick. If someone hits it, it will be fairly obvious, and at a minimum, will destroy their car. Not the best solution, but at least you can build-in a little bit of payback.
2. USP Store. UPS Stores offer mail service. From their site:
24 hour access seems like it would work for you.
You can find the nearest location here: http://go.mappoint.net/ups/PrxInput.aspx
Good luck!
Mike
December 6th, 2005 at 1:23 pm
I have had several problems with my mail being stolen and when I try to complain, it’s a complete waste of time. It is as if there is nothing one can do about these problems. My local post office told me to buy a lock for my mail. This is NOT an option for me; I receive books and magazines that do not fit in a tiny mail slot. The people at the post office do not care, and they are inept. Is there a place where I can complain, where it matters?
February 22nd, 2006 at 3:15 pm
USPS sucks. End of story. They employ thousands fo people who just don’t give a damn. They’ve lost so many packages, rerouted then, and screwed things up so much I can’t stand it. A PRIORITY MAIL package from a sttate over, which in my cacr wouldve been a 2 hour drive at best, took 2 WEEKS. THey’re ridiculous. They’ve lost 3 of my packages in the last month alone, and getting refunds is proving to be a very tedious and agggravating process
March 3rd, 2006 at 11:13 am
Listen to my story….we constantly get other peoples mail with addresses not even close to ours…we call and let them know….that was 2 years ago at another residence…it is still continuing today at our new home. Now here is the real kicker…we did not recieve our own mail just small pieces of junk mail for n3 months…we called they said we just did not have any mail?????? then one day about a month later a usps mail carrier box shows up at our front door full of 3 months worth of mail…bills,personal letters,important mail,etc. we called them and they said they knew nothing about it….and would not even open an investigation.This just pissed me off so I complained to the Post Master Generals office.I got the run around. The usps sucks so bad I can’t even begin to explain.
September 27th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
yes they suck no customer service sucks there is none they hide behind the phone and hang up on you use dhl or ups of fedex so you wont have a heart attack
October 2nd, 2006 at 8:08 am
So I move into a new place, it takes USPS a whole month to start delivering mail here after I did the online change of address. Took several calls early in the morning to get it started. Then 3 months later I stop recieving all mail. I call they tell me my box is full. I tell them no its not its been empty for 2 weeks since they stopped sending me stuff. Meanwhile I’m not receiving bills, financial aid etc for school. So today i finally manage to wake up in the morning again to call and she says if there is any mail for me she will deliver it. Last week she said the same thing. I ask where is the mail I haven’t been recieving for the last 2 weeks. She says she doesnt know. SHE DOESNT KNOW?? WTF! Where the hell is my financial aid money going then, back to the government? This is after the guy in the afternoon practically yelled at me that I had to call early in the morning to talk to my stupid carrier. Like its MY responsibility to figure out why they can’t do their jobs. God damnit what has happened to the postal service?
October 14th, 2006 at 3:07 pm
I hate USPS. The lazy delivery people REFUSE to give the packages to the Resident Services building in my apartment complex even though UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc. ALWAYS do if you’re not home - regardless of whether or not you have to sign for it (the RS people do that for renters here).
What’s even worse is that the branch that I have to deal w/ has THE shittiest outgoing mails ervice I have ever seen. A month ago (for an eBay buyer) I mailed off TWO, HUGE boxes that were identical weight, size, shipping rate, etc. and both w/ delivery confirmation. One gets to destination in the right time….other one takes THREE weeks longer! WTF?
Icing on the cake though was w/ a package I sent overseas to Englad. It was small, but insured and trackable. I dropped it off at that USPS branch on Sep. 16 near downtown Chicago…………package did not even get to O’Hare airport until OCT. 11th! It took nearly a month for a 5-10 business day international package to GO TWENTY MILES!
ASSHOLES!
November 17th, 2006 at 10:13 pm
I have always got wonderful and courteous service. UPS are the ones that really suck. I have had several packages arive damaged. You can’t trust ‘em not one little bit!
Jimbo
November 19th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Our mail service has actually improved *greatly* in the last few months. Our previous mail carrier was originally from Costa Rica, and apparently our weather in Savannah wasn’t warm enough for him. He transferred out, and we now have a very nice mailman who gets the job done without any problems. He’s a good guy, and will be getting a plate of Christmas cookies this year (we bake 20 varieties).
Mike
December 6th, 2006 at 9:35 pm
Boy, am I glad there is somewhere to vent about the USPS. My mail rarely comes before 8:00pm. Sometimes not at all. Most times our mail carrier stuffs all the mail for our building into one box. Thankfully my neighbors are courteous and will take the time to make sure you get your mail. The reason I writing tonight is, once again, my mail hasn’t arrived today. How difficult can it be to deliver mail? Not to disparage USPS employees, but if you can’t do your job then why should I serve you at my restaurant? Next time a mail person walks in the door should I say “I really don’t feel like helping you. At all.”?
January 1st, 2007 at 9:02 pm
It’s worse than negligence in many cases. Senate Committee investigation established that USPS has permitted illegal and unconstitutional FBI access to mail, starting in 1940.
See http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/churchfinalreportIIIh.htm
Postal harassment has grown much worse since this report was written, and congress will no longer investigate COINTELPRO complaints of citizens.
Our important mail has been intercepted for many years. We have been harassed in many other ways by USPS. Dozens of complaints to USPS have had no effect.
Currently our carrier is refusing to deliver mail to our door slot, giving as the false excuse that it causes him “injury” to lift the flap on the mail slot. There is nothing rough or sharp on the flap. This is blatant harassment, not negligence or irresponsibility.
For over 50 years, the Federal Bureau of Repression has engaged in illegal, unconstitutional wars of political repression known as COINTELPRO. USPS, IRS, and other government agencies participate. So do many private corporations including UPS, FedEx, banks, etc. Local police cover up federal crimes and participate in federal harassment. For more information, Google “COINTELPRO.” Or read a summary of COINTELPRO history at:
http://www.judibari.org/COINTELPRO-OOP_020514.pdf
Have you criticized your government? Have you opposed the Iraq War? Have you questioned the official version of 9/11? Have you done anything to cause annoyance to any of the powers that be? This includes corporate powers with influence in Washington.
The Constitution can only protect you against overt repression, not the covert COINTELPRO forms of repression. We lost our constitutional freedoms when we gave federal intelligence agencies the power of secret operations. Secret operations enable the destruction of constitutional freedom.
If you have unusual postal problems and other strange problems consistently, it may be because you have been targeted for COINTELPRO harassment by the Federal Bureau of Repression.
February 13th, 2007 at 10:23 am
I bought a computer monitor one a couple of years ago. The shipping was $59.00. 2 weeks later I received a note in my mailbox saying that it was too big for the postman to handle and I had to go down there to get it.
I drove down there and let me tell you, getting up early on my day off and going to the post office at christmas time to wait in line for an hour is not my idea of fun.
So I go down there, and wait in line forever and finnaly talk to a lady who says they don’t have it. I said what doe you mean you don’t have it, and she went in the back for a second and said she didn’t have it.
I then talked to her supervisor and he looked around for 10 minutes and came back with my box. It was damaged and I couldn’t fit it in my car.
I said how am I supposed to get this home and he said “that isn’t my problem” I told him it was his problem because I paid 59 dollars for them to have a truck big enough to hold the box and a mail man that wasn’t a hundred to deliver it.
The whole point of their existince is to deliver things. I told him he could give me like $20 dollars back for my time, and my gas and my vehicle and I’d deliver it. Since they didn’t complete the task I paid them for.
He said that wouldn’t be a possibility. I mean, thats like going to pizza hut and them giving you an uncooked pizza and telling you to go home and cook it your self.
The postal service is a weird entity. They are quazi government and business. If any other company acted like that they’d go out of business. But the postal service is like the dmv, they aren’t changing and its screw you.
March 11th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
I am a letter carrier.
I’ve been a letter carrier for a very short time, but It is long enough to know that the USPS is stuck in its ways, and these ways are indeed something I rather not know about as a customer with an address.
Within the first two weeks on the job, I was very eager to go to business school, and open up a mail delivery service that did everything better than the USPS. As a matter of fact, if I had the money I definitely would open up such a business. There is too much at stake in your mail and from what I’ve seen in my limited time here, do what you can to make sure the mail doesn’t have to leave the office. Less chance of something going wrong.
We have a limited time to get a bunch of mail out. Because of that, it feels like the most important thing is not that YOUR mail gets there, but that we come back to the office with NO MAIL. This doesn’t excuse someone else getting your mail, it simply explains why it happens. Simple solution? Hire more workers. However, it is not cost-effective. Tsk tsk.
Want to make sure a bill gets paid? Use certified mail. Yes, it costs more. But I’m telling you, its a separate entity. I dont know if I can be clearer than that without giving away company secrets.
I dont claim to speak for the entire USPS. But yes, I physically see these problems occuring at the source.
March 30th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Thanks, but maybe you can tell me why letter carriers do the following: I live in Lodi, California and am home when they deliver mail on our street. Most people are not home since this is a commuter town. I have seen and videotaped our letter carrier teasing dogs. He pulls up to the community mailbox with his truck, looks around as if to see if he is being watched. He then he walks to a gate and rattles it to tease the dog. When the dogs bark he reaches over the fence and maces them. How do I know? He did it to me. I have videotape of him doing this on several different days. Is that part of his job description? Why can’t he be held accountable? He needs to be arrested, but the Postmaster covers for him. Our mail delivery is to a metal box for all addresses on the street. There is no reason to open gates, rattle fences and chase, tease and kick dogs. Why do the Postmasters cover for these crooks? Is it because they approve?
April 7th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
I work for the USPS. If all these companies “suck”, I would think maybe, JUST maybe, the pictures Mike is talking about are being bent even before they shipped. Think about that? As for your mailman, sorry to here you have one of “those” mailmen. Most of us are not like that though. Come here to Carlsbad, NM and see how we work. We are truly dedicated to good service.
April 7th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Thanks for the comment, Mailman!
In this case, it’s not possible that the packages were bent as shown in the photo before shipping.
The photos in the blue envelope were sent by Snapfish, a company owned by HP.
The other package in the plastic envelope is toner refill, sent by an Ebay seller named lasertekservices.
The problem is that in our city, mailboxes are stuck to our houses, and not on the street. So, our mailmen have to park their trucks, load all the mail for the whole block (about 20 houses) into their bags, and deliver on foot. To keep the mail together, they regularly bundle it together with rubber bands.
As you can see from the photos, the bundle contains my photos, my toner kit, and all of the rest of the mail delivered to my home on that particular day.
BTW, read comment 16– my mail delivery has improved greatly since our mailman was transferred out. Our new mailman is great. Our old mailman was terrible.
Now if I could only get them to stop delivering the sexually-oriented mail addressed to the person who lived in my house before I bought it almost five years ago. No amount of complaints– written or verbal– seem to have gotten through. Labeling my mailbox with my last name in a 32 point font hasn’t done the trick, either. Submitting the “sexually oriented” forms didn’t work as well.
Thanks again,
Mike
May 14th, 2007 at 10:40 am
We have complained about our mail carrier 7 times since last December for aggressive behavior, misdeliveries, boxes shoved in mailbox (destroyed), mail not being picked up. some of the misdeliveries were marked “Confidential” and I had to yell at the local post office supervisor to get this dirtbag mailcarrier to pick them back up and deliver them properly.
I have spoken to USPS Consumer Affairs, Park Fletcher Post office manager Rick Spence, Operations Manager Mary-Lou Sechman (who is a real piece of work). Needless to say: NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE. Surprised?
Next I’m gonna call the Consumer Advocate in Washington DC at 202-268-2284. We’ll see where that leads.
May 20th, 2007 at 2:15 am
I am also a letter carrier, and I really do feel for you people and the troubles you are having. Working for the post office I know how bad the service can be, as a matter of fact I pay almost all of my bills on-line electronicly because I do not trust the post office to get them there on time.
Many of us do care and try to give the best service we can, but management makes it nearly impossible. They push the hell out of the employees and always keep everything short staffed. But they do not care, they do not want to spend any money to hire and train new employees. They would rather cut corners everywhere and force people to work tons of overtime, it costs too much extra money in things like insurance, retirement, training and buting new vehicles to cover additional help. Mail often gets piled up in the post office because there is not enough time to deliver it all, alot of times we have to carry our route plus a half of another one because there is nobody there to do it, if we tell them we dont have the time they tell us to “curtail” the mail (leave a bunch of it behind, that day). We try to make sure all of the first and second (magazines, periodicles) class mail go and just leave bulk mail behind, but sometimes other stuff gets lost in the mix.
This causes some carriers to quit, some work themselves to death trying to really do as good a job as they can under the circumstances, and some finally just end up with the attitude that they dont give a damn anymore. Believe it or not most of us want to do it right and we try the best that we can, but we are still stuck doing what “management” tells us to do. And it is not just us as carriers who are short handed and treated like crap either, it is also the mail handlers and clerks, so sometimes the mail gets piled up at the plant and never even gets to us for a while.
It is carriers like some of the ones you talked about above that really give us a bad name, there is no reason to treat customers like that. Especialy the jerk teasing and spraying the dogs. If I were you I would try to get that on video and give it to your local news stations, then maybe postal “management” would pay attention.
As far as getting your mail forwarded, dont rely on that to much either. When a customer asks me about mail forwarding my advice to them is just dont move! Then I tell them more realisticly that they need to let EVERYONE that they get mail from there new address themselves (bills, creditors, magazines, friends, family etc.) so that they might get their mail. I tell them to go ahead and put in the change as a backup, because eventually it will start working but DO NOT rely on this alone. Mail forwrding now goes through CFS (Computer Forwarding System) which means the forwarding notice goes to some regional office to be entered into the computer (eventually) then the mail gets sent out of town to this same location to get marked for forwarding then gets sent back to the post office of origin to be delivered, which I know sounds really stupid, but that is only because it is
So this means that if all of this works right you will probably start gettting some of your forwarded mail about a month later, mind you, you probably will not get it all. Mail forwarding used to work pretty well when each post office took care of the own forwards, but sombody had the bright idea to centralize this process so that it could all be (not) done in one place, and it has not worked right since.
Anyway just know that alot of us try to do our job the right way, but alot o times management will just not let it happen. Those of you who have a decent carrier just say hello, and ask him/her qustions that you may have and the may be willing to help out as best they can. They really do have a pretty rough job alot of the time, but it is no reason to mistreat the customer or their property. I hope that we get some upper management who cares about customer service again someday soon and is willing to make some procedural changes and let us do our job the right way. But for now I will do my job to the best of my ability and will continue to pay my bills online. Good luck to you all.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:42 am
There are some things I have found helpful to the carrier that customers can and should do:
1. If you’re a renter, put all the names of mail recipients on your box, including maiden names. This helps the regular carrier as well as the substitutes who deliver on that route on the regular carrier’s day-off. 2. If possible, deal directly with your regular carrier. I understand that work and school hours sometimes make this difficult, but a good alternative is to leave a note. When I tell people this, their reaction, at times, is “oh, you just don’t want me to talk to your boss”. Actually, that is not the case at all. You will accomplish much more by talking to your REGULAR carrier, not a substitute carrier, a postmaster, or supervisor. Many times supervisors won’t even tell the carrier that they talked to a customer on that carrier’s route, even if it’s a complaint! Most regular carriers take pride in their route, and try to do a good job. When there’s a little friendly interaction (”Hi, I’m Joe Smith and I just moved in here”)it goes a long way. Many times we have no way of knowing who has moved into a residence. Many places have such a high turnover rate, and some people deliberately don’t file a change-of-address because they’re dodging creditors, lawyers, law enforcement, hospital and doctor bills, ad nauseum. 3. Make sure your box is of sufficient size to handle your mail volume. This is one thing I have never understood. Customers ask why their mail is being folded or getting blown away, and when I tell them they need a better mailbox, I hear everything from relief (”Wow, I never thought of that!”), to personal insult (”How dare you say that about my mailbox. This was here when the house was built and it’s staying!”) 4. Provide the carrier with a clear and safe path to and from the box. This includes holes, toys, tools, dog poop, rotten porches, storm doors propped in front of the box, overgrown shrubbery/flowers/grass/low-hanging tree limbs, etc. 5. If yours is a curb-side box, accessed by the postal vehicle, keep the way clear for the carrier to go to and from the box without backing or getting out of the vehicle. 6. Remove mail from your box regularly. If the box is full, the carrier won’t be able to put anymore in there. 7. Do not use your box as storage for garden tools, gloves, little flag poles, etc. The box is for U.S. mail delivered by the postal service only. This means any fliers, notes, newspapers, etc. that the carrier finds in the box are subject to removal. 8. If your box is at your house and you have mail to be picked up, it should be placed on the OUTSIDE of the box, affixed with a clothespin or some type of clip. Don’t put it inside the box. 9. If your address includes a unit number (apartment, condo, trailer lot, etc.) make sure that’s included on all your mail. This is the reason for many items being returned to sender. Sure, your regular carrier probably knows where you are, but no one else will. 10. If you’re sending something you don’t want folded or bent, don’t just write “Do not fold” on the outside. Sometimes things get bent accidentally or the carrier doesn’t notice. If you really don’t want it folded, place cardboard inside the envelope to make it stiff AND write “do not fold” on the envelope. This makes a real difference. 11. Many mail pieces come addressed “Joe Smith or current resident/occupant/tenant”. Many people see only “Joe Smith” and put the mail piece out for the carrier to pick up, often times writing “He moved 10 years ago” or “Return to sender” (my personal favorite). Mail pieces addressed this way are intended to be left at that address, if not vacant. 12. And speaking of writing on mail, there are a number of factors involved in determining what is done with a mail piece addressed to a former occupant. Writing “return to sender” doesn’t affect what is actually done with the mail piece. Instead, write nothing or if you just HAVE TO write something, put “not here”….. I know these things I’ve listed aren’t cure-alls. We have carriers who don’t care, supervisors who bully, and most importantly, humans who make mistakes and are subject to human frailties. But for me, these things help tremendously and I’m sure there are many USPS letter carriers out there who agree.
July 5th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Agh, my wife sent an important package on “overnight delivery” this Tuesday morning, and because of the 4th of July it was “guaranteed to be delivered Thursday 3pm”. The damn parcel is still en route and the person who was meant to get the parcel is going crazy on the phone.
Since when does “overnight” mean “2 business days later”? Because of the urgency of this delivery (absolutely due tomorrow morning) we’re going to have to drive a total of 8 hours (4 to, 4 back) to hand-deliver this ourselves.
The USPS sucks, but other services aren’t far behind. UPS delivered my parcel to a completely different address the other day, and we were lucky the recipients called us instead of stealing it.
American customer service has gone to the dogs. It’s true of every industry.
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:25 am
Yes, you are right, other companies are not far behind. UPS for example is also a number driven company. I have a few UPS friends here, and they will tell you, that along with USPS they are forced to work extra hours and bust balls to get their work done. One of them even told me that they have customers who say according to the tracking, their package was delivered when in actually it hadn’t even reached the office. Don’t think USPS is only one with problems. All companies have problems. If you are having so many problems with your mail carrier, my advice, since I have seen this work, is to comtact your local Congressman. I have never before seen the post office move so quickly untill that happened. You WILL get results if you utilize this effective method.
August 8th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
they delivered one of my packages to the wrong po box in their own building last week; i was told “there’s nothing we can do..” now i’m out $31.00. none of these problems should come as any surprise; we’re dealing with the federal gov’t, which is a goddamned joke on every level. it’s staffed with all the sub-human losers who can’t get or hold any legitimate job; we allow it to continue because we’re collectively wallowing in mindless knee-jerk patriotism. instead of demanding that this country maintain the standards it once set, we now accept anything, using the rationalization that “this is america dammit; we don’t do ANYTHING wrong.”
August 9th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
This is in response to pistoff. Obviously the post office where you go to sounds like it is not run very well. But please don’t judge everyone of us bases on one location. There are many, many locations where we do great. And remember, every, I mean EVERY business has it’s share of idiots. Mistakes are made. Look up UPS, they make many more mistakes than I even thought. As for not being able to get other jobs, I can get many more jobs, however, the pay sucks. I could not have a house, a car, let alone send my kid to college. So I say to you, WAKE UP AND CHILL OUT.
August 9th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
This is in response to pistoff. Obviously the post office where you go to sounds like it is not run very well. But please don’t judge everyone of us bases on one location. There are many, many locations where we do great. And remember, every, I mean EVERY business has it’s share of idiots. Mistakes are made. Look up UPS, they make many more mistakes than I even thought. As for not being able to get other jobs, I can get many more jobs, however, the pay sucks. I could not have a house, a car, let alone send my kid to college. So I say to you, WAKE UP AND CHILL OUT.
August 9th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
I ordered an HDMI cable from Wal-Mart, after confirming my purchase I saw that the item will be shipped with UPS. “I’m in safe hands”, that’s what I thought. As it turns out the HDMI cable is too small to be shipped as a percel, therefore Wal-Mart used a service called UPS Mail Innovations. “As, long as it has the trusty ‘UPS’ in it, I should be all right”. Then came the time to check the Tracking Number, I follow links which lead me to UPS site, but a message in the middle of the page states that I am unable to check the status at the moment. Then, came the horror. A chart below the message shows a breakdown of how the whole service works. At first, the sender provides the package to be sent, then UPS facilities sort it out, or something like that, and the next step, “delivered by USPS”… NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The reason I panicked is because whenever something is shipped to me by USPS, the same thing hapens, although this time with a twist…
Whenever I am excited about something, I keep guard by the door to wait for the glorious delivery to come. At about 2PM I decided to check the mail. In my mailbox, the usual, ads, bills and stuff. Oh yeah, and the ever too familiar “Sorry We missed you” orange slip. “Sorry you missed me”? I was right by the door surfing the net, and you missed me. You might say, “Maybe you didn’t hear the guy knocking?”, well, that is a very valid argument, but This ALWAYS happens. All righty, so I get Over it, and go to the Post Office. After Waiting (I will be fair) about 30 mins, the clerk said that the package is still in the truck and that I should come back to check later “at around 5:30″. So I am on my way out, going home, when I saw a USPS truck driving by my. “Oh no, you’re not” And I run like crazy after the truck. I caught up on it on the first red light, but I didn’t want to stop the traffic, so I thought, “I’m gonna follow it ’till it makes a stop for delivery”. Luckily, that didn’t take too long. The truck stops, now it’s my chance! “Hi. Do you think that you have this package in the truck?”, I said while showing him the slip. My question was answered by a look in the eyes while sporting a semi-frown. I added, “I went to the Post Office and it wasn’t there”. Still without saying anything, the driver takes a brief look at the slip and replies “No.”. Surprised at how fast he replied, I said “Are you sure? It’s from West 23rd.”. The Driver said, The regular mailman probably has it. So I said “Thanks”. He didn’t even check his truck, or anything. OK, so I forgot about the whole truck incident, and waited for 5:30 to check the Post Office again, just like the clerk suggested. When I got there, I was welcomed by the sight of the gates pulled down. The office was closed. Front door, back door, everything.
Now, I just keep thinking, how the heck am I gonna get that package, at what time is it at the Post Office and when is it In the Truck, or the “regular mailman”. I don’t know…
I think that USPS should make up their mind. Either you have the package in the truck and are actually attempting to deliver it, or you leave it at the Post Office for the customer to pick up. Either way is fine with me, but don’t make me wait by the door, wait at the office for 30 mins, run after trucks, and walk to closed offices, on top of all that, I STILL DON’T HAVE MY PACKAGE!!!
August 10th, 2007 at 8:33 am
Right now, I’m waiting to learn the fate of a very substantial check I sent by Certified mail to a local P.O. Box. I sent it on Monday, Aug. 6, then checked in by online tracking the following day. Its status has been “Accepted” ever since Monday.
I called USPS “Customer Service,” at which I managed to reach an actual person after hitting the 0 button several times. She, of course, provided no actual help in locating the Certified envelope, but gave me the phone number of the branch where I took it on Monday.
Calling that number, I reached someone who couldn’t understand that because the address was a P.O. box number I had no idea where the destination was located. He indicated that it would help him find the point of delivery if I knew a cross street or street in the vicinity. Shouldn’t the USPS be able to determine the point of delivery from the ZIP Code, which also had the four-number suffix? His big helpful comment was that it did leave the branch, but that maybe the Certified label wasn’t scanned at the point of delivery.
Maybe it wasn’t scanned at the point of delivery? WHAT WAS THE FRIGGIN’ POINT OF HAVING IT SENT CERTIFIED MAIL, THEN?
So my next step is to call the company to see if my check’s been received, then call the bank to put a stop payment on it - and pay a hefty fee - if it hasn’t.
Obviously, I agree with all here that USPS TRACKING IS A BAD JOKE! And so is Certified Mail.
September 9th, 2007 at 1:51 am
I moved to Arkansas (long story) bought a home and every since have had nothing but
problems with mail delivery via USPS. I work from home and receive packages and certified mail
regularly. Never and I mean never has the mailman gotten off his butt and walked to my door to
ring the bell or knock on the door, instead he puts these notices in my mailbox saying he made an
attempt at delivery. I went through the ritual of driving to the post office waiting in line and
signing for my mail.
After 8 months of this I decided to complain and in retaliation my mail now arrives damaged if it
arrives at all. I received a letter that looked as though it had been used as toilet paper (I
wish I was exaggerating but it even smelled like it)I brought the letter and others in to the
post office for a “Manager” to look at.
The highlight of the conversation was when he said, “how I’m suppossa know ya didn’t do this to your
mail yer self?” My reply was, “Because I have an obvious interest in having my mail arrive and remain
in good condition, and I have an ample supply of toilet paper.” Needless to say I got nowhere.
I already did most of my personal business online (bank, insurance, etc.), so I just made it a policy
to not accept any certified mail and limit the need for any dealings with the mail carrier. Another
necessity was to install a conspicuous security camera and a security mailbox.
October 25th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Bottom line, USPS sucks ass and is…
- managed by retards, who don’t give a sh*t about service or quality.
- the retarded managers hire poorly educated people to do the grunt work.
- the retarded managers, who are complete losers in life, take out all their life’s frustrations on the grunt workers, who are overworked and underpaid.
- the grunt workers eventually become bitter and begin to not give a crap about their performance (even if they did in the beginning).
- the grunt workers do a poor job and the customer becomes pissed off.
- the customer complains to USPS (office, call center, whatever), but the “customer service” representative doesn’t give a sh*t, or is just too ignorant and lazy to help.
- the customer becomes more angry with the lack of care from the USPS and just gives up.
- the USPS continues its pathetic ways because the higher-ups know they can get away with it.
95% of USPS employees are just ignorant, lazy, fu*k wads.
November 7th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
try working there, you have absolutely, NO idea. Government jobs are typical shit jobs. Sure the pay is good, but after a while you begin to contemplate suicide due to the stupidity of the ones higher up. Especially the full time supervisors and mail clerks, where all they do is bitch and whine about eachother, then act like buddies when they’re next to eachother, usually to piss someone else off. It’s a circle of screwing eachother over and hating everyone, to try and show that they’re doing a better job than someone else, which eventually becomes a form of kissing someone’s ass, to get something that i can’t figure out, because probably nothing exists. It may just cut out the bordom of actually working, but thats my thought of it. You’ll find me dicking around on overtime, because I want to hit all the people telling me to do someone else’s job, because they’re too damn dumb to do it theirself.
November 21st, 2007 at 3:28 pm
My big gripe is that we moved to a more rural area with a cluster box for mail, and 4 boxes for packages.
It’s 25 miles into to town, and if the package doesn’t fit in the box, they flat out won’t deliver it.
UPS, DHL, FedEx, they all will drive to the door to deliver a package but with USPS it’s a crap shoot.
The way I look at it, they are being paid to deliver the package, not a notice saying they won’t deliver it.
The first time it happened, I was naive and filled out that I would be home and they could re-deliver. The carrier wouldn’t leave a note or anything saying I ‘had’ to go to the post office to pick it up.
Just amazang.
December 12th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Working for usps sucks but some of there customers are the stupidest people I have ever talked to. Customers complain about the dumbest things like getting previous persons mail that used to live at your address. Usps’S job is deliver mail, not to remember everybody that lives at your address. Also how hard is to write not a this on the envelope and put it back in the mailbox or even throw the mail away if your to lazy to do that.
Top dumb complaints not in order.
1. Post office Facility dirty. If you think its dirty dont go there.
2. Priority mail/1st class mail not delivered within 2-3 days. Its not guaranteed service dumb ass. Stop being cheap if you want a guaranteed service you need to pay for one.
3. SSI /Welfare checks not delivered on 1st or 3rd . Its not guaranteed to be delivered on a certain day dumb ass. Get direct deposit old/poor people.
4. My pictures/poster came bent. Pay for special handling or put in box or tube.
5. The window clerk didnt offer that service to me or didnt explain the service to me. The clerk doenst have time to explain every damn thing to your slow ass, but if you ask I’m sure they will be more than happy to explain the service to you.
6. Domestic disputes.
7. Uninsured items. If your item is not insured dont expect the post office to pay for your loss.
8. The line is long at Post office. The line long b/c people dont have there packages ready to be shipped. Have every thing filled out like labels and any special services.
9. Tracking. Post office only tracks Express mail and Registered mail. All other special services only confirm delivery only.
10. Change of address. Post office sucks on forwarding your mail, So how hard is it notifying the companies that you do business with of your new address.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
I am so upset with USPS right now. I paid for a 3-day delivery on a 21 lb. box. It contained 500 dollars worth of items. I thought I was paying for tracking, but come to find out, I paid for confirmation. I did not purchase the insurance because I did not have any glass items in the box. I did not know that I had to buy insurance to file a claim on a package “they” cannot find. It has been 10 days and nobody can tell me where my package is located. Why am I paying for a service that cannot be carried out correctly? I even had to pay an inconvience fee because of the size of my box. Tell me, how do you loose a big box? It was probably stolen by one of the employees. Anyway, I am angry and the post office has that “it’s not my problem” attitude. Well, there right. It’s my problem. But I can tell you this. I have learned a valuable lesson. I will never use USPS for mailing packages ever again. Ever heard the saying “one bad egg spoils the whole bunch!” I wish people would take more pride in their jobs. If it were their mail, they would want it delivered safely and on time. To all of the postal employees who do a good job, thanks! To the rest, go find another job. Your in the wrong profession to be lazy.
December 15th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Man WTF!!! Please if anyone knows how to deal with this problem can they share some info with me? I ordered a item online last Thursday on Dec 7th. It was shipped on the 8th. I was given a tracking number and I checked it everyday until last Tuesday. On Tuesday it told me that my item had been delivered on Monday at f***** 9:34 f***** PM (WTF?). Apparently there were 3 people home and I guess my family had gone deaf when the mailman rang the doorbell because the track and confirm site said that no one was home and that they had left a notice. So I spend half the day making a fool of myself by looking outside and inside and EVERYWHERE around my mailbox. And guess what? I couldn’t find the notice. So I call ASKUSPS and I got freaked out when a robot started speaking to me (the stupid electronic lady) anyways I got through to customer service. I asked customer service if they could redeliver my item. He asked me if I got a notice and I told him no. So he asked me my address and zip code. Apparently my item was lying in a PO somewhere and the guy tells me that I have to be home all day on Wednesday. And guess what? nothing happens. I was HOME THE WHOLE DAMN DAY DIDN’T USE THE BATHROOM DIDN’T GET OFF MY SOFA AND WAITED UNTIL 12 EFFIN PM BECAUSE WHO KNOW WHEN YOU DELIVER THE DAMN MAIL AT 9:34 PM, YOU SURE AS HELL CAN DO IT AT MIDNITE!!! So I called at like 1 in the morning and I told the customer service to deliver again. Same bullshit. Those customer service idiots were treating like an idiot and I wanted to slap those bastards. UGHHHH! So I go to my PO and wait in line for 15 minutes. I get called by a lady who asks me the same damn questions as customer service. When I tell her I couldn’t find the invisible notice, she gives me a hard look and tells me rudely “I can’t help you sir you need to have a notice. NEXT.” SO I ask her if she can at least look for the address and name and see if she could find the parcel. She couldn’t. Now I needed this item by Sunday and now I have to spend all Saturday going around PO’s because they close at 3. Is this enough dirt to file a lawsuit? Because the last 3 days I have become completely disillusioned at these pricks.
December 15th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Sorry for my mistakes up there I was in a real hurry. But if you guys can help me out man I’ll be grateful because I paid $200 for this item and if they ship it back I would have to pay for s&h again. Im seriously on the verge of crying here because I needed to give this to someone the day it arrived and now I have to tell them to wait even longer. I lose trust in USPS and people lose trust in me. God help me….
December 15th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Also does anyone know how to file a complaint with USPS?
December 15th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Mike, you’re completely wrong on two points –
3. SSI/Welfare checks ARE guaranteed to arrive on the 3rd. If they don’t arrive on the third, IT’S THE POST OFFICE’S FAULT. They are mailed in plenty of time. Damn postal workers have to get off their ass and deliver the mail.
4. If photos are bent, guess what? IT’S THE POST OFFICE’S FAULT! Stupid mail carriers, if it’s photos, and/or it says “fragile” or “do not bend”, that’s what it means, morons. Try reading.
December 15th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Just for the record, that Mike isn’t me Mike, as in the owner of this blog. That was a different Mike.
Carry on.
The Real Mike.
December 17th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Johhny boy wrote :
3. SSI/Welfare checks ARE guaranteed to arrive on the 3rd. If they don’t arrive on the third, IT’S THE POST OFFICE’S FAULT. They are mailed in plenty of time. Damn postal workers have to get off their ass and deliver the mail.
I wrote:
Your wrong dumb customer you dont now what your talking about.
SSI/ Welfare checks are sent 1st class mail and guess what 1st class is NOT A GUARANTEED SERVICE. Delivery by a specific date at a specific time is not available. You think paying .41Cents to mail a letter is going guarantee a specific delivery day get real, and they have a bulk mail permit so they pay less than 41cents.
JOHNNYBOY WROTE:
4. If photos are bent, guess what? IT’S THE POST OFFICE’S FAULT! Stupid mail carriers, if it’s photos, and/or it says “fragile” or “do not bend”, that’s what it means, morons. Try reading.
I WROTE:
Guess what writing Fragile/ Do not Bend doesnt make usps handle that mail any different.
If you want your mail handle special you need to pay for special handling. FYI most of the time its the postal machines that sort the mail bends the mail.
December 17th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
People having problems with getting packages I suggest you call your local post office not the 800#. You can find the # at usps.com , go locate a post office put your zip code , then click on more info , then your local number for you lpo will come up. If that doesnt work you can call the 800 # and rep can doucment your concern and send it your lpo or consumer affairs so the best person can look into your issue.
December 21st, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Check this out. I have a mailbox across the street (USPS mandatory). My neighbor put river rock all around the front of his mailbox and mine before I moved in (I rent). FOr almost 3 years the PO carriers have probably thought I put the rock out there (my neighbor has his own disputes with the PO and city). So here we have suffered (many times no doubt) the consequences of poor delivery, no delivery, box shoved into mailbox and had to be extracted by tearing it apart. BTW, it was marked “Fragile.”
So I go to the PO this summer in 120 degrees (I’m disabled, and start shaking when I get inside the 76 degree PO). My clerk takes unsealed envelope (left open for inspection in these homeland security days) with a cd and labels it while doing some packages and envelopes. I’m just trying to stay standing up. I don’t see what happens, but he just dumps the pile into a mail carry box. A week later the intended recipient is asking why the envelope showed up with no cd. Embarrassed, I go back to the PO and am told that there is no way that the cd could have been lost, it must have gone to the Vegas hub. I get nowhere, and complain by email to the USPS office in Phoenix. They write back that “no one will contact me” after an investigation starts.
I ordered a Cmas present for my wife Dec. 5th from Wally World. It is not here. It went through the “innovations” deal with UPS and USPS and we know it arrived in Phoenix early on the 9th. It’s just sitting there! Called UPS who said hey it’s out of our hands, call the USPS. So I got the automated thing that sent me into orbit. I’ve written 2x but no response. I’m getting a bad feeling that they will never deliver it or it’s in a “special” place for complainers.
How do we ever get justice? Ain’t life grand? Thank God He will exact vengeance a little bit later…
But I’m not bitter
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:11 am
I moved into a new 4 apartment building and found out the old address number for the building had been split into two different numbers. Apparently the usps could not handle this drastic change and claimed the new address number didn’t exist. I photographed the new number and brought it to the post office and thought the problem was solved but alas recently I haven’t been receiving mail from places i previously received from. Long story short is the usps is filled with a bunch of nepotisticly hired retards.
February 3rd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
I had a package arrive yesterday. A vintage tape recorder I ordered off Ebay. I woke up this morning and saw the box laying on the street by the mailbox. Not on the curb, or next to the mailbox, but in the street in front of the mailbox. It had also rained last night so the street was wet and the water had soaked into the box. The tape recorder is also damaged, but not from water… possibly from mishandling.
Nothing can be done unless the USPS is privatized. The USPS, being a government entity, is accountable to NO ONE. As we know their wages are not based on revenue but tax dollars. Even if we all decided to stop using USPS we would still pay their salaries. It is a very serious problem. It’s abuse.
February 11th, 2008 at 10:53 am
O-kay for the second time in 2 weeks I have sent something via USPS Express to arrive on a Saturday and the package disappeared from the system once it was checked in by my local post office. Call me a conspiracy theorist but I swear that the postal employees at the 55127 are doing this because I actually demand that they do the job us tax payers expect from them! I seriously believe healthcare costs are out of control in this country, but can you image if we had universal healthcare it would be like dealing with the post office everytime you are sick.
BTW—want a human on the USPS 800 number—say “Representative” about 100 times and you will get one.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I lived in my house now over 5 years , and everytime i have a parcel come USPS, the carrier just throws a card in the box “sorry we missed you”. I’m home all the time all day long. I look for tracks in the snow, and they only go by the mailbox along the highway. I live 1000′ back from the mailbox. If the parcel doesn’t fit in the mailbox, he leaves the notice in the box. If i write another day on the box, he will just throw another card in the box that day, only this time it says if i don’t go to the post office to get it, it will be sent back. I live 20 miles from the post office, what a hassle! UPS, Airborne, and Fedex all bring to my house, but not USPS! I filed numerous complaints about this carrier along with mail(letters) that i didn’t receive, but they just give my the run-around. The carrier knows he will be paid the same whether he delivers my package or not, so he figures why do extra work. I think everybody who works for USPS thinks that way.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
my problem is not rly that bad but usps offers the worst tracking thing on there website its unbeliveable it will tell u where your package is pretty much right as its getting to your house what good does that do me also it told me a package had already been delivered and it was not 2 days later it came after i complained to them its just bs usps sucks so bad they take no pride in there job
February 26th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
i hate usps too
they lost my fucking package and their tracking system is ridiculous
March 1st, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I hate USPS. My brother sent out a package to me from Southern CA last Thursday and I was expecting it to come by Monday at the latest. The package had important, personal information in it and I forgot to tell him to send it with Insurance. Usually I don’t buy Insurance or Confirmation because I’ve never had a problem with the USPS, but now I totally regret it. My package still hasn’t come and I live in Northern CA. It’s like 500 miles between the two! I have no idea where my package is, whether it’s stolen or lost and I have no hope left. I no longer trust the USPS. I just want my damn package.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I can not get upset as my health will suffer. I went to the Post Office and all I can say is OH MY GOD! I really can not believe in the year 2008 the way its run. Worst Customer Service Award for 2008. I am sorry your photos have been repeatedly bent. I live in rural area the mail person constantly bends and creases magazines and other large envelopes. This is just insanity. Don’t they teach rural carriers how to care for the mail! Ok, I’am done now I feel a little better. Thanks for the means of venting our frustrations!
March 6th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
You won’t ever use USPS ever again… but look, the USPS will be more than happy (MTH) to lose you as a customer! They don’t care, in fact, they ask me often to NOT come to Post Office with load of letters especially if it’s a bunch of REGISTERED MAIL. The P.O. Manager recently asked me if I had a PC at home. I said yes. Then he asked how often I come to his PO. I said - every week. Then he said why do you come here and send all these letters while you can do it online. He’s not so well informed (D/A), because Registered Mail can not be mailed online! And guess what… a few minutes before that I was talking to the USPS clerk while she was taking care of my mailings and askjed if I could do it online and she told me I could, but not the REgistered Mail. I think 80-90% of USPS clerks are great people. It’s just their phone service sucks at times. Why do they hire such uninformed gentlemen as USPS PO Managers…. I’d gladly be a PO Manager at $80K or whatever they pay, maybe more than that? I sure know a lot about USPS and how it’s handled. That Manager has to learn or to go. There was another one (that looked like his brother) before him that probably was fired, he did absolutely nothing with my mail reversal application. After I asked him what he did he said call USPS, he probably just tossed it in the trash.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Only 56 complaints? No wonder nothing’s changed.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I moved into a place mid month. I just moved out, first of the month, so i had 2-3 weeks of overlap at my old place. I put no forwards in because i was expecting checks and a debit card. The carrier decided to take it upon herself to forward my mail. Her reason for doing so - she didnt see footprints. Mind you, I stopped receiving mail a day or two after i actually moved out. She didnt waste any time. Its not been 2 weeks. I’ve received 2 pieces of mail instead of my typical 4-7 pieces daily. And my check - needed to stay alive (food + bills) is still floating around somewhere.
I realize this could’ve been a justified thing to do - if my mail had piled up for a few days. But then I would expect my mail to be held in the office through some sort of “automatic vacation hold.”
I’m just very annoyed. And to make it worse, I couldn’t contain my frustration with her when i went into the PO to confront and figure out wtf went on. I got mouthy, she made the footprint comment, and the sweet old lady postmaster came up to me and attempted to resolve it - even though there was no real resolution to be had.
I’m just annoyed that clearly this carrier wasnt trying to do the right/polite thing. She was just looking to lighten her load. If the mail is still in the box after 3-4 (possibly 7) days, fine, HOLD the mail locally. Don’t just take it upon yourself to foward to the last known address.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:40 am
You all think you have it bad. I work for the P.O. and I know how bad they suck! To top it all off the bastards had my car towed last night because all of a sudden they didn’t like where I was parked. After all I have only been parking in the same spot for about 3 years. That’s $150.00 bucks I’ll never see again!
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I agree with all of you…the USPS sucks out the azz, bigtime. I’ve put up with a surly, snotty, passive-aggressive “mailman” for the past ten or so years. He’s a complete screwup, and seems to take pleasure from providing the absolute worst service he can, whenever he can. He pisses and moans if your mailbox is not perfectly up to the assinine “standards” of the post office. I’ve had to move things, adjust heights, widths, and all sorts of BS that this cretin comes up with just to annoy me. Just today, had to make a special trip (wasting gas, time) running to my local PO to buy those ripoff “forever” stamps these jerks are now touting. I had ordered 100 of them from a mailer you put in your box. The moron is supposed to pick this up with the order printed clearly on the front, you enclose a check for the amount purchased, and then leave it for him to pick up. He then fills the order and leaves it for you in your box. I had clearly printed “Forever” stamps on the outside of the envelope, and what does the idiot do? Leaves a roll of regular 41 cent stamps, not the forever stamps, just regular stamps. So, again, as I said above, I have to make a special trip down to my local PO and exchange the ones he left for the “forever” stamps. I won’t ask the phuckup to do this again, since he will no doubt (either because he has an IQ of 70, or he’s being plain shitty about it) foul things up as he always does. I try to pay my bills all online now as much as I can, and if I have a choice when I order something, I specify either UPS, or FedEx (never, ever have a problem with them…funny!). They should rename their new stamp: “USPS: forever shitty service at ever-increasing prices.” Aholes.
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:28 pm
One other point I must make which is quite humorous. I once challenged Mr.Einstein, my “mailman,” about not getting decent service for my tax dollars. The idiot had the gall to assert that: “the USPS is a private company. We are not supported by taxpayer dollars.” Riiiiight. I guess the Defense Department is supported by only private donations too, as is every other agency of the federal government. How dare I expect good, decent, courteous service! How stupid of me. I didn’t know the USPS was giving all this great service just out of the goodness of their collective little hearts…how touching. I would guess Mr. Numbnuts either skipped class, or flunked Civics 101 in High School, that is, assuming he even made it past third grade, which I seriously doubt.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
i agree
received a limp ass package today from usps that was still soaking wet, everything inside drenched and i scooped the cardboard to retrieve a pair of shoes with minimal effort. attached was a message in a plastic (waterproof) bag, saying “sorry, it happens”
May 16th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I know how frustrating it can be for customers receiving damaged or misdelivered mail etc. As a carrier, we are under the gun all the time about getting the mail delivered and being back by 5:00pm. Management gets people (mainly newbies who are on a 90 day probationary period and can be fired for any reason without recourse) so afraid of being out past that return time and losing their job that they go as fast as they can possibly go, thus creating a great area for errors. These people are still new and unfamiliar with the certain classes of mail and different methods of casing and loading and all the in’s and out’s. While this is no excuse for poor service, maybe some customers could be a little more understanding if they happen to get a piece of their neighbors mail by accident once in a blue moon. Sometimes the letters stick together and it looks like one letter to the carrier…we literally have to sort through thousands of them daily. As for the sexually oriented ads, advertisements, etc, that have the previous owners name but say “or current resident/occupant,” we have to deliver that piece to the box of the “current resident.” If you don’t want it, my advice is to throw it away. When you write all over it “RETURN TO SENDER” it never gets back to the sender because the sender paid a bulk rate that did not include a return service. All you are doing is creating additional and unnecessary work for the already overburdened carrier. Although I will agree that the USPS definitely has some shortcomings, most of the carriers do try their best to deliver great service. I work in an office with more than 50 routes, each route has typically 600+ addresses, which is a lot of names, forwards, holds, etc. to remember. But I can honestly say that with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 every carrier does a great job and tries to establish good relationships with the customers. And to clear up any misinterpreted rumors that we are paid by the “taxpaying dollars” we are not. We are paid by the revenue generated by postage the postal service sells. So, as you can see, it is in our best interest to provide great service to our customers so they will continue to buy stamps and other forms of postage.
May 30th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Ok, two addresses ago, we lived in a two street ”historical” town, where the mailboxes are on the house. First day we moved there, our medium sized, 35 pound dog is out in the back fence, she starts barking, like a normal dog, but after investigating, we see the mail man holding a stick, and he tells us, ”you better get your dog inside or im gonna fucking kill it’. this of course made me irate, how dare he. has he never heard a dog bark before? so i immediately knew he was going to be trouble, needless to say, most of the time from then on, since i am a stay at home wife, im always home when the mail is delivered. or shall i say, delivered once in a while. so i kept my dog inside the house, and still got complaints that my dog was attacking the mailman and he was fearing for his life. we made complaints, it just got worse. we didnt get out mail for 3 weeks, finally went to the post office, and the mail had been collected with a note from the carrier saying ‘to not deliver, viscious dog’. wtf. so we complained again, spoke with the supervisor, the manager, and the general. supervisor even came to our house and inspected the area, even came inside and played with our dog. and he would also refuse to pick up mail that we needed delivered, and we were told by the supervisor, ‘well really he doesnt have to pick it up, because its just a courtesy”..oooookkkk. so finally after 6 months of harassment we get taken to court because supposedly our dog which is always inside during delivery time ” tried to bite the mailman”, in court it appears that the mailman knows every single person in this stupid town including the judge, and he brought his supervisor who lied under oath saying that indeed he felt he was threatened, so we get stuck with a $250 bill. oddly enough, the week we move, the area gets a new mailman. maybe he took a nice little vacation in the next town over with his $250 bucks, which im sure was forked over to him. ok our last house, the only thing i have to say about it is we stopped getting our mail for about a week and a half and finally went to the post office, and found out that our mail had been put on hold by the people that lived in the house over 3 years ago!! what the hell? they offered no explanation. so, now with ups mail innovations, avoid this service at all cost. i had 3 packages shipped to me on the 21st, and on the 23rd were handed over to the usps. it is now the 30th, and i have still not gotten my packages, which are sitting oh i dont know at the most 30 minutes away. i will admit, that i am a visitor to this house so my name is not one that is regular, but still, it is not the usps job to say hmm that name doesnt ring a bell, this much be a mistake. but thats not what happened, i caught the maillady this afternoon and told her the situation and she said you know what let me see what i can do, i told her the name on the packages and she said ‘ you know i remember seeing those names, but it wasnt addressed to this house, it was for next door(wtf, so somewhere in the middle of ups and usps the address got changed), and since that house is under construction, they were all put in a box. i thought oh no for sure theyve been sent back. but to my surprise, she said ‘ ill look when i get back to the po and see if they are there, and ill call you and let you know, and if they are there, ill bring them to you tomorrow’ i couldnt believe it, and here it is an hour and a half later, and she has already called, saying that they are there and she will deliver them to me tomorrow! kudos to you!!! you are definitely 1 in 1 million!! and should be recognized for outstanding service. but i still hate usps, and to this day i wish that my dog had in fact bitten the mailman.
May 30th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Hi Mike! Remember me?!?
I thought I’d piggyback your well read topic to ask your thousands of readers if they, too, are experiencing a mail slow-down?
It seems that since the prices went up mid-month we’re getting less mail at work. Business junk mail has virtually dried up. We’re still getting the same load of crap here at home, but not at the two business PO boxes I check daily and in talking with people who work in other offices, they are saying the same thing. It’d be great to see junk mailers get priced out of the market.
June 14th, 2008 at 4:37 am
The mail volume falls in the summer time. You are right though. Shape based pricing has hurt our volume. Thanks for all of the input here. It’s helpful to know what the problems are so I can better help my customers package their mail! I hope the bulk mailers will not be priced out of business. With Internet bill pay and a general decline in first class mail, the USPS will fold without that revenue. John Q. Public has abandoned the USPS. What really upsets me is that I see that so many mailers have been let down. Finally, the only subsidy the PO receives is for shipments in Alaska. We are not operating on your tax dollars. As it stands if you are not mailing bills or buying packages that are shipped through us, you aren’t supporting us at all. Just stop and honestly think about what is in your mailbox. Is it first class or bulk? Be honest…thank those “junk” mailers. Before you totally write us off, check the rates of Fed Ex and UPS. That will be what you will pay when we are no longer an option. Fort-two cents to mail something? What stories you will be able to tell to your grandchildren.
June 16th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I had a package delivered from Amazon. I made the mistake of using there “free shipping” which means they’ll use USPS. My item was mailed from Memphis TN and I live in Columbia, TN. It took 5 days to get here, I get mail from California that takes less time than that! I go outside to see if my package (per usps it was supposed to be delivered today) and guess what NOTHING! The website tracking info claims “delivery attempted” but they didn’t attempt shit, I was here all day and they didn’t even leave a slip. I guess that old fart of a delivery lady had to change her depends and couldn’t make it here. But she did have enough of time to lie about it. Now tomorrow I’ll have to go pick the item up since they only make one attempt, ASS HOLES!!!
June 16th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Heh… I feel your pain, “Pissed off.”
A few years back, my brother sent me a Christmas gift from a Chicago suburb to my home in Savannah, Georgia. He sent it on December 15th or 16th. On the 9th of January or thereabouts, I received a “final notice” that if I didn’t pick my package up, they would send it back.
This was the first notice I had received, and on most days I am home all day. There is simply no way that whoever was my mail carrier attempted delivery of the package.
I went and picked it up the moment I saw the slip. I got it home and opened it up.
It was food. It was spoiled. I threw it away.
Then I got to call my brother to thank him for the gift. He assumed I had received it 3 weeks earlier and just didn’t call to thank him, so I looked like a jerk.
Good stuff, this USPS. /sarcasm
Mike
June 18th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Has anyone ever tried to file a claim against the “insurance” offered by the USPS? I’m convinced that they design the process to be so excruciatingly time-consuming and convoluted that any sane person with an actual life to live would not dare to even start down that road. My blood pressure goes even higher when I think that our hard-earned tax dollars are propping up this sham. What a collosal waste. AAAAAARGH
June 24th, 2008 at 12:04 am
I ship hundreds of flat envelopes each month. I sell on eBay. I sell very inexpensive items and realize a small profit. I mainly ship in plain white 9×12 envelopes. The products are a little over 1/4″ in depth. They are shipped first class USPS mostly. So, why do my customers receive their thick packages completely bent in half? It is because my local postmaster has forbidden me to put a small “please do not bend” stamp on the envelope. They allowed it for many years and then just all of a sudden wouldn’t let me put it on the envelope, unless I had to spend more than my profit margin for shipping it “Special Handling”. So, honestly I am selling personalized mousepads, which is the item the USPS continues to ruin in the mailing. A bent mousepad is not something my customer appreciates. Just don’t understand why I can’t politely ask the carrier not to bend it. It is NOT the machine that is bending them. It is the carriers trying to stuff them into tiny mailboxes.
July 5th, 2008 at 3:25 am
disgruntled,
I am currently in insurance claim limbo. I sent an item that I bought online because it was damaged. I had it insured( on a different note, the lady didn’t even enter my insurance information. When I went to the PO to ask about it, they said that it wasn’t in their system). So after I found out that I had to file a claim I went down to the post office and spoke with the claims agent. I did everything she told me to do, got everything she told me to get. Even had to leave and come back to make sure everything was there. She looked it over, ok’ed it and sent it off. The other day I get a letter in the mail saying that my claim is incomplete. What a load of horse shit. If it was incomplete why didn’t the retarded claims lady tell me it was incomplete? I am so livid. I am out a large charge chunk of money because the claims lady is an incompetent idiot. While she was filling it out I was asking her questions about the claims and she kept on giving me vague ambiguous answers like ” I only fill out the papers” or something like that. I asked for her card but she claimed she didn’t have one. I find that hard to believe. When they open tomorrow I am going to make a complaint, what good that will do I don’t know. On a side note, the supervisor is a nice guy. Anyways good luck with your claim.
July 27th, 2008 at 1:56 am
The USPS delivers more mail in a day than all other companies deliver in a year. And everybody whines about their one little piece. Go mail your 42 cent letters somewhere else. And the USPS does NOT receive money from your taxes.
July 30th, 2008 at 10:45 am
i hate usps so much. for three days in a row, on my tracking site it said out for delivery. my mailman is so lazy that because a signature is required for my 500$ new ipod touch, he wont even bother to take the time to step out of his car and walk up to the door. in fact, if the box was small enough to fit in the mailbox, he’d prob just shove it in there like he did with my previous order. crappy service, the worst. i always use dhl when its an option, they seem to care just a little more..
July 31st, 2008 at 1:34 am
im shocked by the service you all are getting. most carriers go out of their way to give great service to their customers. from mail that has no apt numbers wrong house numbers and wrong zip codes. there are the letters addressed to grandma smith on pine st. most of these letters and packages get delivered and not returned. your carrier is out there in the cold and the heat with the dogs and grumpy people everyday all day long. we deal with your kids rushing us to get the mail we check in on the elder who havent picked up thier mail from the day before. we stick around at the site of an accident till help arrives. if you have a mail problem a friendly chat with your carrier will get you more then calling and complaining. just wanted to leave a little insight. happy mailing. and the usps is still the cheapest way to get something from point A to point B
August 12th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I completely agree with everyone here- Ups Sucks- it always takes a week for the mail to get delivered to me and I’m only 5 minutes away from the post office.
Completely ridiculous and absurd.
UPS Sucks!!!
If they want my opinion on how to improve service- I’m seriously considering filing a Customer Complaint- and get more than just my signature I’m sure everyone down my road agrees with me.