Who Else Here Hates The USPS?

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javelinadave

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From my experience as of late they are 100% incapable of delivering a package in a reasonable amount of time.
I ordered something from eBay last month. They shipped it Oct 19th from the LA area and provided me with a tracking number. Long story short, it was sent into the abyss and I was given a refund. Yesterday it showed up in my mailbox. If the distance was walked, Google maps said it could be done in 123 hours. The USPS took 20 days (480 hours) from Chino CA to Scottsdale, AZ, 334 miles.
I ordered another item several weeks ago from an internet retailer. It was on back order and took a while to ship. Lucky me, they shipped it UPS Sure Post. It made it in good time to the Phoenix metro area where UPS handed it over to the USPS. Once again, poof!!!!! It vanished into the abyss once again.
two months ago I tracked a package from a suburb of Phoenix to Albuquerque to Denver, back to Phoenix then to to me, five days later. I could have ridden my bicycle they and back in a few hours if they would have had their retail store open.
I quit ordering from Rovah Farm because Trevor would ship orders USPS and I would get them 7-10 days later.
At least I have a years worth of fire starter with all the election crap, botox and new window coupons that did make it to my mailbox that were all addressed to "Occupant".
Rant off and as a side note, every single DHL shipped order from the UK has shown up at my house between 16 and 48 hours after I have hit the submit button as long as it was a work day over there.
 

Adam

Well-known member
You're aware of the administration using them as a pawn to attempt to invalidate the election, right?
 

Frobisher

Well-known member
Man, I hear that. I had a package arrive at our facility in Pittsburgh after a 4 week delay from the shipper. Next day, it was in Iowa. I kid you not.
 

RBBailey

NAS-ROW Addict
Callsign: KF7KFZ
Interestingly, I avoided using Rovahfarm a few times over the past few years because it took quite a bit longer than just ordering from the UK. But right after selling the Defender, I made a purchase from Trevor on a Sunday night, he called me the next day to fix a card problem I was having, and I still got the package in the mail by that Friday. I was very surprised.

On the other hand, my son's ballot was sent to our house a few weeks after he moved to college in LA. Didn't even think about it at the time because we only had a week of lead time to decide to send him. So I took it down to the post office and asked what the best way would be to get it to him. I was prepared to pay some extra to get it there, but this was Friday, she said it would be there by Tuesday -- two weeks before the election. So I said that would be fine. ......he didn't get his ballot till the Thursday after election.
 

erover82

Well-known member
1605058082936.png

It was for the crime of inciting political discourse, that Chris was forced to ban Dave. circa 2020
 

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
I don't , I feel for the letter carriers who are getting slogged with longer hours, more mail and a non profitable system. It's disfunctional at the management level.
 

Tomaco1

Well-known member
Just a mail in ballot joke, the slow drip of them being counted last, tortured the current president.
 

javelinadave

Administrator
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Tbaumer

Technical Excellence Contributor
Not sure why politics is in this thread, but election fraud aside, I can report numerous failed/late deliveries with the USPS & long waits with the other services that I think are usually late getting shipped by the retailers . All the delivery services are doing more than they used to, so it makes sense that they are having to adjust to this. I imagine it's hard to find enough good people to keep up. I see the USPS making multiple deliveries a day now & on weekends. They never did this in the past. It was a necessary change to compete with UPS & FEDEX.
 

RBBailey

NAS-ROW Addict
Callsign: KF7KFZ
Yes, that is interesting that they now deliver on Saturday. They seem to be trying to compete -- but politically, that is taboo. A lot of people believe the USPS should not need to compete to stay alive.
 

mgreenspan

Founding Member
Most of the issues with the USPS are related to their sort/distro facilities. Stuff just builds up and they can't get it out fast enough. Case in point, a spare key my dad mailed me first class took about 3 weeks to arrive and old mail sent to his house that he put in an envelope and sent me arrived sooner.

FedEx cannot be beat. :cool:
 

rocky

NAS-ROW Addict
I hate shipping with USPS due to the lack of a tracking "audit trail"....they have no idea where anything is, unlike UPS, FedEx.
I'm with OP on DHL for shipment from UK. It's brilliant being able to follow shipments with them, usually from East Midlands airport or LHR all the way here within 48hours.
 

LR Max

Well-known member
Love and hate with USPS. Our local post office is always a zoo. The automated machines are hit or miss. In comparison our UPS store always has a steady business but they turn and burn. No wait and efficient.

X2 on tracking. USPS doesn't tell you anything until its arriving. That said, it arrives. A few times I've had delays but this year has taught me to order my stuff early and if its late by a few days, that is ok.

For the most part they are neutral for me. Don't do a fantastic job but they typically don't do a bad job. My friends in more rural areas do have a heck of a time with the USPS.
 

Adam

Well-known member
The USPS has their chips stacked against them, and it's too bad. The US Mail is one of the most critical pieces of government infrastructure in our country. A few things to consider:

Should the USPS be profitable? Few agencies that provide direct services to citizens are required to meet that mandate. The USPS is privatized (The Postal Service is a self-funding entity), but wholly politicized and encumbered by congressional mandate and others. USPS price increases to meet market demands are regularly overturned by the courts - UPS, FedEx & DHL don't have that problem...

The reality is that the USPS is, by many measures the greatest mail system in the world. The United States has the unique burden of being one one of the most populous countries in the world while also having a relatively low population density. This further exacerbates the role of the USPS - who guarantees to deliver to all 50 states. Generally speaking, I can depend on a US Postal Priority package to make it just about anywhere in the country in four days, or up and down the east coast in two days. Its an amazing service for the money.

They are in no way perfect, and having dealt with the bureaucracy personally - not much different from any other gov't agency. But the service? Generally? Its awesome and I'll use it every time I can. Their prices are abnormally low for the service delivered.
 

javelinadave

Administrator
Staff member
Adam,
To sum it up, they have one job, moving and delivering the mail. It’s not happening and hasn’t happened for many, many years. It’s not Trump or Obama or any other presidents doing. Between the unions hiding bad employees and bad employees hiding behind the unions, the death of the American work ethic and the death of pride in ones craft the USPS is going the way of the dinosaur but they are killing themselves.
I was at my local PO a few months back picking up a piece of registered mail because the postman stuck a card in my mailbox instead of ringing the doorbell and watched the employees throwing boxes around. I asked the clerk who responded with “It’s ok, none are marked fragile”. That pretty much answered all my questions about what was wrong with the USPS.
If you have an attachment to the PO please don’t view this as a personal attach. All businesses have good and bad employees. It’s a crime when the bad employees destroy the jobs of the good employees.
 
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