[RANT] I Really Hate the United States Postal Service

[Aurora]

Technically, the USPS is now a private corporation owned by the government, thus the move to dot com from dot gov.

I'm just impressed they managed to duplicate their bureaucracy digitally on their Web site...

Yeah, but if it still owned by the gov't then it can be just as shoddily run as before.

I have found that complaining at the post office does nothing. They don't care. I mean, what are you gonna do, have someone else deliver all your mail? Sure, most bills can be paid via the internet and you can send people emails, but I want to send out REAL Christmas and B-day cards, not E-ones. :\ I rarely mail packages through them though anymore. I use Fed-Ex for that. I used to use UPS till it took over a month for a package I sent to be delivered and then it was delivered to a totally different address not even in the correct state.

 

[jaerdaph]

I have found that complaining at the post office does nothing. They don't care. I mean, what are you gonna do, have someone else deliver all your mail?

Yep. Reminds me of the old Lily Tomlin operator sketch, "We don't care, we don't have to, we're the phone company!"

Of course, we know what happened to the phone company shortly after that - shattered by anti-trust laws into the Baby Bells, for better or worse.

 

[Aurora]

Yep. Reminds me of the old Lily Tomlin operator sketch, "We don't care, we don't have to, we're the phone company!"

Of course, we know what happened to the phone company shortly after that - shattered by anti-trust laws into the Baby Bells, for better or worse.

Wow, Lily Tomlin. She's a comedian I haven't thought about in a long time. She was damn funny.

 

[Ranger REG]

I'm done ranting now - thanks for listening.

Meh.

My post office has lots of aloha.

One time I stood in line to buy 2-cent makeup stamp, and it was a long line with all counters open, when a post office manager from behind came out and went down the line and ask if anyone want to buy 2-cent stamps. Aloha.

As for package delivery. I went down to the post office and ask how they would leave the package on my doorstep instead of handing out pink cards, they told me to write a letter instructing to leave packages at the appropriate location in my residence. I went home, wrote it, and hand-deliver it to the guy that told me. My packages started arriving at my residence for me when I get home. Aloha.

Done raving now - thanks for listening.

P.S. Your post office should learn from my post office.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'm not all that impressed with UPS...

The last 2 times I ordered computer equipment, they left it on my porch.

Let me expand on that.

I ordered more than $10,000 in computer equipment back in the 1990's. I left to take my parents to the airport. When I returned (after dark) there was a pile of equipment on my porch. Under the motion-detector lights, so everyone on the block could see that there was a big pile of computer equipment on the porch.

Furious, I called them- my buddy all the while saying "Tell them it was stolen, I could use a new computer!"

They basically didn't care.

Fast forward to 2004, a different house, and another $10,000 in new computers.

I was home- 10 feet from the door- and they didn't even bother ringing the doorbell. Again, they simply left it on my doorstep under my motion-detector lights.

I didn't know they had been there until a friend came over and rang the doorbell...

Another phone call, another "we don't care" type response.

So, no, my opinion of UPS isn't all that high, and definitely not higher than the USPS.

OTOH, I've had worse experiences with DHL...

 

[Ranger REG]

Yeah, I never buy computer through mail order.

 

[trancejeremy]

A lot depends on the post office, I think. Some are much more busy than others (the one I go to never has a line). Also, I think that there is a lot of leeway over where the employees work, at least the higher level ones, and the more competent ones seem to transfer themselves to the less busy places.

The guy at the one I go to, he knows the name of everyone. Granted, there's only like 600 P.O. Boxes, but still, that's pretty impressive, considering a lot of them are families. And he learned names like a month after being transferred there. It freaked me out when he said "Hi Jeremy"


And yeah, UPS can be somewhat bad. They do seem to have a habit of just letting big or expensive items on your front porch, while smaller stuff they could have stuck in your door or something you get a pick up notice for (requiring you to go to them to pick it up). And in some cases, they just leave the packages at the front gate (I live in a rural area), rather than drive the 1/4 mile down the road to my front door.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I do most of my online shopping through Amazon. I've had problems in the past and one missing package. They sent me a replacement package at no extra charge, and on the quick too.

My only gripe is that the numbers of my address are the same numbers of another house and we have a community mailbox. We get their mail prolificly. They hardly ever get our mail.

Also, White Wolf screwed up my address for my Ptolus preorder, so those neighbors that I mentioned earlier got this package instead of me. I call the post office after checking the website saying that it had been deliverd . They confirmed this. Thing is the delivery happened two days ago and I just found out about it. I doubt my neighbors would have given me the package if I hadn't confronted them.

 

[Mycanid]

I try to never use the Post Office if I can help it - i.e. when I am purchasing things to send to my person. I much prefer UPS. Post Office is a second. Fed Ex is dead last for me. :\

 

[Jeysie]

I used to be happy with the post office back in my hometown. There was almost never a line at the post office, and I have mailed lots of things back and forth with no issues... tape trading, book trading, online purchases, etc. I generally preferred the post office to UPS because I could get my packages even though I seldom was home to sign for things.

Then I moved to a bigger city, and the lines got much longer, but the service was still good, so I lived.

But then recently my mailman has started refusing to deliver Priority Mail packages, even though I've never had problems with it before, and I never get services that require signatures. So I end up having to sign the pink slip and have them redelivered.

After having this happen twice when a friend sent me packages, when I decided to buy some comics on eBay, I figured I'd try to head off the trouble at the pass. I wrote a note saying, "Dear mailperson, please leave all Priority Mail packages in the usual spot. Thanks!", put my name and apartment number, and taped it to the mailbox.

Come delivery day, I arrive home to find not my lovely comics, but a dreaded pink slip, along with my own note with "I'm sorry, but I'm not your normal mail carrier, I don't know where the usual spot is." jotted at the bottom. *headdesk* This was on a Saturday, mind you, so now I had to wait until Monday to get my package...

So on Monday, I go down to the main post office branch this time instead of having the package redelivered, since I don't feel like waiting *another* day on top of my wait already. I wait in the long line, and finally hand over the pink slip to get my package. The clerk goes out back, then returns after several minutes and says she can't find it, that it must not have come over yet from this other branch where it ended up at for some reason.

So I sigh and call the other branch. They say *they* don't have it either, and that the carrier must have been going to try to deliver it again. So the fellow who answered calls the carrier, then calls me back and says, yep, that's the case. So I ask, "Is he actually going to *leave* it this time?" To which the guy says "Yes". And I actually did get my darn comics, hooray.

Although it's still rather annoying, since I wasted my time trying to pick up the package... plus the previous times this has happened, I had to wait until the next day after leaving the pink slip to get my package, meaning the mailperson wasn't trying to redeliver it that day. Sigh.

So, plus points for previous good performance, minus points for this recent shenanigans. Bleh.

Peace & Luv, Liz