Postal Service? (home, delivery, train)

[harry chickpea]

We got mail. Remember that there was that backup on I-65 when the trucks couldn't make the hill. Sort in B'ham and the problems of 65 coming and going get to be part of the equation. Delivery out here in the hinterlands has been decent overall.

[Friendo]

USPS delivered my mail today in Madison, but UPS failed due to "Adverse weather conditions".

[raj kapoor]

I gave up on USPS many years ago. I also do all my financial activity online. (instant verification, so no worry) I can't believe I ever sent utilities and such through the mail and did not have anxiety attacks over it.

I have kept a PO BOX for so many years. I figure the less they have to touch and move your mail the better. Even that had problems. I realized my mail was being slightly opened if it appeared to have anything of value. (the give away was that nothing junk just happened to be torn, always something 'promising'.

So, I moved my box to another branch in a 'SUPERIOR' part of town. No more torn mail. Now the folks at the other branch can just sit back and read somebodies magazines (or mail) while they wait out their pensions.

I will never forget some of those faces, why, so that I can spot them when they are trying to extend health care to me, part time, for yet another pension. (what a country)

raj

[WouldLoveTo]

Originally Posted by denofhc

Thanks for the feedback. It seems there was no mail delivery today. That old "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" apparently no longer applies .

My local PO told me that belonged to the Pony Express, when I once complained about lack of delivery due to snow.

[SarahBellum]

I have the Madison PO to thank for introducing me to my neighbors when we first moved here. The mail on our cul de sac was constantly delivered to the wrong homes so we'd meet up outside to divvy up the mail to the correct recipients. Complaints to the local post office as well as their 800 number didn't seem to help. When one of the carriers damaged our new mailbox (he hung a very heavy package on door which bent it and messed up the hinge) then left a note the next day that no mail would be delivered until we repaired/replaced the mailbox, we signed up for a mailbox at the nearby UPS Store and now have everything sent there.

[raj kapoor]

Originally Posted by SarahBellum

I have the Madison PO to thank for introducing me to my neighbors when we first moved here. The mail on our cul de sac was constantly delivered to the wrong homes so we'd meet up outside to divvy up the mail to the correct recipients. Complaints to the local post office as well as their 800 number didn't seem to help. When one of the carriers damaged our new mailbox (he hung a very heavy package on door which bent it and messed up the hinge) then left a note the next day that no mail would be delivered until we repaired/replaced the mailbox, we signed up for a mailbox at the nearby UPS Store and now have everything sent there.

If it were a private company they would have been out of business decades ago. Due to lawsuits and ultimately bankruptcy. Not to mention the employees killing each other.

raj

[FatTails]

I may be alone here, but I really like the PO. I have a side income stream that comes from ebay and I use the PO constantly. I order priority boxes, print postage, schedule pickups, etc. I have mailed over a thousand items through the PO and not one item has been lost. Half of those items were overseas too. I did have a handful of items damaged but the items still arrived intact.

In all fairness to the PO, a private company would not have to follow the same rules the PO does. You can mail a letter to Guam for less than 50 cents. Does anyone think FedEx or UPS would do that? Urban deliveries subsidize rural deliveries. You also have Congress mandating all sorts of silly rules like prefunding health benefits and preventing the closing of post offices or canceling of Saturday delivery.

Is the PO broke? Yes, that is obvious. Personally, I would place the blame on Congress for that. You also have those neighborhoods that had been refusing to switch to the neighborhood style delivery and collection boxes. Everyone wants their mailbox right outside their house but then complain when the price of stamps keeps going up. Recently the post office has been pushing the neighborhood boxes into new communities which I think will help in the long run.

[CoreLysium]

We had mail yesterday (Papa John's coupons, furniture liquidator ad) and the garbage picked up, but rather than it being around 7:30am it was 2:30pm.

[seattle925]

As a postal worker I can tell you part of the problem is lack of staff. We have a very old workforce with all the health issues that go along with age. There is a strict limit on hiring, almost every office I know of is severely understaffed. You will often see the custodians delivering express mail! There is no money to spend, everyone is micro-managed for their work day. I would guess we are more productive per hour than the average worker, I know it wasn't always like that but, there's no choice now... there is no one else to do the work, you can't expect someone else to cover for you.

[denofhc]

Originally Posted by nerdtron

I may be alone here, but I really like the PO. I have a side income stream that comes from ebay and I use the PO constantly. I order priority boxes, print postage, schedule pickups, etc. I have mailed over a thousand items through the PO and not one item has been lost. Half of those items were overseas too. I did have a handful of items damaged but the items still arrived intact.

In all fairness to the PO, a private company would not have to follow the same rules the PO does. You can mail a letter to Guam for less than 50 cents. Does anyone think FedEx or UPS would do that? Urban deliveries subsidize rural deliveries. You also have Congress mandating all sorts of silly rules like prefunding health benefits and preventing the closing of post offices or canceling of Saturday delivery.

Is the PO broke? Yes, that is obvious. Personally, I would place the blame on Congress for that. You also have those neighborhoods that had been refusing to switch to the neighborhood style delivery and collection boxes. Everyone wants their mailbox right outside their house but then complain when the price of stamps keeps going up. Recently the post office has been pushing the neighborhood boxes into new communities which I think will help in the long run.

you're not alone. Most of my experience has been positive but lately things seem to have gotten worse. I wish the postal service and especially postal workers well. It can be a tough job.