The USPS SUCKS

[Ken Dryden]

23 minutes ago, gvopedz said:

I don't know how many of you already know this about "media mail" - a lady working the counter at the post office that I use told me that each media mail package is opened (by USPS) to verify that it has the type of contents that it is supposed to have.  I told her I was sending only a CD and she said it had to be a CD bought at a store - it could not be a CD made at home.  I asked her if the package will be resealed after it is opened, and she said yes.  I received a tracking number for my package, but I will not start checking the tracking until at least a week from now.

Given the volume of packages that the USPS has, I can't imagine that they do more than spot check media mail shipments, focusing on packages that look suspicious. It is stated somewhere that they reserve the right to open media mail shipments. 

If they are opening and inspecting padded envelopes, maybe that explains the empty one I received last year after it bounced around various locations before returning to me empty.

Unless you like gambling, I do recommend insuring packages that have more value than you are willing to lose. Stateside Distributors sent a media mail package to me a few months ago and the box was soaked. Oddly enough, the only CD that was damaged was a Red Rodney SteepleChase CD that I had previously returned due to some dealer resealing a CD that had gotten wet. This CD wasn't the same one, as it obviously had factory sealing, it wasn't rewrapped. A package I returned to the same Distributor last year (in Myrtle Beach, SC) took 42 days to get there from Chattanooga.

 

[JSngry]

If they reseal, they do a damn good job of making it look untouched. 

[jlhoots]

USPS has trouble delivering my issues of New York magazine.

JULY 18 issue has (allegedly) been mailed twice & still hasn't arrived.

[Chuck Nessa]

5 hours ago, gvopedz said:

I don't know how many of you already know this about "media mail" - a lady working the counter at the post office that I use told me that each media mail package is opened (by USPS) to verify that it has the type of contents that it is supposed to have.  I told her I was sending only a CD and she said it had to be a CD bought at a store - it could not be a CD made at home.  I asked her if the package will be resealed after it is opened, and she said yes.  I received a tracking number for my package, but I will not start checking the tracking until at least a week from now.

As someone using Media Mail for 50+ years, thia is bullshit.

[jazzbo]

Yes, it's bullshit. I honestly think she is misinformed. I have been told differently, and what I have been told is in the guidelines below. Yes, they can be inspected, but I have never seen evidence that one has been in all my years of mailing experience. .. . It must be an infrequent occurrance.

https://about.usps.com/notices/not121/not121.htm

Edited August 18, 2022 by jazzbo

[gvopedz]

I do hope it is bullshit - but an organization such as USPS (or any federal or state agency) is not likely to be following today the same procedures that it followed dozens of years ago.

[jazzbo]

Those are their published guidelines, and they were revised this decade--some items that were media mail acceptable before are no longer.

Edited August 18, 2022 by jazzbo

[Ken Dryden]

One noticeable problem we have had since we moved. Informed delivery says to expect mail that day and it doesn’t show up at all. I imagine that they are one or more carriers short that day and we are a low priority neighborhood in their system.

[mr jazz]

Our nice carrier quit recently and mail delivery has suffered. Evidently, like many local businesses, USPS is desperate for staff.

[Ken Dryden]

The latest miscue by this inept “service”: My wife ordered a jacket which was supposed to be delivered to our home outside Chattanooga on Thursday, according to informed delivery. It made it from Knoxville to our local distribution center, then some clown put it on a plane to Denver. Gross incompetence seems to be the norm for package handling by the USPS these days.

Edited August 21, 2022 by Ken Dryden

[jlhoots]

On 8/18/2022 at 9:15 PM, jlhoots said:

USPS has trouble delivering my issues of New York magazine.

JULY 18 issue has (allegedly) been mailed twice & still hasn't arrived.

Still not here.

[JSngry]

Still getting good service here. 

[jcam_44]

On 8/18/2022 at 4:50 AM, gvopedz said:

I do hope it is bullshit - but an organization such as USPS (or any federal or state agency) is not likely to be following today the same procedures that it followed dozens of years ago.

On the contrary, governmental work is so slow to change it is more likely we’re all gone off this blue marble before a change is ever made. Even that tool DeJoy was only able to temporarily damage the already poor service of the usps, and that was his only objective. 

[Brad]

My son was awaiting a package the other day but when he looked up the tracking in the morning he found that it was now somehow in a town about half an hour from here. I called that po and they caught the package in time before it went back to the distribution center. I went over there and picked it up and asked them since everything is scanned how it could be mis-delivered. They told me that they normally get 15 packages a day that are mis-delivered and they, too, can’t figure out why this happens. 

[Ken Dryden]

Two Amazon packages have been listed as out for delivery all day, one expected by 9 pm. They were received by our local post office in the wee hours of this morning. 
 

The packages finally arrived last night at 10:37 pm. I feel for the driver who was stuck with such an insanely long shift, though he or she likely racked up the overtime for working a federal holiday. 
  
I would think that worker safety should be taken into consideration, as deliveries that late in the evening make little sense. The risk of overnight thefts from mailboxes seems higher as well. The one benefit is there’s less risk from dog bites when a large package requires delivery to a porch.

 

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by Ken Dryden

[jlhoots]

Haven't had to use this thread in a while - BUT I have a package from Chicago (from you know who) that has moved from Chicago to New Jersey even though I'm in New Mexico. 1st class mail & supposed to arrive tomorrow. Doesn't seem likely.

[Stompin at the Savoy]

I recently ordered a dvd box set (the complete Powerpuff Girls series) from ebay.  it was submitted to USPS by the seller in a town near Los Angeles.  It then traveled to Memphis, Tennessee and onward to Birmingham, Alabama, before turning around and coming to southern Oregon!  Wtf.

Edited December 23, 2022 by Stompin at the Savoy

[jlhoots]

1 hour ago, Stompin at the Savoy said:

I recently ordered a dvd box set (the complete Powerpuff Girls series) from ebay.  it was submitted to USPS by the seller in a town near Los Angeles.  It then traveled to Memphis, Tennessee and onward to Birmingham, Alabama, before turning around and coming to southern Oregon!  Wtf.

The shipper will blame it (probably correctly) on the USPS & tell you it wasn't "sorted" correctly at the original post office.

[Stompin at the Savoy]

1 hour ago, jlhoots said:

The shipper will blame it (probably correctly) on the USPS & tell you it wasn't "sorted" correctly at the original post office.

You're probably right about sorting near the origin.  Still this is a hell of a way to run the post office, sending a package to the other side of the country and then back...

Edited December 23, 2022 by Stompin at the Savoy

[jlhoots]

6 minutes ago, Stompin at the Savoy said:

You're probably right about sorting near the origin.  Still this is a hell of a way to run the post office, sending a package to the other side of the country and then back...

My package went from Chicago to New Jersey (for 2 days) & is now on the way back west to New Mexico.

Edited December 23, 2022 by jlhoots

[Stompin at the Savoy]

Ends up being a pretty big waste of fuel and unnecessary carbon footprint.  Grumble grumble...

[HutchFan]

I ordered a few CDs and two LPs from Dusty back in early December.  As of December 20th, my shipment just seemed to disappear somewhere in an Atlanta distribution center.  I kept checking the USPS tracking, and it wasn't moving.  It seemed like it was just... gone.

A few weeks back, I contacted the USPS, and they told me it was likely lost.  The folks at Dusty were willing to work with me -- but most of the stuff I'd ordered was used, so replacement wasn't an option.  I made peace with the fact that the package had disappeared.  Big bummer.

Here's the kicker: Today, it showed up on my doorstep, just like it had fallen out of the sky.  46 days after DG shipped it.  That's a long time -- but feel lucky to have it at all.  

Music that's back from the dead!    

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by HutchFan

[Ken Dryden]

I have learned to use priority mail or FedEx with Dusty Groove. Chicago is one of the notorious phantom zones where packages disappear for weeks or months.

[Brad]

14 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said:

I have learned to use priority mail or FedEx with Dusty Groove. Chicago is one of the notorious phantom zones where packages disappear for weeks or months.

I must be lucky because I’ve never had an issue with a DG package. 

[Ken Dryden]

With the recent storms, I've had two orders delivered in soaking wet boxes by the USPS, like they had been sitting in a bin with water on the bottom. One was a brand new book that I returned to Amazon ($25 for wavy pages, no thanks!), the other was a boxed set purchased from another board member, though thankfully there was no damage to the set.

I get the idea that they leave these bins in the rain instead of loading them under awnings. 

Package according when shipping, even a taped up grocery bag may make a difference, though I tend to use budget zippered bags...