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10/16/2003 02:19:02 PM · #1 |
I want to rant a while and should anyone here be a postal employee I am going to apologize in advance for this.
Now with that out of the way GRRRRRRRRR &*#@$!#*! I don't want to hear again about postage hikes and why the post office isn't making any money, its a case of lets handle everything a few extra times and see how many people we can pay to pick up the mail and move it from here to there rather than pay them to actually sort it and deliver it.
I have never seen such a more screwed up business than the US Postal Service. I was expecting a letter in the mail today, one that was mailed yesterday out of a local office and I should have receive it with today's mail after all it was first class mail and it was mailed at the same post office that my mail comes from.
I didn't get it. I called the office just to make sure it was mailed. Yes, it was. So what happened to it? The secretary dropped it off at the post office at 4:30 yesterday and mailed it in one of the boxes out in front of the post office. At 5:30 it gets gathered up and placed in a large bin and rolled into the post office to be sorted. If the mail is heavy anything not sorted by 7pm is then put on a truck and transported 45 miles away to be sorted today in a regional distribution center, then when the truck returns tonight, that letter should be on the truck for delivery tomorrow.
Sad fact is I also mailed a letter yesterday afternoon from the same mailbox to go Philadelphia 225 miles away and they received it this morning in their mail. Strange how a letter can go 225 miles in one day but can't travel 12 blocks in a day.
I'm not blaming my carrier, he just works there. It isn't his fault that someone thinks it is better to spend the money to transport mail 45 miles away then transport it back just so they can deliver it 2 days later, rather than to let the carrier deliver it the next day. And the postal service wonders why they aren't making any money and why the internet email is so much more efficient than them. Well, gee I can answer that. It takes a minute to go around the world via the www but it takes 2 days for snail mail to be delivered just 12 blocks from the post office.
I think the pony express could have deliver that letter to me by now.
OK, now I feel better! |
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10/16/2003 02:26:23 PM · #2 |
Correct me if Im wrong, first class mail does not guarentee overnight delivery. The USPS does offer that service, but you pay more than a frirst class stamp.
But while were talking USPS, they just removed all the mail boxes in my town, except for the ones in front of the post office and one about 300 feet away. Go figure.
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10/16/2003 04:16:39 PM · #3 |
1) The USPS is the only part of the governement required by law to operate at a profit -- it is in their interest to run things efficiently.
2) First-Class postage rates specify a 1-2 (or maybe 1-3) day delivery time.
3) The USPS is REQUIRED to deliver to every address for the same rate. FedEx, et al, can/do charge more for inconvenient deliveries, or decline to serve the area at all.
4) Your letter may have suffered a one-day delay in delivery due to the late-deposits being trucked to a late-shift sorting facility, but the other 38,472 recipients probably got their letters a day earlier. If a letter has to be somewhere the next day, you can pay the USPS about $14 and they will deliver it the next day (including ALL holidays), unlike the "other" package companies.
5) Would you be willing to carry my letter from Oakland up to my dad's near Tacoma, Washington ... for 35 cents? Isn't it incredible they can deliver BILLIONS of pieces with so few problems?
6) As with the phone company and utility companies, I try to remember that while the organization may have inherent structural deficiencies, the individual workers are almost always trying be helpful. |
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10/16/2003 04:35:57 PM · #4 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
5) Would you be willing to carry my letter from Oakland up to my dad's near Tacoma, Washington ... for 35 cents? Isn't it incredible they can deliver BILLIONS of pieces with so few problems? |
good point...people take that for granted i think, including me
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10/16/2003 04:39:32 PM · #5 |
2 points...
1 ~ The US Postal Service is one of the most well run, economical delivery systems known to human kind. They earn their 35 cents...
2 ~ Postal employees are often well armed and not overly stable, making it dangerous to say anything other than point 1 :)
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10/16/2003 05:36:54 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by myqyl:
2 points...
1 ~ The US Postal Service is one of the most well run, economical delivery systems known to human kind. They earn their 35 cents...
2 ~ Postal employees are often well armed and not overly stable, making it dangerous to say anything other than point 1 :) |
I'm not blaming the carrier...but the system itself. There is a large processing center about 5 miles from here but instead of sending the cities mail there it goes 45 miles away to have the same thing done.
Sorry but I am very frustrated about this cause there is even a sticker on the mail box that states mail going to the following prefixes is next day delivery 158, 166, 168. 177, and a few others I can't remember them all. 166 is mine and still can't figure out why Altoona's mail is being sent 45 miles to Johnstown. |
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10/16/2003 05:49:08 PM · #7 |
If it would have been mailed out earlier than 1630, you may have gotten it.
Instead of the secretary at the office putting the mail you wanted the next day into the Post Offices mailbox, why not use 35 cents of the companies gas money to drive it to YOUR mailbox? (C:
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10/16/2003 05:50:39 PM · #8 |
| Or, if it's 12 blocks away, and you already know they are going to mail it to you, and it's so important that you get it the very next day, just get up and go pick it up yourself. |
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10/16/2003 05:51:15 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by dacrazyrn:
If it would have been mailed out earlier than 1630, you may have gotten it.
Instead of the secretary at the office putting the mail you wanted the next day into the Post Offices mailbox, why not use 35 cents of the companies gas money to drive it to YOUR mailbox? (C: |
yeah talk about inefficiencies
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10/16/2003 05:52:26 PM · #10 |
| I'll give you 37 cents for a stamp if you stop ranting about stuff like this. |
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10/16/2003 05:53:26 PM · #11 |
tosses a quarter in the pot.
Originally posted by StevePax:
I'll give you 37 cents for a stamp if you stop ranting about stuff like this. |
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10/16/2003 05:54:23 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by Jacko:
tosses a quarter in the pot.
Originally posted by StevePax:
I'll give you 37 cents for a stamp if you stop ranting about stuff like this. |
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gasp, nothing left in my wallet!!! Can I IOU you?
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10/16/2003 05:55:10 PM · #13 |
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10/16/2003 05:55:39 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by Jacko:
tosses a quarter in the pot.
Originally posted by StevePax:
I'll give you 37 cents for a stamp if you stop ranting about stuff like this. |
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i'll give back my ribbon for it
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10/16/2003 06:00:58 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by StevePax:
Or, if it's 12 blocks away, and you already know they are going to mail it to you, and it's so important that you get it the very next day, just get up and go pick it up yourself. |
If I could I would have believe me. But they have a strict policy about mailing it out. As for being 12 blocks the letter orginated 5 miles away and was dropped at the post office 12 blocks away from me. Point is why would a letter traveling only 12 blocks from the post office be sent 45 miles away? |
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10/16/2003 06:03:23 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by Gordon:
Walking's free.... |
"Only a nobody walks in LA. Walking in LA! (dum dum) Walking in LA, AAY. Only a nobody walks in LA." (Terri Bozio)
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10/16/2003 06:07:26 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by StevePax:
I'll give you 37 cents for a stamp if you stop ranting about stuff like this. |
I don't think you would be to happy either if you were waiting for what was in this envelope. I really didn't want to say it in the forum as to what the letter is but it is my PAYCHECK...so yeah someone hand me that 37 cents please...The post office doesn't want to give me my check! They sent it 45 miles from here.
This is the second week in a row that this has happened prior to that I was getting my check on Thursday, the office isn't doing anything different, neither is the post office, except my check is in the bottom of the bin as it is being sorted and ends up going 45 miles away instead of being delivered. |
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10/16/2003 06:07:50 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by Jacko:
tosses a quarter in the pot.
Originally posted by StevePax:
I'll give you 37 cents for a stamp if you stop ranting about stuff like this. |
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I've got a Canadian $20 left over from last weekend - that's what, about a dime ? I'll throw that in too...
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10/16/2003 06:08:48 PM · #19 |
| My neighbor used to deliver mail. If the welfare cheques didn't show up, all kinds of loonies would show up at his door accusing him. |
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10/16/2003 06:11:10 PM · #20 |
Originally posted by Jacko:
My neighbor used to deliver mail. If the welfare cheques didn't show up, all kinds of loonies would show up at his door accusing him. |
LOL mine isn't a welfare check thats for sure, but it is my paycheck and if the mailman doesn't have it tomorrow he better not bring me a single bill and he better plan to pay my bills for the week. |
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10/16/2003 06:14:17 PM · #21 |
As a former postal employee. The process is (at least in S.F.):
Mailbox (sits there for someone to collect)
Neighborhood branch (sits there for truck to pick up)
Main branch (sits there until someone processes)
Sorting Machine (according to city/zip codes)
Sorting Machine (according to neighborhood/those last four # on zip codes)
Neighborhood branch
Postman's box (separate by address)
Your house (more bills)
Best way to make sure that you get your mail the quickest out their with only a first class stamp is to:
Type the address (not everybody's handwriting can be read by the machine, it will go through another machine and more time would be wasted.)
Used the 4 digit zipcode add on.(It helps the machine get it to the correct neighborhood, otherwise they will refeed and more time is wasted)
Proper postage.
Message edited by author 2003-10-16 18:30:26.
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10/16/2003 06:26:38 PM · #22 |
After seeing what you wrote faidoi allow me to inform everyone the mailbox it was placed in was the main branch for the area. The mail was heavy yesterday according the the sorting room supervisior so it was sent to a regional facility to be sorted and then should be sent back here tonight for delivery tomorrow.
So lets change your list to this....
Mailbox
Main branch
Regional Facility(45 miless to it)
Sorting Machine (according to city/zip codes)
Sorting Machine (according to neighborhood/those last four # on zip codes)
Main branch (returning from the regional facility)
Postman's box (separate by address)
Your house (more bills) |
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10/16/2003 06:53:19 PM · #23 |
SO if it was not sent the 45 miles away, it would have sat at the main branch to be sorted THE NEXT DAY. So, it went 45 miles away. It was sorted then and not delayed another day now was it. This means you can send your bills out 3 days before your check arrives (in the mail). I do this (and I imagine alot of people do) and I expect the mail to take 3 days, so that my direct deposit goes through first.
How about getting your check direct deposted to your account? That would eliminate your problem.
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10/16/2003 07:09:26 PM · #24 |
| I know a little about how the postal system works. I'd lay odds that what happened is the secretary who dropped off your paycheck probably didn't bother to separate the local mail from the out-of-town mail. All post offices have a drop slot marked Local, which is for mail that is delivered out of that same building. If your paycheck were put into the Local slot it would not have been trucked anywhere else to be sorted and there is no reason it would not get to the mailbox at your home the next day. Most likely the secretary didn't seperate local mail from all the other outgoing mail from the office. It is a little more work and may easily be overlooked when someone is handling a lot of outgoing mail almost all of which is for out-of-town addresses. It also may be just a little extra work for the secretary as she stops by the post office (probably on her way home from work) as she may have to go into the building's lobby to use the Local slot as opposed to just dumping all the mail, local and out-of-town mixed together, into a drive-up mailbox in the parking lot. Nail the PO when they really do mess up, especially on something as important as a paycheck, but like Davy Crockett said- "Make sure you are right, then go ahead". |
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10/16/2003 07:13:46 PM · #25 |
| I think many of those "local" mail slots have been eliminated so that all mail can go through the same (increased) level of security screening available at larger sorting facilities. |
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