Positive USPS story

[senseandsensibility]

My elderly female relative had surgery and I sent her a get well card (very funny one, right up her alley) this past Saturday. It went out Saturday morning from my home mailbox and was picked up at about ten in the morning. Yesterday, (Monday), I received an e-mail from her thanking me for my card!

Wow. Very fast service! Almost overnight service considering Sunday is not a mail delivery day.

The purpose of this post is to show that the unionized postal workers perform above and beyond inspite of political efforts to sabotage them. They also did a great job during the election.

[wryter2000]

1. When things are operating normally,

that's not at all unusual. I hope we get our USPS back on track. It is truly wonderful.

[Vinca]

2. We have a similar story during the very same time. My husband ordered something from ebay on

Saturday and it arrived at our post office in New Hampshire yesterday from Las Vegas. I still can't figure out how the seller managed to accomplish it since it was free shipping for us and didn't appear to be any special kind of mail delivery on his part. All I can figure is the guy must sell his stuff out of a USPS airplane hangar next to the runway. LOL.

[Celerity]

3. They are horrid on international shipping for me lately, they have cocked up the last 3 shipments

from the US here to Sweden. Horrifically fucked on one (for 9 months it was lost, and by lost I mean it was in an endless loop between Poland and NY, they estimated it went back and forth across the Atlantic over 25 times.) That was pre-COVID btw. The bloody package looked like it was pulled from a 1980's shipwreck.

Fed Ex, DHL, and UPS are streets ahead.

[Totally Tunsie]

25. My U.S. to Sweden shipments have been taking around two months.

They seem to leave the U.S. okay, but then get bogged down in Stockholm for many weeks on their way to Gothenburg. Planning for arrival around a specific date or event is challenging, to say the least!

I hope your experiences improve.

[Celerity]

26. I get so many parcels from all over the world (literally). USPS is the only one who is shit

It is absolutely unacceptable.

[abqtommy]

4. I haven't been too disappointed with the USPS during the last year. A 2-day package

sent from Arizona arrived on the second day. First-class greeting cards and letters I
send get there ok if a allow a couple days extra for transit time these days.

But USPS doesn't provide tracking info once a letter to Canada leaves the U.S. and it can take up to 30 days to get delivered. That's normal, according to my Canuck oldest son.

[OneBlueDotS-Carolina]

5. Ordered something for my car...

Paid for UPS, as the USPS, well has the dejoy, joy... was supposed to be here Monday, sat in a town outside of Toledo for a few days, who knows when it will arrive in Charleston, SC. Why would they route it thru Ohio from Houston, beyond my pay grade...

Mar 16, 2021
11:07am

Arrived at Facility
Greensboro, NC

Mar 16, 2021
1:48am

Departed from Facility
Maumee, OH

Mar 13, 2021
3:51am

Arrived at Facility
Maumee, OH

Mar 12, 2021
3:37pm

Departed from Facility
Stafford, TX

Mar 11, 2021
7:15pm

Origin Scan
Stafford, TX

Mar 11, 2021
9:21am

Shipper created a label, UPS has not received the package yet.

Mar 11, 2021
7:21am

Tracking number provided

[senseandsensibility]

6. I'm sure you know this

but just to clarify in case other DUers may be confused: UPS is not the USPS.

[OneBlueDotS-Carolina]

8. Just some balance...

Parcel service providers are like cable providers, some shine in some areas, but totally suck in others.
In comparison, Amazon in our area is outstanding, then again a totally different logistic operation. USPS, DHL, FEDEX & UPS, is like rolling the dice...

[alfredo]

14. Depending on the size, it could be delivered by the USPS.

It saves money by having the Post Office do the last mile delivery.

[soldierant]

22. That's true, and FedEx does the same

But "last mile delivery" is not responsible for routing things through multiple unnecessary state before it gets to the last mile.

Even now, with DeJoy still there, I'd prefer USPS any day.

[alfredo]

24. That routing is due to regional distribution hubs.

It saves money but it does slow delivery a bit.

[Midnight Writer]

7. So when can we remove the onerous provision requiring USPS to pay retirement benefits 75 years

in advance?

This was a W Bush law designed intentionally to cripple the Post Office at the behest of its competitors.

Everyone claims they are against it, but no one seems to be tackling the repeal.

[senseandsensibility]

9. Totally agree.

Our side needs to be much more vocal about this.

[alfredo]

15. That sunsets at ten years, 2006.

[Nululu]

17. The House passed a bipartisan bill over a year ago

I don't know why it hasn't passed the senate. It had over a hundred Republicans vote for it .

[MichMan]

23. Signed by Bush but passed congress overwhelmingly by unanimous consent

Henry Waxman was a co sponsor

[Bev54]

10. Here is another good news story about USPS.

Biden just nominated 3 board members, which when confirmed will give him the opportunity to fire DeJoy.

[senseandsensibility]

11. YAY!

[bucolic_frolic]

12. Let me mail that for you

see how long it takes, 3 weeks or 4.

Here's my tale of woe with the USPS this week.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=15233004

One package delivered today. 1 day priority mail traveled about 75 miles. Took 5 days. Not bad.

Others still in transit. 3 of these 5 were Priority Mail packaging too.

I get better results when mailing from an adjacent state.

[yaesu]

13. I recently got a first class package in 2 days from another state, very impressive. nt

[George II]

16. The rank and file USPS workers are a lot better than many give them credit. When I'm outside....

....cutting the lawn or working in the garage, if I see the mail truck up the road I go out to the end of the driveway to get the mail and make sure I thank the carrier and wish him a good day.

We've been here 15 years, and we generally get our mail between about 1 and 2 in the afternoon. Probably not coincidentally about a month before the election it started arriving at almost 5:00, maybe even later. Two days AFTER the election it started arriving at 1-2 PM again.

It wasn't the carrier's fault, but I'm sure word was passed down from DC or somewhere to make the mail delivery look less reliable than it really is.

[ZERTErYNOthe]

18. My Recent Experience

I love the USPS, I think it is one of the greatest accomplishments of our country. Seriously. I can drop off a letter at my house in some rural area in the Appalachians, and it shows up a few days later anywhere in the country, for far less than a buck? It is so cheap and reliable that Medication is shipped that way. At least it was ....

I recently received a Christmas card from family in north-central PA. I live in an urban area about a 6 hour drive south (DC area). The card was mailed just after thanksgiving, and I received it at the end of February. It used to take only a few days, not months.

I no longer use my mail order pharmacy. It costs me more, and it costs my insurance more, but if I can't trust the delivery of life sustaining medication, then a key part of the Medco/Express Scripts business model is broken, and I can't trust them.

I'm surprised that more businesses haven't spoken out. Breaking the postal service breaks the business models of so many corporations, who rely on the USPS for "last mile" and more.

Medications, even temperature sensitive, was sent by USPS, because it is extremely reliable and timely.

Look at UPS Surepost - they offer to drop stuff off with USPS for you (for a small fee), because they know they can't deliver the package as reliably and inexpensively as the post office. If this part of the process is broken then a large part of their business model, and associated profits, is gone.

This impacts so much more than Christmas cards and medications, more than just UPS and Fedex. I'm surprised that shareholders aren't already screaming about this. It's impacting their profits, and will continue to do so, until either the problem is fixed, or they change the basis of their business model.

[Rebl2]

19. I live

in Kansas City area. I ordered stamps from USPS recently. I tracked them and the order left KC-that’s where the order was filled. They left Kansas City, went to St. Paul, MN, then to Minneapolis, MN, then back to Kansas City and then to my PO Box in a suburb of KC. Took about nine or ten days. I don’t normally complain about USPS, and I usually get my mail in a timely manner, but this order took a round about way to get to me.

[RicROC]

20. 1. Feb 15. March

I mailed a small package to German on 1. Feb and it arrived yesterday 15.March. It took 10 days for it to travel to Rochester NY to Frankfurt, an 8 hour flight. Looks like the package sat for a couple days, ping-ponged back and forth between different facilities.

Tracking History
February 12, 2021, 2:31 pm
Departed
FRANKFURT, GERMANY
Your item departed a transfer airport in FRANKFURT, GERMANY on February 12, 2021 at 2:31 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination.
February 11, 2021, 6:45 pm
Departed
FRANKFURT, GERMANY
February 10, 2021, 9:43 pm
Departed
NEWARK, UNITED STATES
February 8, 2021, 9:44 am
Arrived
NEWARK, UNITED STATES
February 6, 2021, 5:40 pm
Processed Through Regional Facility
JAMAICA NY INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 5, 2021
In Transit to Next Facility
February 4, 2021, 2:15 pm
Departed USPS Regional Facility
JAMAICA NY INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 4, 2021, 2:15 pm
Arrived at Regional Facility
JAMAICA NY INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 4, 2021, 7:25 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
JAMAICA NY INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 4, 2021, 6:10 am
Departed USPS Regional Facility
JERSEY CITY NJ NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 4, 2021, 3:24 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
JERSEY CITY NJ NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 3, 2021, 1:29 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
NORTHWEST ROCHESTER NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 3, 2021, 12:55 pm
Departed USPS Regional Facility
ROCHESTER NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 1, 2021, 8:42 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
ROCHESTER NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER
February 1, 2021, 5:42 pm
Departed Post Office
ROCHESTER, NY 14618
February 1, 2021, 3:03 pm
USPS in possession of item
ROCHESTER, NY 14618

[Hellyann]

21. Opposite Side of the Coin Unfortunately

I live in Valdez, AK, a small rural Alaska town that gets more snow than any other Alaskan town. We do not have street delivery because the mailboxes would get lost and ran over in the snow. We have to use the PO which they have reduced staff from 6 to 3. They were going to hire a 4th but the USPS dicked him around so much he found another job and now they have pulled the pin for the position. Currently, they have been ordered to close the lobby weekdays from 11-1 - which is when most of go to get mail and packages during our lunch hour. Most of us are at work when they close at 5. The few hours on Saturday for pick up are going to be even more of a nightmare. We are one of those towns being incredibly hurt by the USPS!