US Postal service "problems"--anyone else?

[durablend]

Just wondering if anyone else has seen a rise in the number of late/missing mail pieces in the past month or so? Earlier this month, I would've thought maybe the holidays were still slowing things down and maybe they'd need to catch up, but this past week has been particularly strange in that four of the six mail days I've received NOTHING. No bills, no junk mail, nothing at all (one of the other two days I only got a bank statement). The only thing at this point that I can say is definitely missing is a Blockbuster Online DVD (should've received on Thursday), but I'm wondering what else is disappearing along the way and more importantly, where it's going.

Has anyone else seen a similar pattern lately?

[SmokingJacket]

1. Maybe they're getting bogged down by all the NetFlix.

I haven't had any mail problems -- maybe it's your carrier. Sometimes they toss bags of mail underneath bridges...

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

2. Yes! so many problems.

for example, I sent a transctript request to CA and it got lost in the mail. and my netflix DVDs have been coming a day later then they used too. :grr:

[Cha]

31. I hear ya, MAHNY! I was

getting real spoiled with my netflix coming in a one day turn around and then the Holidays happened and they're getting here late or not at all as in one case.

What's a movie buff to do?

[flordehinojos]

3. we did not get any mail yesterday--nor have i seen the mail truck come by

today. usually by this time it has come and gone. in my mind i've been asking, "gee, i wonder what's happening?"

[napi21]

4. Well, I sell on Ebay and I have had several items delivered late,

and one item I bought was shipped "all the way from Tn. to Ga!" last Monday and still hasn't gotten here! I just confirmed with the seller this AM that it was in fact sent First Class on 1/23/06, and he also said he's been having trouble with slow mail.

[fooj]

5. Yep.

I received a piece of mail that was postmarked on Dec. 27th on Jan. 19th! For the past two days I've received only a few catalogs. Very wierd. I get tons of mail!

Peace.

[JusticeForAll]

6. Just call your post office

As you already realize, you should be getting something nearly every day. 4 out of 6 would be very unusual. You may have a new carrier on your route or some other reason why your mail is being delayed.

Call your post office they are always 'happy' to help. It's their job and most take it very seriously.

[GrantDem]

7. Now that you mention it -->>

We have noticed delays in the mail coming to our local union's Political Affairs Department. Hmmmmmm

:shrug:

[hwmnbn]

8. My guess is the NSA is understaffed.....

and it take a while to read all your correspondence.

Mail delivery in my neighborhood has always been unpredictable. We get new carriers regularly and many times we get our neighbors' mail. I'm assuming my mail is sometimes "mis-delivered"

For anything important I use Fed-Ex or UPS.

[thefool_wa]

13. Probably closest to the truth (nt)

[Cleita]

22. That's because I think they are hiring people who are illiterate and

can't read. We had an ongoing problem when I lived in the city where the mail would get delivered to the right address on the wrong street. The mail carrier could read numbers only it appeared.

[Gormy Cuss]

35. We met our neighbors that way.

At least once a week we get mail for the people who live at the same house number one block over. A special bonus treat is when we get mail for the people around the corner who live in a house with the last two digits the same as ours and on a street that starts with the same letter. Close enough!

I think they are putting unreasonable time pressures on the route carriers these days. Ever since they installed the bar code checkpoints on certain mailboxes I've noticed that our carrier seems harried.

[jbnow]

45. I think you are right about the pressure.

One icy day I offered my sympathy for the weather he was out in.

I can't recall all he said but he was quite upset by the policy. It was about wanting to get most sorting done the night before and having longer hours on the day of the expected storm, the request was denied. They were told to come in at regular time and be back at the regular time and to compensate for the ice delaying them by walking on grass rather then the sidewalk. He said they never listen and it's not just hurting them but also the service to the customers.

[MatrixEscape]

9. A package ...

sent to me just after Xmas never arrived and cannot be found.

As for delays, well, I imagine the NSA needs time to go through it all, ey? ;)

[Crowdance]

10. For the past month we've received a lot of mail that isn't ours,

a piece every day or so. I bet pieces of our mail are also be going to our neighbors. We've never seen anything like it.

[Not_Giving_Up]

11. Yep

My unemployment checks started coming late during the holiday season, but I figured it was just because of the upsurge in mail during that time. I've yet to get my check on time since then...no real explanation for it. I've gotten letters from the school about meeting for my kids a week after the meeting was scheduled...thank goodness they sent a notification home with the kid too!

[thefool_wa]

12. Interesting

I have had two noteworthy experiences in the past few weeks:

first, I mailed a claim form for my medical benefits to Colorado. It usually takes 2 days to get there, this time it took five.

second, we did not receive any mail for 2 days two weeks ago. This resulted in outgoing mail not being picked up.

When my wife called the USPS about the second issue they said, "Our carriers are not required to stop at a house if they have no mail to be delivered to that address. It is a time saving policy."

This infuriated my wife as we had outgoing bills that needed to be mailed. Ultimately, I have a hard time believing that we didn't have even any mailers, ads, or missing person post cards for two days. That never happens.

IMHO: Its just another example of the price of a service going up while the quality goes down. At least this country is consistent(ly bad).

[Qanisqineq]

14. oooooooooh yes

It has been happening for a few months for me. I send bills, they never get there. I don't receive bills. Bills get here a week to 2 weeks past the due date. People send me mail and it is returned to them 2 MONTHS LATER. The address is correct, the postage correct, everything is fine but it is returned anyway. Plus, my postal carrier is obviously near-sighted because nearly every day I get someone else's mail in my box. Hmmmm, I wonder how often mine ends up in someone else's and they open it or throw it away?

Add in to that UPS. They delivered a package for me to a house 3 doors down (isn't that a band?) FOR NO REASON AT ALL. I was home on that date. The story goes like this: I was waiting for a package, looked it up online to view the tracking, and it said it was delivered. So I call UPS and they read me my address as it was on the package. It is correct. Then they read me the address it was delivered to. Not my address. They never even tried to bring it to MY door.
The UPS representative told me, "it was delivered, so our obligation is over."
I told her, "but it was delivered to the wrong house!"
UPS: "But it was delivered so it doesn't matter."
So, apparently UPS is not paid to deliver it to the correct house. Oh, and my neighbors claim they never received any package. Yeah. Okay. They aren't the friendliest of neighbors.

[thefool_wa]

15. UPS or USPS?

If UPS, then that sounds like a reason to use FedEx to me. What a load of crap.

If USPS, same response :)

[Qanisqineq]

19. UPS, as in the brown trucks

Right now I don't trust the USPS or UPS. I agree with the post saying the price of things are going up and the quality of service is going down. I have been grumbling about this a lot for the last few weeks. I notice it everywhere.

[Occulus]

16. I work for USPS

Here is what's going on:

Recently (within the last year or two) there has been a big push on the part of postal management to hire and utilize what are called "casual" employees. These employees, although they are mentioned repeatedly in the current APWU contract, ARE NOT COVERED by that contract except insofar as how management wishes to use them. They do not receive health benefits, vacation time, sick leave, or union representation. Additionally, they can be mandated up to 12 hours/six days a week, may not refuse overtime, can be fired on the spot, and so on.

Think of a physically hard job with no rights and no benefit other than a paycheck- for which you make about half of the union member standing next to you- and you'll get what these people have to deal with. They are also, on a workroom floor level, regularly treated like absolute shit by postal management. I personally knew people, casuals all, who had school or other jobs they absolutely had to go to sleep to be able to do- yet postal management required them to work 12 hours shifts in such a way that they would only get four hours or less of sleep before their day starts again.

These people are supposed to be trained by OJIs- On the Job Instructors. Those are not being used as they should be, and as a result, the casual employees- most of whom work in the distribution centers, many of whom I work with daily- are not sufficiently trained to properly route mail that may not be "what they always deal with".

This overuse of casuals (when part-time and full-time regulars could be getting the overtime, at a significantly higher pay rate, as it happens) is largely to blame for the recent delays in the mailstream. I should add that there have been at least three large (very large!) arbitration awards made to various locals in the recent past because of this very issue: management overuse of casuals in lieu of regulars. We're talking eight-figure arbitration awards. My own local is awaiting a fourth such decision.

I really can't think of a way you nonpostal people can affect this situation; it's occurring on a national level. Letting management know that YOU know about the casual-in-lieu-of situation might help; I don't know.

This post is not intended to defame the USPS or affect the Service's reputation; it IS intended to expose POSTAL MANAGEMENT, as an abusive employee class, and it WILL affect postal management's reputation if the public learns the truth of the situation. I am not posting this from any government terminal, nor am I using any government bandwidth to do so.

My sole interest in this post is ensuring continued, accurate, and most of all TIMELY mail service to each and every one of you. It is tactics being used by POSTAL MANAGEMENT that is causing the problems you are having.

Sick, that I have to clarify that, isn't it?

[Quakerfriend]

20. Thx for the explantion! All I have to say is

at least they can't outsource on this one!

[Cleita]

23. This is a tactic used by union busters.

You'd better get your reps to put a stop to it if they can.

[yorkiemommie1]

24. that's what i thought was happening

in our area for the past couple of years. thanks for confirming my suspicions. i feel sorry for the casuals.

edited to ask: are they hiring any regular employees to replace those that are retiring? or are they replacing them w/ 'casuals'?

[Occulus]

41. They appear to be replacing them with casuals.

And, as I said, that is- in some locals- proving to be a very expensive move on management's part. BUT- the arbitration awards need to be greater than the total savings management accrued from the use of those same casuals. Otherwise, the lesson is lost because it's still cost-effective.

And that, friends, is why there need to be huge awards, on the oprder of 30 to 50 millions dollars per local. This practice needs to be stopped, and the only way it will be is if it hurts management's pocketbooks to the point that overusing these particular employees becomes a Very Bad Decision.

Someone else said that they feel sorry for the casuals. SO DO I. They are working just as hard a whole lot harder than the regular employees around them, and getting half the pay.

Sickening.

edit: did I mention, their paychecks are often off by hours?

Yep- hours. And hours. Sometimes four, six hours per check. One I knew didn't get his check at all for two pay periods in a row. They had to advance it to him- and not even all of it, ooooohhhh, no- and expected him to pay it all back later.

[Divernan]

26. Complain to your congress person, quoting DU post by.

kgfnally, but don't use his/her posting name - could be close to real name.
How many Brownies have been foisted on the postal service by Herr Bush? I have a friend who has been unable to get the USPS to honor a change of address form.

[thefool_wa]

34. Really?

That peaques my curiosity. Why are they not honoring the change of address?

[alarimer]

37. that happened to me to

I filed an online change of address request (maybe that was the problem). When I moved I rarely got mail until I changed the address on all of my bills and magazines. Otherwise nothing was forwarded. I went back to my old apartment and, lo and behold, the mailbox there was stuffed with mail that did not get forwarded, includind (and this REALLY pissed me off) a JURY SUMMONS that I nearly missed. This was a couple of years ago. I haven't moved since but now that I pay most bills online I don't think that at least will be much of an issue.

[yorkiemommie1]

39. actually Henry Waxman is looking into it here in SoCal

but the problem the USPS in SoCal gave us was that one of the processing centers has been closed. apparently, though, that is not the answer for what seems to be a much more widespread problem.

aargh!

[thefool_wa]

32. This pisses me off royally!

Man, things are literally the same everywhere! When are the f*ckheads in charge of everything in this country going to realize that contracted labor is only a shade better than slavery, one way or another. I can't (or at least don't want to) believe that this is true of even the post office, but here we are.

This bullsh*t has to change!

ps - Could you post this explanation to its own thread? I want to recommend it...

:wtf: :argh: :grr:

[demgurl]

17. Well I am very mad.

I ordered a $100 worth of gift cards and they never came. the company does not offer insurance and now I am sort of at odds with them. Sheesh. I have only been a member for a couple of years and order gift cards (I get a discount) almost every month. I have never had a complaint before and I have made MUCH bigger orders than this one. Paid with a debit card so no real recourse there.

Yes, I have noticed things arriving rather late so I am right there with you.

[we can do it]

18. You Too? For Me Its Been For About a Year

I've had a few things disappear in the mail the past year - plants, and a prescription to name a couple.

[Cleita]

21. Yes, I have and also my tax return got to the IRS

a week later than it should have causing me to be fined. I had posted it in good faith before the deadline and when I confronted the IRS about it they were almost apologetic and removed the fines. I couldn't get any information from the Post Office.

Lately I got a check back in an envelope stating that it had been found loose causing my payment to be late. Either there is some massive incompetence going on or something more nefarious.

If in fact the feds are going through our mail, they aren't being very smart about it. Their carelessness raises our suspicions.

[Dorian Gray]

44. The IRS thing...

shouldn't be a problem. As long as it is postmarked by the 15th, it doesn't matter what day it arrives. It's a good idea to get a receipt from the post office, however, if you are sending it in that day or only a day ahead of time. Just to prove that you sent it in on time.

[Cleita]

50. It wasn't postmarked on the fifteenth although that's when

I mailed it, at the Post Office, to make sure it got stamped. They too, said I should get a tracer, which I will this year, something I never had to do in the fifty past years that I have filed tax returns.

[ellenfl]

25. i am having a different problem. anyone have this happen and should i

worry?

i am getting mail addressed as follows:

g.w. GXXXXXXXXX (my last name) - my initials are e.l. not g.w.
correct street address but no unit #
correct city/state/zip

i am trying to figure out if this could be some kind of identity theft but, if so, why would my street addy be used? wouldn't a thief have stuff going to his/her house? until yesterday, i had received 3 pieces of junk mail (including a sample subscription to wsj which i called and cancelled). however, yesterday, i (or, more correctly, g.w.) received a bill for a magazine i do not subscribe to.

i have called usps and told them to 'return to sender' anything coming to g.w. but now i'm thinking maybe i should see what else is erroneously coming my way. i also ordered a credit report. i will order another in 3-4 months to be sure it stays clean. fortunately, i only have a mortgage and 2 credit cards (that i use) so it will be easy to see any changes.

anyone have this happen before? could this just be a mailing list that got passed around with the erroneous info? that was my first thought until i got the bill.

in answer to the original poster, we get a LOT of mail (honey gets every magazine known to man) and mostly it seems to be delivered ok.

ellen fl

[pdxmom]

27. Chronically. I started noticing it before Christmas, and chalked it

up to the holidays, but it's getting no better. I'm seeing it both in my home mail and at work as well. Everything is taking much, much longer. And disappearances like crazy.

[CountAllVotes]

28. here too

I refused shipment on an item delivered in a beat up box that was partially open. It was an amazon.com purchase. Amazon.com never got it back even though it has a tracking # on it. Where did it go? It was a Kichen Aid mixer - so not exactly something that can easily go *poof*.

Other things too - taking a very long time to either receive or send, or perhaps never seen. :wtf:

:kick:

[Dunvegan]

29. kgfnally, any chance that the new USPS "perma-temps" are "supplementing"..

...their rotten pay and worse benefits with "five finger discounts?"

I only say this because I've has horrific trouble in the past six months getting actual delivery ever of merchandise from manufactures that only ship USPS.

Have you heard rumors of anything like this afoot at the US Post Office?

(Shout out from a native daughter of Michigan to another Michigander~ :hi: )

[revree]

30. My mail has been arriving opened

I have, in the last few weeks, gotten several pieces of mail and packages that are in those wrapped bags from USPS, claiming the mail was damaged en route. Seems to be more than I ever had before...maybe one a year, now it's several in just three weeks...one was a Democrat newsletter, two were books...

[pitohui]

33. er, everyone else! there is widespread disruption in mail service

you really don't know why this is happening?

there was widespread destruction of the post offices, including post offices where large quantities of mail was sorted, the main new orleans post office prime among them

mail is going all around the mulberry bush, going to baton rouge, going to dallas, going in circles, heck, i've just recently received mail from september in my area

i'm sure not being able to sort mail in a routine, organized fashion is having a trickle down effect on the entire nation

unprecedented number of destroyed post offices and residences, unprecedented number of displaced some of whom have put in change of address cards for not one but two, three, or even more changes of addresses as they search for more permanent situations

the entire system is in an uproar

ups isn't doing so hot either

fedex seems to be doing okay, if you really got to get it, send it fedex, ask to have items sent to you fedex

as far as bills, etc. it seems a lost cause, i say pay online or pay in person

even my insurer has had to send my policy renewals by email, a first for me

getting magazines seems to be simply a matter of chance, altho it's weird to get a magazine for january and then some days later finally the issue for october wanders in, as happened to me recently, but many magazines i've never received at all nor do i expect to

[durablend]

36. Don't think NO has anything to do with it

It's probably not helping, for sure, but the problems seem to have gotten much much worse this month, especially after the rate increase took effect.

[Contrary1]

38. Maybe the mail has got to go through NSA

for special terrorist screening. It's for our own protection, you know.


Because, as Scottie Mc would say...

"If there is an al Qaeda person operating inside the United States and mailing letters,
you bet we want to know what they're writing."

[Auntie Bush]

40. So that's why the postage rate went up. Needed it to pay for searching

our mail. Seems like so much has been opened it must be costing a fortune to do this. So that's what is accounting for all the new jobs. Gee, I thought they were at McDonalds.

[Dorian Gray]

42. Nope...

I still receive horrendous amounts of junk mail every day. Just like I always do!

[guidod]

43. I haven't had trouble with

mail, that I know of, but I have with e-mails. A few of the ones that I mention the federal government in have just bounced back.

[brentspeak]

46. It could be because of large budget cuts in the US postal service

Post offices all around the country are closing, leaving some post offices to handle twice or three times the volume they would normally handle.

[Syrinx]

47. there have been an unusual number of days without any mail at all

And also Saturday I got a note saying there's a package at the post office. Usually they just bring them to the door.

[Raydawg1234]

48. Guys, honestly, I don't think they have the resources to read all our mail

that would cost a lot of money.

[alfredo]

49. January is kind of a breather for retailers. You will get your white sales

and clearances, but many retail establishments are deep into inventory.