US Postal Service

[Whose Yur Planner]

One thing that I dislike about the post offices around where I work and live (poor, urban cities) is that people use the post office as a bank. It's maddening getting stuck behind a long line of people ordering 3-5 money orders apiece and there are only two clerks working. I have to budget about 20 minutes at a minimum to get in and out of a post office here.

I've seen this as well, tho not in a urban area.

[Blide]

A lot of smaller post offices around here are open for just one hour on Saturdays. At that point, what's the point in even opening at all? I'd hate to be the one to get up and get to work on my weekend and then only to stay there for an hour.

[Gedunker]

I got a registered letter we were sending to a local miscreant returned in a plastic bag, absolutely shredded beyond recognition. It was so bad, we had to wait to guess which of the three we sent out that day didn't get delivered. When I took it to the PO I argued that I should be refunded but they refused: it had, after all, been "mailed and delivered" they said. As there was no winning an argument with them I dropped it on their counter and stormed off.

[mike gurnee]

I got a registered letter we were sending to a local miscreant returned in a plastic bag, absolutely shredded beyond recognition. It was so bad, we had to wait to guess which of the three we sent out that day didn't get delivered. When I took it to the PO I argued that I should be refunded but they refused: it had, after all, been "mailed and delivered" they said. As there was no winning an argument with them I dropped it on their counter and stormed off.

Another zoning violator gets off the hook.

[otterpop]

There is a good article in this month's Esquire on the changes at the Postal Service. Their efforts to modernize and adjust to the changing nature. It is still pretty amazing that you can put a forty-something cent stamp on a letter and usually three days later it is across the country and in someone's mailbox.

One thing from the article (which I haven't finished yet) that I found interesting is that UPS and the Postal Service help each other out. Our mail sometimes travels on their planes (which of course the Post Office pays for) and the Post Office sometimes is the final leg of a UPS delivery.

[JusticeZero]

I love USPS for packages. USPS will get packages to my family for less than $100+, which is impossible with UPS. They will also get the packages there in something remotely resembling convenient, which UPS and FEDEX won't do, and the package will arrive intact, which is only possible with clothing if sending by Fedex. You can't even get an insurance claim out of Fedex. At my wife's retail job, instead of having the packages from Fedex sorted to see if anything is damaged, they sort it to see if there is anything that can be salvaged. I would pay extra to ship by USPS, because it's still a better bargain in the end than any of the competition.

[terraplnr]

One thing from the article (which I haven't finished yet) that I found interesting is that UPS and the Postal Service help each other out. Our mail sometimes travels on their planes (which of course the Post Office pays for) and the Post Office sometimes is the final leg of a UPS delivery.

Yeah, I've had several items shipped to me that way this past year, I track it through UPS and then they say "delivered to USPS" and the next day it shows up in my mailbox, I prefer that than having it sit next to my door for half a day.

I love USPS for packages. USPS will get packages to my family for less than $100+, which is impossible with UPS. They will also get the packages there in something remotely resembling convenient, which UPS and FEDEX won't do, and the package will arrive intact, which is only possible with clothing if sending by Fedex. You can't even get an insurance claim out of Fedex. At my wife's retail job, instead of having the packages from Fedex sorted to see if anything is damaged, they sort it to see if there is anything that can be salvaged. I would pay extra to ship by USPS, because it's still a better bargain in the end than any of the competition.

Our local FedEx place is ridiculous anymore, I don’t use them. They have a new policy where the outer box must be brand new, or else you have to put your package in one of their new boxes, which of course raises the shipping cost. And the people that work there always seem stoned, not like at UPS or USPS (if they are, they are good at hiding it).

[Mud Princess]

I frequently use them to mail proposals and completed projects. I can usually send a proposal quickly and inexpensively to arrive the next day (Express Mail) or the day after (Priority Mail). The cost is about 1/4 to 1/3 of what I would have to pay UPS or FedEx. Since I usually have everything packaged and ready to ship, I just ask ,"Will this get there by noon Friday?". They respond with an estimated delivery time and date, and the only question I get is whether I need delivery confirmation. The staff at my usual post office are really pretty decent.

Ditto regarding mailing of proposals. FedEx is expensive; I typically use it only when I'm up against an impossible deadline.

Honestly, I don't understand why so many people bash the U.S. Postal Service. Granted, it's not a perfect organization, but it's pretty amazing when you think about how fast they can deliver the mail. I mail postcards to locations around the world (a hobby of mine). While it may take 7-10 days for a postcard to reach someone in Germany or the UK, it often takes 30-60 days to anywhere in the former U.S.S.R. or China. Their postal systems aren't half as efficient and reliable as ours.

UPS annoys me because they keeping leaving packages outside next to the garage, where we may not see it for days (and the package sits in the rain and snow ). Oddly enough, they did this at our old house, too.

[JusticeZero]

The last time I got a package from UPS, they left one of the two packages laying in the yard, god only knows what they did with the other package, marked both as 'delivered' and left. We were home and didn't know we had a package until we left to go somewhere that night.

[Whose Yur Planner]

Honestly, I don't understand why so many people bash the U.S. Postal Service. Granted, it's not a perfect organization, but it's pretty amazing when you think about how fast they can deliver the mail. I mail postcards to locations around the world (a hobby of mine). While it may take 7-10 days for a postcard to reach someone in Germany or the UK, it often takes 30-60 days to anywhere in the former U.S.S.R. or China. Their postal systems aren't half as efficient and reliable as ours..

It's another way to bash the government. That durn gubiment can't run anything, look at the postal service.