USPS EXPRESS : Better be there to sign!

[Fleetlord]

I used to support USPS and say how good they were....BUT things are changing.

I had a watch that was repaired shipped back to me from a watchmaker 70miles away. He insisted he had to use USPS EXPRESS for his insurance...fine I'll get it next day.

So Yesterday, I was waiting around for them to show up. Went to the bathroom. One light knock at door. That's it. Go to door. They left the card and took off.

The card has a pickup date of Weds next week!

I go on line and whew! I can reschedule for delivery, so i do that for today.

Mailman comes. No Express package but has a printout of the confirmation of todays delivery change that he was going to leave in the box...

I'm like, where is the package? Oh, it's at the Annex. Why wasn't it delivered? I don't know. Why did you deliver to me the email printout but not the package? That's what I was given.

Will I get it later today? (It's 11am eastern) NOPE.

Will I get it on Monday? I don't know....you might have to schedule it online.

I DID for today and all you brought me was the email confirmation printout....????

So at this point, I have no idea when this package will arrive and when I will need to stand outside and wait for this ninja door knocker...

So if you are ever faced with an incoming USPS Express package you better be there...

I have another incoming package that is updating at the same exact time every day, but is not listing where it exactly it is....just "Next Facility"

I have had Christmas Cards returned that I have sent to addresses for YEARS saying that the address doesn't exist....but the subsequent letter / card goes through..thus delaying the gift....

Maybe it's a bad run for me, but my usage of USPS might be ending...

[Abdullah71601]

You are not alone. The USPS has been delivering mail to me at my current address for 12 years, and recently sent mail back to sender because they couldn’t find my address. DM (BBL) sent a package that went around half he US looking for me.

Honestly, I don’t know how they justify their existance anymore.

[ronricks]

There is a reason USPS loses billions a year.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by ronricks

There is a reason USPS loses billions a year.

Their pension liabilities are so high they can’t afford to deliver the mail.

[swils8610]

I loathe the USPS. No accountability and no one cares. I’d gladly pay double to use FedEx.


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[77T]

I had an incoming DJ and seller used USPS Priority Insured Restricted Delivery Adult Signature Required.
On a Sunday, the delivery was attempted. Missed the carrier by an hour. Picked it up at the station Monday morning no problem.

That was last week so recent experience. In hundreds of eBay transactions, I had one hiccup over the past 15 years. One call to the Station Manager at the buyer’s PO branch uncovered his pending address change caused a problem. Within a day it was resolved.

Just my experience...


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[Fleetlord]

Originally Posted by 77T

I had an incoming DJ and seller used USPS Priority Insured Restricted Delivery Adult Signature Required.
On a Sunday, the delivery was attempted. Missed the carrier by an hour. Picked it up at the station Monday morning no problem.

That was last week so recent experience. In hundreds of eBay transactions, I had one hiccup over the past 15 years. One call to the Station Manager at the buyer’s PO branch uncovered his pending address change caused a problem. Within a day it was resolved.

Just my experience...


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I used to be able to say the same..

At this point I literally have no idea when this package will arrive.

I know where it is..but they won't let me get it until Weds??? I wont be in town then..so...unless they deliver it. It's a hassle

[tyler1980]

FedEx in the UK is worse. Their drivers get paid by the delivery, not by the hour. So basically, several times now, when i have a large package (ie. time consuming or difficult) they don't even attempt a delivery, and don't leave a card (since they were never here in the first place).They simply mark it as "customer not available" so thats what i see when i track the package. That way they can get more small packages delivered which are easier, and make more money.


So the fact you got an actual delivery attempt is good news.

[TheVTCGuy]

You know, my experience with USPS is basically this: For a letter, there is no better organization in the world, you can mail to anyone anywhere and it will arrive, usually in very good time too. But for packages, I always use UPS. I have had such bad issues with sending and receiving packages it’s worth paying a little extra to ensure it gets there.

[mmutte]

This is how the USPS handles packages here in New Orleans.
Could you imagine if this was a delivery from a trusted seller?!?!?


http://www.wwltv.com/mobile/article/.../289-500435688

The good part is around 50 seconds in

[mtrunner]

Don't even get me started on the USPS. We just moved into a new house and I had to go to the post office to put in an order for the keys to our mailbox. When I arrived at the USPS office there was a line of approx. 40 people waiting to be helped. I asked a USPS worker who was walking out the building if I needed to wait in the same long line of people who wanted to mail letters, packages, etc. to request my keys. Sure enough I did according to this USPS employee. 45 minutes goes by and I finally get to the front of the line and the lady at the counter tells me she can't help me that I need to go thru this door to the side and ring this doorbell and someone will help me. Unreal waste of time and total incompetence. So I ring the bell about 20 times and finally someone comes to the door and I fill out the form and was told a technician would come to my neighborhood and would key our mailbox and drop off the keys at our house within 48 hours. A week goes by and nothing. I tried calling the local USPS and the phone just rang and rang and no one ever picked up. The one time it went to voicemail but you couldn't leave a message because the mailbox was full. I finally had to go back to the office and ring the bell. A different person comes and I tell them the situation and they say they will look into it. They come back a half hour later and tell me there is no record of me filling out the form to request our mailbox keys. So I fill out the form and again told I would have our mailbox keys in 48 hours. 48 hours pass and nothing. I again go down to the post office and they tell me this time they dropped the keys off to our house. Umm there were no keys. There is another new house next to us that the current owners use as a vacation home. I go over and look at their door and sure enough they taped our mail keys to the door jam of our neighbors house! The incompetence is second to none.

[jrs146]

Unfortunately all the major mail carriers have their faults. I’ve had issues with every single one at one time or another. I’ve also had many successful deliveries from all as well. I’ve come to conclusion it’s a necessary evil and to just pick one. Typically if I have a choice I’ll ship UPS. However I NEVER choose their insurance and I use parcel pro for that.


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[Fleetlord]

Fed Ex isn't immune to weirdness either..

I have a package shipped from 100 miles away. Same state.

Fed Ex Ground = Next Day.

The sender shipped it 2nd day air.

The package was flown to Memphis. Got caught up in weather for 3 days. Then no Saturday delivery for Air. Took 5days to get it.

At least USPS and UPS figure out that they don't need to fly packages out of state to get back to the same state with express service...

[Tri-Tip]

One Saturday a few months back, I saw the mailman stop and drop my mail, I went out and got it within a few minutes and there was a notice that I had a letter I had to sign for, and the box was checked that I was not home to sign for it. Lazy driver didn't even attempt to get out of his cart and come to my door.

I caught him as he was coming back down the other side of the street and got the letter. Otherwise, I would have had to wait until the following Saturday to pick it up at the post office.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

Fed Ex isn't immune to weirdness either..

I have a package shipped from 100 miles away. Same state.

Fed Ex Ground = Next Day.

The sender shipped it 2nd day air.

The package was flown to Memphis. Got caught up in weather for 3 days. Then no Saturday delivery for Air. Took 5days to get it.

At least USPS and UPS figure out that they don't need to fly packages out of state to get back to the same state with express service...

Not so sure USPS knows how to go direct either. Mail here has to go up to Little Rock before it can be delivered back in my home town. A mail hold had to go to Little Rock for my local letter carrier to stop delivery.

When I was working overseas, the USPS sent a letter to Gitmo twice and an aircraft carrier in the Pacific before it came to me in Abu Dhabi. Neither location had a similar APO address.

[77T]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

When I was working overseas, the USPS sent a letter to Gitmo twice and an aircraft carrier in the Pacific before it came to me in Abu Dhabi. Neither location had a similar APO address.

Military mail isn’t USPS to the destination, as opposed to civilian mail. So outgoing mail to the APO gets handed off at designated domestic facilities where USPS has no further control.

Then the APO refers to the postal services provided by the branch of the armed forces that serve members to receive mail.

Hope that helps - not a USPS matter as part of routing to your base.



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[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by 77T

Military mail isn’t USPS to the destination, as opposed to civilian mail. So outgoing mail to the APO gets handed off at designated domestic facilities where USPS has no further control.

Then the APO refers to the postal services provided by the branch of the armed forces that serve members to receive mail.

Hope that helps - not a USPS matter as part of routing to your base.



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There were USPS offices everywhere I was overseas. Al dhafra Air Base, where I got this letter, had a USPS post office on base with all the signs, markings, and trappings you’d see at home. The staff worked for USPS. I was told that the letter should have been routed to the UAE at the Jamaica NY port, but was misdirected and returned there three separate times.

[77T]

Yes the rates and logos are USPS - and rates subsidized by APO/FPO military budgets.

The Department of Defense and the USPS jointly operate a postal system to deliver mail for the military; this is known as the Army Post Office (for Army and Air Force postal facilities) and the Fleet Post Office (for Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard postal facilities).

The USPS component doesn’t include overseas bases outside the US and its territories (like yours). Did you notice their uniforms had Air Force rank and insignia at the base?


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[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by 77T

Yes the rates and logos are USPS - and rates subsidized by APO/FPO military budgets.

The Department of Defense and the USPS jointly operate a postal system to deliver mail for the military; this is known as the Army Post Office (for Army and Air Force postal facilities) and the Fleet Post Office (for Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard postal facilities).

The USPS component doesn’t include overseas bases outside the US and its territories (like yours). Did you notice their uniforms had Air Force rank and insignia at the base?


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They were USPS employees. I asked one day because I thought they were contractors and wanted to know which company was working it. The mail doesn’t even fly military. It goes commercial into DXB, then runs up the road to the base on a contractor truck.

DoD subsidizes the rates off shore. I paid the rate into Jamaica, then the USG picked up the tab after that.

The only place I saw military members running the post office were deployed forward bases. The sustainment bases like al Udied and al Dhafra had USPS employees.

[tritium8]

Sounds familiar. I put our mail on hold and our local office delivered our mail while on vacation and then held it the next week. Went to the office to see why...while looking at the printout, "oh, we got em switched". Shesh.

[77T]

Interesting - that’s not what I understand from the wiki and USPS family members

Here’s what I understand:
The MPS is required to adhere to United States Postal Service (USPS) rules, federal laws, and various international laws and agreements for movement of military mail into more than 85 countries. The individual military services (Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force) are each, themselves, responsible for the costs, manpower, and facilities of mail that travels through their own department. This is why the military services maintains command and control over all military postal assets, both in the United States and abroad.


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[yachty 1]

Could be worse. My family still lives in parts of Italy and Sicily 1 out of 5 packages never makes it. I always right in big letters PICTURES and many times they still open it .

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by 77T

Interesting - that’s not what I understand from the wiki and USPS family members

Here’s what I understand:
The MPS is required to adhere to United States Postal Service (USPS) rules, federal laws, and various international laws and agreements for movement of military mail into more than 85 countries. The individual military services (Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force) are each, themselves, responsible for the costs, manpower, and facilities of mail that travels through their own department. This is why the military services maintains command and control over all military postal assets, both in the United States and abroad.


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That may be generally true. In combat zones and forward deployed bases I have been to the staff was either military or DoD contractors. But the sustainment bases I've been to were USPS staff. Sustainment locations are politically stable and have secure commercial logistics operations, which may make it more cost effective to use non-military assets for mail. Budget constraints (sequestration, et al) have forced the military to trim wherever they can. This may be one of those trims.

[Faizan]

Used USPS registered to mail a watch. Supposed to be 2 days, but took nearly over a week. Have an account with UPS now. Pretty much same price with a lot better service.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by Faizan

Used USPS registered to mail a watch. Supposed to be 2 days, but took nearly over a week. Have an account with UPS now. Pretty much same price with a lot better service.

Registered mail is always very slow. Each parcel or letter is signed for at each transfer. It is the most secure way to send something, which is probably why the RSC requires you to use it.

Express mail, OTOH should be there next day. But has taken a week on several occasions.

[walds11]

Ive never seen this before. I sold something on eBay and shipped the item USPS Priority Mail. The package was out for delivery yesterday morning. Status late last night:

Alert: Delivery status not updated
Additional Information
The delivery status for this item has not been updated as of February 26, 2018
February 26, 2018
10:29 pm
Delivery status not updated

February 26, 2018
8:29 am
Out for Delivery,
WOODBRIDGE, VA 22191

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by walds11

Ive never seen this before. I sold something on eBay and shipped the item USPS Priority Mail. The package was out for delivery yesterday morning. Status late last night:

Alert: Delivery status not updated
Additional Information
The delivery status for this item has not been updated as of February 26, 2018
February 26, 2018
10:29 pm
Delivery status not updated

February 26, 2018
8:29 am
Out for Delivery,
WOODBRIDGE, VA 22191

I see it a lot with USPS priority. My dad found a priority letter I sent him in his bushes, the tracking never said delivered. We laughed because even the paper boy can hit the front porch.

[Laszlo]

The first rule of Rolex club is never go to the bathroom on delivery day.

[walds11]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

I see it a lot with USPS priority. My dad found a priority letter I sent him in his bushes, the tracking never said delivered. We laughed because even the paper boy can hit the front porch.

That’s messed up!

The buyer had 3 separate packages coming in yesterday and none of them arrived. They should all come in today hopefully. He’ll keep me posted.

[erhein]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

The first rule of Rolex club is never go to the bathroom on delivery day.