USPS doesn't even merit being described as 'it sucks'!

I’ve had several occasions where an item arrives late after going going for a week saying “in transit” with no amplifying information. Also, my mailman scans packages as delivered as soon as he enters the neighborhood, instead as he drives up to each house as the post office supervisor has confirmed he is suppose to. Because of this, I’ve learned to wait about a half hour after before checking the mail. What really bothers me about this is often he’ll scan it as having been given to an individual then just leave it at the door without even knocking. Don’t say you gave it to a person if you haven’t.

 

I've had issues with all of the major carriers either losing, or severely delaying shipment. On more than one occasion, they were exceptionally important documents.

 

@Moshe ben David, the same thing happens with USPS deliveries to my house.

My cancelled US Passport was delivered to the wrong street but correct number. The homeowner on the incorrect street rang our doorbell and handed me the State Department package saying “you may need this for a trip”. I did mention it was the cancelled passport since I received the new passport a few days ago. Next time I will pay the fee to renew in person.

 

We all have our horror stories on this. My worst experiences have been with UPS...on multiple occasions they have reported delivering packages that were NOT delivered. In all cases, I contacted the merchant to advise the discrepancy (it did ZERO good to report the problem to UPS), and they handled it by re-shipping merchandise....THEN UPS delivered the original product 3 or 4 days down the road from when they reported delivering it. UPS used to consistently (mis)deliver my packages next door or a block down the street. To be fair, Fed-X had one miss. For whatever reason, USPS has close to a 100% success rate for me.

 

Why did you not just pick it up from the merchant?

 

ummmm....because the Merchant is not in my area? Hence the use of UPS, Fed-x, etc.

 

USPS has its issues but they are far better than UPS. I have never had the USPS destroy a package and turn around to say it was not packed well enough. UPS has done that to me on several occasions. I had UPS ruin over $1000 in Jeep parts that I sold all in one week. Its fairly hard to crack a transfer case but UPS managed to break two of them in the same week. Basically I paid UPS to destroy the parts for me.

 

I wish I had a video of a UPS delivery guy i saw flip a large, relatively thin box ( about 5 x 4 x 1 feet - TV possibly?) end over end from truck to door. By the way, the box was clearly marked "this side up" & "fragile".

I've heard, but have no actual knowledge, that you really should inspect the contents for damage BEFORE accepting, in order to avoid being stuck with said damaged product. Yeah, who does that? Especially when left in front of the door

 

I'm far far from taking up for USPS because I have had so many issues with them I refuse to use them at all possible.

The thing with USPS "tracking" is it was never intended to be used as a tracking. It was set up as a delivery confirmation system for internal use that they "adapted" to use as a tracking system so they could justify their ever increasing price hikes. They don't care when and even if it's in the system as long as it only shows it was delivered. That was info given to me from a long time USPS employee.

 

But they even fail at that when they check it as delivered before even delivering. I’ve actually been talking to the post office because something was listed on the tracking as “delivered (passed to individual)” 20+ minutes in the past, as the mailman droves up to my house and put the item in the mailbox.

 

This was 10 years ago, but relevant. In mid November, I ordered a Dell Laptop for the wife for Christmas. Within weeks, I was getting texts, that it was in, at the local PO. go there not in..Second time it happened, the Post Master took me into the back room, yes, nice lady. she asked me to point out all the laptops. Gateway, Dell, Asus, etc. She had gotten in a delivery from the 'extra help trucking service'. Let's say 100 boxes, and the count later was 97. Since Dell puts the CPU speed and MB on the box, no wonder it's like stealing candy. I managed to get a refund from Dell, in time to shop the Christmas rush.

 

I've had my share of problems with USPS as well, but from my experience, most of the other mail services are just as bad if not worse. Just recently, I paid extra for expedited shipping, and it turns out the seller uses DHL. Well, it took a month to get to me. So much for the expedited shipping. So for me, USPS is the lesser of the evils.

 

USPS Tracking is behind the times. Partly because some small offices either don't have up to date scanners or lack the staffing to scan everything in a timely fashion. The old scanners had to be docked to upload their information, and would buffer scans until docked. Sometimes they weren't returned for a day or two (left in a locker, etc) and every now and again you get an angry employee that takes it out on the equipment.

If the package was tendered to USPS in the wee hours of the morning it was probably dropped in a blue box, and not actually received (picked up) until the next day. Unless your shipper did a stop-and-drop at the docklip of a processing plant. Most of them CET is around 2100 to 2300 if very close to an airport THS.

I'd say your gripe is fairly minor considering you actually received your item. The delay is up for debate, Priority is estimated at two days but unless you pay for Express (I wouldn't) it is not guaranteed two day delivery. If you're not happy with this, pay more to have UPS or FedEx handle your orders.

And yes I am biased. I have now been working at USPS longer than some adults have been alive. Though I've had problems with all four package companies, as others have stated previously. USPS, UPS, FedEx and AMZL all have their problems from time to time.

 

Time to privatize at least a part of USPS to generate some competition

 

I've had a few problems with USPS, but not that many. What really strikes fear into my heart is finding out that something was shipped FedEx.

 

I used to work for a major catalog company, that used FedEx. So what do they do when it gets close to the address? hand it off to USPS. customers hated that.

 

Going to refute a few things point by point and try to leave politics out of it. It will be necessary to mention because USPS is still part of the government. I will be as brief as possible, if anyone wants more detail feel free to PM me.

This is a mistaken assumption - USPS is subject to congressional oversight! They are still a government agency and move (react) very slowly. Congressional approval and union contracts are both major timesinks even before you throw in managerial incompetence. And while USPS is nationwide it is managed very locally and remains extremely segmented. I will say for an organization that exists for communication it is very bad as a whole at communicating within itself. Personally, to get things done (I am a machinery mechanic) I often bypass both the supervisor and manager and just requisition things I need, otherwise it would take days for a simple two hour job. This is almost non-Postal.

You are right, it is not forgivable. While we're on the subject: Two carriers have died on the job from heatstroke in the last year. USPS LLVs have no air conditioning and can reach up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the cab. One of the decedents had requested permission to seek medical attention, was denied by the supervisor (they want their numbers) and ordered to go back to work. The supervisor effectively killed the poor woman.

Also, at least half a dozen LLVs have caught fire this year, some with humans still inside. Fortunately only minor injuries that I have heard of. All of this while Congress twiddles their thumbs. USPS would be in the black (and maybe have some money to spend on infrastructure) if not for the 2006 passage of PAEA by a lame-duck Congress.

Why do you think FedEx does that? Because it is not profitable enough for them to deliver themselves. It's cheaper for UPS and FedEx to pay USPS to deliver last-mile to addresses they would otherwise skip. USPS has a Universal Service Obligation which means that costs keep going up every year. Every new house is a new required stop for USPS. Private sector can just opt out.. and hand it to USPS.

Enough talk about work for one day. I'm going to get a beer. And yes, that was me being brief.