I love USPS.........NOT!!!

[unclevlad]

<sigh>  Ordered some coffee.

Shipped from LA on the 6th.

Arrived El Paso on the 7th.

Went from El Paso to Little Rock on the 8th.....

Went BACK to El Paso, getting there today, the 10th.

 

It'll probably head up here tomorrow.  Hopefully, not another side trip.  Everything goes through either El Paso or Albuquerque to get here...why it went to Little Rock is beyond me.  

 

And it's not even the busy season.

 

 

[Tjack]

  Things are probably more screwed up than usual due to the recent news about layoffs and budget cuts in the Postal Service to take place right before the busiest time of year. (the Christmas season) I know I’d be as disgruntled as hell.

  The comic Jimmy Tingle used to do a great bit about the Post Office and how it was a prime target for everyone’s complaints like stamps going up in price five cents. But when you think about it they’ll take your letter and send it around the world for “a freaking quarter” “Jeez, could you just tip the guy a nickel !?!”

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

It's only going to get worse. It's DeJoy's master plan to destroy the postal service. 

[Ternaugh]

 

[IndianaJoe3]

I work in the shipping department of my company. Every delivery service sucks. All of them. Even the courier services we use.

[Tjack]

    I’m going to go with Sturgeon’s Law....90% of EVERYTHING is crap.

[Ragitsu]

I ordered something off of eBay and it was delivered to Florida within three days.

 

....I do not live in Florida. In fact, I'm just about as far from The Sunshine State as one can get.

[Pariah]

I do, in fact, love the United States postal service.

 

I do NOT love the way it's being run right now. DeJoy has to go--the sooner (and farther), the better. 

[Spence]

I don't know.  I have had issues in the past with deliveries to my house.  USPS, UPS, FedEx and so on.  My neighborhood also started to see mail disappear and packages get stolen after delivery.   

So I made a small change. 

I got a post office box at a nearby UPS store that I have pretty much everything except the unstoppable junk mail delivered to. 

 

Since I did that I have had pretty much no issues at all.  At the most I have had things take a little longer, but I have been getting everything, and in undamaged condition.

In the last few years with stores reducing their on hand stock to nearly nothing I want I have been ordering more than ever before. 

 

It may not be a direct correlation, but cutting out the extra "to the house" step of delivery seems to have gotten rid of 99% of my issues.

[unclevlad]

I've been considering either a box at one of the UPS stores, or a mailbox at the PO...but a lot of that is, I live in a tract subdivision.  Bunch of finger streets, using the same numbering...not always all that consistently.  It's not particularly uncommon to get misdeliveries...right number, wrong street, for example.  Usually one of two.  Last week 2 pieces were dropped in my box, for 2 doors over.

 

The biggest factors here:  I get a monthy distribution from my educational-institution 457.  It was...annoying...to set up direct deposit.  So it's not huge, but it gets annoying to sweat it.  Second:  my IRA got shipped over to a services firm, and they're CHEAP.  I MUST call them;  they WON'T do direct deposit.  THAT one, I do 1 distribution a year...so it's quite substantial.  Ohhh...and a couple years ago?  It got mis-sorted, or dropped off somewhere else.  After about 10 days from calling them, it hadn't shown...so I called them.  They cancelled the first check and cut me a fresh one.  I think I got the replacement before the original finally showed.  

 

This also isn't the first time I've seen a package take a bizarre route...I think Phoenix (lots of Amazon stuff gets sent from Phoenix) to EP to somewhere else has happened a couple times.

 

But, yeah, there've been some other horror stories;  somehow, some clerk at UPS tagged a watch I ordered as having a CITES issue...crocodile strap will do that.  It requires a secondary inspection and more paperwork.  Well, *that* triggered "additional brokerage services" and special processing...for which they charged me $130 or so.  It was BS and EXTREMELY annoying because the status updates were seriously non-informative.  With the help of the manufacturer, it was resolved and I got almost everything back, but it wasn't fun.

 

And FedEx and DHL also both *stiff* you if customs duties are required.  At least for me, by and large, customs duties won't be very high.  FedEx's service charge has generally been substantially higher.  DHL's done the same.  Plus, if it's subject to duties, there's additional paperwork and that doesn't always go smoothly.  Overall, I'd strongly prefer to avoid the situation altogether, if I can.

[Ragitsu]

Words fail to adequately describe my frustration when the USPS man diagonally jams a book (typically an 8.5x11 inch plus softcover affair) into the mailbox. These days, I make it a habit to ask the vendors I do business with if they can send their products (usually a tabletop gaming supplement) in a box large enough not to fit in the mailbox.

[unclevlad]

22 minutes ago, Ragitsu said:

Words fail to adequately describe my frustration when the USPS man diagonally jams a book (typically an 8.5x11 inch plus softcover affair) into the mailbox. These days, I make it a habit to ask the vendors I do business with if they can send their products (usually a tabletop gaming supplement) in a box large enough not to fit in the mailbox.

 

If you do that often enough, it may well be worth looking into a UPS or USPS box.  I've had that happen a time or two with books...altho all my gaming stuff, and the vast majority of my books, have been digital for the last several years.

 

Oh...and note, if it's too big for the box...rarely a problem for me, as we've got those big multi-boxes, maybe 20 individual, small boxes per house, and 2 package boxes that are notably larger, with their own keys...then their other option is to leave it at the door.  That's a potential invitation to the porch pirates.

[Duke Bushido]

1 hour ago, Ragitsu said:

Words fail to adequately describe my frustration when the USPS man diagonally jams a book (typically an 8.5x11 inch plus softcover affair) into the mailbox. These days, I make it a habit to ask the vendors I do business with if they can send their products (usually a tabletop gaming supplement) in a box large enough not to fit in the mailbox.

 

 

I sent a friend a spare 3e Bestiary some time back.

 

I included an 8.5x11 inch piece of plywood in the envelope specifically to prevent that.

 

(I hate that, too)

 

 

[Ragitsu]

1 hour ago, unclevlad said:

 

If you do that often enough, it may well be worth looking into a UPS or USPS box.  I've had that happen a time or two with books...altho all my gaming stuff, and the vast majority of my books, have been digital for the last several years.

 

Oh...and note, if it's too big for the box...rarely a problem for me, as we've got those big multi-boxes, maybe 20 individual, small boxes per house, and 2 package boxes that are notably larger, with their own keys...then their other option is to leave it at the door.  That's a potential invitation to the porch pirates.

 

The thing of it is, when I place my orders, I do so in batches...sporadically. Basically, the annoyance sucks, but its infrequency doesn't provide quite enough impetus for me to replace the current mailbox with something a touch smaller (though I'll eventually replace it due to its age).

 

Thievery is possible, yes. However, I cannot for the life of me recall a time when any package delivered to my house was ever stolen. If there were to be a theft, it would likely occur with the mailbox (which is right by the street). My driveway angles up on a significant incline and the front door cannot be be seen from the road not only due to its offset position relative to the mailbox, but because there are quite a few plants blocking a line-of-sight.

 

18 minutes ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

 

I sent a friend a spare 3e Bestiary some time back.

 

I included an 8.5x11 inch piece of plywood in the envelope specifically to prevent that.

 

(I hate that, too)

 

 

 

Once upon a time, I considered placing an adequately bulky box within the mailbox that would thwart/frustrate any clever attempts at contortion while allowing the placement of regular envelopes. Ultimately, it was decided that such an effort might upset the mailman.

[Greywind]

23 minutes ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

 

I sent a friend a spare 3e Bestiary some time back.

 

I included an 8.5x11 inch piece of plywood in the envelope specifically to prevent that.

 

(I hate that, too)

 

 

 

Did you add the warning "Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate"?

[Bazza]

I also get mail sent by USPS and hasn’t had any issues. Maybe because it all goes through Australia Post. 

[Duke Bushido]

11 hours ago, Greywind said:

 

Did you add the warning "Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate"?

Ofcourse not.  There is no more certain way to assure that all,of your mail gets spindled.

 

 

The plywood trick I devised after having had a hard-won copy of a perfect-bound softcover fit into my mailbox through the expedient of folding it in half ACROSS THE SPINE!!     

 

I _wish_ I was kidding.  😠

 

 

 

[Spence]

14 hours ago, Greywind said:

 "Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate"?

 

Postal worker "hold my beer".

[unclevlad]

Of course.

Things got delayed just long enough so delivery would be today.

 

A federal holiday.

 

 

AAAARRGGHHH!!!!

(yes, I can be terribly impatient at times...)

[Spence]

1 hour ago, unclevlad said:

Of course.

Things got delayed just long enough so delivery would be today.

 

A federal holiday.

 

 

AAAARRGGHHH!!!!

(yes, I can be terribly impatient at times...)

Don't worry, by the time it makes it back from Phoenix it will be Sunday.....

 

[Tom Cowan]

1 hour ago, Spence said:

Don't worry, by the time it makes it back from Phoenix it will be Sunday.....

 

of what year?

[unclevlad]

I'd send both of you letter bombs for threatening MY COFFEE!!!!! but the batteries on the detonator would give out before they could arrive.

[Ragitsu]

Here are two more online-shopping pet peeves of mine (non-USPS related).

 

1. Merchants who send their products protected by barely adequate packaging. I feel like I'm performing surgery when I have to retrieve a book that has been slipped into an envelope that allows for no margin for error. Yeah, I prefer to open packages while keeping whatever is inside from coming into contact with the exterior of said packaging.

 

2. Merchants who skimp on packaging, period. If I'm spending nearly eighty U.S.D. on two old/out-of-print softcover books, you can damn well splurge and get a slightly bigger box along with some bubble wrap/packing peanuts/cellophane.

[unclevlad]

3 hours ago, Ragitsu said:

Here are two more online-shopping pet peeves of mine (non-USPS related).

 

1. Merchants who send their products protected by barely adequate packaging. I feel like I'm performing surgery when I have to retrieve a book that has been slipped into an envelope that allows for no margin for error. Yeah, I prefer to open packages while keeping whatever is inside from coming into contact with the exterior of said packaging.

 

2. Merchants who skimp on packaging, period. If I'm spending nearly eighty U.S.D. on two old/out-of-print softcover books, you can damn well splurge and get a slightly bigger box along with some bubble wrap/packing peanuts/cellophane.

 

Some of it is merchants being cheap, particularly if they're offering free shipping.  If they're charging a significant premium then do that, OTOH, I go ballistic.  Doesn't even matter if it's not somthing that can get hurt without *completely* getting mangled (clothing, for example).  They're just pocketing the shipping charge.

 

Oh, and to you DASTARDLY HEATHENS who wanted to DENY me my coffee, I say unto thee:  HA!!!!  



 

 

 

[Spence]