My Letter sent "250 miles" is getting a scenic tour LOL

We recently tracked a package shipped via the DHL/USPS tie-up and saw that it had allegedly gone back from our local post office to one of the intermediate way-stations -- but in fact it was delivered that day anyway. So it is possible that the tracking information for your letter is incorrect.

 

coronavirus should relagate usps to the annals of history. retrain the workers to deliver groceries

 

Reminds me of 1st grade, when the teacher read us "Paddle to the Sea" a story about a Indian boy who carves a canoe and writes, put me in the water, I am paddle to the sea.
The rest of the story is the series of adventures the canoe encounters on it's long journey to the sea.

 

Do you get a refund or discount for the delivery taking 5X longer than you paid for?

When I was managing memberships for a club, one member submitted her renewal online but mailed payment by check, from one zip code in Seattle to the club's PO box in another Seattle zip code. Several weeks later, I pinged her that the check had not arrived, and she did state that it was mailed promptly.

The next week, it did arrive -- with two Washington DC postmarks, in addition to a Seattle postmark proving that she indeed had mailed it promptly. Calling her back, we figured out that she had repurposed a reply envelope to some Washington DC entity, crossed out the preprinted bar code, and made sure the club's address was visible in the window. But somehow the USPS automatic machinery still managed to read the crossed-out barcode and sorted by that detail, ignoring the plainly visible printed address. Only after it looped around DC for an extended visit did an actual human intervene to use the written address to send as intended.

 

Are you picking on the USPS, or do you see the death of postal services in general?

 

picking on them. congress will probably never let them go the natural route

 

Reminds me of an international trip a letter of mine had back in the mid-1970s. I mailed a letter from my place in Covina, California USA to a high school/college buddy in Ontario, California (abbreviated CA) USA, 20 miles away. Made sure that it had the correct ZIP Code on it. A few weeks later I got it back with the ZIP Code crossed out, a Canadian mark on it and the postmaster's note, "No such address in Ontario, CANADA."

 

I'm still waiting for a batch of postcards I central america 4 years ago to get to anyone.

 

Let's think about this a little.
If the USPS were merely unprofitable, then they would be having their best year ever.

Election year.
Census.
Covids.

It's not only a 'union' thing, because FedEx and UPS are at least partially unionized and they manage to pay their employees a 'living wage.'


Privatize, excise or subsidize all you want...but the Earth will be orbiting a cold dead star before the USPS is EVER self-sustaining.

See Also:
Amtrak

 

I do recall that about 40 years ago USPS said it did not need the postage-rate increase that had been authorized. But since then (a) first-class mail usage has plummeted, and (b) USPS has been compelled to pre-fund its retirees' pensions (I think I have the terminology correct). Is the pre-funding required because Congress *expects* the USPS to go belly up? And I should not be surprised if some members of Congress *want* the USPS to go belly up, so it can be taken over by for-profit corporations; ditto for Amtrak.

We have had no mail for the past three days, and it's not impossible that there could be several days in a row that nobody on our street has any mail, but the mail van still has to serve our street every day in case someone has mail to be picked up.

National, government-run (or at least government-managed or -regulated) postal services used to be considered a vital part of a modern society -- not just in the USA but in most countries. Are postal services no longer important? I don't see too many people complaining that the military and the Congress "lose money."

 

our goal over the past few years has been to eliminate paper mail. maybe it will come back to bite us someday, who knows?
the internet is great. when it works

 

Military and Congressional critters are not unionized and they are full-fledged dot.gov employees, for one thing.
Generally speaking, many oaths are sworn by USPS employees but one is not required to TAKE an oath to be hired there.

The USPS is the second largest employer of civilians behind Walmart.
Third if you count civil serpents.
They have one of the larger fleets of gassers.

Quite frankly?
You could maintain the "last mile" commitment of universal mail access that many people believe is "a vital part of modern society" (irony noted!) by reducing delivery days to 3 and increasing a first-class US postage stamp to $2.

I would shed no tears id they were privatized OR excised or even made a full fledged component of dot.gov, but right now we have ALL of the fiscal, efficiency, and environmental disadvantages of their being NEITHER private nor public.

They have over a quarter million gas powered vehicles.

None of them are Priuses.
FEW of them are electric.

The environmental impact of them going the way of Sears ALONE would be worth lancing this infected boil on our backsides......

 

free up more people for grocery deliveries

 

There is a thread discussing this in the politics section.

The USPS was showing a profit before Congress passed the law requiring them to prefund 50 years worth of retiree benefits. No other organization, private or public, has such a burden. As a result, the USPS's budget went straight to hell. The same law also put a cap on them raising product rates.

The government wants the USPS to support itself, but it can't because of government meddling. Want a free market response to package delivery, remove the government interference into the USPS.

 

how do they come up with the cash for 50 years?

 

When they've tripled or quadrupled the rates they charge Amazon for handling its packages (as Someone has demanded, I understand), they'll have more money than they know what to do with.

 

I read just a few days ago about four different all-electric or hybrid vehicles that USPS is considering -- but decisions or further investigations have been delayed a few months. One was by a Turkish company; I don't remember the others.

 

Why, I wonder?

That is.....at best.....a distortion....closing very rapidly in on a lie.

Even if it were true, it underscores all of my points above.

My beloved company is required to pre-fund its pensions except for executives.
I expect that they are not alone.
It's true that they are not bound to pre-fund the medical portion of our retirement, but it is ALSO true that these benefits can be modified (cut) year over year without congressional action.
My beloved company (a "utility" ) ALSO does NOT have to ask permission from Congress Critters to raise the price of their products, except for certain ones that are regulated - which is the reason that there are only about 14 people left in the US with POTS lines.


On second thought?

Yeah.
HIDE THIS THREAD IN FHOP_P!!