What's with the U.S.Post office these days?

[Ace-Garageguy]

41 minutes ago, ranma said:

And now it's shown as being delivered in CAMBRIDGE, Mass! Picked up at the Post office by someone.....

PO's not sposed to release mail, tracked mail in particular, to anyone without proper confirming ID.

Time to contact the Postmaster's Office.          https://www.usa.gov/postal-service-complaints

[rattle can man]

Waited an hour in line for them to serve 8 people. asked them not to attempt delivery of a package since they cannot get up my snow covered driveway. I was going to pick it up today. It is now out for delivery again.

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, rattle can man said:

Waited an hour in line for them to serve 8 people. asked them not to attempt delivery of a package since they cannot get up my snow covered driveway. I was going to pick it up today. It is now out for delivery again.

I've had to have legal documents from AZ delivered to one of the shops I work with recently, because so far, most packages have eventually reached my home address, but cards, letters, and anything else in an envelope goes MIA.

[VanGoGo]

A postal worker friend of mine says the appointment of Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General is what happened, they are so understaffed and underfunded that it is barely able to function.

[Ace-Garageguy]

48 minutes ago, VanGoGo said:

A postal worker friend of mine says the appointment of Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General is what happened, they are so understaffed and underfunded that it is barely able to function.

On paper, DeJoy looked like a good choice for the position, as he had extensive prior experience in "logistics" as a postal-system subcontractor.

In practice...apparently not so much.

[Miatatom]

All of his bosses hires were such successes.

[Rodent]

I bought a resin trans kit on eBay from Paul Hettick Sunday evening. He mailed it from Floriduh Monday morning and it was in my California mailbox yesterday (Wednesday). Pretty fast even for Priority Mail.

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 hours ago, Rodent said:

I bought a resin trans kit on eBay from Paul Hettick Sunday evening. He mailed it from Floriduh Monday morning and it was in my California mailbox yesterday (Wednesday). Pretty fast even for Priority Mail.

That's what makes it so frustrating.

Sometimes they do a great glitch-free job.

It obviously has to do with the competence and conscientiousness of the employees working on any given day in any given facility.

I've never managed a business with far-flung "human resources" and frankly, I have no idea how you get consistent competence and conscientiousness nationwide.

EDIT: But I kinda believe figuring that out really ought to be upper management's primary objective.

It would make more sense than spending the $3 billion allocated for electric vehicles and supporting infrastructure.

https://www.uspsoig.gov/focus-areas/focus-on/electric-vehicles-and-infrastructure#:~:text=When Congress passed the Inflation,vehicles for its delivery fleet.

Edited January 16 by Ace-Garageguy

[Kit Karson]

[peteski]

On 1/15/2025 at 12:23 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

PO's not sposed to release mail, tracked mail in particular, to anyone without proper confirming ID.

Only if signature release was required.  If not, the mail carrier will just drop of the package at the address. Most of the items I receive or send throough USPS do not require signature or ID check.

[Ace-Garageguy]

9 hours ago, peteski said:

Only if signature release was required.  If not, the mail carrier will just drop of the package at the address. Most of the items I receive or send throough USPS do not require signature or ID check.

The poster said his package was picked up at an incorrect post office...not delivered to an incorrect address.

Every single thing I've ever had to pick up at a PO was because a slip had been left in my mailbox saying there was something at the PO that required a signature.

Items signed for at post offices require ID that matches the address and name of the addressee.

Edited January 20 by Ace-Garageguy

[peteski]

On 1/15/2025 at 8:09 AM, ranma said:

Logistics at work??? A H.O. scale kit I bought on ebay left Sacramento Ca, Completely missing Ohio and now on the east coast in Boston Mass!

Something similar happened to me in December. I mailed a Priority Mail envelope to an address in West Virginia.  The tracking showed it being delivered somewhere in Pennsylvania!

Since I was the sender, I went to my local post office and asked to speak with the postmaster.  Nice guy. He took me into his office and started doing research on his computer using some internal Post Office apps.  He finally found a photo of my item from one of the scanners (looks like a photo is taken and stored for every tracked piece of mail at various checkpoints).  He showed me that photo and it became clear what happened.  An address label detached from another piece of mail  and stuck to my mailing, covering my mailing's destination address with the address in PA.  When I asked why didn't the (human) mail carrier notice that before delivering the mailing to a wrong destination, the postmaster told me that the stray address is for a large regional merchandise return center for Macy's.  They receive hundreds of mail pieces a day and they are delivered to them in bulk (no human is involved).

I asked what were the chances that my misdelivered item would get to the intended destination and he told me that the odds were pretty good.  Once the (human) staff of the return center actually sifts through the individual pieces of mail they will notice the stray label, they will remove it and send it back out.  He told me that it might take some time for this to happen.  If that does not happen, he told me to file a claim with the Post Office for missing package.

Well, he was correct. I kept checking the tracking info and after few weeks I noticed that the tracking picked up the new trail and was delivered to the correct address in West Virginia.  I just brought the tracking info for that package and unfortunately it not longer shows that it was delivered twice.  The tracking algorithm must have cleaned it up.

Originally tracking info showed the package delivered in PA on December 17, then back into "Processing" state on December 28, and delivered second time on December 30.  The first "delivered in PA" step has been deleted. I wish I took a screen capture when it still showed it delivered twice.

If your package was delivered to  a wrong address (not due to a mistake made by the shipper), you should ask the shipper to engage their postmaster to find out what happened. 

This is one of those USPS stories which started out like a horror show, but got cleared up and I even got an explanation of how it happened.

Edited January 20 by peteski

[youpey]

i am shipping something that is going from east coast to OK.  It is on day 7 at this point and still not delivered. the estimate was 2 to 3 days, pretty close to accurate i would say.

 

at this point, im just hopeful it doesnt get destroyed

[Dave Van]

I have a new USPS horror story.....anew LOW!!!!!

I order my refill on Meds, they ship from Cinncy 300 miles door to door. JAN 12 2025

A few days later package is in Charleston WV. GOOD I get it next day if things go right. 

Well.....it sits therefor a few days...OK Claim weather delay but my daughter lives near postal sort center and she is getting around fine in her mini van!?!??!

Then the package goes on vacation. Next it's in Indy, sits for a few days. OK

Next up some skiing in Denver CO. Sits a few more days.  

Package REALLY liked Indy so a few days there again.......

NO ETA and I have one day of meds left. 

I hate the USPS................

[Ace-Garageguy]

25 minutes ago, Dave Van said:

I have a new USPS horror story.....anew LOW!!!!!

...NO ETA and I have one day of meds left. 

I hate the USPS................

That's pretty bad.

Can you get an emergency prescription filled locally?

[Dave Van]

Thanks....I can get local....Out of pocket....the reason I do it by mail is it's my insurance supplier and free....

[Old Buckaroo]

Dave I had model kits go to a USPS Puerto Rico mail sorting facility before.  Least your went out west to to experience the dry snow. 🙄

I almost with they would stamp the locations packages travel like the old steamer trunks use to have. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

15 minutes ago, Old Buckaroo said:

I almost with they would stamp the locations packages travel like the old steamer trunks use to have.

That'd be cool. Six months after the check that the client across town swore up and down "was in the mail", it finally comes in with stamps from Amarillo and DC and Honolulu and Anchorage, and slightly singed during its passage through LA.

What fun.  

 

[rattle can man]

Facing the good ol' "Your package is out for delivery" and "your package is being held for pick-up" messages 1 min apart. Not delivered and not being held (supposedly)

[Big John]

A lot of scammers are using this tactic to get your information... Beware!

[rattle can man]

Tracking shows my package arrived at the Chicago distribution center on both Sunday and Monday. It arrived in KC Tuesday and again today.

[ranma]

Model I bought on ebay Left New Hampshire landing in Mass on the 4th Left Mass on the 5th and now is in Iowa! Completely bypassing OHIO. USPS is really taken a dive in Delivery! I guess it's just part of Louis's Idea to piss off USPS customers so the USPS can be made into a private Company like Fed Ex/UPS/DHL/AMAZON Delivery

[LennyB]

Have a package going out today sitting in the mailbox waiting for the carrier to pick it up. We have a light mixed precipitation and about an inch of snow on the ground that is supposed to stop by 1PM. Plow has been by, road is clear. What are the chances it gets picked up today?

[TonyK]

It's too bad you have to think about this but it's the way it is anymore.

[LennyB]

What really drives me nuts is that they scan your packages when they deliver them, they have a handheld scanner in the mail truck. But they don't scan them when they pick up. Nor do they scan them when they arrive back at the local post office. They don't get scanned until they reach the distribution center that is an hour and a half away. So even if this package gets picked up today best case scenario is it's first scan will be tomorrow. I have talked to the postmaster about this and they just collect the mail locally and then it gets sorted at the distribution center. So if you have a letter or package going to someone across town it still has to make a three hour trip to come back to the same local PO it left in the first place.