Please Don't Use USPS, They Are Now Throwing Out Packages

Welp - I have a package coming from NJ. Been in the distribution center there for the past week. Fun times.
 
Welp - I have a package coming from NJ. Been in the distribution center there for the past week. Fun times.

Which distribution center, the one in NJ? The local post office manager told me they are having staffing issues at the Birmingham distribution center.
 
USPS is complete garbage and they are using the time of year and the pandemic as an excuse for their piss poor service.

Not quite true. President Trump's Postmaster General started an overhaul of the USPS back in August 2020 and shut down several post offices. Many remaining locations had some of their sorting machines removed as well. It was widely speculated at the time this was an attempt to jack up mail-in ballots. Public outrage and Congressional scrutiny got the changes halted, but not reversed (meaning the already reduced capacity remained). Here is a decent CNBC article about. A simple Google search for USPS Overhaul will show you more.

It was a real shitshow...
 
Usps has lost billions of dollars over the last thirteen years, long before that happened.
Pretty sure politcs is against the rules here.

USPS only lost money because unlike any other business, they were forced to front-load their pension plan. This is also coupled with their inability to set prices for their services without approval from Congress (also unlike any other business). Their losing money was essentially Congressionally mandated and is equally the fault of Democrats AND Republicans as neither party has made it a priority to fix the issues they created in the first place.
 
Ugh, I'm dealing with USPS delays right now too. One package I'm waiting on that was supposed to have been delivered almost a week ago; another that I mailed a week ago but still hasn't gotten scanned to enter in to their system.

As a buyer, right now, I just accept that stuff is going to be delayed. It's annoying, but if something is lost I'll just get a refund.

As a seller, it's really irritating.

I dislike all shipping carriers from November through Janurary, basically. Except for DHL - they appear to be the only ones doing things on time as expected right now (sometimes even delivering faster than usual)?

Weird too, because I remember a time just a few years ago where all the carriers would hire a ton of seasonal staff to keep things running on time and avoid backlogs. Now it seems they just build up the backlogs and... maybe they're hoping shipping will slow down at some point so they can catch up?

/shrug
 
I don't know if it was here or somewhere else, but someone who works for USPS says they are still reeling from the moves the Postmaster General made and it's been made worse with the amount of packages being sent this time of year. Our post office later told us that if the mail doesn't get delivered that day, they just make up that you requested it held at the post office because the carriers could not work overtime. Too much mail to try and re-deliver the next day. Recovery has been pretty slow.
 
I have had good results with USPS, probably for a few reasons. We are in a rural area and our packages are almost always delivered by the same mail lady who is friendly and familiar with us. Also, despite being in a rural area, we happen to be only about a mile away from the main postal distribution facility for the entire county.

UPS and FedEx are okay.

FedEx is a revolving-door of drivers. I don't think I've ever seen the same driver twice. So you never really know what to expect, and it's not always easy for a "new" driver to find our house.

UPS is more reliable but we actually had a UPS driver drive over part of our lawn and destroy some Christmas lights a few days ago. I give him some slack since it's a very long, dark driveway at night and he was delivering the package at like 9pm, but still...

Ontrac is the worst. I've had them just chuck packages into our front yard, and even deliver them to a neighbors house. Probably because there is no Ontrac location near us so the disgruntled drivers really have to go out of their way to get stuff here.
 
USPS only lost money because unlike any other business, they were forced to front-load their pension plan. This is also coupled with their inability to set prices for their services without approval from Congress (also unlike any other business). Their losing money was essentially Congressionally mandated and is equally the fault of Democrats AND Republicans as neither party has made it a priority to fix the issues they created in the first place.
From my experience, all that may be true but in my area the postal employees do ZERO work and get full pay. Then they have to get contractors or pay overtime to make deliveries which is uncalled for.
 
Disposed? wtf.

Can that constitute as mail fraud?

The USPS cannot do mail fraud as they are the officials.

Disposed is code word for the carrier looked into the box, decided he or she wanted it, and stole it. Yes it happens. ALL the fucking time. I had video a few years back of a mail carrier stealing a 1,000 astronomy camera. USPS did NOTHING. The police looked and said meh not worth our time to pursue even though yes she clearly stole it but if you refer to inspector general of USPS they will take care of it and then we might pursue it. USPS of course said she didnt steal it, she just moved it off camera to a safe place. What bullshit.

She signed for the package herself and then walked off with it on video.
 
Speaking of USPS is anybody getting packages on time now? I have one that keeps saying package has left Philadelphia every day for 5 days now and that was shipped with priority mail on the 7th...yikes like wtf!
 
Which distribution center, the one in NJ? The local post office manager told me they are having staffing issues at the Birmingham distribution center.
The one in NJ. I have another package coming out of MD and it's subsequently "in Transit," too.
 
Complete shitshow. I have two outgoing packages just to members on this board. One of them is the OP. Both "priority" mail. Both are nearing their second week. Even when they bother to post an update they are flat out lying. They show packages as being dropped off 2 days after they were but miraculously making it from the post office to the local distribution center in just over an hour. It takes much longer than that to drive in a private vehicle but somehow they accepted a package, sorted it, loaded it on a truck, drove it there, unloaded it and scanned it again in half the time? Did my box get it's own personal helicopter ride?

Or maybe USPS is just full of shit?

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I've had a package stolen from a blue drop off box. I suspect that an employee stole it.
 
I sent my last package yesterday via USPS. 4 sticks of RAM, tiny box - 8$. UPS wanted $21 to send it, no idea why it was so expensive.
 
Here is more idiotic crap from USPS. So I have had a $700 video card that was supposed to be delivered at 10 days ago. Guess what they have no idea where it is and no idea when I will get it (if ever) yet it has been sent from the USPS station 10 mins from my house to one an hour away and back twice.

But guess what I bought 3 books off ebay on Friday they were sent USPS and I got them today. Also bought 2 things via FB market last week (one Tues and one Wed) both were delivered yesterday.

USPS is such complete crap right now its not funny. They whine, they moan, they complain about being overworked underpaid and underappreciated. Perhaps if you did your job and actually did it right people might not be so irritated.

I asked the sender of my GPU to file an ins claim with them but as we know that will take months to resolve which means no GPU or money for me anytime soon. FU USPS!


With respect to the Covid excuse - yeah I have had enough of that BS too. I own my own accounting firm that has been in business for 30+ years and my issue is that people expect me to provide them with tax and business advice as well as do their work and then when they need to pay they claim well covid is killing my business and its going to take time for me to pay you. WTF does the grocery store does amazon does the ABC store let you take shit out of their store and let you pay for it later cause of Covid ... hell no. And oh btw its really stupid to tell the person who does your books and sees where your money is and what you spend it on that you cannot pay them for their service. :mad: :confused:
 
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Here is more idiotic crap from USPS. So I have had a $700 video card that was supposed to be delivered at 10 days ago. Guess what they have no idea where it is and no idea when I will get it (if ever) yet it has been sent from the USPS station 10 mins from my house to one an hour away and back twice.

But guess what I bought 3 books off ebay on Friday they were sent USPS and I got them today. Also bought 2 things via FB market last week (one Tues and one Wed) both were delivered yesterday.

USPS is such complete crap right now its not funny. They whine, they moan, they complain about being overworked underpaid and underappreciated. Perhaps if you did your job and actually did it right people might not be so irritated.

I asked the sender of my GPU to file an ins claim with them but as we know that will take months to resolve which means no GPU or money for me anytime soon. FU USPS!

This is why I never use them anymore. I have recently, after careful research because USPS threatened to jail me for doing so, removed my mailbox and informed them they are no longer welcome on the property. I have informed everyone I do business with that I no longer accept USPS mail. This has caused some issues with the state but Ive worked it out.
 
Complete shitshow. I have two outgoing packages just to members on this board. One of them is the OP. Both "priority" mail. Both are nearing their second week. Even when they bother to post an update they are flat out lying. They show packages as being dropped off 2 days after they were but miraculously making it from the post office to the local distribution center in just over an hour. It takes much longer than that to drive in a private vehicle but somehow they accepted a package, sorted it, loaded it on a truck, drove it there, unloaded it and scanned it again in half the time? Did my box get it's own personal helicopter ride?

Or maybe USPS is just full of shit?

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It's Opa Locka, What do you expect? It's one of the worst distribution centers in USPS.
 
Since my last post, I've had one more 'lost' package (Christmas present), and one other package stuck in Detroit for the last 8 days.
 
I've noticed a couple things I ordered from Amazon in the past few days are getting shipped FedEx and UPS, and it's small stuff. Wondering if it's either more economical for them or if they're also starting to give up on USPS.
 
"In Transit" basically means it hasn't been scanned in over 18 hours, ie it's sitting somewhere in a pile with a bunch of other stuff until they get around to processing it.
This is why I never use them anymore. I have recently, after careful research because USPS threatened to jail me for doing so, removed my mailbox and informed them they are no longer welcome on the property. I have informed everyone I do business with that I no longer accept USPS mail. This has caused some issues with the state but Ive worked it out.

That hardcore.
 
Not entirely relevant, but I had my license plates returned to me yesterday (you can't turn them in in-person in many states due to COVID-19 so you have to mail them in) for postage due because the postage sticker applied by the Post Office had the ink rub off somewhere along the way. The sticker was still there, but the numbers and barcode were illegible. The postmaster at my local post office where I shipped them from said there was nothing they could do and I just paid to ship them all over again...

For those of you wondering why I didn't send them via another service, the return address is a PO Box which both UPS and FedEx refuse to deliver to. Isn't it great to have theoretical competition for services?
 
Just gonna be the one weird guy here that hasn't had any delays with USPS, whether amazon, newegg, independent sellers or just even friends sending packages. Of which we've recieved a lot of wedding presents after having to restructure our wedding back in August.

Now this last bit is entirely anecdotal, but I'm friends with a guy who works at USPS and we were out drinking together during one of our rare times out and I asked about the whole sorting machine fiasco. He told me that they were asked to remove theirs but just "never got around to it" and essentially there was no enforcement on it (being a smallish town in Oregon.) He also said that the lack of students lightened the load for our town significantly though. We're normally 50k+25k college kids, this year because all college was entirely distance learning, there are maybe 5k college students.

Not sure which of these contributed more to the fact that my packages are rarely late.
 
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"In Transit" basically means it hasn't been scanned in over 18 hours, ie it's sitting somewhere in a pile with a bunch of other stuff until they get around to processing it.


That hardcore.

Well after multiple thefts, being threatened with legal action for reporting thefts to the police instead of thee USPS etc...I am past done with them. Now its a matter of self protection.
 
Here is more idiotic crap from USPS. So I have had a $700 video card that was supposed to be delivered at 10 days ago. Guess what they have no idea where it is and no idea when I will get it (if ever) yet it has been sent from the USPS station 10 mins from my house to one an hour away and back twice.

But guess what I bought 3 books off ebay on Friday they were sent USPS and I got them today. Also bought 2 things via FB market last week (one Tues and one Wed) both were delivered yesterday.

USPS is such complete crap right now its not funny. They whine, they moan, they complain about being overworked underpaid and underappreciated. Perhaps if you did your job and actually did it right people might not be so irritated.

I asked the sender of my GPU to file an ins claim with them but as we know that will take months to resolve which means no GPU or money for me anytime soon. FU USPS!


With respect to the Covid excuse - yeah I have had enough of that BS too. I own my own accounting firm that has been in business for 30+ years and my issue is that people expect me to provide them with tax and business advice as well as do their work and then when they need to pay they claim well covid is killing my business and its going to take time for me to pay you. WTF does the grocery store does amazon does the ABC store let you take shit out of there store and let you pay for it later cause of Covid ... hell no. And oh btw its really stupid to tell the person who does your books and sees where your money is and what you spend it on that you cannot pay them for their service. :mad: :confused:

It typically does not take months to resolve a claim. And calm down, the virus and heavy volume are causing delays on every shipping company; your last paragraph was damn near incoherent.
 
I don't drop by very often anymore so I did not see this till now. Please don't jump to conclusions simply because you do not have all the information. Many large companies ship packages as a one way ticket (cheaper) which does not include return shipping. This is even more common with membership clubs (book clubs, disney movie club). When an item is refused by the recipient it is scanned as such and then returned to the shipper **IF** return shipping was paid for. Otherwise the shipper has to pay for return shipping when they get it back. Alternatively, the shipper can CHOOSE not to pay for the return and have the post office destroy the package. Source: me, working for USPS watching it being done many times.

Did the mailman take it? doubtful, since the process is tracked and opening/taking disposed items is still a felony. I am not saying that it has never ever happened, there are still idiots dumping mail in the news every so often.

Also, USPS hasn't received tax dollars since ~1984
 
It typically does not take months to resolve a claim. And calm down, the virus and heavy volume are causing delays on every shipping company; your last paragraph was damn near incoherent.
First it does take months to settle with USPS and this was pre-Covid but since you seem to be in the know on this topic then I guess you are right and I am wrong.

And my last paragraph incoherent ... interesting. I have read it over at least twice and the entire thing was coherent and 100% true. Although I did notice I typed the wrong word "there" which I have now corrected. If that was the incoherent part my apologies. If not then I guess I will need the grammar police here to provide me with the proper format so that my statement is coherent enough for people to understand.
 
First it does take months to settle with USPS and this was pre-Covid but since you seem to be in the know on this topic then I guess you are right and I am wrong.

And my last paragraph incoherent ... interesting. I have read it over at least twice and the entire thing was coherent and 100% true. Although I did notice I typed the wrong word "there" which I have now corrected. If that was the incoherent part my apologies. If not then I guess I will need the grammar police here to provide me with the proper format so that my statement is coherent enough for people to understand.
I can assure you it doesn't. I literally made a claim a month ago and it was settled within 2 weeks. Again I'm sorry you didn't get your GPU, I know it's frustrating dealing with shipping companies.
 
I can assure you it doesn't. I literally made a claim a month ago and it was settled within 2 weeks. Again I'm sorry you didn't get your GPU, I know it's frustrating dealing with shipping companies.

Anecdotal evidence on either side does not a policy make for USPS. Youre both wrong and right for yourselves. For me...I am on the side of months. I never got repaid for some damaged goods a few years back. That was dropped IN THE POST OFFICE by the POST MASTER.
 
Anecdotal evidence on either side does not a policy make for USPS. Youre both wrong and right for yourselves. For me...I am on the side of months. I never got repaid for some damaged goods a few years back. That was dropped IN THE POST OFFICE by the POST MASTER.

Sorry to hear that. I've made a bunch of claims over the past 2-3 years, all settled within 2-3 weeks. The best method I've found is to file through their website.
 
I can assure you it doesn't. I literally made a claim a month ago and it was settled within 2 weeks. Again I'm sorry you didn't get your GPU, I know it's frustrating dealing with shipping companies.

Again I will have to defer to you here since the last claim I filed with USPS was last year and took 3 months to complete as they tried to say I didn't package the item correctly but so be it. And yeah irritated about a $700 card missing but its not that its the 5-6 other items that I still don't have from them either. However I can order something today and I will get it in a few days (most likely) so to keep claiming peak shipping, Covid etc seems well an excuse. It is what it is I have zero control over any of this and like the rest of the planet I am at the mercy of any and all shipping services.
 
Speaking of USPS is anybody getting packages on time now? I have one that keeps saying package has left Philadelphia every day for 5 days now and that was shipped with priority mail on the 7th...yikes like wtf!

Me too. Sent a package to KS from PA, and it's left Philadelphia ever since.
 
Actually no. Its worse than I've ever seen due to COVID and the massive amounts of extra shipments due to it on top of the normal holiday delays.
that's fine. I've had packages missing for a week in december in years passed, that is my experience. We can differ.
 
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