Slow Mail -- Vent

[Bianca and Bernard]

To lots people who are waiting for their meds, it is.

DH gets his meds mail order, and the pharmacy called us, to say to order DH's meds that come via USPS at least a week earlier than usual, and that they would get the insurance company to clear it. Only some of his stuff comes USPS (his diabetes supplies, like needles and testing strips, and prednisone, which is easily found at any local pharmacy; the insulin and speciality transplant meds come via UPS, and they never take more than 2 days.

With that being said, I ordered a package of socks from Kohls for DS (using KC and free shipping/discount codes, I paid $3.45 ). I ordered them at the beginning of August, the 2nd, I think. They are set to deliver tomorrow. They were sent on August 5th. Started with FedEx in WV, went to GA on Aug 8th, where they went to USPS, and have now finally meandered through FL to my area, 12 days later, with delivery set for tomorrow. Last year, they would have been here by Aug 10th at the latest.

DD#2 sent a package in April, that was 'lost', because the tracking paper (with the address and tracking on it) was torn off. Luckily, SoIL#2 wrote our address on the box itself. It took several extra weeks to get here. She sent a package to DD#1 at the end of July. It still hasn't arrived (CA to NE).

I have the track your mail delivery option, so I can see what is supposed to be delivered to me. Since March, we've had 3 sets of credit cards/insurance cards go missing; one set never made it to the tracking portion, and 2 sets went missing after they were supposed to be delivered to our (locked, so not a chance they were stolen by someone) mailbox.

Yes, mail has slowed. Part of it is the online shopping so many are doing now; but some of it is absolutely the fact the process is being tampered with.

 

[BrianL]

My sister sent me packages and they kept being delayed due to "animal interference." I was like, what, did the cat pop up in the window and scare the mailman? I think that's just code for didn't get to it today.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

My wife's new driver's license and a letter from her doctor came a week later than she expected. She and I applied for updated drivers licenses within hours of each other -- I got mine, she got hers a week later. She even thought it got lost in the mail and ordered a replacement!

 

[SaintsManiac]

No. Fire tornados in CA is a crisis.

It's possible to have different types of crises at once. It's called 2020.

 

[mjkacmom]

Well there is this

 

[Moliphino]

My sister sent me packages and they kept being delayed due to "animal interference." I was like, what, did the cat pop up in the window and scare the mailman? I think that's just code for didn't get to it today.

I had some UPS packages in June delayed days in a row due to "Emergency situation or severe weather". It was sunny and clear the whole time and I saw the UPS truck drive by my house the second day. And it wasn't weather elsewhere, these had already made it to the local hub and said "Out for Delivery" all day until around 10pm when it changed to the delay message.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

I've had several packages originally ship by UPS or Fed Ex, but are then handed off to USPS. Once it's in the postal service's hands, the package then circles the area (literally...going from this distribution center to that distribution center to that distribution center) for a week before arriving at my post office, then I'll receive it the next day (or possibly 2nd day).

What I thought was funny was ordering stamps directly from USPS.com, they shipped them 2 days later, but took 2 weeks to be delivered.

 

[KPeterso]

My mail service has been terrible for years. The current slowdown is just more of the same for me. The USPS by me does not want to pay OT, so they just grab the mail and don't always get to presort it. As a result, I typically only get 1st class mail twice a week. And it is obvious since I will have 2-3 days with no first class and then a pile of 10-12 pieces of first class mail. I moved all my bills to just electronic since I was not always getting things timely (HOA would often arrive AFTER the first of the month when it was due). Sadly, it will only get worse when I start getting the political ads (10-15 per day).

 

[cabanafrau]

It's now normal for us not to get any mail at least two days a week, something that's only happened maybe twice prior to this in the 20 years we've lived here. I'm very grateful most bills have been handled electronically for years now.

My biggest concern is for non-recurring bills that are not scheduled for autopay, and things like jury summons. I was slated to appear for jury duty in April, something that was halted due to the pandemic. There have been some stuttering attempts at resuming some jury trials in our area and I would not be surprised one bit to find myself on the receiving end of a summons very quickly when things do start to move again. Now I will need extra leadtime to reach out to my doctor and get documentation that states I will be medically unable to report, something that was not necessary when I responded to the original questionnaire in late February. I will be quite displeased if I wind up with a show cause order simply because I do not respond to a jury summons that was delayed, or if I wind up having to appear in person because I don't have the turnaround time necessary to get documentation from my doctor in time.

Could be worse. We have two elderly neighbors who have had issues with running out of meds because they can only use mail order. That's unconscionable -- and definitely nothing to smugly laugh about on a message board.

 

[LuvN~Travel]

I have been retired from USPS for almost five years, but do still hear items from former coworkers. First of all in sending out notices to the PO not to use overtime, is one of the few things I disagree with Trump on. But, different regions can get different notices, and they can be told from higher up (yes this happened a lot during the previous presidency too) but different circumstances in any area can govern if those notices are 'obeyed' or not. I don't remember now if the funding retirement thing for 75 years into the future came under Bush or Obama, but it sure messed with many plans and daily operations.

Now in 2020, that directive is still having an impact, and right now it is even worse during this crisis. My mom was talking to one of my former coworkers at Church the other day and she asked him how it was going. He told her he is actually working 12 hours a day and almost every day a week. The rate of infection has hit different cities and town in different ways. We are in Montgomery, with only a population of about 230000. Recently, Birmingham who is north of us and way bigger in population, including all of the surrounding towns of their outlying limits got hit so hard with people being out with the virus that they had to send all of their parcel sorting down to Montgomery! To give you the gist of it they have 3 parcel sorting machines and Montgomery only has one! You can imagine how this works. To bring their parcels down to Montgomery is going cause a delay anyway, Montgomery has to not only sort theirs and ours (We are a hub too for the towns around us for a distance), but then it has to be shipped back up there to be sent out on their delivery routes to their city and outlying areas.
That being said....

Can you imagine this going on all over the country? And yes like one poster mentioned, the PO does deliver the 'last mile' of a lot of the UPS packages, cause they don't want the extra cost! As any other company right now or business or agency, it will take the USPS a while to recover as much as any. And, yes one or two of my items ordered recently got here a day or so later, so even Post Office employees or retirees, get caught in the mess too. Hugs all and stay safe!

 

[China Expat]

The new Postmaster General is slowing the mail by removing sorting machines and mailboxes in advance of the election and the large amount of mail in ballots. He has been summoned to a House hearing.

 

[LuvN~Travel]

The new Postmaster General is slowing the mail by removing sorting machines and mailboxes in advance of the election and the large amount of mail in ballots. He has been summoned to a House hearing.

Actually a lot of non post office premises had their drop boxes removed under the Obama administration. When the PO was hit with the financial restrictions caused by the retirement funding issue, they had to find ways to cut back on time for the street carriers. So many routes are unmanned now, and existing carriers are not only having to carry their routes but either carrying other routes or splitting them between existing carriers. And, that has been going on since the retirement funding issue came up. Before I retired 5 years ago, I had many customers who were not happy with the drop boxes disappearing from their convenient areas whether neighborhoods or business locations.......

 

[Pink Partridge]

Before I retired 5 years ago, I had many customers who were not happy with the drop boxes disappearing from their convenient areas whether neighborhoods or business locations.......

Yes. It was years ago. And I was very upset at the time. I did adapt. But can you imagine how many times I walked down the street with mail in my hand, only to remember when I got to an empty slab

 

[Marionnette]

I didn’t get mail delivered for 3 straight days last week. I knew what was supposed to arrive each day because I get daily emails with scans of each piece of mail. On one of those days, I saw the postal delivery worker bypass every mailbox in the neighborhood, including those with outgoing mail flags in the upright position. He did drive up to and deliver packages to a couple of houses.

The mail eventually got delivered...on Sunday. So much for “no overtime”.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Nothing new - USPS has been a complete nightmare here in Northern NJ since Mid March and not one bit of what they are doing has improved at all. They are also being complete *******s when it comes to filing claims. In the past damage claims only needed pictures and proof of value. Now they are denying claims unless you have your customer physically bring in the damaged items... during a pandemic @@

We have had a minimum of 10 boxes per week go missing (We are an Amazon vendor) and you cannot file a claim until 15 days have past. Just this week I received two invoices from USPS because they want me to pay them back on two missing boxes. One they delivered 2 weeks after they paid me and it was 7 weeks after shipment! On a priority mail box that was going from NJ to PA and should have been delivered the next day @@.. and they want me to pay them back for the claim. My customer was refunded weeks ago @@

They are a complete disaster and they flat out are not standing behind their service with commercial customers.

 

[GreatLakes]

So far I haven't noticed a major issue with our mail but I know of all the restrictions being put in place. I am surprised with how much overtime it appears is needed to get mail delivered. I've always felt that anyplace that relies on overtime instead of proper staffing is poorly run.

 

[Colleen27]

Another fun data point. Our August tuition statement from DD12's private school just came yesterday. They're sent out on the first business day of the month, which would have been the 3rd, from less than a quarter mile away from our home. How in the world did that take 16 days to arrive?!?

So far I haven't noticed a major issue with our mail but I know of all the restrictions being put in place. I am surprised with how much overtime it appears is needed to get mail delivered. I've always felt that anyplace that relies on overtime instead of proper staffing is poorly run.

That's pretty common with government agencies. They impose hiring freezes as cost-cutting or political measures and then end up overworking existing staff (and paying a lot of overtime, which often still ends up cheaper than hiring additional employees because of the cost of benefits).

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

I started noticing issues in June. This was the worst example. Note that the first date is June 23rd.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I started noticing issues in June. This was the worst example. Note that the first date is June 23rd.
View attachment 520359

If you think about it it really didn't take that long when bouncing around from facility to facility. Your issue was really whatever happened between June 23rd and July 27th. After that it took 8 days from OH to WI to you.

What type of shipping was it for (priority, overnight, first class, etc)? Where did you buy it from? Is it an international package?

We had a package from Amazon that was shipped from Ukraine. It was in NY's facility for over a month (customs and whatnot) back in May/June.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

If you think about it it really didn't take that long when bouncing around from facility to facility. Your issue was really whatever happened between June 23rd and July 27th. After that it took 8 days from OH to WI to you.

What type of shipping was it for (priority, overnight, first class, etc)? Where did you buy it from? Is it an international package?

First class package. Was going from Michigan to Wisconsin... not sure how it ended up Toledo to be honest because the original post office is close to Detroit.