The US Postal Service

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ They're counterfeiting that now? I guess I could see how it could happen, with all these ebay sellers using online postal services and whatnot.

 

[bigdaddy]

My neighbor and I watched as the sub mail woman filled in today. Main normally comes around 10, now it comes randomly whenever the assholes realize they haven't delivered the mail. My neighbor and I watched as this sub delivered mail to 3 people on the street! Three! There are 20 houses, three got mail today.

Someone gets paid $25 to not do their job. it will be a good day when the USPS goes bye bye, fucking useless assholes.

 

[Star Wolf]

My neighbor and I watched as the sub mail woman filled in today. Main normally comes around 10, now it comes randomly whenever the assholes realize they haven't delivered the mail. My neighbor and I watched as this sub delivered mail to 3 people on the street! Three! There are 20 houses, three got mail today.

Someone gets paid $25 to not do their job. it will be a good day when the USPS goes bye bye, fucking useless assholes.

Sounds like the unofficial "single letter rule", if they don't have first class mail skip them, went into action. It is applied so that that $28/hour regular overtime doesn't become $40/hour on penalty overtime or entire blocks don't even have 3 out of 20 delivery points served. Besides penalty overtime, which the local manager can't authorize on his own in most districts, there is the 12 hour day hard limit that might have been reached.

When we are short on carrier staff there can be an order to just deliver 1st and 2nd class mail and make sure you get back on time. It is not used much now as the automated processing of mail into delivery order sends the carrier all classes of mail so he can't selectively prepare a route for those emergency days. But any experienced carrier, especially the subs who have more pressure on them from management along with mandatory overtime, knows how to cut time and refuse deliveries when necessary.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Oh, fill in carriers are the absolute worst! I've had a couple regulars that at least ring the doorbell (in an apartment building) and say "package".

Fill in's never do. If it's a package that's too big for the box they'll leave it with the office (if it's open) and might leave a notice in the mailbox.

 

[Star Wolf]

Subs have it hard. They are expected to carry a route in less time then the regular then use the transporter to the office in seconds and pick up swings of mail off of other routes and delivery them in less time then that regular. All without the knowledge the regular has on a route. The only advantage a sub has is that he is 10 to 15 years younger and may be able to walk faster thus make up time he lost in deliverying to vacant units, dealing with complaints for being late or deliverying something for someone who moved three years before.

 

[Starbreaker]

I print everything I need online. I haven't bought a stamp in person in 10 years.

 

[bigdaddy]

I live two blocks from the post office, my neighbor was waiting for his check and nothing came. It took the same amount of time as normal to deliver 5 pieces of mail. That's insane.

I live three blocks from the post office and they have always done a horrible job, they destroyed a wedding invite, opened pretty much EVERY letter I have ever gotten, which might 10, they are horrible and then wonder why no one uses them.

A different neighbor got a cable bill two weeks after it was due, they then tried to get him to pay a late fee, he told them to just shut it off and come get the box. They got rid of the fee.

I got coupons that say on the mail "deliver on the 23, 24, 25th for use on the 10-17th". I would get it 3 weeks late sometimes, and on time sometimes and I doubt it's the store every month.

 

[Star Wolf]

I live two blocks from the post office, my neighbor was waiting for his check and nothing came. It took the same amount of time as normal to deliver 5 pieces of mail. That's insane.

I live three blocks from the post office and they have always done a horrible job, they destroyed a wedding invite, opened pretty much EVERY letter I have ever gotten, which might 10, they are horrible and then wonder why no one uses them.

The distance from the office means nothing. A post office is a unit of X number of routes with Y number of carriers. If the carrier for your route is sick, dead, on jury duty or vacation then other carriers have to deliver to you after they finish their assigned route.

A different neighbor got a cable bill two weeks after it was due, they then tried to get him to pay a late fee, he told them to just shut it off and come get the box. They got rid of the fee.

I got coupons that say on the mail ;deliver on the 23, 24, 25th for use on the 10-17th. I would get it 3 weeks late sometimes, and on time sometimes and I doubt it's the store every month.

The late bill was probably misdelivered and it takes time before it is returned to the carrier by some people as they don't check their mail everyday anymore. As for advertising mail delivered after their requested date, well it is not first class and when we fall behind because of a lack of bodies it will be curtailed for latter. That is the cost for paying less for the lessor service of standard rate, what was once known as bulk business mail.

 

[Kestra]

Are we ranting about the USPS? I actually found the people who worked the office in my hometown to be very efficient and friendly. I used to see them almost every day and I think I might miss them now. They kept the line moving too, so I never had to wait long.

My issue with the mail is that I've personally found it unreliable. I don't know if it's a specific carrier or a facility, or what. I've just had some really delayed or missing mail too many times for me to consider USPS reliable now.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I get almost no actual mail (that I can use) anymore. Most of it is junk. Most of my bills are paperless, so there's really not much left.

That being said, the mail service around here is very reliable.

Starbreaker - were you referring to Stamps.com? $16 a month is a bit expensive.

 

[Star Wolf]

My issue with the mail is that I've personally found it unreliable. I don't know if it's a specific carrier or a facility, or what. I've just had some really delayed or missing mail too many times for me to consider USPS reliable now.

If a specific delivery point is having a reoccurring problem it will be the carrier. Even if the machine is making the same error, which they do, the carrier is suppose to catch it as he is the last line of defense


All told the service is much more reliable then it was 15 years ago, however I think we are now being judged against email and not just UPS and FedEx

 

[Yoda]

Boy, I think I need to retract my earlier comments about letting the post office die. I would've loved me some USPS shipping options on my latest purchase. Only selectable options were all FedEx. FedEx ground, Oregon to San Diego, took from Tuesday to Saturday, which I guess is OK. Seems like it could be done quicker, I mean 95 percent of the journey is right down fucking I-5, how hard is that? But again, whatever!

The real problem is they ring the doorbell at fucking 8:50a.m. in the morning, and basically give me just enough time to where by the time I roll out of the bed, find a shirt, and get to the door I can see them driving off. I get the stupid missed delivery notice, and see that they don't deliver on Mondays (WTF?).

So I see on the missed delivery notice that they have a number to make 'alternative arrangements'. Great, I thought! So I give them a call and after fighting the supremely annoying computer that wants you to talk to it rather than just pressing fucking buttons, I get to a human being finally and ask what alternative arrangements I can make, that, is, can I pick the motherfucker up later in the day, ya know, once the delivery vehicle makes it home or whatever... and they're like, yeah, you can do that, we can have it ready for you to pick up after 6pm on Tuesday. What the fuck?

So I guess I'll sign the stupid notice so that hopefully they don't make that extra effort to wake my ass up on Tuesday and just leave it at my door. Which would be the sensible thing to do in the first place. I mean, my door isn't visible from the street, USPS has the sense to deliver stuff around noon, to ring the doorbell, and to just fucking leave it on my doorstep or stuff it in my locked apartment mailbox if it fits. Yeah, FedEx doesn't have access to my mailbox..

15 bucks for them to tease me with my package and ruin my sleep-in Saturday!

 

[Cicero]

It's an efficiently run business whether we like them or not.

Exactly, and that is something the USPS can't say.

Works for Subway, Walmart probably saved Subway.

Oddly enough, the Post Office Department seems to have been regarded as an efficient organization in the late 1940s. Miracle on 34th Street suggests so, at least.

But something seems to have changed by 1970, when the department was paralyzed by a strike by workers seeking better pay, safer working conditions, and less haphazard management. (The modern semi-independent Postal Service resulted.) I wonder what happened.

 

[Star Wolf]

Boy, I think I need to retract my earlier comments about letting the post office die. I would've loved me some USPS shipping options on my latest purchase. Only selectable options were all FedEx. FedEx ground, Oregon to San Diego, took from Tuesday to Saturday, which I guess is OK. Seems like it could be done quicker, I mean 95 percent of the journey is right down fucking I-5, how hard is that? But again, whatever!

The real problem is they ring the doorbell at fucking 8:50a.m. in the morning, and basically give me just enough time to where by the time I roll out of the bed, find a shirt, and get to the door I can see them driving off. I get the stupid missed delivery notice, and see that they don't deliver on Mondays (WTF?).

So I see on the missed delivery notice that they have a number to make 'alternative arrangements'. Great, I thought! So I give them a call and after fighting the supremely annoying computer that wants you to talk to it rather than just pressing fucking buttons, I get to a human being finally and ask what alternative arrangements I can make, that, is, can I pick the motherfucker up later in the day, ya know, once the delivery vehicle makes it home or whatever... and they're like, yeah, you can do that, we can have it ready for you to pick up after 6pm on Tuesday. What the fuck?

So I guess I'll sign the stupid notice so that hopefully they don't make that extra effort to wake my ass up on Tuesday and just leave it at my door. Which would be the sensible thing to do in the first place. I mean, my door isn't visible from the street, USPS has the sense to deliver stuff around noon, to ring the doorbell, and to just fucking leave it on my doorstep or stuff it in my locked apartment mailbox if it fits. Yeah, FedEx doesn't have access to my mailbox..

15 bucks for them to tease me with my package and ruin my sleep-in Saturday!

That's the cost of not maintaining FedEx courier stations all over the place with a single clerk with the service window open only a few hours a day like many USPS carrier stations are run. Perhaps they can con some people into signing up for a FedEx Store franchise but as long as the Postal Service remains, cutting the cost beyond the break even point for the UPS or FedEx Store I don't see people taking that risk for FedEx.

I may be a Serviceman but the only reason the Postal carrier comes around noon on most days is because that is where you fall on his route. I just got notified that when the new Flat Sorter machines hit my zone in a few months I will be expected to hit my first delivery point at 8:30, when I started 16 years ago before automation we were lucky to get on the street early enough to make the noon deadline of Express Mail

 

[Lookingglassman]

The US Post office SUCKS! I worked there a year and hated ever minute of it. It paid extremely well, but they worked us like slaves.

Here is their caste system:

Temps - You get less money, work long hours and no benefits.

PTFs-Part Time Flexible employees who are eligible for benefits, start off with good pay but have to work 6 days a week, work every Federal holiday, work the worst hours, have to work overtime if it is called and they can move you and cut your hours without you having a say so in the matter. Most postal employees start off as this and it can literally take DECADES to advance to the next higher level which is:

Regular Employees: These employees work 40 hours a week, can volunteer to work overtime if they want, but don't have to, get all the benefits, get two days off a week, get all Federal holidays off and can transfer to another post office if they want.

Once you start working as a PTF you go on a list and they only make so many regulars every year. There is a guy who has worked at the post office on Ft Knox who has been a PTF for 17 years and FINALLY made regular. When I worked there, my partner on the machines we worked on to process the mail had been a PTF for 5 years and made it. Her number was #39 on the list and my number was #117 so I really didn't expect to make regular in this lifetime.



I have also found priority mail packages that had fell under the conveyor belts that were mailed over a month ago.

My year at the post office taught me that it is a truly evil place and I'll be a homeless bum on the street before I work in that hellhole again.

Close, you missed Transitional Employees (TE) sort of between the Casuals (temps) and the PTFs. They are hired to fill jobs of the retired while we wait for new technology to replace those jobs rather then promote a PTF who would then face a lay off.

I'm not sure of the clerk or mail handler PTF percentage rules but I know its not a set number of years rather then as needed to replace retirement. Only now the pace of technology has exploded and those jobs held by the retired no longer exist. In my 16 years the service has gone from over 800,000 employees to somewhere around 600,000. While City Carriers, depending upon their district make regular in around 4 years most window clerks I know are PTFs.

On the Carrier side there are many instances of mandatory overtime

You think writing "handle with care" on your packages means something? You are living in la la land if you think so. All packages are dumped in huge metal bins, wheeled out onto the floor of the main postal processing centers and then the workers literally grab it and throws it into a series of boxes labeled with the appropriate zip code on it. If you were mailing a glass vase to grandma, well that glass vase might be crushed under box of books as they land on top of it in the box.

Well you got that right even if you have a "slow" clerk pissing off his boss by being careful many more then that one person is throwing packages and the next guy throws the 70lb sledge hammer on top of the "Fragile" parcel. On the other hand UPS is also known as United Package Smashers, its just the nature of shipping if it absolutely positively has to be safe hire movers, not shippers.

I worked at the main Louisville processing center on the machines and that place was horrible. I didn't know about the TE employees though. We did have casuals though. I heard carriers and mail handlers who download the trucks make regular pretty quick, but the folks running the DBCS/OCR machines like me took years. Looking at my number on their list was depressing. If I had known about this caste system there is no way I would have worked there. I was never told anything about it when I applied and got hired. I first found out on the first day of orientation.

Oh and the post office screws you over the holidays when it comes to overtime. Before and after the holidays you get time and a half for the first two hours of overtime you work and anything after the two hoursyou get paid doubletime. Over the holidays they wont pay you double time past two hours of overtime, just time and a half. I remember working New Years Eve all night and not processing crap, just sitting around watching other postal employees sneak drinks of liquor they brought into work. Well at 630am, New Years day they decided to call overtime and I ended up working until 11:00am and had to come back later that night for my regular shift at 10:30 pm. That was pretty much the straw that broke the camels back and I made it my mission in life to get out of that place.

 

[Star Wolf]

I worked at the main Louisville processing center on the machines and that place was horrible. I didn't know about the TE employees though. We did have casuals though. I heard carriers and mail handlers who download the trucks make regular pretty quick, but the folks running the DBCS/OCR machines like me took years. Looking at my number on their list was depressing. If I had known about this caste system there is no way I would have worked there. I was never told anything about it when I applied and got hired. I first found out on the first day of orientation.

Oh and the post office screws you over the holidays when it comes to overtime. Before and after the holidays you get time and a half for the first two hours of overtime you work and anything after the two hoursyou get paid doubletime. Over the holidays they wont pay you double time past two hours of overtime, just time and a half. I remember working New Years Eve all night and not processing crap, just sitting around watching other postal employees sneak drinks of liquor they brought into work. Well at 630am, New Years day they decided to call overtime and I ended up working until 11:00am and had to come back later that night for my regular shift at 10:30 pm. That was pretty much the straw that broke the camels back and I made it my mission in life to get out of that place.

Carrier upgrades to regular status changes as the automation schedule does. The folks who came in two years before me were made regular after finishing probation. It took me four years and the present PTFs in my district are going into their sixth year with new flat sorter machines coming online and the promise of dropping more routes.

December, normal overtime rules do not exist, I don't know the history of the fight but the unions gave that one up. The only time we see Casuals anymore is during Christmas but with just a fraction of the number of Christmas Casuals hired a decade ago.

 

[Yoda]

USPS is back on my fucking list. So, I ordered a Boston-style cocktail shaker as a gift. I'm sitting at my computer, in my bedroom, with my door closed and I hear this loud clank. I look out the window and see the USPS guy going down the stairs and hopping into his vehicle.

Sure enough, when I open the thing to inspect it (wasn't just going to give it out as a gift without looking at it at this point), there's a nice chunk of chipped glass on the lip of the glass part of the shaker. Of motherfucking course. Now I'll have to pay for shipping back, and for them to ship another one since I had to get it from an Amazon affiliate because actual Amazon was out of stock.

I'm going to give the post office a piece o my mind...

 

[Kestra]

If you're getting something shipped that's made of glass, shouldn't it be packaged better? I'd think that if it was wrapped properly, there shouldn't be a "clank" sound no matter how hard it's set down.

 

[Miss Chicken]

That was my first thought - I would blame the packaging rather than blame the postman. The postman didn't know what was inside, the person who packaged it did.

 

[RoJoHen]

Agreed. Was the box itself smashed? If not, then the problem lies inside the box.