USPS Sucks

"CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever" (carsoffortlangley)
12/14/2018 at 14:54 • Filed to: None

I was sending some stuff to fellow oppos and I just have to say, compared to Canada Post, USPS sucks.

DISCUSSION (22)

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
12/14/2018 at 15:03

I read that Trump had a plan to make USPS great again but haven’t heard anything for a while now.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/12/trump-issues-executive-order-to-reform-usps.html

facw > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
12/14/2018 at 15:04

Well yeah. I don’t know if it’s because they are underfunded, or if they are simply poorly managed, but it’s rarely a good experience. At least their rates are low (possibly part of the problem).

Chariotoflove > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
12/14/2018 at 15:17

I’ m here to be a dissenting voice...kind of. On the one hand, USPS rates are lower than any other package delivery. I have found that everything I send gets to where it’s going in roughly the same time. I pay for USPS Priority for a fraction of UPS two-day, and my stuff gets there in 2 to 3 days anyway, usually 2, depending on destination.

On the other hand, my local post office is staffed by morons who act like they would as soon shoot me as serve me. My mail is frequently mis-delivered. It all stems from how the individual local branch in my zip code is run. I do all my post-office business at the contract office at the hospital, where they treat me like a person, and I never wait in line.

facw > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
12/14/2018 at 15:21

Less of a plan and more of “I noticed it’s broken”, with a strong side of “ Amazon doesn’t pay enough, charge them more!”, even though Amazon would just ditch USPS and send more via competitors or their own delivery service, leading to decreased revenue, while not significantly reducing costs.

Just Jeepin' > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
12/14/2018 at 15:22

I had two consecutive bad experiences with USPS; now I’m willing to pay extra to make sure vendors don’t use it.

I had a package delivered 800 miles away for crying out loud! And their tracking is abysmal. They seem always off by multiple days, when they estimate a delivery date at all.

They’ve always been caught in a rough place: private, sort of, but subject to the whims of Congress and the executive branch in ways no other private company is. I don’t envy them, but I also have no wish to do business with them.

Mid Engine > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
12/14/2018 at 15:28

It’s no diff erent from CanadaPost, it’s just a LOT cheaper. I use the cli ck -n-ship on their website and schedule free pick ups all the time, very convenient.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
12/14/2018 at 15:32

I can’t speak for Canada Post, but all things considered, USPS does pretty well if you use it smartly.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > facw
12/14/2018 at 15:32

It’s because unionized government employees and no accountability.

Svend > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
12/14/2018 at 15:34

Dutch flag and Dutch wording above the door on an American post office?

USPS are shockingly awful, whether you are sending the parcel to California or New York. One parcel spent days hoppi ng back and forward across Fresno on it’s final 10 mile journey from the depot another spent five days in a New York depot near the airport before continuing it’s last two mile journey. ARRGGHHHH!!!!!!

facw > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
12/14/2018 at 15:39

If that’s the case, I’d still consider that bad management. Setting aside the union issues, they are also hamstrung by requirements for Congressional approval for a whole bunch of actions from both sides of the aisle. It’s silly to expect USPS to run as a business when they can’t set their own prices, pick their own locations, or switch to more modern defined contribution benefits without Congressional meddling. And of course the big expense of needing to provide universal delivery, which especially with fixed rate postage, is obviously going to have to be subsidized (not a bad thing, but there are some addresses that are never going to be economically viable for delivery without support and/or variable pricing ).

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > facw
12/14/2018 at 15:48

I wouldn’t disagree with any of that. My claim is, that given these and any other considerations, USPS does remarkable well and is, by and large, remarkably dependable. I use their website and a postal scale and almost never enter a Post Office except occasionally to drop off a package. Which is not to say that a miserable, unaccountable Postal Service employee hasn’t make me want to jump out a window once or twice...

DipodomysDeserti > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
12/14/2018 at 15:48

Keep in mind that the the US has almost 10x the population of Canada. I’ve run a mailhouse, and there are definitely tons of issues with the USPS, but it does a decent job if you factor in ho w cheap it is and how many people and area it covers.

But yeah, it can be a nightmare to deal with at times.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > facw
12/14/2018 at 15:56

If I wanted to rant about a government agency, I’d go on about the California DMV.

facw > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
12/14/2018 at 16:01

I always have a DMV rant queued up, usually starting with the fact that if your building has a giant waiting area in the middle, then you’ve designed for failure from the start. It should never be acceptable to make someone wait an hour plus to take care of something that takes like 10 minutes.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Svend
12/14/2018 at 16:11

Dutch town. Windmills and shit everywhere

user314 > Chariotoflove
12/14/2018 at 16:16

Agreed. Considering how much I’ve bought via eBay, especially from overseas, I’ve had remarkably few USPS screw-ups, or even delays for that matter.

Svend > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
12/14/2018 at 16:40

Oh dear god. I’m with you now .

Dear god.

404 - User No Longer Available > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
12/14/2018 at 16:46

Except for the past few weeks where they are non-existent.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > facw
12/14/2018 at 16:49

Are you a resident of California?

I can actually get pretty decent service if I’m patient. I call them and get placed in a callback queue. Then they call me back and I take the call. They set me up an appointment and I go and take care of my business. It’s just that I have to travel to a DMV that’s 25 miles away to get tolerable service.

Once, a few years ago, I made a concerted effort to see if I could find an office in Sacramento with an actual, like, DMV Boss. Like the superintendent, or the director, or the administrator, or whatever. To talk to someone about how absolutely wretched the Hayward DMV office is. And they did not want to engage with me at all. All they cared about was, did I get my sticker?

Fortunately, there’s Triple-A. They run a DMV counter and even pay the fees so that we can pay with a Visa card. There’s stuff they can’t do, like handle a salvage title, but it’s very convenient, convenience being a relative term...

facw > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
12/14/2018 at 17:12

Nah, in MA, and sadly we don’t have appointments or anything useful like that. Appointments are definitely a step in the right direction.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > facw
12/14/2018 at 17:14

I think the California DMV is moving toward appointments only or at least, making the wait so unbearable without an appointment, that people will stop owning cars.

pip bip - choose Corrour > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
12/15/2018 at 08:34

still better than Australia Post