Ahh, USPS, i know why nobody loves you

[mk162]

So I get a package today from the postal service.  One of my customers mailed me a check in a priority envelope with shipping confirmation.  No biggie, I open it up, put it with the rest of the deposit and toss the junk mail in the recycling bin.  I walk back to my office, seriously 3 minutes after I opened the envelope to find a USPS ship notification saying that somebody was shipping me a package and verify the address is correct.  Seriously?  I already opened it, it left my customers place 2 days ago and I am just getting notification that it shipped.

Great.  Maybe in a week I will get an email letting me know my package has arrived.

This is after a package I ordered 3 weeks ago came empty.  Seriously an empty box.  At least UPS/Fedex make a half-@ssed attempt to put the damaged and unusable good back into the box they came from.

[T Shirt1]

We had a shipment for one of the very few teams we do that went out Priority Mail 8/18 and was delivered 10/4. We already had replacements in the custys hand and the claim form submitted to the PO.  We have USPS pick ups almost every day and it's a constant battle to get them to pick up. I could go on but suffice to say it's no wonder they're losing over $130K/hr. 

[mk162]

They are just poorly run.  The problem is our mail man is great, but a company or business made up of nice people doesn't mean it will actually be successful or make money.  If UPS pulled the crap that happened today, I'd email customer service, but with the USPS, you sort of expect it.

[ebscreen]

Delivery to every single obscure ass mailbox in the country with a number on it for $0.44?
Start charging $2.00, maybe companies will stop wasting so much paper. Flat rate priority
seems like a winner for a lot of situations though.

[Shawn (EIP)]

Sent a box USPS to the next town over , 35 min drive tops, took 4 weeks to get to the custy. The only great about USPS is that for about the same price as UPS you can have a shipment from CA to NY in 3 days not 5 -7 like UPS.

[mk162]

If it actually arrives or arrives with anything in it.

[T Shirt1]

USPS (Postal Service) has been notorious in the trucking industry as having a very poor line haul system.  Their first and last mile capailities are strong but they don't know what to do with a box once they get it.  First thing they need is to update their tracking system to real time, then drop Saturday delivery on all except Certified, Express and Priority. Once they see how tonnages are running w/o Saturday delvy they can restructure their line haul.   

[mk162]

Saturday delivery should go.  Maybe keep a handful of post offices open for saturday dropoff, but that's about it.

[mooseman]

USPS is a joke because it is the government, they do not have to be efficient and thety can block competition, just try starting a private business delivering first class letters.
Counter people are grumpy, it pains them when they have to use a touch screen to get me a quote on a e-bay shipment, then they waste my time by ALWAYS asking if I need any stamps, bubble wrap or other shipping products. If I need them i will ask for them...stop trying to up sell may ass.

There are 100000000 forms, green, black, purple, yellow all naturally for a specific purpose just pick one and fill it out incorrectly and you really piss them off.

Put your shipping labels on such that someone actually has to look at the darn thing and they tell you the label is wrong and should be  blaw blaw blaw.

Really want to piss them off here are two things that work really well.........
Ask for a piece of tape to fix a loose spot on a package you have and they tell that they are not supposed to do it but this time only they will take a 4 inch piece of tape off the counter dispenser and stick it on for you.

Or you can use fragile handle with care tape on your package they will ask you if it is really fragile

I made a very serious mistake about a month ago.....in my post office we have many many PRIORITY MAIL boxes right next to many many  EXPRESS MAIL boxes.
The boxes are printed with the typical Priority graphics on the outside and blue text on the inside.
The geometry and sizes of the flat boxes are EXACTLY THE SAME. I committed the carnal sin of making a suggestion that they could cut the inventory, material, printing etc in half if one side was printed for the PRIORITY and the other side was printed for EXPRESS mail and you just folded in our out the service you wanted.
You would have thought I asked them to give up their pensions, they were not real happy.

I am going to stop now before I get pizzed off.
mooseman   

[Shawn (EIP)]

Think USPS customer service sucks? Try fedex, they're complete a -holes!

[Prosperi-Tees]

They are actually trying to privatize USPS which will raise rates and put alot of postal carriers out of work. The crap they do with our money is just ridicoulos

[jsheridan]

Before Email and electronic mailings..

the USPS was the single largest profitable business the US Govt had ever seen.

[mk162]

They certainly didn't adapt well.  With all the stuff that gets shipped through ebay and amazon, they should have been able to capture a good chunk of the small parcel market.

[Prosperi-Tees]

The email and online bill pay has really took its toll. I have not sent anyting with a stamp on it for a couple years I would guess.

[Gilligan]

And it had been running FOREVER!  Name a private business that was that profitable for that long?

I'm not a fan of them... just truth.  Propaganda talking about how they are the shining example of why the government shouldn't do things is just lame.  Granted... the failed miserably at adapting.  UPS/FedEx shook them then the internet put the nail in the coffin.