I really really hate the USPS

So I mailed out a detector early yesterday morning priority mail. The buyer emailed me and said its not showing up on the tracking website, which it isn't. So I called the 1-800 number and they said they don't show it in their system as well and for me to call the local post office where I mailed it from. I call the local post office and they said that the server is down and they can't get any information and that maybe my problem is tied to theirs.....but they aren't sure. $45 dollars and they can't tell em where its at......someone just shoot me....wait I will shoot myself.

Hi,,it seems the problem is on a local level...Just a reminder on your receipt is the tracking number when you punch it in don't separate it by commas...Punch it in all together like 895225544444 etc................JJ

So you don't like the USPS? Just wait until obamacare kicks in...

Sometimes Superman and sometimes Pony Express ought to cover it....

I am sorry to hear you had a problem. Not being able to sort out a customer problem because a third party lets you down is pretty frustrating. My experience has happily been different.

I use USPS Priority mail all the time in my (very) small business. It's cheap and convenient. I have an online account (anybody can get one) and I get a discount on the rate by doing it online.

I print out my own mailing labels with prepaid postage and drop the packages off wherever the accept US Mail (for example your local Maiboxes Are Us). I get ABSOLUTELY BOMBARDED with email updates on every step of the progress of the shipment.

As far as Obamacare goes - well whatever you or I may think of it, it has nothing to do with USPS, I'm pretty sure that they they have their insurance plan already. Remind me to Google it.

Except for a long deceased uncle who was a letter carrier, I have no vested interest, I just am a satisfied customer of one of the cornerstones of the America we grew up in.

Rick Kempf
Gold Canyon AZ- where there is no gold



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2013 12:16AM by lytle78.

I find UPS tracking a bit better than USPS, but they both often need 36 to 48 hours before the tracking kicks in. At least that is my experience.

Past(or)Tom
Using a Legend, a Deus 2, an Equinox 800, a Tarsacci MDT 8000, & a few others...
with my beloved, fading Corgi, Sadie

Food for thought: One of my local detecting buddies works for USPS. He has been with them for 15-16 yrs. Over the course of the last year or so, he has saw a big change in everything and now, he don't even use his own employer to ship items through. He uses UPS instead. And if he buys something online, he requests that it be sent via UPS or FedEx.

As a matter of fact, the last time I hunted with him, he had ordered a detector from a dealer about 45 mins up the road from where we live. The guy shipped it directly to the post office in which my buddy works...and in two days, he still hadn't received it. Had their work scheduling been cooperative, he could have just went and got it. Heck he could have walked the distance faster than he got it in the mail lol

BUT.... USPS does move on the weekends. I like the UPS also just for its tracking and insurance and it helps i have one across the street. They even boxed up and shipped a couple of back seats to an SUV a family member wanted sent to them. My step father retired from the USPS.

Dew

Daniel Tn Wrote:
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> Food for thought: One of my local detecting
> buddies works for USPS. He has been with them for
> 15-16 yrs. Over the course of the last year or so,
> he has saw a big change in everything and now, he
> don't even use his own employer to ship items
> through. He uses UPS instead. And if he buys
> something online, he requests that it be sent via
> UPS or FedEx.
>
> As a matter of fact, the last time I hunted with
> him, he had ordered a detector from a dealer about
> 45 mins up the road from where we live. The guy
> shipped it directly to the post office in which my > buddy works...and in two days, he still hadn't
> received it. Had their work scheduling been
> cooperative, he could have just went and got it.
> Heck he could have walked the distance faster than
> he got it in the mail lol


Sounds like a hypocrite to me , maybe he should get a job with UPS.
I am happy with USPS.

I shipped a $350.00 item to highly reputable member here, through UPS.

When his wife went to answer the door she saw the UPS guy running back to the truck, and found my package with one of the ends completely busted open with the contents completely gone.

"What Can Brown Do For You?"

For what its worth i've never had a problem with usps. There tracking has always worked for me.

Neither did I, till last May....

Being in the package delivery business...I can tell you stories of all "3" of the big delivery companies. They all have been accused of poor service, crushed & lost parcels. Delivering millions & millions of parcels with none going missing would be totally remarkable. They usually show up some where...even if it is late. Regarding crushed packages......most are due to poor packing of the item. Packages should be packed soooo tight, it can survive being dropped from a roof top. I have shipped glass items to the west coast & they survived intact. Anything less can result in problems.


As an carrier & supervisor for the USPS....I would like to say the postal service has recently deployed "cell phones" with this bluetooth ( whatever that is...) technology which enables a scanned parcel to be looked up on USPS.com within a few minutes after every scan. Most items I look up now has 7-10+ scans....meaning it gets a scan & updates at every stop it makes. The USPS has a 14% increase in the package delivery business & is pulling out all the stops to keep that train a running to help make up for the revenue shortages.


Bashing the USPS because the server was down is pretty lame for sure. Being all of us are in the computer business somewhat, ( if you're reading this ) we all understand when "the computer" doesn't work occasionally or goes down. That's just part of technology. One can always call the office back later.

I tell you what.........call me in my post office tomorrow morning ( 606-564-3461 ask for Mark ) give me the tracking # & I'll look it up for you & tell you where it was scanned last.
Hopefully it will show as "delivered"...................see ya yardhunter

I have a friend that lost a substantial portion of a shipment from APMEX through the USPS last year. The tracking system failed with it's real time responsibility shortly after the package arrived at USPS and the last I heard the red tape they were throwing at both APMEX as well as my friend was exemplary of government obfuscation. When any other company is confronted with a revenue shortfall they cut costs however , the USPS continues to support their exorbitant pension systems and like all government/public sector unionized organizations, they need to be privatised. Government granted monopolies invariably lead to inferior outcomes.

Sorry , honesty is my most detrimental attribute.

Rubbish

If I want to read politics, there is a wide spectrum of sources from left to right I can turn to.

Please close this thread.

wildwally1 Wrote:
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> So you don't like the USPS? Just wait until
> obamacare kicks in...
OMG what does the USPS have to do with obamacare? Btw, obamacare, that is so old-let it go.

Iv'e had zero delivery problems with USPS, but I don't ship many items. My mail comes and goes with a consistent flow.

Shoveler, I agree with you on the public sector unions. Not talking private companies that are unionized, guys, big difference.

Great for the workers (I don't blame them), but at the taxpayers expense. When they negotiate, they sit on the same side of the table.

It IS a big part in the down slide of this country. If you disagree, you are probably a unionized government worker and are fooling yourselves. We could go on and on about this subject, but I'm stopping here,... trying to stay positive for the big day ahead of me.

yardhunter, I have a right to bash the usps. I paid $45 bucks and they finally figured out where my package was, which ended up being the clerks fault since they have had this problem with their equipment for 3 weeks and it was never reported to be fixed, until I raised a stink with the postmaster. I mean really? After over 25 people (what i was told) have lost tracking on their packages due to a glitch you think the clerks would be smart enough to figure something is wrong. Oh, by the way I worked for the USPS as a mail carrier for over a year back in 1996. I know what goes on. Sorry you work for them.

lytle78 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rubbish
>
> If I want to read politics, there is a wide
> spectrum of sources from left to right I can turn
> to.
>
> Please close this thread.

It wasn't rubbish to my friend when his package was opened , pilfered and resealed while in USPS possession. It interesting how many thieves justify their actions with the rationale that the victim probably has insurance. It's also interesting how with 30 topics to read on this page of the forum you request a closure on this one.
Don't like the topic , deny the conversation. Wonder where that tactic comes from?

This thread cracks me up. If you think the USPS service is bad you need to do some research on the many millions of dollars worth of merchandise damaged and or destroyed by UPS every year. I made a very good living for a number of years buying pallets of lost and or damaged freight/parcels from a UPS liquidation company and reselling the good stuff on Ebay and at live auctions. I shipped over ten thousand items the first three years with only two lost items and a third item damaged and the USPS insurance paid on the claim.
Have no vested interest in USPS by the way.

Do a google video search on UPS and get a real eye opener lol .

silverhound Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This thread cracks me up. If you think the USPS
> service is bad you need to do some research on the
> many millions of dollars worth of merchandise
> damaged and or destroyed by UPS every year. I made
> a very good living for a number of years buying
> pallets of lost and or damaged freight/parcels
> from a UPS liquidation company and reselling the
> good stuff on Ebay and at live auctions. I shipped
> over ten thousand items the first three years with
> only two lost items and a third item damaged and
> the USPS insurance paid on the claim.
> Have no vested interest in USPS by the way.
>
> Do a google video search on UPS and get a real
> eye opener lol .

A point well taken silverhound.
Comparing the two is a bit like Obama/Left justifying their positions by stating it was acceptable when "Bush did it".
UPS was unionized in 1998. It grew into the worlds largest shipper as a private company started in 1907 until then.
In 1999 it established it's first official company policy concerning employee theft due the disappearance of firearms in transit , henceforth requiring overnight shipping.
Coincidence? Correlation? Causation?

More politics - please take it elsewhere.

I can tell you that UPS is much more exspensive than the USPS. I use priority mail anytime I can.

I always find the idea of insurance funny. I pay the carrier extra money not to lose my package or have one of their employees steal it.

That is like paying my mechanic to not wreck my car.

When someone does work around my house they supply the insrance against damage. Why do I have to pay the mail carriers? I work in a factory making products for human consumption. Give me five extra bucks and I'll make sure it won't make you sick.

Very good point goodmore..can't believe I never looked at it that way.

goodmore Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can tell you that UPS is much more exspensive
> than the USPS. I use priority mail anytime I can.
>
>
> I always find the idea of insurance funny. I pay
> the carrier extra money not to lose my package or
> have one of their employees steal it.
>
> That is like paying my mechanic to not wreck my
> car.
>
> When someone does work around my house they supply
> the insrance against damage. Why do I have to pay
> the mail carriers? I work in a factory making
> products for human consumption. Give me five extra
> bucks and I'll make sure it won't make you sick.

RUBBISH
How do you think your mechanic arrives at his shop rates? Part is labor , the rest is overhead , part of which is liabilty insurance against wrecking your car. You are paying for insurance you just don't know how much evidently like you don't know UPS's standard shipping includes $100 insurance and USPS's standard(priority) includes half that which might explain part of the price difference.
A 100oz. bar of silver fits perfectly in a $7 priority shipping box which carries $50 insurance--would you ship it that way? I want and will happily pay for certified delivery as well as extra insurance.
It would be an interesting study to get 10 priority boxes and ship them around the country with 7 pounds of copper inside of boxes marked showing a return address of "The lytle78 Precious Metals Exchange" with only standard insurance and see how many arrived at their destinations.

BTW , you might be getting that "five extra bucks" if your company wasn't already spending that money on liability insurance to protect themselves against just that type of devious thinking.

I've been shipping stuff for years, selling on Ebay.

goodmore, I don't understand how you can say USPS Priority Mail is cheaper, though UPS has gone up as of late it seems. If I cannot ship something in a USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate box...forget it! Regular Priority Mail is way too expensive especially if your talking bigger packages.

And yes....very important to note that UPS does come with the standard $100 worth of insurance which, I did receive (better than nothing!) from when my stuff was stolen last spring.

Wait a minute, let me get this straight, the package is insured already....then they ask you if you want to pay extra for insurance? When sending a package (USPS) they always ask if I want it insured for the worth of the item in the parcel.

In my business, the cost of insurance(s) is in the proposal, as part of overhead, I don't ask the customer if they want to pay more for insurance..it's already included.

Straighten me out here shoveler. The one thing I see is, they don't know what's in the package, so, they have a max insurance coverage, and that's why they ask us if we want additional coverage...did I straighten myself out?

You're straight now ozzie , not that there's anything wrong with that.
I shipped a pin pointer back to Garrett the other day by UPS for the standard rate--the $100 insurance was close enough to cover a loss that I wasn't going to buy more, although one could arggue that a broken pointer isn't worth a $100 except that it was still on warranty. I shippped a used DFX to Idaho a while back by UPS and the additional size and insurance brought the price to nearly $35. The buyer paid for shipping/ins. but in a perfect world the shipper(seller) should probably carry the cost of insurance.

All I know is either I am doing something wrong, or my local USPS is ripping me off. Just shipped a vista gold, cost $56.

Like I said earlier, I never use priority mail for the bigger packages.
I usually can ship a detector anywhere in the states for under $25, 3-4 day ground