Thursday, November 29, 2012

USPS Beyond Broken

Just once I would like to be able to write about a good thing regarding USPS.   But today is not that day, in the past month, I have been reading hundreds of complaints online about the poor service from USPS.   So, it is time for me to share my story.  

Remember the days when you had a regular mailman?  Or when they picked up your mail, without filing complaints, or when they really delivered your mail?  To say the system is broken is a understatment.  It is beyond broken, there was a time when unions were needed, now they just allow lazy workers to do as they please.  My story is a fine example of the postal service, and just how unless it has become.

For a period of three months, my local post office has gotten worse.  I now call and tell them, I want to file my 2nd or third complaint each week.   I ship hundreds of items each week to customers, and use USPS.  In the begining, I did not set up pick ups, I just set my packages out on the porch, and the mail person would pick them up.  I order boxes from usps, and send everything priority mail.   Setting the boxes outside worked for a while, until the mail person, thought it was way to much work to pick them up, even thought they park 10 feet from by door. 

So, after many days that they were not picked up, I called my local post office and was told, "its not our job to pick up mail, unless you set up a pick up".  So, I began setting up pick ups each day, this worked ok for a few weeks, then the site would not let me set them up.  It was broken and did not work.  So, finally after a few weeks of trying I set up pick ups three months in advance.  One each day for three months.  

To say this did not work seems redundant now.  But it didn't and still is not.  Some days they do not even show up at all, some days, they come, leave one piece of mail, and take nothing.  Some days they show up two times, because they forgot to leave my mail?  And many times, I am expecting a package, and its not here, so last week this happened again, it about the 20th time this has happened.  So, I asked the mailman, do you have my package, online the tracking says its out for delivery, his response was unbelieveable,  The mailman told me, its not in his truck, it could be in someone elses, he went on to tell me, yesterday he had 6 packages, that did not belong on his truck.  So he drove around with them and they were delivered in a few days,by someone else.  So, not only can they not pick up mail, they cant even seem to deliver it.

 Each time there is a problem, I call and file yet another unless complaint.  After the complaint is filed, they are perfect for about two days, then its back to the same old same old again.  

Last week alone, two days they did not show up, and one the third day the mail person came scanned by box, it has a bar code on it, so they can prove they were here.  Left one piece of mail, and did not take any of the 15 packages I had for pick up.  The mail lady, went to the trouble of taking outgoing packages out of my box, and puting them on the porch with the larger boxes, scanning my box and then left.  I found her two streets over, and asked her why she did not take my boxes, she said, sorry I am lost?  

Lost?  She was so lost that she was at my porch, and did not see 15, twelve by twelve boxes right under my mailbox?   Each day there is a different carrier, and each time this happens I am assured by the supervior this will not happen again, but it does it always does. I have even written the govenor, to let him know about the situation.  Nothing chages, but today it will, I will be using ups, I am sure they want my money, just the same as USPS.