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Post by jshuey on Nov 17, 2021 12:11:06 GMT -8
90 days ago, I paid $50US to send a bug to South America. So, naturally, USPS sent it to a former republic of Yugoslavia - Macedonia! It sat there for a month, then wandered back to the US where it moved to New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, Indianapolis, back to Chicago, back to Indianapolis, and then to my little town - where they could not deliver it because my address had the "wrong postal code". (It did not - my address was fine and obviously - it made it to the local post office). So I slogged to the post office, and they found the package - slightly squashed, but the bug was ok. They will not refund my $50!!!! If only I could have travelled this much during the last three months! John   |
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Post by Adam Cotton on Nov 17, 2021 12:44:16 GMT -8
The problem is, they have machine reading to interpret the address on the parcel.
Guess what ... machines sometimes (often?) read things wrongly.
I posted a parcel to a friend at the end of June, and he never received it. When he checked at his post office using the tracking number he found out that the address in the USPS print out had some errors and NY customs had refused to release it. He filed an official search with USPS and they "resolved" the issue, informing him it was in NY customs (if you can call that 'resolving the problem'). Nothing happened for months so I filed a 'return to sender' request with the Thai post office, and it finally arrived back here yesterday.
The address I hand printed on the parcel was absolutely correct, no errors.
Adam.
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Post by jhyatt on Nov 17, 2021 13:13:44 GMT -8
Absolutely typical, John Shuey and Adam Cotton. You'd think they'd at least send it to the proper hemisphere! It's another symptom of the decline of western civilization, I guess... although if forced to make an excuse, I'm sure the USPS would say it's all "because of covid". We've had first class letters mailed from our TN town to Roanoke, VA (ca. 150 miles) utterly disappear en route in the past year.
On the other hand, it's fascinating to contemplate some Macedonian puzzling over why some nice American sent them a lovely Agrias specimen out of the blue...
jh
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Post by jhyatt on Nov 17, 2021 13:18:30 GMT -8
Another example: Until recently I was a member of a "swap box" group of collectors, all in the USA. We had a box which circulated from one to another of the 8 or 10 of us in the group; we'd each put in 10 papered specimens, and take out 10 of our choice, then send the box to the next member in the circuit. That box disappeared whilst en route between two fairly close addresses this summer. Our group is now defunct.
Sadly,
jh
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Post by exoticimports on Nov 17, 2021 15:08:40 GMT -8
I can tell you of multiple similar experiences.
USPS is indeed incompetent. The problem is upper level mismanagement, career idiots whom fall under The Swamp. They blame the local PO staff, force them to take training on customer service, etc. the problem starts at the top, so it will never be fixed until career executives are removed.
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Post by 58chevy on Nov 17, 2021 16:40:21 GMT -8
Some USPS employees are also thieves. Twice I have sent cash through the mail when ordering insects. On both occasions the cash never made it to the seller. I was forced to pay twice the price for the bugs. I'll never again send cash through the mail.
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Post by kevinkk on Nov 17, 2021 17:23:50 GMT -8
That is pretty incredible, for a number of reasons, 58 chevy- you should know better, my Grandmother delivered mail and had very sticky
fingers, not only at work, but other places.
For jsheuy, you could try complaining to the postmaster, unless you've already done that, or are tired of the whole thing, our last issue at the
post office was "solved" that way, not arguing with the clerk who caused the problem to begin with.
Our mailbox now has the word "mailbox" painted in bold yellow letters, and I suppose at least one mail carrier knows why.
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Post by papiliotheona on Nov 18, 2021 19:15:51 GMT -8
USPS *never* pays out on their "insurance"--I thought that was known. People blamed Trump for their woes--they were dysfunctional long before him.
This is what happens when you have a bureaucracy loaded with unfirable guys and gals who get 90 minute lunch breaks and benefits/retirements otherwise reserved for Fortune 500 CEOs. The sooner it collapses and is replaced entirely by Amazon etc. the better.
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Post by kevinkk on Nov 19, 2021 10:56:08 GMT -8
I don't have experience with insurance claims with USPS, but have been refunded for failed overnight delivery, which shouldn't even be offered
in the small town I live in. For our insect shipments- without permits, that insurance wouldn't do any good anyway.
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Post by gaspipe on Nov 21, 2021 13:26:27 GMT -8
Let’s put it plainly ; attributes like respect and reliability in general are fast becoming relics of the past.
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Post by wollastoni on Nov 22, 2021 5:18:33 GMT -8
Well, in Western Europe, the post is still working perfectly.
I receive and send more than 50 parcels per year and never had any issue.
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Post by exoticimports on Nov 22, 2021 6:20:43 GMT -8
USPS *never* pays out on their "insurance"--I thought that was known. People blamed Trump for their woes--they were dysfunctional long before him. This is what happens when you have a bureaucracy loaded with unfirable guys and gals who get 90 minute lunch breaks and benefits/retirements otherwise reserved for Fortune 500 CEOs. The sooner it collapses and is replaced entirely by Amazon etc. the better. USPS has paid me on insurance claims, no problems. Part of the problem as of the last 18 months or so is (1) they moved significant processing equipment and apparently did a poor job of selecting the new sites. (2) USPS staff didn't work during COVID, even while UPS and FedEx did. Of course, they got paid for not working. These two factors forced USPS to subcontract many long-haul transits to UPS, at the end of which UPS delivered them to USPS distribution centers; since nobody at USPS was working the mail sat at distribution centers for weeks. Further, the USPS distribution facilities (not surprisingly) ran out of storage space, so packages were sent to anywhere that had space, including the "space" of circulating through the mail system, which of course made the situation worse. This train wreck of course was made possible by a management-heavy Swamp bureaucracy. I don't know about your areas (in USA) but USPS is still losing packages and experiencing delays- meanwhile USPS is delivering Amazon packages on the weekend. Go figure. I figure USPS is too far gone and can't be (rather, won't be) fixed. USPS won't go away. They have a Universal Service Obligation and also a monopoly on "letters." I'd expect they become the low-end choice for package service. Chuck |
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