the US Postal service

dioxide45 · Feb 22, 2015

falmouth3 said:
I was shocked yesterday that I had to pay $11.55 to ship a teacup in bubble wrap from my house near Boston to Tucson. The box was a 6.5 inch cube. I admit that it was priority mail, but first class postage was only about $2 less expensive.

I guess you send out no holiday or birthday cards and no gifts.

We send a few birthday cards but stopped sending Holiday cards a couple years back. We don't send many if any gifts.

Really, $11.55 to send something 2,600 miles seems like a pretty good deal.

Wonka · Feb 22, 2015

$17 a week is expensive, but might be worth it.

My wife's friend is renting a condo in FL for 2-months. She was supposed to stay here for a short time (off & on) during February because she couldn't get a 3-month rental.

She's forwarding her mail from Michigan to our home for the entire period. It's a PITA for me. She gets lots of packages and more mail then I receive so I have to sort it and dispose of all the packaging from UPS and others. It's been a sore point with my wife & I.

Asking a friend to handle your mail for 3-months is a little over the line. I had no idea it might be to avoid a $17 week cost (and maybe it isn't). I think she's only have first class forwarded, but it's still an awful lot of stuff.

bogey21 · Feb 22, 2015

falmouth3 said:
I was shocked yesterday that I had to pay $11.55 to ship a teacup in bubble wrap from my house near Boston to Tucson. The box was a 6.5 inch cube. I admit that it was priority mail, but first class postage was only about $2 less expensive.

Anyone know what UPS or FedEx would have charged?

George

wilma · Feb 22, 2015

Passepartout said:
Let's see if I understand this. You chose not to pay USPS to have your mail forwarded in a timely manner. You chose not to inconvenience family/friends to forward your mail in a timely manner. Your mail DID (finally) reach you. And now it's the fault of who actually delivered your mail- even though it was not to the address to which it was addressed.

It that about right?

Yes, me thinks she was in the mood for some govt agency bashing, damn the facts!

Egret1986 · Feb 22, 2015

As a USPS employee in mail processing, I can tell you things are changing.

I typed a response, but then considered the length...and to some extent, the content. It's a personal perspective. For anyone that may be interested, below is a link where I have a Post on my Blog regarding my response.

[Link to rental website deleted.]

To the OP; I believe things will improve. I believe that you do have a right to your complaint. Filing a complaint with the USPS is also a very good choice. We can't try to fix it, if we are't aware of it.

The USPS is going through one of its biggest changes yet. I believe the Phoenix will rise from the ashes. :hi:

Egret1986 · Feb 22, 2015

This can't be repeated enough.

shorts said:
USPS has never received tax dollars or a so called bail out and has to rely on their own revenue dollars for a very labor intensive industry. The USPS has the lowest rates of almost any other country. If not for the government mandated requirement that USPS prefund their retirees accounts (which no other agency is required to do) they would not be in such a negative situation. But even so, they still have not received any tax dollars.

New Postmaster General, new direction. Only time will tell if it's enough. If the USPS must be self-sustaining, it needs to be given the opportunity to be competitive in today's market.

I'm still amazed, after all these years, at the low cost to mail a letter. Sometimes, you just need to mail something that requires it be an original or whatever. It's a true bargain for what it is.

vacationhopeful · Feb 22, 2015

Wonka said:
..

She's forwarding her mail from Michigan to our home for the entire period. It's a PITA for me. She gets lots of packages and more mail then I receive so I have to sort it and dispose of all the packaging from UPS and others. It's been a sore point with my wife & I.

Asking a friend to handle your mail for 3-months is a little over the line. I had no idea it might be to avoid a $17 week cost (and maybe it isn't). I think she's only have first class forwarded, but it's still an awful lot of stuff.

I can understand your issue - you feel like a storage unit, it occupies space near your door (and mail box) and you might even be getting phone calls, about what arrived in the mail or not (to determine if she NEEDS to drive over & get it). And you don't like clutter (and the packages) decorating your house.

I hope your spouse feels "walk over" by the friend. Offer to take the "heat" and propose the following solution:

Get a trash can with a lid, attach a sign saying, "Jane Smith's delivery box for mail & packages" and leave it by your front door; text her the picture saying "new mail setup for you as of today; not responsible for lost or damaged items." .... If she calls you, don't answer. Text her back, "it is too much and has cause an issue between me & my spouse. The arrangement is OVER ... Make other arrangements for your mail NOW!".

Either she is renting a unit where condo association rules prohibits seasonal rentals or she likes the free & careless lifestyle of her mail & packages being signed for by others & held til she gets around to fetching her pile.

DeniseM · Feb 22, 2015

Wonka said:
She gets lots of packages and more mail then I receive so I have to sort it and dispose of all the packaging from UPS and others. It's been a sore point with my wife & I.

If this is your wife's friend, and she agreed to this - why isn't she handling it?

Beaglemom3 · Feb 22, 2015

Personally, I'd honor my obligation as trying and inconvenient as it is. Maybe she did not realize what a burden it would be. Benefit of the doubt, perhaps ?

I would, however, tell her the amount of work it took and that there won't be a next time, ever. I'd tell her that she needs to ante up and pay the forwarding fees from whichever entity she chooses and/or start the process of getting a P.O. box at her vacation address.

I've been in this sort of situation before, but I'm glad that I did not rip into my friend ( believe me, I wanted to) as she did not know what she had foisted on me either (watching her house, watering her outdoor garden, filling the birdfeeders, taking in her mail.... and more, etc.)

When I took my Mum home (my house) to die, my friend was right there, the first one to give me a break so that I could take a nap while she sat with Mum.

JMHO here. I could be wrong.

-

DeniseM · Feb 22, 2015

Hi Jeanne - but what if your significant other volunteered YOU to do this favor for his friend? Which seems to be the situation here.

Fern Modena · Feb 22, 2015

I'm still at a loss to understand why the OP didn't give CareMark a temporary change of address. It couldn't have been that difficult to do. After all, they were going to be gone four months. No prescription can be filled for longer than ninety days, so it seems very likely that if they took regular meds, at least one or two would have to be filled while they were in Florida.

[--off topic--]
I use a UPS Mail Box for all my mail and package deliveries, and have done so for over ten years. It isn't nearly as inexpensive as a post office box, but it serves my purposes much better. I've gotten medicine which is cool packed before, and they call me when it arrives. Also, they accept packages from all shippers for me, post office, UPS, Fed-Ex, Airborne, etc. I never miss a package which requires a signature. If I need mail forwarding, they will do it for a price (don't know how much). They will hold my mail upon request, and have done this several times a year.

Fern

persia · Feb 22, 2015

suenmike32 said:
T
This used to be an agency that you could count on "rain, wind...." etc etc

That was a misquote/mistranslation of Herodotus, he's describing Xerxes runner system and it's ability to communicate the defeat of the Persians at Salamis, a more proper translation would be:

It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.

HERODOTUS, Herodotus, trans. A.D. Godley, vol. 4, book 8, verse 98, pp. 96–97 (1924).

Beaglemom3 · Feb 22, 2015

DeniseM said:
Hi Jeanne - but what if your significant other volunteered YOU to do this favor for his friend? Which seems to be the situation here.

I understood it as Wonka being a good husband ( he is a great guy ) and helping his wife in a huge undertaking. This has become a burden and not to mention that it was foisted on her by her friend. Yes, he was drafted it seems.

Whoopsie - On the same theme.....I've sort of volunteered Doug to help with the roofs of our neighbors (one just widowed this month and the other with a heart condition). Now, that's being drafted !

I did buy him the Phillips Roof Razor and the Kaufman roof shovel, though. It's the least I could do.

Totally off the subject, but, BTW: http://www.snowcutter.com/
http://www.scoopsandrakes.com/snow-roof-rakes.html

-

suenmike32 · Feb 22, 2015

As the original poster, I just have to say, it was the latter half of the Suenmike
that posted the original vent. That would be me..."Mike". and I will own up to it.
Actually my wife does not usually even read Tug.
Reflecting on many of the comments made by fellow Tuggers, I agree that we do have reasonably price postal rates.

There are reasons why I did not ask for a change of address, there are reasons (and previous experience) for not having Caremark send it directly here.

I respect everyone else' opinion, whether they agree with me or not.
However, I still feel that 14 postal scans, 4 states, (I'll never understand going to Illinois), and 21 days is still absurd.
Sorry if I rankled anyone's fur.
Mike

BTW, this was not a life threatening med, but one that I should not go for any length of time without. If I gave that indication, I apologize.

DeniseM · Feb 22, 2015

suenmike32 said:
As the original poster, I just have to say, it was the latter half of the Suenmike
that posted the original vent. That would be me..."Mike". and I will own up to it.

I think the last several post's are directed to Wonka's situation, where he is managing several mos. of mail for his wife's friend.

carmena79 · Feb 22, 2015

You can also get your mail premium forwarded less than once a week. The main reason why the postal service is in trouble is due to congress. Bottom line congress wants to privatize them. Poor us if they succeed. One of the reasons mail gets misdelivered is because the postal service is trying to get more work out of less people. Another is that highway contract routes get paid the same whether they take the time to do a good job or not. There are excellent highway contract, city, and rural carriers and awful ones. Just complain, complain, complain when you have an awful one. USPS will act eventually

JPD · Feb 22, 2015

suenmike32; Especially said:
\

The above statement you made is totally wrong. The Postal Service does not use tax dollars as a bail out. They run fully on postage sales and the services they provide. A few years ago, congress forced the postal service to pay 75 years in advance for future retires. They pay 5 Billion dollars a year for this mandated program. Yes I said Billion. This is why your forwarded mail is taking longer then it use too. Many processing plants were closed or consolidated in order to meet this demand. It will only get worse, there are 82 plants set to close in 2015.There are certain politicians trying their hardest to push the PO to become a private enterprise. If that happens, The free forwarding you chose for your mail will cost you. If you get time, talk to your letter carrier for info on why your mail bounced around the states that it did.

Wonka · Feb 22, 2015

I dunno...beats me!

DeniseM said:
If this is your wife's friend, and she agreed to this - why isn't she handling it?

Good question. My wife is simply a "giver", so she thinks it's "ok". I forgot to add her friend has been here since February 3rd and hasn't left. She now has the flu and is planning to stay here until the end of the month. The entire time she's been here she hasn't lifted a finger. My wife fixes her breakfast, lunch, dinner cleans up her dishes and washes her clothes. That's just the way she is...it upsets me and we've discussed it but it never changes. My DIL is even worse. She had the audacity, to say in-laws shouldn't plan visits to see the grandchildren unless they can "give her a break". That means watching the kids while she shops, goes to the beauty shop, etc. and putting the kdis to bed at night, etc. My wife enjoys this. Me, not so much? Maybe I'm just an old curmudgeon.

vacationhopeful · Feb 22, 2015

Wonka said:
Good question. My wife is simply a "giver", so she thinks it's "ok". I forgot to add her friend has been here since February 3rd and hasn't left. ....... Maybe I'm just an old curmudgeon.

I think you are tired of being walked on .... almost 3 weeks .... what was the old rule of thumb: fish and guests both stink after 3 days being in the house?

Perhaps, you need a good solo timeshare vacation until your home becomes your castle again. Or put a dead fish under the stove or refrigerator.

Old curmudgeon has NOTHING to do with being walked on ... you are TOO POLITE.

Egret1986 · Feb 22, 2015

Thank you for posting this. It's amazing how many folks believe this.

JPD said:
\

The above statement you made is totally wrong. The Postal Service does not use tax dollars as a bail out. They run fully on postage sales and the services they provide. A few years ago, congress forced the postal service to pay 75 years in advance for future retires. They pay 5 Billion dollars a year for this mandated program. Yes I said Billion. This is why your forwarded mail is taking longer then it use too. Many processing plants were closed or consolidated in order to meet this demand. It will only get worse, there are 82 plants set to close in 2015.There are certain politicians trying their hardest to push the PO to become a private enterprise. If that happens, The free forwarding you chose for your mail will cost you. If you get time, talk to your letter carrier for info on why your mail bounced around the states that it did.

Kind of like the "rain, sleet or snow" statement.

The OP, like so many, is misinformed. The OP will probably still believe what he believes to be a fact. Again, the USPS does not use tax dollars. It is supported by revenue from postage sales and services.

My response was long, and from a personal perspective since my facility is one of the 82 plants that will be closed in 2015. I decided to post a link to my Blog where my response was posted for those that might not want to read a page worth of background on the USPS here on this thread. My Blog is about timesharing, but lists no inventory on it. However, it does have a link to another site that does list timeshare resale and rental inventory. The link to my response was removed by the Mods in my previous post.

JPD, you cut to the chase and summed things up. Thank you.

MuranoJo · Feb 23, 2015

I had also heard (some time ago) that USPO profits were skimmed to support other government projects. Not sure at all if it was true.

dioxide45 · Feb 23, 2015

MuranoJo said:
I had also heard (some time ago) that USPO profits were skimmed to support other government projects. Not sure at all if it was true.

I am not sure there have been any profits, at least for a number of years.

SMHarman · Feb 23, 2015

dioxide45 said:
I am not sure there have been any profits, at least for a number of years.

The missing USPS profits are due to the artifice of their pension accounting as mandated by congress. No other corporation, ngo or govt department has to fully fund their pension. In the time frame USPS does.

It's like you being told you have a $2m 401k pension deficit today because that's the balance you need in 20 years and then being told to pay that in today not over the next 20 year's (along with compounding helping)

Kal · Feb 23, 2015

SMHarman said:
The missing USPS profits are due to the artifice of their pension accounting as mandated by congress. No other corporation, ngo or govt department has to fully fund their pension. In the time frame USPS does.

It's like you being told you have a $2m 401k pension deficit today because that's the balance you need in 20 years and then being told to pay that in today not over the next 20 year's (along with compounding helping)

They are being punished to death by congress all the while the entire marketplace is shifting to electronic deliveries. All they are left with is occupant ads (at a bulk, deeply discounted rate).

How many messages do you get a week from firms that want you to shift to "green (paperless)" communications?

Clemson Fan · Feb 23, 2015

suenmike32 said:
As the original poster, I just have to say, it was the latter half of the Suenmike
that posted the original vent. That would be me..."Mike". and I will own up to it.
Actually my wife does not usually even read Tug.
Reflecting on many of the comments made by fellow Tuggers, I agree that we do have reasonably price postal rates.

There are reasons why I did not ask for a change of address, there are reasons (and previous experience) for not having Caremark send it directly here.

I respect everyone else' opinion, whether they agree with me or not.
However, I still feel that 14 postal scans, 4 states, (I'll never understand going to Illinois), and 21 days is still absurd.
Sorry if I rankled anyone's fur.
Mike

BTW, this was not a life threatening med, but one that I should not go for any length of time without. If I gave that indication, I apologize.

I have to give you a lot of credit for this post. Most people, including me, who get criticized for one of their posts usually come back with a lot of piss and vinegar.

the US Postal service

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