U.S. Postal Service: salvageable or doomed?

In today's mail, I received:

- 2 CDs mailed from Warsaw, Poland on June 18
- a book mailed from Malmö, Sweden on May 25
- a CD mailed from Ann Arbor, Michigan on June 15

I had a tracking number for that last one, so I got to watch it sit in Pittsburgh for *two weeks*. And when it arrived, there was a dark scuff across the envelope that makes me think it fell under a machine and stayed there until a janitor swept it out one night, or something.

Last week we received a three week old New Yorker one day, and the two subsequent issues the next.

I received a record in the mail yesterday and it appeared to have been shot at or something? two puncture holes that went all the way through the packaging (including the record inside).

It was a cut-out, maybe? Some of them used holes.

xp
Was it the Waldo Jeffers Band?

Spent 40$ on a 'Good' copy of a rare poetry book...carrier shoved it in the slot, completely creasing the spine and fucking up the binding.

not a cut out, my post must not have been clear

Got a big wad of mail last week, all sent between December and March.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2B1uIkQUZ4

I think it's been about a week since we got mail. Granted, part of that was the weekend, and a holiday weekend at that, but we're expecting something important that's been "out for delivery" since Thursday.

as far as I'm aware the postal service has it out specifically for guys whose names start with J and live in or around Chicago

Possible, but no one else in my family has a name that starts with J. Maybe I should move out?

Finally walked to the local post office, which is less than five minutes away, to (politely) ask what's up. They get my ID, check the back, and come back to apologetically tell me that our mail is supposedly on the truck and out for delivery today.

And then they hand me my copy of the local weekly paper ... the Wednesday Journal. On a Thursday. Which means *it* was not out for delivery, and that had we waited for it in the mail at best it would have arrived over the weekend. Of course, the weekly local paper is the least important thing; I've now been without a credit card for a week, and I'm heading out of town on Sunday. I feel for the people not receiving *really* importing things, like checks or medicine.

Yeah, I've just essentially given up on any reasonable timeframe sending or receiving anything via USPS. I don't want to say it's beyond repair, and it seems to vary state by state and city by city, but I'd say that, overall, the timeliness and reliability in 2021 is far, far worse than it was in 2020 and I've seen no improvement. I'm assuming that DeJoy just ain't going anywhere and it's time to start figuring out other ways of shipping. Couple in the 12% increase in prices for media mail coming in August and it's only going to get more expensive for shittier service.

Just received a package that I'm frankly stunned they had the chutzpah to deliver. The contents are cuh-rushed, half of the padded envelope has been ripped clean away, and judging by the skidmarks covering both sides one or more vehicles did some serious donuts on this thing.

They, uh, do hope to keep existing as an entity, right?

I'm not so sure. Timely delivery has been better recently, but I've also gotten two packages of CDs lately that would have been absolutely destroyed had the sender not packed them very carefully.

My son got a card from his grandparents that looked like it had been rolled over fourteen times by a forklift and was nearly ripped in half. Surprisingly the $5 bill was still inside.

😬

skidmarks covering both sides

someone wiped their ass with yer box?

I've had a couple of packages from Japan (to MN) get stuck at the International Service Center in Chicago. This site is apparently a bit of a black hole right now. One has been waiting there a week, which based on what I read elsewhere could end up being months. It made it most of the way surprisingly quickly (two days!) and now it's just sitting there.

Yeah, I've not had anything international shipped to me lately, but I've heard that the ISC in Chicago is a horrific for being a black hole for months on end. I hope yours doesn't end up sitting there too long.

FWIW, there's been a significant improvement in mail delivery here lately. Thank you, USPS, I take it all back.

Yeah, Chicago customs has held up some international packages (via DHL) - they never get scanned out, they just sit there for 2-3 weeks then show up at my door one day.

They, uh, do hope to keep existing as an entity, right?

You should demand to speak to the Post Office's manager.

I had a package sent to me July 17 from Chicago, and it's taken the following route:

Chicago -> Des Moines -> Jersey City -> Memphis, TN -> Jersey City

I'm hoping to have it by the weekend.

Oh damn. I just ordered something off of discogs and it turns out the seller was from Chicago. I guess that explains why it's been sitting in limbo for 4 days.

Re: Chicago, orders from Dusty Groove to me on the East Coast do okay?

On the "salvageable" side, no mail disruptions in Wisconsin as far as I can see. USPS just keeps chugging along doing the things I need it to do.

xpost If they don't hit the Chicago black hole distribution center, they might be okay. And even then they're sometimes fine, but I did have a package sit there for about a month and a half once.

yesterday a parcel sent from alabama in jan arrived at my flat in east london (UK), six months almost to the day

given up as fully lost months ago: enquires in april to postal services on both sides of the atlantic got nowhere (i mean ppl were friendly and helpful but said "we have no idea where it's got to") (tbf adding "that's doesn't mean there's no hope")

so that was a nice surprise

I had an issue last week (well, I guess I still have an issue) that was like a three-way fuck-up, of which I was one of the guilty parties. I should've been more vigilant about okaying their update, but eBay 'helpfully' 'corrected' my address on two packages such that they were delivered to a similar street address the next town over. Except that my address has an apartment number and this other address is just a house. I contacted that town's post office to see if they could maybe retrieve these things but they seemed disinterested at best. So I assume they're just gone forever.

I'll take the brunt of the blame on this one. But it's still frustrating that they are (or were) somewhere a couple miles away and are apparently irretrievable.

Ebay did that to me 20 years ago, so I wrote a letter to the address begging them to send me my stuff and included some cash for postage, and they actually sent me my stuff!

iirc it was a massive Soviet-style "great coat" that I never wore once and gave to goodwill a decade later

I'm wondering if COVID is hitting again or what, but we're back to mail delivery maybe twice a week, if we're lucky. Got mail last week Tuesday, then again today, nothing in between at all.

I took advantage of the erratic mail delivery by painting my front steps.

I’m not in Chicago but just when I thought things were returning to normal I have an important first class mail piece MIA that was mailed just 50 miles away from me. In the past there really wasn’t a thing as “lost in the mail” but now…

Oh damn. I just ordered something off of discogs and it turns out the seller was from Chicago. I guess that explains why it's been sitting in limbo for 4 days.

― peace, man, Friday, July 30, 2021 6:47 AM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

This took over two weeks to arrive. Around the same time, it took an equal length to receive a package from Greece.

I’ve recently sent things via media mail from upstate NY to Maine, and they arrived the next day — would normally take 2-3 days at least. A friend wondered if deliberate slowdowns only happen with first class mail, figuring not enough people use media mail so why bother slowing that down?

yeah i sell a book on ebay about 1x/month and routinely get things across the country in 2 days

^ ^ ^ This is demonstrably true, from my experience using media mail to send out publications and such. Everything I send first class takes a week or two, and media mail takes three days max, even when going to places across the country. It doesn't make much sense, in some way, but my main use of the USPS is sending publications, so I'm okay with it on my end.

At the same time, I ordered a t-shirt three weeks ago from an acquaintance, and it hasn't arrived yet. I'm out twenty bucks, so not a huge deal, but I also don't want to ask him to send another because a) he can't as it was a limited edition shirt, and b) his dad just passed away.

my last book was just delivered in michigan 46 hours after i mailed it from MD! if anything it's improved. i thought media mail was supposed to be slow. it's weird.

That's very weird. I currently mail CDs first class with a tracking number, because I can print the shipping labels at home; if I want to use media mail, I have to get in line. But if the time difference is that substantial, I may have to start using media mail.

i have printed media mail labels from ebay but the issue with that is you have to rely on USPS to actually pick up from the blue boxes every day, which they don't always do now. i just try to get to the p.o. around 10 am when there's no line.

harbl, if you already have the labels printed and postage is paid for, you should be able to just run up to a window and give them the mail. that's what i do.

I currently mail CDs first class with a tracking number,

Media mail has tracking. All of the records I sent in the last couple of years had tracking numbers on the receipt.

xp i know but i don't actually have a printer at home, i used to steal office resources to do it when i had an office

Oh! I see. Yeah, I need a printer for work and I've always done a fair amount of working from home (teacher, etc), but since the pandemic started, I've been putting my home printer through some serious jobs lol.

i bought a $100 brother laser printer in february 2020 when i felt ill winds blowing and it has been a lifesaver for discogs shipping.

in my neighborhood in queens the USPS "schedule a pickup" feature works near-flawlessly and i haven't been to the post office in a year and a half, i think people don't bother trying but it's super effective (ime)!

Media mail has tracking. All of the records I sent in the last couple of years had tracking numbers on the receipt.

Yeah, but I can't select media mail as an option from my usps.com business account, only first class or Priority. And I don't have time to stand in line. I print the labels and package everything at home and just run inside, drop all the envelopes down the chute, and go.

I...would strongly suggest changing to an Endicia account. It's what everyone I know who does a lot of mailing of books and records uses. And you can do media mail on it.

Thanks for the tip; I'll check it out!

Of course! One of my dearest friends is an antiquarian book and rare record dealer, so he's filled me in on his processes.