U.S. Postal Service: salvageable or doomed?

they are just doing their job, upholding hegemony

Good thread, thanks sic.

Also Aimless is right, most railroad bulls are the same as any other numbskull cop. I've been chased by a few in my lifetime, and they suck.

Had a package due to me today, as of about 6 it was out for delivery. But when I checked a bit ago it was suddenly "insufficient address - return to sender". Google tells me that either it was indeed returned to sender, which means I have to contact them and wait god knows how long for it to come back or, as happens sometimes, the carrier was overloaded today and scanned it as such to game the metrics and not have it count against them.

Knowing better than to call the main 1-800 number, I called the local post office this morning. Creeping up on 90 minutes on hold so far. Either still understaffed, or their morale is (understandably) sufficiently low to the point where they just do not give a fuck.

even like.....6 years ago I was having that problem with my post office (where I couldn't get anybody on the phone). gotta imagine now it's multiplied 100 fold nationwide.

I mean, I get it. Things are awful there, not much I can do, but wait. I planned for some hold time, but didn't anticipate needing to book a full business day being on hold.

yeah, sadly "driving down there" seems to be the only option, and then it's waiting in a 2 hour line :/

It's just annoying because a lot of the advice I'm seeing online is to try and contact them ASAP, in my specific situation, because you can sometimes catch them before it gets shipped back. Couldn't go in person today because of work, but I apparently will waste my entire day today on hold and all day tomorrow standing in line. I mean, c'mon, I know it's the USPS and my expectations should be sufficiently lowered, but I would imagine they can't just provide absolutely zero customer support.

Holy shit, hit almost two and a half hours and they hung up on me. This is infuriating.

i feel like I had to call a regional office number when that was happening to me, and when I got in touch with THEM suddenly I got a call not long after. but....that may only have worked for where i live.

Trying again, still on hold for the second time. Probably going to give up, not really feeling like wasting even more time on this, nor does anyone give a shit about my USPS live tweeting experience, lol.

The Senate passed the Postal Reform act, and Biden will sign it.

The Postal Reform bill will place the United States Postal Service on the path toward financial stability by repealing the onerous and financially debilitating pre-funding mandate, ensuring six-day delivery, adding much-needed transparency to postal operations, and maximizing participation in Medicare — a program which the Postal Service and its employees have contributed over $34 billion toward — by enacting prospective Medicare integration. Postal Reform is fair to active and retired postal workers and is a crucial development in the fight to preserve and strengthen the peoples’ Postal Service.

Postal service just got easier to salvage.

that is legitimately great news

Hell yes. Eat my ass, DeJoy.

Thank goodness.

Also, tho, I've had rather decent luck with packages as of recent— knock on wood. Received some books from the UK after 10 days, about the same with a book from the Netherlands, and a tape from California took 3 days, which is...really shocking to me, at this point.

Bought a record from Germany in January and it's still not here, though I don't think they shipped it airmail like they claim to have done. Not expecting to ever see it tbh. All my recent domestic deliveries have been super fast recently, though.

Waiting a few weeks now for a package from Spain, but I really should take this to the Discogs thread on ILM. The fucker didn’t even give me a tracking number!

did he write "Tracking: Deez Nuts"

I sent my sister a birthday card more than a week early and it arrived nearly a month late. They may as well have sat on it for another eleven months until it was timely again.

Wow, incredible news. The pre-funded pension thing has been this deliberate act of sabotage hanging over the service for what, two decades now?

A CD from the Nethherlands took about 10 days to arrive, domestic packages have taken about a week or less -- not bad in general.

Bought a record from Germany in January and it's still not here, though I don't think they shipped it airmail like they claim to have done. Not expecting to ever see it tbh. All my recent domestic deliveries have been super fast recently, though.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, March 8, 2022 9:45 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Waiting a few weeks now for a package from Spain, but I really should take this to the Discogs thread on ILM. The fucker didn’t even give me a tracking number!

― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, March 8, 2022 10:15 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I've received a few records from Europe just fine. This might just be an individual seller issue.

Yeah, in my case the seller didn't even tell me it had been shipped until I emailed him and asked. I suspect there might be some bullshit going on, and if I haven't gotten the item in question by the end of this month I'll buy another one from someone else.

Do we have a thread on FedEx? Assholes claimed to have delivered a package to me that never showed up. Gave me a “delivery” notification and everything.

from my experience, they either:

a) delivered it to a neighbor (so perhaps check nearby if possible) OR
b) didn't deliver it, and will deliver it next day OR
c) Lol oops

I usually use social media to get their attention and resolve issues as calling has been far less successful, though sometimes if you call they can get in touch with the driver.

less aggravating, more funny, I once had a FedEx driver write the location of the package in Spanish, because they thought my last name (which is Italian) was Hispanic, and I had to Google translate what they wrote, which was "under the mat", and found the package under the floor mat...where I hadn't thought to look, as the package was flat and didn't make the mat protrude any.

when I recited that story on FB, many of my friends apparently didn't realize the name was Italian either.

i've had fedex do a lot of 'handoff' to usps for last mile delivery, but they update their status to say 'delivered' when they hand it off to the post office, which then may take a few days to actually deliver. it's annoying.

it’s okay it’s not as if this is supposed to be the one thing they’re experts at

I've also noticed that FedEx drivers will mark things "delivered" in advance of them actually being delivered. For example, they've marked something as delivered on my tracking, I go outside and nothing's there, then 30 minutes later the package shows up.

i've had fedex do a lot of 'handoff' to usps for last mile delivery, but they update their status to say 'delivered' when they hand it off to the post office, which then may take a few days to actually deliver. it's annoying.

Thanks for the advice. The delivery address was a large apartment building with a manned package room (the package room has never f’ed up or lost anything before, they even have their own scan setup) and we checked the lookalike apartment building next door but no dice there.

UPS and FedEx do handoffs to USPS to complete the delivery, but it's usually clearly indicated as such. UPS calls it "UPS Mail Innovations" and instead of saying "delivered", it'll usually say something like "Tendered to Delivery Provider", and the USPS tracking number will be provided to track the final delivery.

I'm not sure how it works with FedEx. It became en vogue when Amazon was tired of paying hefty two day delivery prices for UPS and realized this option was cheaper and only slightly slower

DeJoy's plan to replace USPS fleet vehicles would see 160,000 trucks emit as much CO2 as 4,300,000 passenger vehicles.

Over the past week, environmentalists and California’s top air quality regulator have called on the EPA to block the Postal Service from moving forward with what they described as a poorly thought-out purchase that would harm communities across the country. They asked the EPA to refer the dispute to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which mediates disagreements between federal agencies over actions affecting the environment and public health.

EPA officials declined to invoke this rarely used power. Instead, senior administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said they decided to send the warning letters to the Postal Service to give its leadership a chance to voluntarily change course.

They acknowledged that DeJoy might reject their requests, as he has rebuffed previous calls for the agency to rethink its plans.

this fuckin guy

I’m assuming it’s down to low staffing levels and covid knocking employees out, but our mail delivery has literally been once a week for the last month. It all comes on Thursday or Saturday for the entire week, sometimes dumped all over our stoop because it can’t all fit in the mailbox. I get notifications for stuff out for delivery that day that doesn’t show up for another three or four days. From the tracking I do check, it’s getting to our local office in good time, just seems to be sitting on our route’s truck for almost a week.

USPS Plans To Shed 50,000 Jobs To Reach 'Break Even' Point

DeJoy also explained how he has plans to streamline the company by closing 150 annex plants over the next four years, to be replaced by a smaller number of more efficient mega-centers.

til it’s just one robot delivering everyone’s mail to trash island

Why hasn't Biden gotten board members appointed who can fire DeJoy

He appointed his governors, they don't want to fire DeJoy.

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/people/2022/05/usps-board-is-now-mostly-biden-picks-following-latest-senate-confirmations/

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/590614-biden-stiff-arms-progressives-on-the-postal-service/

there will always be at least a few spots where democrats and republicans can agree: eg, giving more money to more cops, selling weapons to countries that did 9/11, and making the usps so shitty that the only recourse is privatization

They didn't do much to publicize it, but the USPS is in a lot better shape today than it was on Monday:

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a new law that will overhaul the US Postal Service’s finances and allow the agency to modernize its service.

The Postal Service Reform Act, which enjoyed a rare wave of bipartisan support in the House and Senate, bolsters an agency that is “as essential as it ever was,” the President said before signing the legislation.

“Today, we enshrine in law our recognition that the Postal Service is fundamental,” Biden said.

...

The Postal Service Reform Act will require retired postal employees to enroll in Medicare when eligible, while dropping a previous mandate that forced the agency to cover its health care costs years in advance.

Those two measures would save the USPS nearly $50 billion over the next decade, according to the House Oversight Committee.

The legislation will also require the USPS to create an online dashboard with local and national delivery time data.

Long overdue and very necessary. In combination with the IRS upgrade it’s good to see.

very good news

Service has been much improved around where I am, fwiw. I'm convinced it was a local management issue, which was exacerbating already disruptive national trends.

I just picked up a CD from Austria at my PO box this morning. The bill-of-lading pouch had 10 sheets of paper inside — various customs forms and whatnot, with my name and address on each one. Say what you will about the USPS: when I want to send a CD to Austria, or anyplace else on earth, I stick 1 label on the outside of the package, and off it goes. And it gets there.

And Media Mail! God bless Media Mail, so much cheaper

Does anyone remember vending machines in the lobby, or did I just dream that? You could buy stamps (rolls & books), prepaid envelopes, etc...?

They've really done everything possible to reduce convenience for customers, but I'm sure there are more service reductions in the works

I bought stamps from a vending machine in my local USPS lobby this past summer.

The one I go to has a kiosk with a scale where you can buy labels/postage for larger packages or books of stamps.

And it gets there.

The shift carrier from your local USPS office diligently sneaking into Austria with your CD sewn inside their jacket, nimbly dodging dozens of Österreichische Post AG operators bent on arresting its progress.