U.S. Postal Service: salvageable or doomed?

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.

I order from Klanggalerie on Austria all the time and I’ve never seen anything on package more than the usual green customs sticker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK_yvwsp3QA

Latest Update

We were unable to deliver your package at 11:34 pm on October 15, 2022 in OAKLAND, CA 94606 because the business was closed.

Yeah, I actually went to bed around 11pm, sorry I wasn't available to get my mail, I'll try harder next time to stay awake

I dunno, I kinda liked "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight"

xps i used to buy stamps regularly using those vending machines until they seemed to all disappear some 10-15 years ago. never seen one since.

So

Post offices now close for lunch, so plan accordingly

yeah, I found that out recently.. and a european LONG lunch at that, possibly even a siesta in a big cart of mail

does that mean they are literally having one person staff the post office?

Yeah, I'm not sure if they close for lunch everyday, or just when there's literally only one person in the station - pretty annoying though

My local post office closes for lunch - yep only one employee.

So my brother is proposing to his girlfriend. And the engagement ring is coming today, requires a signature, and he's working. He asks if I can go to his house and sign for it and leave.

Said ok, but was anxious because the mail service where he lives is notoriously bad. They once applied a mail forwarding request I made for my father at my address and my mail started going to their place.

Sure enough, something goes wrong. My bro msgs me to say the package shows delivered, did I get it? No, nobody's been to the door, nothing outside. Shows as signed for by my bro's initials.

My guess is to avoid being dinged for a late delivery, the mailperson marked it delivered, fabricated the signature, then figured they'd go to your house, hope you were there, and if not, leave a note on the door. Because of the ridiculous workload mailpersons have, they do this all the time (they did it to me at my old place even before DeJoy).

The other theory is they put it in the mailbox and fraudulently marked it as signed for. But since it's an engagement ring, my brother is freaking out like a 12 year old.

I went outside to see if I could see the mail truck. There it was, at the front of the community, and moving towards his place, so I figure ok, they'll be by shortly.

Here's where I got completely stupid. I didn't want to approach the mail person as I don't live in that community and it's gonna sound strange, me asking them for a package for someone else. But I also didn't want to assume they would come by the house and have them leave, as my brother didn't leave his mail key to check the box.

So I got in the car and drove to the street the truck was on and after I saw it was clear that they were still delivering on the route towards my brother, I parked and walked back to his house. Sure enough, they pulled up and stopped outside his house so I stayed outside so I could sign for it. But then the driver left.

Now my brother is begging me to flag them down and I'm asking if he's sure there's no mail key in the house and no, there's not. I told him they were driving away and I didn't want to tail the driver as that would creep them out.

But then I figured they would stop to deliver another package and I could get out and politely ask them about the package. So I found them, and they were going the opposite direction. Dammit. So I waited 30 seconds, turned around and went back to see if I could catch them. Now they're again going the opposite way.

So now I've figured out that I obviously freaked them out and they're trying to get away from me. Exactly what I wanted to avoid. Brother is hounding me about it and I'm like DUDE I'M GONNA GO TO JAIL IN A MINUTE.

So I went to the mailroom at the front of the community to pause and figure out what to do next, like going to his work to get his mail key.

Mail person is parked there as I arrive, right across from me. Fuck. She is staring right at me, intently. She starts taking pics of my car and is clearly talking to someone. FUCK.

Alright so I've completely made a mess of this and terrified the poor woman. I don't blame her at all. It's why I hadn't wanted to do it.

So I decided to get out of the car slowly and talk to her from a distance rather than approach the truck. After all, I'm 6'0, 225 pounds, heavily tattooed, and unkempt and looking agitated due to the situation. She gestures at me with a shrug, basically saying "what the FUCK do you want?". Which is fair.

So finally I explain the situation and she is relieved when I explain I just have a question about a package. She offers to help, and then retrieves the package. Sure enough, another mail carrier (I guess they have two because it's a big community) delivered the package to the box and fabricated the signature to make it look like a door delivery. Thanked her, apologized, and went on my way.

So yeah, i completely fucked this up, and unintentionally terrified a mail person today. Shoulda just told my brother to stfu, grabbed his mail key, and checked the box.

this story has big george costanza energy

Lol

Damn.

Spent a good chunk of postage to make sure an overseas package got shipped and delivered on time. Got a notice a few days back with a "return to sender" notice on tracking with no explanation. Just got the returned package in the mail. Reason for return - no customs form declaration. Clearly attached to the package - a customs form declaration!!

This is as much if not more another sign of the general unraveling of society, but reportedly there have been a number of armed robberies of mail deliverers here in the last couple of weeks. Gunmen just run up in broad daylight and demand packaged and master keys. That's fucked up.

when you're gonna misdeliver one of my packages, absolutely make sure it's my pills.

some days i feel like a single-issue voter, and that biden doesn't deserve my vote for not immediately ousting this piece of shit crony dejoy on day one.

he doesn't have the power to do so unfortunately

I can't say I'm a fan, but his tenure has had some welcome surprises.

Talking to my neighborhood postal worker (who both lives here and delivers here, which seems like a great setup), it sound like there's a rash of attacks on postal workers where the attackers steal their building/group mailbox keys and then steal packages. Sounds like a very unpleasant time to be a postal worker.

Yeah, I've heard that in Oakland a bunch.. I caught a dude red-handed trying to break into my apartment's mailboxes, and he had a ring of keys instead of a screwdriver

I feel like there's been a crazy spike in postal crimes in general. Check fraud has definitely gone up, and it's tied to mail theft. It's gotten so bad, I never mail anything unless I'm doing it INSIDE the post office into a kiosk or slot that's either constantly watched (i.e. within their tellers' view) or going into the area they're stationed at where they can see the mail being dropped in. Last year, some guy came into my local post office to tell them someone was trying to steal mail from their outside boxes using some kind of sticky thingie (and fled before he could be caught), and they told him "we're very aware of him." Not in a blaisé way, it was kind of implied they were doing something about it (what, I don't know).

U.S. Postal Service: salvageable or doomed?

I can't say I'm a fan, but his tenure has had some welcome surprises.

― birdistheword, Friday, January 5, 2024 12:30 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

counterpoint: go fuck yourself

There are definitely some good things about the USPS recently. Their newly introduced Ground Advantage rate is cheaper and seemingly quicker for sending packages domestically. When I have to ship CDs, I'm paying about a dollar less per package than I used to and things are arriving in the same amount of time.

xp I'm not a fan of DeJoy's austerity plan - it's going to needlessly slash jobs and delay service - but he was also instrumental in getting the Postal Service Reform Act passed into law. That codified six-day delivery into law and ended the disastrous federal mandate that the USPS pre-pay the health plans for retirees, neither of which is a small thing. So right back at you.

I feel like there's been a crazy spike in postal crimes in general.

A lot of mail boxes have vanished here, like months ago. I think it's because crooks figured out a way to wash signatures off of checks, so they were stealing from the boxes in search of those (and who knows what else). Supposedly more secure replacements are on their way, eventually.

I actually talked with a carrier about this - there have been cases where they found boxes sawed or cut-through. So in addition to upgrading locks (like maybe a double-validation system), they're hoping to make the physical mailbox tougher to slice or puncture. It's really crazy how it's come to this.

he doesn't have the power to do so unfortunately

The Postal Board where he's nominated the majority does, tho

“checks”?

<cheques notes> yep.

Some people get paid via actual checks in the mail — idk if that’s what’s in question but checks in the mail are a v real thing fwiw

Also my mom got frauded via a check recently. It’s not insignificant imo.

Literally waiting on two important ones right now.

And for every pension I administered, there was 10% of our population who got paper checks