Question to forum about Mail volumne changes?

[DJ194950]

Mine has slowly? gone down from what was all most an everyday delivery of mail, mostly ads for grocery stores and many more like kind and with fairly regular mail for me as I do not want all my bills to be totally online.

 

Now it has diminished to a point I have received not even an ad for 2-3 days.

 

While I do pay most online I have had in the past a computer just die and I do not what to miss major payments like mortgage, electricity, etc. and have big problems with such, so I still get them by regular mail.

 

Other  areas experiencing the same changes?  Beyond Calif.?

[plymouthcranbrook]

Yes.  We have always had a slow Post Office,  items that co-workers got from the union and other things would arrive here 3-4 days later. Now delivery is light and some days I don’t even see evidence the letter carrier came at all.

Edited August 28, 2020 by plymouthcranbrook

[Pete]

Here in rural Vermont I guess we've been lucky with the USPS. Mail service has always been very good, and has not dropped off due to the virus or changes in Washington, D.C. Over the past several months items I have ordered online arrive reasonably fast via the USPS, but UPS service has gone downhill, even had a rare "lost" item.

 

Pete

 

[linus6948]

Absolutely not the same as it was a few months ago, it also seems like amazon packages are being given extra special treatment to not arrive in a timely fashion. They now consistently arrive 2-3 days later then their promised delivery dates and sometimes even longer.

[Pete]

One thing I've noticed about Amazon is for the past few months they do not actually put the package in the post or UPS for several days longer than they used to.

 

Pete

 

 

[P15-D24]

I just got an Ebay shipment from Israel that took 8 days. Two days were in New York clearing customs. I thought that was pretty good. 

[Los_Control]

I live in small town USA, our daily service has not changed, Last month ordered a few things from DCM, was pretty impressed with usps delivery time.

I ordered a pair of rear shocks from rockauto, shipped out with fedx. strange 1 came from Texas, and delivered to TX in 2 days, other came from CA, took like 2 weeks to arrive. Package was close by and ready to be delivered, somehow it ended up in Tennessee instead?

I followed the tracking number, they got it flipped around and sent back in good time .... no complaints from me.

[Dodgeed]

Our mail comes later and later. We used to get it mid morning, then mid afternoon, then at dinner time, now, it comes as late as 8:00 PM. Amazing. We are also noting the volume has decreased significantly. We have a preview app that allows us to see what is supposed to be delivered. Several times, something wasn't delivered, and sometimes didn't show up until four or five days later. Where was it? 

[1950 Special Deluxe]

12 hours ago, linus6948 said:

Absolutely not the same as it was a few months ago, it also seems like amazon packages are being given extra special treatment to not arrive in a timely fashion. They now consistently arrive 2-3 days later then their promised delivery dates and sometimes even longer.

I ordered some things from Amazon.ca in Canada.

Was supposed to be here Monday, nothing happened for 3 days, then it shipped and was delivered the next day.

[JBNeal]

I live in a rural area 10 miles from our zip code post office so it was a surprise last year to see a city route truck delivering on a Sunday...that happens a few times a month now, and late morning deliveries have transitioned to mid- to late-afternoon deliveries...and the usual carrier has given way to a rotating carrier roster, so we never know what vehicle is gonna make a delivery...but that's just on my side of the road.  Across the road is a different zip code, that post office is 15 miles away in an even smaller town, and the same nutty carrier comes barreling down the road in her beat up Grand Marquis, straddling the hump to keep that old buggy in between the ditches...she manages to make her late morning deliveries at the same time she has for the last 15 yrs 

[Plymouthy Adams]

Isn't it great...time to set some priorities and junk mail is not one of them.  Little intervention going on....

[Pete]

When I had a PO box I asked the local small town postmaster if he could just put any junk mail addressed to me in the recycle bin. He said, "We don't call it junk mail. We call it revenue."

 

Pete

 

 

[JerseyHarold]

It recently took 4 weeks for an item I shipped from New Jersey to Illinois to arrive.  The tracking stalled in the Jersey City Distribution Center.  I put in a 'missing mail' complaint and a few days later the package magically arrived at its destination.   The tracking jumped from 'Jersey City' to 'Delivered' in one giant step.

[Plymouthy Adams]

tracking is a joke...it relies on the postal worker to do the scan and update....that means they would have to handle it personally....fat chance on that but for the most part it is still a decent system.  UPS does well also.....FED-EX is a joke on tracking....they are be last of carriers by choice in my book.  They also hand off to PO as that is part of the contract they have signed as the PO often utilize them for package movement.  If delivered by UPS to PO that morning...they are not allowed to hand it to you till next day.....you may get better service but it is not part of the contract as was told to  me by the postmaster locally.

[Eneto-55]

I wrote this January 18th, 2018, after an experience shipping with UPS. 

The Adventures of a Package sent via UPS
I was going to ship a package to someone in Cynthiana, Kentucky on Friday the 12, but an ice storm here in Central Ohio prevented it from being picked up.  So I did it on the 15th.  It was supposed to have been delivered on the 17th, by end of day.  

Well, it decided to take a trip around the Eastern United States.  Actually, I don't think the package itself was complicit in the detour it has taken.  According to the admission of a UPS rep I spoke to from Lexington, Kentucky, one digit was left out of the address on the small label they put on for the driver, or maybe it was in his records, I'm just guessing it had to do with the small label that gets put on at some point in a package's delivery process.  Well, so they tried to deliver it three times, the last two times in one day, Last Thursday the 18th.  (Their message in the tracking page says "The company or receiver name is incorrect.") The main label stays attached, and it was correct, but apparently no one ever looked at it.  I didn't see what was happening because I was at a viewing for a close family member all afternoon and evening that day, and the funeral the following morning. 

So they decided to send it back to Berlin.  Only they didn't send it to Berlin, OH, but rather to Berlin, NH.  (Anyone knew there was a Berlin in New Hampshire?)  I spoke with the UPS rep Friday afternoon, and it was supposed to be re-directed to a new address in Indiana, where the Kentucky business is starting a branch.  The UPS message says "We updated the delivery information for your package. / Your package will be delivered to an alternate address."  Only that didn't happen.  It continued on its way to New Hampshire.  

I spoke with another UPS agent the morning of the 22nd, after it had arrived tired and travel-weary in Stratford, Connecticut, after a stop in Chelmsford,  MA, where ever in 'ternation that is.  But the next day they put it on a truck for delivery to, you guessed it, Berlin, New Hampshire.  Fortunately the "receiver" refused delivery.  (The UPS message says "The receiver states the product was not ordered and has refused the delivery. / Delivery will be rescheduled."  Three minutes later a message states that "The receiver is no longer in business. / The address was corrected.")

Yesterday it spent about 7 hours sight seeing in Shrewsbury,  MA (again, What in 'ternation is MA?), then today made it out to Hodgkins, Illinois.  Supposedly it will be delivered to Waynetown, Indiana tomorrow.  

While I would love to go out to Oklahoma (or even Colorado or Oregon) to visit my scattered family, I'll be jealous if this package makes the trip on out there.

 

MA must be Massachusetts.  Apologies are extended to any residents of that state, a place I've never seen.

[T120]

I have bought car parts listed online in the US and had them shipped via USPS to a US address, (lower 48). To date , I have been impressed with the timely tracking information  provided by USPS once it is in their possession..?

[kencombs]

Mine has been fine, no changes .  Well, I actually have more mail in the box now than ever I think.  Grandson is spending his senior year in HS with me and filed a change of address with the PO.  I never knew colleges sent so many ads!  He gets 1-3 per day from all over the US.  FL, MA, CA, KS, IL ,just everywhere.  Postcard to full slick magazines.

 

As far as others,  I never ship UPS, bad past experiences and their rates are much higher than Fedex or USPS.  But, a lot of places ship to me with them and they seem to be better than in the past.  I used to send out packages everyday from eBay sales.  In 20 years, USPS lost 1 package.  No other issues.

 

Fedex damaged a large stained glass window, just on cracked pane.  Insurance paid in less than a week.

[Eneto-55]

1 hour ago, kencombs said:

Mine has been fine, no changes .  Well, I actually have more mail in the box now than ever I think.  Grandson is spending his senior year in HS with me and filed a change of address with the PO.  I never knew colleges sent so many ads!  He gets 1-3 per day from all over the US.  FL, MA, CA, KS, IL ,just everywhere.  Postcard to full slick magazines.

 

As far as others,  I never ship UPS, bad past experiences and their rates are much higher than Fedex or USPS.  But, a lot of places ship to me with them and they seem to be better than in the past.  I used to send out packages everyday from eBay sales.  In 20 years, USPS lost 1 package.  No other issues.

 

Fedex damaged a large stained glass window, just on cracked pane.  Insurance paid in less than a week.

 

I regularly ship large electronic devices.  I had two cases of damaged shipments when shipping through UPS.  They denied both claims.  Since switching to FedEx, I've not had any case of damaged goods.  Another reason for switching was what you mentioned - the higher cost of shipping via UPS.  But in my case here, it isn't all UPS' fault.  The local hardware store where I always went to ship via UPS changed the 'rules', and attributed it to UPS.  You know how they all round up to the next inch for determining dimensional weight - well, they claimed that UPS set that to round up TWO inches, instead of just one.  I talked with a UPS rep, and he told me that they allow 3rd party shippers to add to the shipping cost to cover their expenses, but that this was NOT a UPS standard.  The store had the right to do it, but to try to make it sound like it was due to a decision of UPS was dishonest.  So I take my stuff elsewhere when ever possible.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I have a UPS terminal 5 miles from my house and their hours are...5-7 pm only for drop off shipping....but I get excellent carrier service...we are 40 plus miles from the Fed_ex hub...it is a bother for them to come this far out in the country it seems.  

[Dan Hiebert]

We live in a rural location.  We were house-hunting in the March of a very snowy winter and noticed every single mailbox on the road was knocked into the snow bank by the plow, so we opted for a Post Office box instead of USPS delivery to our residence.  Next town over from our Post Office, but same zip code.  Junk mail volume has dropped a little over past month or so, which does not concern me, I celebrate it a bit.  All it does is generate trash on my part.  I'm no bunny-hugger, but I still do what I can for the environment.  My uncle retired from the Postal Service, he was the Postmaster in a small town in southern Illinois.  He's told me a few things over the years that are "Oh, Ok" moments about USPS, like all that junk mail is indeed revenue.  The folks that generate it pay USPS to deliver it, so they have to.  If that has lessened, it's not the Postal Service's doing.  Our service is really good here.  The USPS employees at the PO know us by name, even though we don't go into the lobby very often.  Even though they don't have to, they'll post stuff to our PO Box that was mailed to our street address, and they'll warn us when we ship a package that will go through a particular area service center in Ohio known to them for theft issues, and they'll recommend UPS or FedEx instead.  

[Ulu]

We have a similar problem here.

 

Our UPS terminal is on the poor side of the county 30 miles from us. Our FedEx terminal is on the nice side of the county only 5 miles from us.

 

Most of the people working on the poor side of the county live on that side of the county. FedEx employees mostly live on this side of the county.

 

Consequently UPS has a lot more problems with staff. We used to have to ship large heavy rolls of engineering drawings that required a hand truck.

 

These critical documents never went through UPS or USPS. We always sent them by Fed ex, or a private courier if local.

 

I really want to talk about the political situation at the post office right now, but I know better. Those things will all become clear in due course. I will only say that my experience with things lost in the mail is that they are truly and forever lost.

 

I also see a tell-all book about the post office in our near future.

 

 

 

 

[Sniper]

I don't get much other than junk mail since I do almost all my bills and such online.  As for shipping, the USPS has always been hit or miss as far as tracking and delivery times.  Most of the time though it's like someone mentioned, it sets "label created" but doesn't actually get shipped for a few days.

 

Probably the originator of the shipment put it in the system and they are short handed. 

[Pete]

Sniper,

 

I've taken that to mean that they've used their softare to ceate the shipping label, but are too busy or too lazy ro drag their lazy butt to the post office.

 

Pete

 

 

[Ulu]

So far I don’t have any big complaints about the post office in Fresno and Clovis.

 

At least no more than the traditional complaints that the post office has always suffered with.

 

But I really am concerned about this voting by mail business, and some have raised the prospect there should be a true validation. That everyone should confirm their vote.
 

Businesses typically do a double entry bookkeeping to avoid embezzlement or  errors in tabulation etc.

 

But maybe elections aren’t as important as we think.

 

 

[TodFitch]

2 hours ago, Ulu said:

So far I don’t have any big complaints about the post office in Fresno and Clovis.

 

At least no more than the traditional complaints that the post office has always suffered with.

 

But I really am concerned about this voting by mail business, and some have raised the prospect there should be a true validation. That everyone should confirm their vote.
 

Businesses typically do a double entry bookkeeping to avoid embezzlement or  errors in tabulation etc.

 

But maybe elections aren’t as important as we think.

 

Funny thing. . .

 

Back after the "hanging chad" issue there was a big push for changing out the voting machines with new electronic ones. At the time I was employed in Silicon Valley as an embedded systems software engineer so the type of systems they were trying to deploy were something I could consider from a professional point of view.

 

I did some research and decided that they were way less secure and way more easily manipulated than I'd like. So my wife and I switched to what was then called a "permanent absentee ballot" (a.k.a. "vote by mail") as it is actually more secure and more easily audited for issues than the damned electronic voting machines  (at least the ones they were deploying in the early 2000s).

 

Apparently every other engineer in Silicon Valley thought the same as I because by the next election the use of mail in ballots went sky high in Santa Clara County and they ended up having entire voting precincts empty and needed to consolidate them.

 

As implemented in Santa Clara County (where I was then) and Orange County (where I am now) there are far more checks and balances and tracing associated with mail in ballots than there ever was with electronic voting machines.

 

I notice that the same people stirring up suspicions about "voting by mail" are also pushing "absentee ballots" for their followers. They are just two different names for the same thing. I notice my neighbor who wears a hat pushing a candidate from the party casting aspersions on voting by mail is worried about that but is not concerned that he is going to be using an absentee ballot. Talk about disconnect.