Anyone else having surprises with deliveries by USPS? This is my Black Friday shipment from 914 Rubber (not their fault!), and has been on the road since December 10. It shows up at various cities, then goes quiet before showing up again. I live in SW Colorado, and so far it has made a big circle around me without getting close.

I just got a check from a world member that was sent usps priority on 12/16.
We sent xmas presents to our nieces and nephews in CA on 12/12 by usps priority and they still haven't arrived.

I've been having USPS stuff take 2-3 weeks for delivery. Apparently they didn't anticipate the surge in shipping because of the pandemic, though UPS and FedEx did and bulked up on staff. Also, the USPS has a lot of people out sick and there isn't a lot of cross training at the sorting facilities, so if one dude is out, his part of the system goes down. This was told to me by a postal person.
I got a package today, coming from China, that shipped in early November, was stateside as of Nov. 24th, and I got it today.
Be patient is what they tell me.

I bought an item off of ebay around Dec 1. By Dec 4 the item was in the USPS mail, 2-3 day shipping. When I bought the item I did not look at the location. The guy is in Allentown where I live.

The item goes from Allentown to Philadelphia then back to Allentown by Dec 7. And there it sat until yesterday when it showed up at my local PO. I didn't want to wait another day so I went to the PO to pick up the item. Over 20 days to go about 15 miles.

I was told 15% of the workforce is out sick or quarantining and overtime isn't permitted.

Getting stuff from overseas is even worse. I've been waiting on valve adjusters to be sent from Germany to the machinist in LA. The package sat in Frankfurt for 2 months, then made it to San Francisco. That's when the USPS fun started because it next went to LA where it was supposed to go, then took a surprise trip to Seattle. Then to Portland where it sat two days. Back to LA and out for delivery. Turns out somebody else's package label addressed to Portland got stuck on it somehow. Machinists then put my stuff in a box and sent it to me on Saturday and it arrived today. It has been entertaining to watch.

I’m dealing with the same crap from UPS. Ordered shocks December 11th. I still haven’t seen them yet. Just follow the package up and down the coast. Finally ended up in lost and found. They created a new tracking number. Of course the vendor is out for the holidays.

I spoke to soon. It just showed up on my door step. The tracking number said return to sender with the address of the vendor. Then I get an update that’s shows it’s at a local UPS distribution center and says it’s on a truck out for delivery. One of the shocks bounced around quite a bit with the protective cap broken off. Otherwise the box looked fine and the shocks look undamaged.

I've also had quite a few USPS packages delivered by UPS or Fed Ex recently. I had one USPS package I was tracking that was supposed to be delivered last Saturday but got delayed so I figured it would arrive the following Monday. I had a FedEx package delivered that Sunday and when I went to pick it up (we have rural mailboxes 3 miles from the house) there was my USPS package. That was a happy surprise.

The postal system is a mess right now, particularly in Pennsylvania:

https://fusion.inquirer.com/business/usps-p...0-20201218.html

“Don’t be using the post office right now, because we can’t deliver the mail,” said Laurence Love, an assistant clerk craft director who operates mail-sorting machines at the Philadelphia Processing and Delivery Center."

It's been taking upwards of a month for packages I ship out to get there. One package I ordered appears to be lost.

Yes, service is a total crap shoot right now. I've been waiting several weeks for a part I need to get my wife's car through MD inspection. At some point USPS just stopped providing status. On the other hand, I shipped core calipers back to PMB the week before Christmas and they arrived ahead of schedule.

I can handle slow delivery and service if that's the expectation. What is irksome is having no idea if the package is going to be on time, weeks behind, or arrive at all.

I mailed something from the Danville to San Francisco, (25 miles) and it took 2 months to arrive. A month later I mailed something else, same story, 2 months to arrive. Both envelopes were perfectly addressed.

The San Francisco post office is the problem. They have a bunch of illiterate, ignorant and useless people working there, whom they refuse to fire for incompetence.

My father-in-law retired from the US Postal Service and was a Past Master and he just shakes his head and says even back 40 years ago when he was working, they could not get rid of the lazy people who did nothing.

worked for the USPS for 40 years. 30 in management. The problem is the Union is very strong. Its almost impossible to fire someone. unless they are caught stealing or punch someone on the job. Years after I retired I was summoned to court on a case where a temporary employee threatened a supervisor and was terminated.

There are very many employees that are excellent at their job, But a few bad ones that don't measure up do bring down the moral.

Then they brought in a Postmaster general that has NO postal experience to run things. (political appointee)

I'm glad I got out when I did. I have a relative that is a Postmaster of a medium sized office and agrees that things are not like they used to be.

To understand the Post Office you have to understand the mentality behind it. 70% of the employees are ex-military. This is not to say that military people are stupid, but the military is designed to be a slow moving, sometimes inefficient organization. Like the famous quote,
"A master plan designed by geniuses for execution by idiots."

Like I said, I'm not saying everyone who works at the post office is an idiot, far from it, but the system is designed so it can be run by idiots, which is why you find yourself sometimes being face to face with an idiot, who still has a job year after year.
I remember being in a post office one time with a line out the door, it was lunchtime so everyone was mailing stuff on their lunchbreak. They had 10 windows open and 1 person was working, because all the postal people were at lunch. When someone complained the one clerk said, "we don't get a lunch?"
The person said "yes, everyone get's a lunch but you could stagger the lunch knowing you are going to have a rush during that time."
The postal guy just rolled his eyes and the line creeped along.

Sorry that this is political but there is no way around it. We have to remember who ultimately runs the USPS - Congress. They demand the USPS be run like a for-profit business but whenever USPS tries to streamline to cut losses, our Congress men and women step in and block it to prove they are looking out for their constituents. Personally, I'm amazed they do as well as they do. Is it a private for-profit business or a government service? Neither, it is a political football.

@Unobtanium-inc

Long before the pandemic i went to the post office to buy four $.47 stamps.
I handed the young woman $2.
She said i owed more money.
I said "No, i don't."
She said "I need a calculator"
I handed her a pencil.
She stared at it like it was some mysterious object.

But i salute the work that the postal workers are doing. Far more work, less employees to do the work and more postal sorting machines removed than normal and overtime slashed.
Must be very discouraging to work in those conditions.
And yes I am seeing huge delays in package deliveries especially overseas ones.

We have been getting mail delivered maybe 2x a week.

I disagree with this premise. It's not about intelligence. It's about leadership and pride of mission. I believe both Tom, with regard to the power of a confrontational union, and Brent, with regard to congress' inability or unwillingness to properly fund, set expectations, or provide accountability, are the biggest drivers here.

I worked in and with a number of government agencies during my long and tedious consulting career in the DC area. One thing that may surprise someone unfamiliar with the Federal government is how different the culture and level of performance can be within different government organizations. One agency can have a real sense of mission, fairly dynamic leadership, a generally cooperative union (if applicable), and demonstrate a pretty agile approach to meeting its mission. Another agency may have a culture that seems to say "we're little more than a jobs program" and you see it in how the employees respond. I feel like the post office, unfortunately, has kind of fallen into the latter. And FWIW, Fed employees outside the DC area seem to be more motivated, in general - at least in my experience.

Oh well, hopefully everyone gets their stuff, eventually

Generally agree.

Let's start with the fact that like many other things Congress has abrogated it's responsibility to be accountable for USPS. Since 1970 USPS has been regulated by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC).

Since the PRC is a Federal entity, it certainly isn't a private for profit business, that is clear. It continues to remain a Government protected monopoly (with respect to letters).

I'll be willing to bet no one is aware of the history of Lysander Spooner American Letter Mail Company which did in fact try to compete with USPS but was forced out of business by Congress in 1851.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Letter_Mail_Company

And let's not forget that the position of Postmaster has always been politial in nature and used to futher the personal aims of the Postmaster.

http://www.benjamin-franklin-history.org/postmaster-general/

So bottom line is, not much has changed in 200+ years.

Like others here, I have packages that are running very late and today need to dispute an order with Amazon on some painting hood shields that are lost with USPS somewhere in Chicago!

My mail has been totally messed up for months, USPS seems to be having serious issues. When you inquire with them they just say give it 10 more days it will get sorted out eventually.

I agree, it not about intelligence, it's about a system that puts up with non-intelligence. The fact that no one can get fired does not bring out the best in people. The lowest performers operate at the slowest speed, because that is their speed. The top performers quickly adjust their speed down because the system doesn't reward the top performers, from their perspective the system rewards the low performers by letting them get away with crap work. The bottom brings down the top, and what you're left with is a very slugglish system that breaks down under pressure, which is what we are seeing now.

We've been going through the same ordeal. I ordered parts from 914Rubber a while ago, which were shipped Priory Mail, which is supposed to take only 3 days -- the package arrived yesterday, over a week late.

I suppose I should be happy the package arrived at all. I probably would be, if the parts I needed were actually in there and not back-ordered for a month.

Complaints? Contact Dejoy. Shutter every fucking post office. PERMANENTLY. See what that gets you. To expect normalcy is pathetic. Even in the best of times international shipping is a slow boat. All over some parts for a hobby endevore. Heaven forbid your parts take a backseat to more pressing, REQUIRED, possibly essential items. Yes, I'm sure delaying your shipment of stupid parts, that you failed to order in a timely fashion, is all part of the grand scheme of concealing the wide spread of mythical and disproven election fraud. Get over it.

Yes, I think that is closer to the truth. There is generally a regression to the lowest common denominator in terms of performance in organizations without true accountability.

The Post office is a service, not a for profit business. They have been very unprofitable for years as they were required by law to provide 50 years of retirement benefits.
The volume of letters they handle to far beyond the capacity of UPS and FedEx combined. They need more workers and funding to improve the service due to the increase on mail during pandemic times.

There are many factors at work for the current USPS problems. I won't try to understand the culture of the workers or the union situation, but can say that I have had great experience with the USPS service for many years, and even when I expected normal shipping to slow down during the election season, packages still moved on time. For me, the last 4-6 weeks have been pretty bad. I have heard that this is due to a large percentage of staff being on Covid quarantine, combined with the elimination of OT, and not hiring temp seasonal workers due to additional Covid concerns. It seems to be bad all across the country, and I am sure the new postmaster has some fault in this.

An interesting thing is that it seems that back in 2006, Congress decided to require the USPS to pre-fund their future retiree health benefits. This is something that is not typical and has hurt the financial status of the USPS. Combined with a drop in first class mail volume, the USPS has gone from a organization with billions in annual profit, to one that has hundreds of billions in debt. There has been discussions about removing this requirement, but Congress has gone nowhere with it. You can find many articles online that discuss various aspects of this issue.

The direct chain of leadership is responsible. FedEx, UPS, and AMZL are all taking on more load because of the USPS fault and face the same labor and environmental conditions, but they are not falling over.

Why remove Megan Brennan who had a spotless record?

I don't get upset over delays in receiving parts for my PORSCHE. Poor me. It did put a cramp in my plans to take this week off and push hard on my build project, but no biggie. I have plenty to do.

Overall I think the USPS works remarkably well considering everything they are up against, but it is still amusing. Our local post office workers have been nothing but pleasant and helpful. No complaints there. The delays and strange routing are generally more entertainment than anything else. I never forget that the very fact I get to play with a Porsche puts me in a very fortunate crowd.

Here you go. Kevin sent me a payment, well sort of, lol.

The "Happy Holidays" cancellation stamp is the cherry on top. Sorry for your hassle, but the pic is hilarious.

I once got into it with a guy at the post office who said it's not up to them really when it gets there, they are beholden to FEDEX, UPS, and the airlines to get packages places, since they don't have their one planes. I asked how is that an organization with a Government Monopoly does such a poor job that people like UPS and FEDEX can even first get a foothold, and 2nd have surpassed the USPS, where they are now dependent on them to get packages places. How pathetic is that? No answer from the postal guy, but I saw the gears turning.

I use USPS all the time, but I would think twice sending something I really cared about through USPS. Especially right now with holidays and covid.

A few years ago I sent a gearset via USPS flat rate. It got lost. Spent hours on the phone figuring out what happened. Turns out the person at the PO had keyed the zip code incorrectly and it went to the wrong local PO. They eventually figured it out and delivered an EMPTY BOX to the correct destination. By the time the investigation had completed and I spent more hours on the phone, too much time had passed and they didn't give me a cent. Go figure.

At least the USPS has competition, maybe it helps keep some level of service. Compare that to the DMV. This week I spent 4 hrs on the phone talking to at least 5 different people at the NY DMV to get answers to a slightly odd vehicle registration issue. All but one had no clue at all, and only seemed equipped to google while I waited, gave me info I knew was wrong, and to apologize that I didn't like the incorrect info.

That's like asking the counter person at McDonalds why a value meal is no longer $1.99.

The outcome of USPS decisions and policy isn't with the counterperson. You'd be lucky to even be able to get a sensible answer to your question from a Congressman less yet the average working stiff at USPS.

Megan Brennan retired at her own decision, and had only planned to be in that position for the five years she served as Postmaster General.

https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-re...n-j-brennan.htm

Yeah, but it says a lot about the mentality of the place.

Can FedEx or UPS send a letter across the continent for 47 cents or whatever it is now? Nope. Can FedEx or UPS get a padded envelope with small parts across the continent for a couple bucks? Nope. They have their strengths and weakness.

horses for courses. Up until a couple months ago, usps was basically pretty good. I'm sure it will get back to normal.

Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution, known as the Postal Clause or the Postal Power, empowers Congress "To establish Post Offices and Post Roads." The Post Office has the constitutional authority to designate mail routes. The Post Office is also empowered to construct or designate post offices with the implied authority to carry, deliver, and regulate the mail of the United States as a whole. The Postal Power also includes the power to designate certain materials as non-mailable, and to pass statutes criminalizing abuses of the postal system (such as mail fraud and armed robbery of post offices)[1]

Monopoly or not, profit center or not, they have to deliver the mail.

By law they cannot deliver letters, only the USPS can do that. A Monopoly.

But they are required to deliver to every US address. If you didn't have a mandated usps, fedex, ups, etc would only deliver to the addresses that were easy and the difficult addresses would cost a fortune to mail to.

There is no way to state that with certainty given that no one is free to try. Just sayin'.

But USPS factors that in too, try getting a box in Alaska, it's not cheap.

Again. Can't say that with certainty since no one is allowed to try.

And why should someone that chooses to live where US mail can only be delivered by boat or plane be able to send a letter for only $0.55 cents when they have chosen to live in some remote, nearly unreachable location?

With all these imposibilies of a USPS competitor being able to compete with USPS why the need for the monopoly protection?

The long answer is that it is much more complicated that sound bites that can can be solved in this forum like this. In reality, technology like email, direct deposit, and cheap electronic funds transfers (like PayPal) have made the USPS letter carrying business model a bit dated.

But a letter is still .55 and postcard .35. I'm no constitutional scholar but it makes sense to insure that everyone could hear from their government and vis versa, it was mandated in the constitution.
Many people, even in well populated areas, don't have access to technology. Giving everyone a voice is basic to our constitution.

I've had several packages delayed 2-4 weeks, just sitting in limbo.

It is almost as if someone intentionally tried to criple the mail service by tearing out sorting machines and other corrupt actions.

My box finally arrived, on Thursday. Looking back at the tracking history, it took quite a trip. This could be a fun 914 tour route.

IMHO, USPS does a great job delivering the mail and small packages under normal circumstances, but not so great under abnormal circumstances. I've used USPS for years with very little problems, until covid.

USPS won't hire part time help during crunch time, like for profit carriers do, and they are exceptionally cautious about the virus. I have a friend who is a postal worker, a couple months ago she had a small coughing fit at work and a co-worker freaked out thinking she had covid, and she was sent home for two weeks, but never got sick or close to it.

No need to get political or bring up recent political upheaval. USPS is a large organization with plenty of bureaucracy to slow things down in difficult times.

I recently saw a photo of a large postal facility with hundreds of gaylord boxes full of mail, waiting to be processed.

One of my customers mailed me a check on the 12th of Dec and it's still not arrived.

If you have to send a package, use UPS or FedEx. A letter might get there in a reasonable time frame, or not, still faster than wagon train or pony express

USPS is spiraling down. It will go the way of the Pony Express. It's outlived it's usefulness and is being replaced by the likes of UPS, Fed Ex, email, etc. Funny note* Years back I had a few Post Offices that we serviced. They had just installed the metal detectors after a few shootings that had just gone down. Forgetting that I had some old metal residing in my leg, I walked in and mayhem ensued. Finally one of the mgr's recognized me and stopped the insanity within. I was told to enter the building from the rear henceforth. I did the same thing to the other 3 PO stations we served. I couldn't help myself. It was just too much fun watching the pandemonium when the alarm went off. Those guys just do not have a sense of humor.

I don’t think any of the major carriers want the last mile business/mail delivery. It’s very expensive.

I think USPS will recover from this, just like the rest of the country. They have carved out a place for themselves by being cheaper and more accessible. People will tolerate lower quality service for price, people are cheap and with everyone offering "free shipping" these days, well, it doesn't help the little guy, but it will help USPS.
They have long ceded their birthright of being the only game in town because some people wants better and faster. But just like Greyhound, and the back of the arena at a rock concert, the cheap seats get filled too.

When the USPS goes under, daily home delivery and pickup ends and publicly traded company's take the reins, where do you plan on mailing a first class envelope? Blue boxes will become yard art. So, fedex office store, FedEx or UPS distribution center? What if you live some distance from any of those facilities? You get in your vehicle and drive as far as required. X2. Call to check on any mail addressed to you awaiting pick up. Enjoy the looped music while you wait on hold for what will most certainly be some time. Then gas up the rig, get the keys and head out. During normal Biz hours. Standing in line waiting for people to arrange shipping a parcel. Sounds like a good plan.