USPS Mail Delays ??

Yesterday I got my normal mail at 9:30am as usual, but nothing but a junk envelope, Oh Well, sigh

Then, miraculously, a white USPS mail truck pulls into my driveway and delivered to boxes on my front porch, hit the doorbell, and rushed off down the street, where I think he did the same at a house on the end, but none in the middle.
That was a first time for that, but I liked getting the boxes on Saturday afternoon rather than waiting till after MLK day!

 

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The 50% decrease in the price of gasoline offsets all other increases for a net zero in inflation. You may be paying ~10% more for postage but it costs you far less than that to drive to the PO.

 

I've seen a lot of delays recently as well. Had a package take almost 2 weeks from Los Angeles to Colorado( right outside of Denver). Another that shipped last Thursday with an expected delivery of today hasn't moved since Thursday night. Hoping it will "magically" get some tracking updates and be at my PO in the morning but I'm not holding my breath.

 

I still have no update for my 1-day Priority Mail shipped out last Wednesday... I guess I'll have to give them a call.

 

Hate to have to make another example about service...but my rural carrier, yesterday, delivered my shipping supplies and two huge boxes of books I ordered...right to the snow bank on the side of the road.

 

I know it may seem like I'm bashing on the USPS with this thread, but this appears to be a one-off scenario, as my newer orders in the last two days are actually updating. It's the rest mentioned in the first post that are issues. I bet all of those will arrive all at once in it'll be like X-Mas day.

Anyway, despite it all, I actually still really like and prefer the USPS. I think we often overlook the benefits of the USPS's mailbox-to-mailbox, free pickup, free supplies, relatively lower postage for low weight packages, etc., as they're privileged, established services from long ago. I remember recently there was an uproar when the USPS proposed to end Saturday mail to save somewhere in the Billions - I'm not sure if it was a nice PR stunt by them or whatnot, but some (definitely not all) of the critics fell off to the wayside after that. There's no easy solution.

 

A couple of years ago, I posted a package (media mail) sent to Colorado, it took 18 months there, and 5 days back.

But the USPS carefully put tape on various parts to inform me that the package was damaged.

 

My Midwest stuff is moving well, both coasts slower than normal for weeks now...weather??

 

Just cold here in Ma. a couple of inches of snow so far this winter but this weekend we could get hit hard.

 

They have their faults but they do deliver 6 days a week and their Priority flat rate boxes are a great deal when sending heavy items.

 

WOW! Thread is going crazy.

Everybody must be waiting on coins in the mail !!

 

The delays are due to "Global Warming"

 

Add me to the list. I'm waiting on three packages.

 

And if you really don't like the job they are doing you're perfectly welcome to hop in your car and deliver the package yourself if you feel you can do it faster and cheaper.

 

I think alot of delays are due to sellers chincing out on shipping sending small items parcel post or some lousy service to save a nickel that they can pocket. Other times it probably is the USPS.

They have attempted to stream line things to save money which has all packages going to major hubs. Nothing is handled locally. If you want to ship a coin to your neighbor, the local office no longer handles it. It gets shipped to major hub with everything else and then sent back to your local p.o. to go out. It seems crazy but supposedly cost effective. I'd say alot of delays are due to sellers going cheap on shipping though.

 

I think you misunderstood the topic of the thread. The issue is not about the level of service or whether people are choosing "cheap" shipping options. The majority of people stating their packages are delayed have been buying or selling for some time. The issue is that the packages are taking LONGER THAN USUAL to arrive. Hence the usage of the word DELAY. In other words the same service they have been using (whether cheap or not) is taking more time to get to its destination. As far as I can see it's across all price points (Priority, First Class, Standard, etc).

 

Ok, fair enough. I was just stating that part of the reason may be due to their cut backs to save money.

 

USPS cutbacks may have some part in the delays. Especially if changes got implemented with the start of the new year. My guess is weather is the bigger factor though.