Pending Postal Service Changes Could Delay Mail And Deliveries, Advocates Warn

I really like your posts too, but your original comment included a generalized and gratuitous slam at unions, which is about as political as one can get, especially given that kind of statement's association with a particular political agenda. I was very tempted to respond substantively, but didn't and won't. It was clearly not necessary for you to go there to make your point -- especially given how offensive what you said may have been to people who belong to unions themselves, or have family members who did (for example, my mother belonged to the teachers' union, and my grandfather and his father before him were garment workers on the Lower East Side). Perhaps you could delete that portion of your comment?

 

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I can say I do not believe unions in the USA work for the betterment of the company in general, they work for job security of their members, benefiting the lowest performers in particular. Both my parents worked for them, I was a member for a time, my sister is the shop steward for her group at work. I am not a stranger to unions and what unions fight for. I am the only management person in my family, all others are union members. Going further, both grandfathers in unions, 5 aunts and uncles in USPS union, and maybe 60 first cousins are union members.

My main point was the media running these stories could rightly be stated of sympathize with unions versus management generally. Therefore, the story ITSELF is propaganda, and sensationalistically promising the destruction of the USPS simply because the union does not like the outcome of these new policies. They note the new Postmaster is a donor of the President but does not emphasize he is a Logistics expert. They are VERY one sided, so I thought I would discuss the other side of the story, which I believe changes its perception demonstrably.

If I offend you saying unions do not like accountability of their members, I would suggest further study of union contracts and grievances in the USA. I think both of those sources would validate this position. I am not BLAMING them necessarily, it seems their members want this from them, just stating what unions fight for versus management.

 

While there are very legitimate issues of a political nature that should be aired and discussed in the public arena, I think it is important to focus the discussion in this forum in as non-political a manner as is possible.

So, please, let us proceed in a civil and respectful manner. The incendiary politics of today can lead to a full-blown brush fire. Please, let us avoid this.

 

I retired from the postal service almost 3 years ago. Best move of my life. You cannot imagine in your wildest dreams some of the insanity that exists in that business. Only time will tell if these changes are good or bad. And yes, there's the customer and the business. I for one do not think that's wise for a $.20 postcard to be delivered at a cost of over $130.00 and yes, I've seen it and that's the reality that is being dealt with.

It's different and we all dislike change but it's a reality that must be dealt with.

 

But my main point was that the statement had a political slant in implying that that's all unions are interested in, and by phrasing your point the particular way you did. One could argue to the contrary that what unions really want is due process before discipline and termination, not to make either impossible. (As an attorney who's represented both sides, I assure you that despite unions, plenty of discipline and termination still happens!) The people blaming the President were being equally political. Regardless of which side I may be on, the discussion really doesn't belong here.

 

I miss the good old days when our 'political' discussions centered on whether Constantine was a hero or a cad.

Thank you.

 

Personally, I have purchases from Roma awaiting shipment, along with ones from France and Israel that are somewhere "out there". There's not much choice than to kick back and take in a good read, listen to music and work on not taking horrendous photos of coins.

I do think, however, that it's time to trim back the overseas purchases (good luck with that!).

And, oh yes, try to educate young people on ancient history. The other night, while having dinner with a couple, their 14-year-old son asked me if Alexander The Great was Egyptian. There's work to be done.

 

+1

BTW, I think he had a great father!

 

Our postal service requires mail in one of two depositories 1. Local In Town Only 2. Outgoing. Our town is not a hub, go figure! Oh well it works...

 

One day? Amazing. I’ve had letters sent from 65 miles away that have taken up to 11 days to arrive. Hah

 

Wee dogies uncle Jed, I remember when I was a boy I had to walk five miles in the snow just to mail a letter and sometimes I'd lick a stamp and it would freeze to my tongue. Gol' durn it, I sure do miss those bygone days. I wouldn't mind goin' back to them if I didn't rely on the Pony Express to bring me my medicine and bullets!

I'm glad the uppity rule makers don't have any pull over my Sunday school class 'cause they would want to leave Moses out of pastor Jim's lesson about the Old Testament! Those boys may lock the devil in the outhouse an' pretend he's not there, but it don't change nothin'...

Also, I may not be makin' babies during this cornteen but by jiminy I’m thinkin' about it!

 

Delays are increasing.

 

I'm used to delays from Europe, but now I have a package from a Canadian dealer that, according to USPS tracking, has been sitting in Buffalo for almost three weeks. Another few days and I'll file a missing mail report, for whatever good it does. The dealer says the package is insured, but I'd rather have the two coins I bought.

 

Contact your local post office and speak to management. Sounds like it's hung up in customs. They should be able to provide more information or contact them to have it released.

 

Tracking deliveries now through the USPS is beginning to look more like reading passages from the Odyssey as letters and packages move with stately progress (at best) through the system.

I have one first class letter, a coin from Israel, that is now nearly a month past the latest projected delivery date. It is currently moving from Sacramento to, I assume, San Jose. I've adjusted, I think, to the new normal with the postal service with feelings of resignation and leaving the outcome to the Fates.

Now, I think items sent by Express Mail have a somewhat better chance of quicker delivery. I received three coins, again from Israel, within a week of mailing, through Express Mail. (Warning: If you have any items sent via the Israeli Postal Company, expect very long delays.)

I'm afraid we are in for a protracted period of erratic mail service. I think the USPS employees are doing the best they can under the very difficult circumstances of pandemic, a severe fiscal problem, and changes to operation procedures that guarantee delivery delays.

 

DonnaML, I really appreciate your tact in gently calling certain esteemed members on their (...sort of) implicit political biases.
This is offered as a halting attempt to say something meaningful about the issue in the absence of ...well, explicit political overtones. Doubt it'll be any better, but here goes.
The USPS is a constant headache. (...Regarding delays from Europe, years of buying online have taught me to enjoy the anticipation, as an integral part of the process. But from here, everything that's ever been 'lost in the mail' has been lost once it arrived in New York. Right, with the ensuing blame game between the USPS and Customs. Been there, done that. Once, regarding something bought unattributed, for something in the higher two figures, which was worth somewhere in the low three. ...From that point, yeah, the logistics are getting only more ominous.)
Except, from where we find ourselves now, what is to be done? Do we junk it (as we're watching happen in real time), or do we Fix it, Instead?
The parallel that leaps to mind is the American public educational system. Yeah, Broken as Hell (surely from my own experience, from the later '60's), but, Junk it, or Fix it?
As Dick Gregory used to say, "Locate your oppressor." In either case, do we blame the victim? Or address the chronic, structural underfunding of two pillars of the kind of infrastructure that belongs in any civilized society?
...Or should America go down in history as the greatest Third World economy on the face of the globe?
...Oh, No. Don't think this managed the avoidance of other than crudely implicit political overtones. Sorry. Best I was up to.

 

I doubt that my local post office has answered the phone in years!

 

Sounds about right! Maybe you could stop in. Best wishes on resolving this.

 

You should have told him Alexander was indeed Egyptian, was Tutankhamun's cousin, and Cleopatra's youngest son by her marriage to Ramses II.