I need to vent

[Gayle]

I'm a little upset with the postal service.

On February 3, I ordered a DVD and was notified it had been shipped the same day. The arrival date to my house was February 5th. As of today, it still hasn't arrived so I decided to check on it. The following is what I printed out.

February 3, 2010 08:48 PM Hebron Ky Arrival Scan

February 5, 2010 04:45 PM Greenville SC Shipment received by carrier

February 5, 2010 09:10 PM Greenville SC Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit (BTW, Greenville is 30 miles from me)

February 8, 2010 08:33 AM Andalusia AL Possible delay in delivery due to arrival at incorrect carrier facility

February 9, 2010 08:32 AM Memphis TN Departure Scan

February 12, 2010 11:43 PM Greensboro, NC Departure Scan

February 13, 2010 12:10 AM Greensboro, NC Departure Scan

Status: Shipment Delayed

If you look at the time on 2-5-10, notice that 9:10 PM should be 21:10 PM or it is leaving before it got there. The arrival date was changed from the 5th to the 10th.

On 2-8-10 Possible delay in delivery due to arrival at incorrect carrier facility. I'll say, someone in Greenville wasn't looking at the right address.

With all the snow in NC, there is no telling when my order will arrive. No wonder the post office is losing money.

[jujurodgers]

oh my!!!! how frustrating!!! i hate waiting for a package....i get very impatient LOL...geez!!!

[minifan]

If you are close to Greensboro could you contact the post office and go pick it up?

I've not done that with the post office, but I have with UPS...when they delay a shipment, I call and ask for it to go to the nearest p/u location, (which is Staples or something) and go get it...

But that sucks...I hate ordering online for that reason...I get SOOO impatient waiting for stuff to arrive...

[Just One More]

I used to think you would always be able to trust the post office. Right up there with Mom and apple pie. No more. Last month they lost three of my most important payments, all addressed to Atlanta GA. I started getting phone calls about the 12th wanting to know why I hadn't made my house payment etc, etc. They talk to you like you are just one more person that doesn't pay their bills. It was very upsetting. After checking my credit history they waved late fee charges but I still had to put stop payments on three checks and that was $90. I've never had this happen before but three in one month was enough to make me decide to make my payments on line from now on. I always worried about doing that with identity theft, etc but if you can't trust the Post Office what else can you do? Waiting for packages is the pits too. They never come when expected anymore, even Priority Mail. I hope you get yours soon. No mail tomorrow so that's one more day to wait.

[Gayle]

When I paid the shipping charges, I didn't expect the package to be shipped all over the Southeastern states!

Going to Greensboro is not an option for me, I would have gone to Greenville though. I sent a package to one of the forum members and it left here in a timely manner to end up in Greensboro. I even paid for tracking. Until the day it was delivered to her, the tracking number showed the package had not left Greensboro. How's that for efficiency?

We have a UPS distribution center in Spartanburg and there is another UPS store about 3 miles for me. I may have to call or write the Post Office and give them a small piece of my mind. If this has happened in any other business, the person responsible would have been unemployed.

[havanaholly]

The USPS lost the doll I sent to Kathie, and Tracy & I have both had packages we sent each other never arrive. One day DH & I were taking a walk and I found a package in a ditch addressed to a house in a neighborhood on the other side of our county road, so when we got home we hopped in the car and went looking for the address; we finally ended up leaving it on top of the mailbox that came closest to the house number on the box, in hopes that whoever it was addressed to would finally get it.

[KarenC]

I don't blame you. The USPS has gotten so bad. I sent an overnight letter - very important - it didn't get there until 3 days later, sat for 2 days in the city just south of where I live. I go to get a refund at my local post office as they guarantee service. After waiting in line 25 minutes because there was only 1 clerk on duty and a family of 4 plus a single man had all come in for passports in front of me, I finally get waited on, mail my package and then present paperwork for refund. A supervisor has to be called. She has to go check on computer. She's gone and gone and gone and gone. Finally, I ask clerk if I've been forgotten about. Got an answer of I don't know, I'm not her boss, she's mine, I can't tell her what to do. Well I'm kind of taken aback by that and don't quite know what to say so I wait a few more minutes, wait, wait, wait. Finally, just as I am about to explode, the supervisor comes waltzing back in saying I don't know what happened with this, I've been trying to figure out why it didn't get delivered. By that point, I'm really ticked off and say it really doesn't matter what happened, the service wasn't provided and all I want is my money back without having to wait any longer - in a not very nice tone of voice with what I'm sure was a pretty angry look on my face by that point. I was at the PO for 40 minutes and the only person in front of me when I went in was the single man for the passport and the family being helped already

As well, a business acquaintance sent a priority mail letter to me in the PO supplied envelope. It took 9 days to get here. This was from a fairly large city to a large metropolitan area.

And they WONDER why they are losing business.

Karen

[Brezavaqt]

WOW. I feel bad for you all. I have a GREAT mail carrier. She delivered my packages in the middle of the snow storm last week. When I opened the door, she said, "I know you couldn't wait for these!" They were all minis!! LOL. I LOVE her so much; I think I'm going to leave her a Xmas gift in the mailbox this year!! Same with my FEDEX and UPS drivers. They are all great! I'll say a little prayer for you all.

[Gayle]

The lady at my local post office is one of a kind. Friendly, helpful and goes out of her way to be of service to everyone so I can't blame her for this snafu. Years ago, the post office started sending any mail from Spartanburg to the post office in Greenville where it's sorted before being shipped to other destinations. The problem is there. I suppose that to the person who did the sorting thinks Andalusia AL sounds like Spartanburg SC.

[grazhina]

Sometimes mail we sent to our daughter in Philly would go missing. Once a check, another time concert tickets. We did contact the Postal service and they launched an investigation. Someone from Washington DC called us back at one point. They were tracing the routes our mail took to hunt down the culprits.

We've found that most places throughout the country have reliable mail service, but unfortunately, a few places have incompetent or untrustworthy employees.

Once we had a mailman who apparently got tired of delivering the mail, so he started going home instead. The PO got calls from a lot of unhappy people and suddenly we had a new mailman and our mail started coming bright and early every morning.

[Gayle]

Bless my poor DVD's groves. It arrived this morning safe and sound. Now, I'm off to watch the good stuff and learn something new. WooHoo!!

[Brezavaqt]

In light of all of the postal whoas everyone has been having, I just had to share this email I received today (I thought it was SO funny!! Hope I don't offend anyone!):

There was a man who worked for the Post Office whose job was to process all the mail that had illegible addresses.

One day, a letter came addressed in a shaky handwriting to God with no actual address. He thought he should open it to see what it was about.

The letter read:

Dear God,

I am an 83 year old widow, living on a very small pension.

Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had $100 in it, which was all the money I had until my next pension payment.

Next Sunday is Christmas, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with, have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope. Can you please help me?

Sincerely, Edna

The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to all the other workers. Each one dug into his or her wallet and came up with a few dollars.

By the time he made the rounds, he had collected $96, which they put into an envelope and sent to the woman.

The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of Edna and the dinner she would be able to share with her friends.

Christmas came and went.

A few days later, another letter came from the same old lady to God.

All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened.

It read:

Dear God,

How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me?

Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends.

We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift.

By the way, there was $4 missing. I think it might have been those bas**rds at the post office.

Sincerely,

Edna

[AmyD]

that story is just too funny.