On the warpath

[Rhonda from the Bluegrass]

My mom used to work for the USPO, and her attitude was like yours, Rhonda. The management was bad. But Mom kept her customers in mind and went out of her way to be sure people got their mail. She would never have considered leaving a package where it could have been harmed.

It's so sad when people just don't care about their work. And bad management can corrode their workers' attitudes. But the best still do their job right--because they care.

Thanks so much, Kitty. I am always glad when people realize that some of us do care, and those of us who do, try to go "over and above" to try to improve as much as we can. I have always felt that no matter what job you do, you should give it your all. Every single job out there matters. I often watch my garbage men, out in the early morning bitter cold , and I always wonder if they know how much they are appreciated. Can you imagine life without those folks? It may not be a glamorous job, but they sure do "count" in the fabric of our society. The funny thing is, I often think that those who have the most thankless jobs matter the most. I wouldn't miss a business executive that quit his job as much as I would my garbage man! The "little guy" in a business is such an integral piece of the puzzle, yet they are often treated with disdain and I am personally sick of it.

[sparklepuppies]

Oh, and Rhonda, THANK YOU for your thougtfulness and all you do. Scary to think what things would be like if there weren't at least some people like you.

[Gayle]

I live within a 1/4 mile of our PO and I have to tell you, the service received there is TOPS in my book. The Postmaster (who works alone) is very friendly and helpful. She will go out of her way to help all her customers. This is a small mill village and we don't take easily to outsiders but this lady is like a member of the family as far as the residents are concerned. We've adopted her and love her like we've known her all of our lives.

I once sent a package across the U.S to a fellow member here and had the forsight to add tracking to the package. Once the package reached Greensboro, NC, it seemed to stop. Every time I checked the number, it showed that it was still in NC-for 10 days. The Postmaster called the destination to check on the package and was told it had arrived at the PO that morning and was waiting to be picked up. My problem was the lack of tracking information because no one bothered to scan the number.

FedEx requires your PO information because they deliver to your local PO instead of your house. I ordered a part for our hot tub and the company shipped out of Memphis by FedEx. The package was shipped on Nov. 10 and I didn't receive it until the 22nd. Had it been sent by mail, I would have received it within 2-3 days. The worst part was the package was received in Charlotte where it stayed for 3 days before being sent to Greensboro and stayed there for a few more days before being sent to my local PO. I can drive to Charlotte in one hour. For the length of time the package took to arrive from Memphis, I could have walked. I sent an email to the company and gave them the details of the delivery. I also suggested to them that they should offer an option for delivery preference.

[Rhonda from the Bluegrass]

Oh, and Rhonda, THANK YOU for your thougtfulness and all you do. Scary to think what things would be like if there weren't at least some people like you.

Aw, shucks That was a very sweet thing to say, but . . . I am just doing my job. That's what I am supposed to do!

[woodland_miniatures]

Rhonda, I also have to say a big, heart-felt THANK YOU to you and folks like you in the PO who DO do their jobs. I had no idea what actually went on until a friend's husband worked in one of the sorting facilities of USPS as a part-timer - the horror stories that man told would make your hair curl. And it was indeed all due to rotten, and I mean rotten to the core, management....I am SO sorry for honest, caring workers trying to do a wonderful job for all of us under those circumstances. Bless you, Rhonda, for remembering who you're really working for!!!!

[CheckMouse]

So sorry everyone is having trouble with USPS. Maybe it's because I'm in a small town, maybe it's just the WA branch, but we LOVE our post office people! We know them all by name, exchange friendly banter while in the office, and our mailman, Brett, is a jewel. If there's snow on the ground he often runs (never walks) our mail up to the door so "you girls don't have to walk in this snow" – girls being my 87-year-old mother and me when my husband's out of town.

Everybody on our route loves Brett; he always goes above and beyond the call of duty. Sounds like we should ask him to extend his route to include all of you. We've lived here almost 11 years now and have never had a problem with outgoing or incoming mail; it's always handled properly. Sounds like some of these offices have just got some slipshod employees who need to be replaced. I would recommend sending complaints farther up the administration chain; they probably don't even know about the problems.

[grazhina]

We have a great PO in our town and in the one we lived in before this. DH delivers our packages to the PO every day and sometimes needs to call for information, so one of the clerks gave him the postmaster's phone number. They're a very friendly bunch.

We did have a lazy slug of a mail carrier once though, in the town we used to live in. he delivered the mail later and later, till one day we didn't deliver any to anyone on our street at all. The next day our mail was delivered at 9AM by a new mailman and the old one was never seen again.

[grynche]

Except for the phone number thingey, I have no problems with my local small town PO. The first Christmas I was here, one of the ladies called me to remind me that I had packages waiting! The only issue I have, really, is with the lovely citizens who complained about the carrier who always had his dog with him in his car. The carrier quit and I was heartbroken because I couldn't run out and pet the doggie

[havanaholly]

The trip before last when DH went to restart our mail delivery our route carrier was just leaving and heard the clerk ask where we'd been this time and when he told her the carrier asked him to adopt her!

[what2craftnow]

I'm one of the lucky ones I guess. Pretty rural area and they deliver packages right to the doorstep, although we do have one guy who is pretty "iffy" (i.e. lazy) who won't make the trip to the door, but thankfully he doesn't work our route too often. UPS is, by and large, pretty good too, surprisingly. <_< (of course, now that I've said that...)

[havanaholly]

Both UPS & Fed Ex are really good about coming into the yard, although if we aren't home there's one who's bad about leaving packages on the hood of my car. We have an old park bench by the front door and that's usually where boxes are left. When we take long road trips we have a sign we stick on the window glass of the front door requesting packages be left in the vehicle still in the yard, and both UPS & Fed Ex are good about doing that.

[KathieB]

Then there was the substitute mail carrier who put a vacation hold on our mail for several weeks (until we figured out why we weren't getting mail we knew had been sent to us -- paychecks, personal letters, etc.) because she didn't think we were home ... yet managed to stop by to collect postage due twice during that period.

[Wolfie]

I am so glad we do not have mail delivery here. UPS and Fed-Ex don't even deliver here from October until April or May. And I am grateful. We go to the post office ourselves when we can, and then we have a realty company down in the town owned by a friend who accepts my packages and bundles and then calls me to tell me they are there and sometimes even has her husband bring them to me when he can.

I'm spoiled! But I no longer have packages delivered like yours, but in the past we did. I even had packages stolen from my porch because they didn't ring the bell to tell me they were there.

[LLyn M.]

I so agree with Rhonda.When we lived in the Northeast my bff worked at the Post Office as a rural carrier.Such a job comes with so much grief! Almost all from Managment.

My friend went out of her way to treat her customers very well and they loved her.But

she couldn't wait to retire(early).Another nasty point is that managment doesn't care for Women either!Or Rurals...Way too many chiefs,not enough indians!!Thank Goodness

our PO in little Hillsboro is Great!!

[JPete]

I live in New England and back from the road. My Postal driver will often drive down our long driveway and deliver my packages which I tell

her I appreciate beyond belief. I've had UPS leave stuff on my trash barrel at the end of the driveway till I called the office and told them

that probably wasn't a great idea, especially on trash day. Now they come down down the driveway. Once in the middle of winter he left my

Beacon Hill in the snow in a bag at least with a note on it saying sorry he couldn't drive down in the snow, so at least he apologized. And Fed Ex,

well they lost my Brimbles last year and it has never turned up. Greenleaf replaced it for me no charge though and sent the new one UPS. I think

it just comes down to the Integrity of the person who is delivering. Most of the time they get it right.

[KathieB]

Did any of you see the news item re the mail carrier who delivered mail stark naked to one customer "to cheer her up?"

See ... ummm, READ ... it here. It takes all kinds.

[Bea Killion]

Our postman is great, he will bring the package to our door and ring the bell, but I have had problems with UPS, one of my dollhouses was delivered to our neighbors house. I knew it was coming on this particular day and I waited, then when I didn't get it , I went online to track it, and found it "was" delivered. So I sent my husband out looking on everyones porch, and he found it. Inside the wrought iron gate on my neighbor's porch. We do have our house # right on our front door, so I don't know what the problem was.

[jujurodgers]

This is one of the many things I love about where I live! our mailman who drives his own car to deliver out here, often comes up to the house to give me packages which he is not required to do at all cause we have those metal lock boxes spread out around the area and large lock boxes for packages....so love that! and love that when I get to our po (14 miles away) the most people you could expect, even at this time of year, in line would be maybe 4? usually no one ahead of you!

[CheckMouse]

Did any of you see the news item re the mail carrier who delivered mail stark naked to one customer "to cheer her up?"

<_<

See ... ummm, READ ... it here. It takes all kinds.

What a hoot! Article said the mailman admitted it might not have been such a good idea. Ya think???

A few years ago my aunt's jewelry customer received her package from UPS, but all the small boxes inside were empty! The driver saw where the box came from, carefully opened it and removed all the jewelry (for several customers at a home party), replaced the boxes, resealed the outside box, and then was dumb enough to deliver the package! Didn't take long to catch him and he was fired. Another dumb criminal!

[Scotty]

Hi Jeanne, so sorry to hear of your awful experience with postal delivery. I hear horror stories from the UK too but personally my local posties are very good. I did once have a parcel delivery and the driver forged my signature saying he'd delivered when he hadn't. The post office tried to give me the run around for a number of weeks and eventually I went on local radio and said I thought it was unacceptable. The phone rang instantly and compensation was paid. Is this an option for you at all?

Rhonda I'm so sorry you have to face such awful working conditions. I've just left a job where I was being belittled all day and it has such a negative effect on you without you necessarily realising it. Very insidious. I hope you get lots of collegue support.

[julygirl56]

My husband used to be a USPS carrier. He had a rural route here in Vermont and he busted his butt to deliver to his customers. One of his co-workers was the exact opposite. He was the laziest thing that my DH had ever seen. He also had a bigger route than my husband but always managed to get back to the post office before any of the other carriers. We eventually all found out why, because his wife caught him and turned him in to his superiors. He was hiding all of the sales flyers and magazines in his garage so he didn't have to deliver them. After being investigated he got fired. The investigators found 10 years worth of magazines and flyers in the garage. Talk about stupidity. It was bad enough that he hid them, but to leave them there for all those years!

We have no complaints about our carrier. It's been the same man for the 22 years we have lived here. The development we live in has it's own post office. It makes it easier for the carrier to deliver our mail. All of our boxes are in one building, rather than him driving to 250 homes. He does deliver large packages to our homes. He always leaves them right by the front door. UPS and FED EX deliver right to the door too. Guess we're lucky.

lyn

[Brezavaqt]

Well...I honestly can't complain about my postal system nor my carrier. She's fabulous...and so is my UPS and FedEx driver. They always ring the doorbell and if I'm not home, they will leave the package some where I can see it. If there's inclement weather, my packages are ALWAYS in clear plastic bags.

However, I purchased (about 7 days ago) some items from a nice lady who was liquidating her minis (found her on Facebook) and I received one box already. The other box, which was mailed BEFORE the first box, has yet to arrive. I'm praying that it's just "lost" due to the holiday mail traffic, and that it will show up today or after the holidays. She was smart enough to insure it, so if all else fails, I'll get a refund. (But, I'd rather have the items I purchased because she had some darling Bespaq pieces and I'll probably NEVER find them at those prices ever again!)

[MerriMagic]

Wow, this thread certainly took on a life of it's own. I'm at the same time, sad, and glad to hear from you all on this topic.

Rhonda, my heart breaks for you and the other postal employees who try to do a good job. Your voices are lost in the chaos that is our USPS, and you're right..those who get frustrated and complain to their superiors are blacklisted and culled from the rest of the maddening crowd. Heaven help those who try to do their job right.

I guess the biggest issue about the USPS is that it's a government service..and when you talk government, you are dipping into a nightmare...no matter what country you live in..most government services have an inordinate number of People Who Don't Care..and once employed by the government, it takes a nuclear detonation to cull the bad guys out. The violence that is threatened when attempts are made to get these nutcases out, are why this ruling is in order, in the first place.

When you deal with government, you cease to be a person. You're issued a number, and it's easy to give bad service to a number, right? After all, there's no necessity to look the number in the eye..it's non human, right?

Government services are overburdened with corruption, familial and associative nepotism (in spite of all the BigWigs' protests, yes it does go on) and apathy. This monster is so big that it's literal survival for good employees, to let things slide. If you have a heart, it breaks as you watch those around you 'play the game' instead of doing their job.

Fact is, more and more human beings are oriented to the "Me First" school of thought..and that means not doing any more than you absolutely HAVE to do, and if possible, to get away without doing that. No wonder the world's in such a mess.

It's folks like those on this forum that give me hope..hope that yes, there ARE good people in the world, who are proud of their work, and who'll go the extra mile to see everyone is happy.

As for the postal service...ack..it's a lost cause. I suspect it'll become a dinosaur soon, since more private services are popping up.

Rhonda, and other good hearted postal employees, I salute you for your fortitude and determination..you have to make a living, and if the USPS is where you've landed, I know you'll do a good job..but you can't and shouldn't shoulder the blame for the uncaring people you work with.

One good thought...soon the holidays will be over, and things will get a LITTLE better. Not a lot, but then our holiday experience won't hinge on things delivered by the postal service.

A tip..a lot of pharmacies, at least in the USA, are trying to hold hands with the post office, and deliver medications by mail service, to folks like diabetics, the elderly, and people in rural areas. My advice is to fight these tendencies by refusing to use them. You do have that right (so far).

I've been pressured by Walgreen and my insurance carrier, to have my drugs mailed to me, because it's cheaper for them..no middleman like a local pharmacy to get in the way of their greed.

Um, I take opiods, the 'big guns' of the drug families...do they really think that I'm going to let the Post Office handle those?

What happens when my drugs don't show up? "I'm sorry" the pharmacies then say.."you were shipped the drugs, and you can't get any more until that prescription expires..", while your pharmacy and carrier charges the government for the drugs you didn't get. You're left out in the cold....no meds, no chance of getting them replaced, and you hurt like hell, and your life goes down the tubes, for lack of medication.

My only revenge is to hope that the postal employees who don't do their job, someday need the postal service to work, really, really bad..and get the same treatment back that they give others.

Rhonda, we know you are doing your best, and we don't put any of the blame on you..ok? Please don't think you need to defend yourself to anyone..you don't have to. We know this drives you crazy every bit as much as it does us, ok? :lol: Hugs!