USPS is not exactly inspiring confidence these days..

[SLIV]

Trying not to get political, but we are supposed to trust them with mail in ballots when we can't even get a small package?????

if one is looking at the issue with clear eyes and a fair disposition, this is a non-issue. The vast majority of these ballots are being delivered within the city and they are letters, not packages. These are deliveries the USPS can normally do, and have done, in 1-2 days easily.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

2 months back, my son who lives in Arkansas, asked me to ship him his old collection of "Magic" cards. It consisted of several card boxes of "commons"
And one binder of his "rare" ones..
I boxed up the commons in a plain box and the binder in one of those " If it fits it ships " box's.
$50 to ship the big plain box and $13 for the little one (cripes!) And away they go. The receipt sez small box ETA is the following Monday, and big box the following Thursday.
The small box shows up the next Tuesday... ok..1 day off no worries.
The larger box...... finally.... 3 and a 1/2 weeks later.
2 parcels, shipped at the same time, from the same location, to the same address, 3 weeks apart... what the????????
Our tax dollars hard at work.

 

[neo 7]

2 months back, my son who lives in Arkansas, asked me to ship him his old collection of "Magic" cards. It consisted of several card boxes of "commons"
And one binder of his "rare" ones..
I boxed up the commons in a plain box and the binder in one of those " If it fits it ships " box's.
$50 to ship the big plain box and $13 for the little one (cripes!) And away they go. The receipt sez small box ETA is the following Monday, and big box the following Thursday.
The small box shows up the next Tuesday... ok..1 day off no worries.
The larger box...... finally.... 3 and a 1/2 weeks later.
2 parcels, shipped at the same time, from the same location, to the same address, 3 weeks apart... what the????????
Our tax dollars hard at work.

USPS is not funded by taxes

 

[Tom Gallo]

My package:

August 6, 2020
In Transit, Arriving Late
Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility.

I guess this is what happens when a crony is put in charge of USPS.

 

[SLIV]

Our tax dollars hard at work.

I understand your frustration but you need to know that the USPS is not supported by tax dollars. Not one penny, since 1971. Not exactly a new thing.

Link Removed

 

[Peteyboy]

USPS is not funded by taxes

Despite websites claiming they receive zero tax dollars like this one: “The Postal Service receives NO tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.”, (Link Removed) they actually do receive funding from the federal government via the annual budget in the form of “subsidies”.

“The President’s fiscal year (FY) 2020 budget provides funding of $250 million to the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) for on-going operational expenses.” ([Invalid or Expired Link Removed])

These subsidies are in the form of favorable borrowing rates and having restrictions on other companies regarding 1st Class Mail.

Nevertheless, according to USPS OIG, they have received a $250 million in funding from the federal government. They may not have always received tax dollars, but they are now.

 

[SLIV]

Despite websites claiming they receive zero tax dollars like this one: “The Postal Service receives NO tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.”, (Link Removed) they actually do receive funding from the federal government via the annual budget in the form of “subsidies”.

“The President’s fiscal year (FY) 2020 budget provides funding of $250 million to the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) for on-going operational expenses.” ([Invalid or Expired Link Removed])

These subsidies are in the form of favorable borrowing rates and having restrictions on other companies regarding 1st Class Mail.

Nevertheless, according to USPS OIG, they have received a $250 million in funding from the federal government. They may not have always received tax dollars, but they are now.

This is true, but using this logic one can say that Amazon is also funded by tax dollars because when they build a new warehouse, you know they get massive tax write offs and subsidies. The US Government is involved in a LOT of aspects of all our our lives and the companies we do business with.

 

[groovaholic]

Oh yeah, are we allowed to mention who appointed him ?

Trying not to get political, but we are supposed to trust them with mail in ballots when we can't even get a small package?????

These are VERY good questions, and while I would love to discuss them, such a discussion would probably violate the terms of use.

 

[Peteyboy]

This is true, but using this logic one can say that Amazon is also funded by tax dollars because when they build a new warehouse, you know they get massive tax write offs and subsidies. The US Government is involved in a LOT of aspects of all our our lives and the companies we do business with.

I believe it would be correct to say that companies that receive Gov't subsidies and pay zero taxes ARE, in part, being floated by taxpayers.

 

[Jhengsman]

All deliveries seem pretty whack right now. I really don't understand why the shipping industry is so affected by the insanity.

From an insider here. Due to vacation season coinciding with quarantines and CARES act extended leave for childcare many USPS distincts are running at less than 50% of their mail movers. Clerks, mail handlers and carriers. Along with that is a spike in parcel loads to beyond Christmas season levels. So mail. including parcels have back up with many address receiving letters 2 instead of 6 days a week if they are lucky.

Despite the new Postmaster General's goal to eliminate dependence of overtime and holding all movement of trucks until the last piece is ready for an "every piece, every day" service at the moment in those districts hard hit by COVID, which tend to sit on major transportation hubs, seeing the worst delays the healthy workers are working 12 hours on and off with many busting the 60 hour/week hard limits on driving hours.

Add in social distancing which has slowed down the hiring and driver training for new part time help and a perfect storm condition has been reached. Most districts have given priority to pieces that look and feel like prescription medications and parcels from Amazon and after that is covered, go on to try to deliver other pieces and letters on a rotating basis. Some Amazon and medication does get caught in the backlog of other pieces which is about 5 days behind in my station. However getting a few back from quarantine has seen everyone get their letters this week.

The other companies can increase their prices and refuse more pieces but with universal service mandates the postal service just gets more and more stuff without the resources to deliver them at their past service goal times.

 

[Jhengsman]

To the ballot issue, a ballot and other official letter sized election mail is just an additional piece run through a machine and is just an extra piece per voter at the last mile and delivery. It isn't really noticeable and was never a problem anymore than a utility bill. It is all the political advertising, along with magazine sized voter pamphlets which has to be sorted by hand which caused overtime usage during the election season.

 

[AGCurry]

While, like you, I also have disconcerting reservations concerning Mr. DeJoy, if his Wiki page is to be believed, he has actually served in managerial positions in logistics since the 80s.

Sorry, you're right. He has no experience in running a government service.

 

[Peteyboy]

To the ballot issue, a ballot and other official letter sized election mail is just an additional piece run through a machine and is just an extra piece per voter at the last mile and delivery. It isn't really noticeable and was never a problem anymore than a utility bill. It is all the political advertising, along with magazine sized voter pamphlets which has to be sorted by hand which caused overtime usage during the election season.

So, these AREN'T the droids I was looking for?

 

[Charlzm]

Since the pandemic began, I have had packages delivered by USPS, UPS, FedEx and Amazon's own delivery service. I'd say 20 packages in the last 5 months.

Not a single one has been delivered when predicted by any carrier. Tracking will often show "out for delivery" then, when the item is not delivered that day, the "out for delivery" retroactively changes to "arrival scan" and the item might be delivered the next day.

The delivery drivers have also been erratic, leaving packages in several different places on the property. The worst is USPS; the drivers can't seem to figure out how a secure mailbox works. You put the item in the hopper, it goes down into the secure area. You know, JUST LIKE A USPS MAILBOX.

The worst was when I tried to file a delivery intercept for a bass amp head coming through USPS; I wanted it held at the post office. The item arrived the next day at the post office then went "out for delivery" all day without actually being delivered. On day three, I went to the post office to ask about the item and it was "out for delivery" again. I went straight home and the delivery came about an hour later.

UPS has eliminated "hold at depot" which I have used many times in the past. I guess it's a coronavirus thing.

Anyway, nothing has been lost yet and at worst it's just an inconvenience.

 

[Jhengsman]

So, these AREN'T the droids I was looking for?

Its a political season and people see politics first. A quarantine lack of service is a different thing than saying the truck leaves on time as SOP instead of waiting for the last piece thus forcing everyone else down the line to run late which each person getting 1.5 or 2 times their hourly pay waiting for the last piece.

At the moment, well before COVID, everything moved at the speed of the last piece with inspectors doing their best to try to find a last piece (sleeper in my district's slang) in installations when local managers did try to save on overtime cost instead of paying any price to see that last piece moved to the next step..

It is a massive culture shift USPS managers by nature held the truck for the last piece. In the movie Castaway Tom Hank's FedEx manager sent the plane instead of holding it for the last piece.

 

[Peteyboy]

I'm just gonna politely "unwatch" this thread before I become the reason it gets locked down.

 

[Tom Gallo]

Its a political season and people see politics first. A quarantine lack of service is a different thing than saying the truck leaves on time as SOP instead of waiting for the last piece thus forcing everyone else down the line to run late which each person getting 1.5 or 2 times their hourly pay waiting for the last piece.

Without getting into the actual politics, given who is in charge of USPS now, the waiting for the last piece might just be political.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Maybe try the Lobby if you want to discuss this with some leeway. This won't last in the regular forums.

 

[dangevans]

Jesus Christ, can I even go to a bass guitar forum without being bombarded with political crap???

 

[Deleted member 271037]

I've been waiting over two months for a USPS shipment to Europe. It hasn't even left the US yet. But these are difficult times. I knew the risk so I can't really complain. I'm sure it will show up eventually.