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USPS-and You Wonder Why They Have Financial Issues?

Sold a razor on B/S/T. Shipped it 2 Day Express. Granted, it will arrive only a day later than the two day window (actually the Postal people now say 2-3 days and I have no problem with that). But there is just something that does not seem right about this.....

Out for Delivery TEMPE, AZ 85282 January 24, 2014 8:59 am
Sorting Complete TEMPE, AZ 85282 January 24, 2014 8:49 am
Arrival at Post Office TEMPE, AZ 85282 January 24, 2014 4:22 am
Processed through USPS Sort Facility PHOENIX, AZ 85043 January 24, 2014 1:49 am
Depart USPS Sort Facility SPRINGFIELD, MA 01152 January 23, 2014
Processed through USPS Sort Facility SPRINGFIELD, MA 01152 January 23, 2014 3:35 am
Processed through USPS Sort Facility SPRINGFIELD, MA 01152 January 22, 2014 10:55 pm
Depart USPS Sort Facility ORLANDO, FL 32824 January 22, 2014
Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility ORLANDO, FL 32824 January 21, 2014 5:47 pm
Acceptance MELBOURNE, FL 32935 January 21, 2014 12:24 pm


There is an old saying about "reaching around your butt to scratch your elbow", but Fla. to Arizona via Massachusetts??
Really????????????
 
There could be many good reasons why this would be the fastest way to get your package headed in a westerly direction, such as the scheduling of flights and the consolidation of Arizona-bound packages from all over the East Coast. Similarly weird things happen when people try to fly from point A to point B. All I know is that I've had very good experiences from USPS over the past several decades. I've also been lucky with UPS, FedEx, and other services, with a few very frustrating exceptions.

Or it could be the most incompetent organization in the history of man.

Or it could be the inherent evilness of government.

Or this could be the second USPS-related thread to be closed in a two-day period. Would that be a B&B record?
 
Should i go home, i see the business is closed and i wasn't aware of it?

January 24, 2014 , 11:02 am Notice Left (Business Closed) NEW YORK, NY 10001
January 24, 2014 , 10:39 am Out for Delivery NEW YORK, NY 10001
January 24, 2014 , 10:29 am Sorting Complete NEW YORK, NY 10001
January 24, 2014 , 7:08 am Arrival at Post Office NEW YORK, NY 10001

mind you, i'm here... and we're open 24/7.
 
There could be many good reasons why this would be the fastest way to get your package headed in a westerly direction, such as the scheduling of flights and the consolidation of Arizona-bound packages from all over the East Coast. Similarly weird things happen when people try to fly from point A to point B.

This.

Look up flight patterns from the US to China to see examples of this in other industries. I have shipped tens of thousands of packages with USPS and have never had a problem.
 
No big deal. I see this all the time.


Sold a razor on B/S/T. Shipped it 2 Day Express. Granted, it will arrive only a day later than the two day window (actually the Postal people now say 2-3 days and I have no problem with that). But there is just something that does not seem right about this.....

Out for Delivery TEMPE, AZ 85282 January 24, 2014 8:59 am
Sorting Complete TEMPE, AZ 85282 January 24, 2014 8:49 am
Arrival at Post Office TEMPE, AZ 85282 January 24, 2014 4:22 am
Processed through USPS Sort Facility PHOENIX, AZ 85043 January 24, 2014 1:49 am
Depart USPS Sort Facility SPRINGFIELD, MA 01152 January 23, 2014
Processed through USPS Sort Facility SPRINGFIELD, MA 01152 January 23, 2014 3:35 am
Processed through USPS Sort Facility SPRINGFIELD, MA 01152 January 22, 2014 10:55 pm
Depart USPS Sort Facility ORLANDO, FL 32824 January 22, 2014
Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility ORLANDO, FL 32824 January 21, 2014 5:47 pm
Acceptance MELBOURNE, FL 32935 January 21, 2014 12:24 pm


There is an old saying about "reaching around your butt to scratch your elbow", but Fla. to Arizona via Massachusetts??
Really????????????
 
Heck I've got that beat! At least all that took 3 days! Any one guess where this has been? I asked. They have no idea! It's been 8 days since it left Utah and it's still has not arrived at the person's house I sent it! It's close but I payed for 3 day. This is why they're 6 billion in debt! This was a trade my soap for yours. He sent my soap from PA 1 day later and it arrived in 3 days! What the .......

January 24, 2014 , 6:59 amProcessed through USPS Sort FacilityLEHIGH VALLEY, PA 18002
January 16, 2014Depart USPS Sort FacilitySALT LAKE CITY, UT 84199
January 16, 2014 , 8:14 amProcessed at USPS Origin Sort FacilitySALT LAKE CITY, UT 84199
January 15, 2014 , 5:52 pmDispatched to Sort FacilityTOOELE, UT 84074
January 15, 2014 , 9:01 amAcceptanceTOOELE, UT 84074
 
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The Post Office is broke because Congress is playing shenanigans with their pension funding mechanism. They're actually quite well run and would be profitable otherwise.
 
I have seen a package I sent priority express (next day delivery) to the next town over (15 miles away) go 700 miles to be sorted only to come back and be delivered a week late.
 
They are cutting and laying off long time workers and putting mediocre workers, last time it took me 25 minutes just to fill out a customs forms with insurance....the new postal worker actually did not how to do it and i had to their part.
 
I recently mailed a package that took 18 days to get from MN to CA. I don't know what the heck was going on between Des Moines, IA and Forest Park, IL.

August 4, 2014 , 11:38 am
Available for Pickup
IMPERIAL, CA 92251
August 4, 2014 , 7:58 am
Out for Delivery
IMPERIAL, CA 92251
August 4, 2014 , 7:48 am
Sorting Complete
IMPERIAL, CA 92251
August 4, 2014 , 7:46 am
Arrived at Post Office
IMPERIAL, CA 92251
August 2, 2014 , 2:22 am
Departed USPS Facility
BELL GARDENS, CA 90201
August 1, 2014 , 8:41 am
Arrived at USPS Facility
BELL GARDENS, CA 90201
July 30, 2014 , 8:29 am
Departed USPS Facility
DES MOINES, IA 50395
July 30, 2014 , 7:22 am
Arrived at USPS Facility
DES MOINES, IA 50395
July 30, 2014 , 3:26 am
Departed USPS Facility
FOREST PARK, IL 60130
July 29, 2014 , 12:42 pm
Arrived at USPS Facility
FOREST PARK, IL 60130
July 20, 2014 , 2:01 am
Departed USPS Facility
DES MOINES, IA 50395
July 19, 2014 , 4:54 am
Arrived at USPS Origin Facility
DES MOINES, IA 50395
July 17, 2014 , 1:53 pm
Acceptance
BURNSVILLE, MN 55337
 
I don't love the post office, but I have sent and received hundreds (+/- 2,000) of items since starting on eBay in 1997. I have only had 2-3 problems, so that's a pretty good ratio. Clearly, they have business challenges with declining volume.

They also have high legacy costs like the auto companies and many airlines that had to go bankrupt to exit their unsustainable union contracts.

I think their biggest problem is micromanagement by Congress. No politician wants to see a PO closed in their district. The PO keeps asking to drop Saturday delivery, but Congress won't allow it. Who needs mail on Saturday? If no one gets it or those who want it are willing to pay extra, then have at it. See airlines who now charge for bags, prime seats, early boarding access, etc. Otherwise, drop it.

The pension funding argument is a red herring. At least the PO is funding it's future liabilities like it should and is not allowed to skate on it's future obligations like many, many states, counties, school systems, and in fact the Social Security Administration is doing.

Since the politicos in Congress don't have the guts (I was thinking of another word) to make these changes, I suggest a panel like the military base closing boards of several years ago. These commissions made recommendations for base closings that had to be accepted in whole or not at all to prevent cherry picking.

I think the pension
 

Toothpick

Needs milk and a bidet!
Staff member
Their tracking system isn't always reliable.
I've had it show a package as delivered to a completely different state, but yet it was in my hands.

What I don't understand is how they will deliver priority supplies free of charge, but will charge almost $2.00 to deliver a sheet of stamps.
I can order 500 large priority boxes completely free....one sheet of stamps cost the price of 3 to deliver. :blink:
 
I recently sent an RMA'd computer part off and it took the package over 24 hours to leave the state. I was like what did I pay for priority shipping for?
 
I just ordered a tea pot from Connecticut and it was shipped 2 day priority. The package took just hours to go from Connecticut to New Jersey. It sat on a truck going from New Jersey to Maryland for over 36 hours. It hit Maryland and was put on a truck in a matter of just a couple of hours. It sat on a truck in Maryland (only 50 miles from my home in WV) for another 36 hours. It took 5 days for the 2 day priority package to go from CT to WV. When I asked the USPS about the time I was told that 2 day priority can take 3 to 4 days to be delivered. I questioned their math skills and honesty when selling a product advertised as 2 day and accepting a 5 day delivery as acceptable. On another note though, I sent a small parcel from WV to Portland, OR at the same time, standard first class mail. That package was delivered the day after I sent it.
 
Not that I'm validating late shipments by the USPS, but the problem of how to ship packages quickly, efficiently, and as cheap as possible is not often a straight line. If you really want to delve into the complexity of this optimization, look up "the vehicle routing problem". Also keep in mind that they are continually running this difficult optimization 24/7, which they can only do by making certain assumptions. These assumptions are why you have 2 day packages that take 5 days. The optimization problem is far to large to be without issues. UPS and FedEx seem to do pretty well with it, but the USPS seems to be lagging.
 
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