So, the USPS slowing down is real

[PoodlesAgain]

i am expected a package from SF bay area, 2-day Priority, expected delivery was Saturday, still not in my local P.O.

Someone done frucked up the system.

[mickey]

I sent a 2 day Priority mail package to Portland, OR the first week in August.
It has still not arrived.

[LightWingStudios]

I shipped a product order from FL to California last week. Got there in two days. Go Figya'.

[Partscaster]

I'm expecting a Fed-ex delivery...a usb-turntable. While its right on time, due today and out for delivery, I still need to wait outside to catch it before it hits the ground as F-Ex pushes it out the door on their drive-by. F-Ex has ruined an amp sent to me, dropped, chassis bent creating massive vibration hum on certain notes.

UPS has proven to be far better in all respects where I live, tracking, on time, brought to door or placed in special spot. They are better than usps or F-ex around here..

[uwmcscott]

I have ordered several items from various places over the past weeks - mostly UPS and FedEx but some USPS, and I can't say that anything has taken any longer than usual. UPS and Fedex both generally provided prompt/good service and better tracking/notification than USPS - but that's always been my experience.

[ILuvTeles]

Recent purchase for my son shipped from Fresno to Vacaville (which borders Fairfield) to Sacramento to Oakland & finally to Fairfield thanks to the USPS. I do not know if it is a slowdown or lack of common sense in the routing.

Reminds me of a colleague a few years back who was trying to fly from Seattle home to Minneapolis & our company had a special deal with TWA (tells you it was a while ago). They had him taking a red-eye on NW airlines (again it was years ago) from Seattle to Minneapolis, laying over in Minneapolis for a few hours before catching a NW flight to St. Louis, another layover in St Louis before catching a TWA flight back to Minneapolis in the late evening. The cost of that flight was about $250. But if he tried to book just the red-eye on NW it was more than twice the price. Go figure.

[Flatline]

My recent Amazon orders have all been a day later than usual. Not a huge deal. My bills in the mail are coming a few days later than usual. That is more of a problem.

I did make an order with Musician's Friend and it has been a few days business days and still hasn't even shipped even though the item was "In-stock & ready to ship". That isn't any fault of USPS, but I'm quite annoyed about it.

[mozz]

Isn't FedEx ground contracted out and their drivers aren't really FedEx employees? That would be why they don't give a sheet.

I've had some USPS mail a bit late. One credit card I knew was due never showed up, but I paid online anyway. Next month I get 2 bills, 1 dated the month before.

[glasshand]

The USPS is a garbage fire over here. But it's always been a garbage fire over here, so I'm not sure I notice any difference. We live at an address that let's call "456 9th St", and we routinely get mail for
458 9th St
465 9th St
456 9th Ave
456 10th St, etc.
I can only imagine that some of the mail we never receive similarly ended up at some other address.

[Gear_Junky]

A package was delivered to me this past monday (Labor Day). I see Amazon delivery vans late into sundays (after dark) going around delivering items. Not sure about personal mail, it's probably not a priority... oh, wait!

[solteroblues]

I've had all kinds of issues shipping things, both UPS and FedEx, as well as the USPS lately. I shipped a car part from Atlanta to South Dakota, should have been there in 4 days, took about 2 weeks, with it going to Chicago, to some small town about 65 miles south of Chicago, back to Chicago, to another little town about 45 miles southwest of Chicago, finally to it's destination.

Heck, I have the USPS informed delivery, and it will show me a letter is supposed to arrive one day, and I don't get it for 2 weeks. That's the carrier's fault, as it was scanned at the local post office to be delivered that day. Our carrier sucks, she can't put anyone's mail in their correct boxes. We renewed our wedding vows last year, and some of my wife's packages for the wedding were missing until like the day before. You ever seen a woman upset due to something like her wedding not going like it's supposed to? I nearly had to move out of the house!

[fullonshred]

My recent Amazon orders have all been a day later than usual. Not a huge deal. My bills in the mail are coming a few days later than usual. That is more of a problem.

I did make an order with Musician's Friend and it has been a few days business days and still hasn't even shipped even though the item was "In-stock & ready to ship". That isn't any fault of USPS, but I'm quite annoyed about it.

Mail here has been spotty for some years. Depends a lot on which carrier takes your route. Guy who is back now was and still is very good. Guy who took his route when he bid and won a different one was a hot mess. ROUTINELY mail went to wrong houses or never came. Worst one was when I put a Bill Payment that really needed to go out on my mailbox. About 8pm that night my neighbor walked over and brought it to me - the dumbass had "delivered" my outgoing bill payment to her house. ALWAYS on his phone, talking so loudly I could hear him 1/2 block away. Heard him coming one day and looked out. He was tossing a package up in the air and catching it one handed - until he didn't and it bounced off the sidewalk. It was a Bose car amp I had ordered and was expecting. Thank the stars they packed it as if they knew who would be delivering it and it was ok. Saw him during delivery hours park the mail truck and crawl into a Van that pulled up and stay there for quite some time.

A number of my Amazon orders are a day late. A few never show shipped and are later cancelled. Some just get rescheduled 1-3 times but eventually ship and arrive. Kind of defeats that $100+ bucks I am paying for "Prime".

[Gear_Junky]

[dearlpitts]

Sbout how much does it cost to ship a guitar in case from ca. To ny?

[Gear_Junky]

Sbout how much does it cost to ship a guitar in case from ca. To ny?

I would guess close to $100. For a private shipper. May be cheaper via UPS or FedEx (ground). Somehow it's very cheap to them (Amazon and big box music stores). My less than $200 acoustic from MF and $57 hard case from Amazon both shipped free. Weird times.

[Mossman]

USPS is dying... Here in California, the mail carriers have been instructed not to make more than one attempt to deliver packages. If a package can't be delivered on the first try, they are to return it to the distribution center and leave it there, rather than making a second attempt to deliver it.

Then, we started seeing reports in the locals news that mail carriers have been dumping bags full of mail and packages in random parking lots and alley ways.

So if you have anything important to mail, I don't think you can trust the postal service anymore... At least not in California.

[glasshand]

And on this note, a package I'd been expecting was listed yesterday as "delivered - left in customer's mailbox" which I knew was a lie, because it would not fit in my mailbox, and because it wasn't there. It showed up today. This reinforces my belief that our carriers sometimes mark stuff as "delivered" even if it isn't.

[mozz]

Quotas to meet.

I would think dumping mail is a federal crime. But i guess you have to get caught actually. You can say your mail truck was broken into and somebody stole the entire second half of your route. Time to stop all the bloated pensions and retirement packages they get.

[Mossman]

Quotas to meet.

I would think dumping mail is a federal crime. But i guess you have to get caught actually. You can say your mail truck was broken into and somebody stole the entire second half of your route. Time to stop all the bloated pensions and retirement packages they get.

It's hard to make the theft defense when it's happening all over the valley (this wasn't an isolated incident), and there are eyewitness reports of mail carriers throwing bags out of their trucks. As far as I know, no one has been caught on video yet, but if this "policy" keeps up, it's only a matter of time.

The post office just doesn't have the funds or the man-power to function at full capacity anymore, with no way of significantly increasing revenue. If they raise their shipping rates, they'll just price themselves out of the market. I'll bet they're kicking themselves now for thinking the "Forever Stamp" was a good idea... I still don't know what they were thinking when they came up with that.

[Raindog]

USPS is dying... So if you have anything important to mail, I don't think you can trust the postal service anymore... At least not in California.

Since March 01, my small business has sent 768 packages to locations in the US. At least 15% go to California. So far, USPS is 768 for 768. Every one delivered. Probably 20% are Priority. The rest are bubble mailers. Admittedly, most are low value. A few as high as $400 but most are under $75.

Time to stop all the bloated pensions and retirement packages they get.

Most rural carriers nowadays are temps. Some are 10-12 year temps, but still temps. Most vested carriers have already retired. Bloated pensions? Compared to what?

[Buddha Pickups]

They have terrible employee turnover in my area but otherwise it seems normal to me right now and I ship at least 5 to 10 packages a week.
I have to assume covid has caused staffing issues.

[mozz]

Something about a law where their pensions are funded for years ahead. I think they need to cut expenses not increase revenue by higher prices. We have 1-5 year temps in our gov place, most get hired as permanent before then, but we are low on funding for 2021 so with the VERA VSIP, early retirement packages we will have less people but enough for the workload.

https://ips-dc.org/how-congress-manufac ... to-fix-it/

[Gear_Junky]

...I think they need to cut expenses not increase revenue by higher prices...

Man, I almost injured myself laughing! Not at you... even corporations have trouble cutting expenses once ossified corporate "culture" (ideology) takes hold. And we're talking about USPS. Oh, and the DMV (or BMV, whatever it's called in each state), they need to learn efficiency and to smile once in a while

[Brendan]

Something about a law where their pensions are funded for years ahead. I think they need to cut expenses not increase revenue by higher prices. We have 1-5 year temps in our gov place, most get hired as permanent before then, but we are low on funding for 2021 so with the VERA VSIP, early retirement packages we will have less people but enough for the workload.

https://ips-dc.org/how-congress-manufac ... to-fix-it/

USPS was required by Congress to fund pensions for employees who aren’t even born yet. Happened a while ago. Some people have been trying to hobble it for a while. Meanwhile, sorting machines are getting dismantled.
Today, UPS delivered a package a month late after losing it. They all have issues.
My work uses USPS priority shipping boxes without a hitch. We ship a lot of products

[jtcnj]

The recent news cycle focus on USPS is largely if not entirely political; I didnt start the thread.
But that is why it is spewing from the main stream media.
Not knocking you [mention]PoodlesAgain[/mention].

Personally, we havent seen any trend or substantial delays in general; tracking individual packages can be comical at times.
The utility and credit card companies push for paperless so sometimes they send the statements late or dont send them. Could be some or lost or late by USPS, but they do send them late leaving us a small window to send out the payment.

I then have a phone conversation telling them so and refuse to pay late charges. Havent lost yet. Horse of a different color, but another type of manipulation.

Suddenly the same practices and/or problems plaguing USPS for at least a decade is front page. I only include the last decade to focus the time frame for obvious reasons.

Suddenly the way USPS repairs, replaces or removes its drop off boxes or equipment is a big story coming from the same biased sources claiming foul play, and dismiss any counter argument to yet another false narrative as right wing conspiracy.