# Not Happy with USPS



## RockyHill

Anybody know about this with the Post Office delivery?

I didn't get the memo (and can't find it google-ing) but today the Post Office isn't delivering packages that don't fit in the box.

Friday I ordered some parts and had them put in Priority Mail package for two day delivery. Notified this morning at 7:15 am "package out for delivery" will arrive by 8:00 pm. At 9:01 am notified "Notice Left- Receptacle Full/ Item Oversized, Schedule Redelivery". [mail doesn't come until after lunch but carrier does know what size mail box we have]

Thought, well maybe package will be delivered anyway. Nope, called Post Office (had to call twice before they answered but found out probably why) and new rule just came out that if package doesn't fit in mailbox and there is not a circular driveway the mail carrier will not deliver package. The mail carrier cannot back up to turn around. [told the nice lady that we do have circle driveway below house but carrier probably didn't know about that].

Post Office lady said this is causing a lot of problems and it may not continue. There are a lot of packages at the post office right now.

So, now I have to make a special trip to post office to get the package that was specifically ordered to have here today. Placed another order this morning that is supposed to be here Friday; I don't have tracking number yet to know if it is UPS or USPS or if UPS will do the '"last mile thing" so the USPS can delay me getting it. Maybe FedEx.

Shelia


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## rjmoses

Typical bureaucratic BS. We need more rules and regs to cover the rules and regs that are bad rules and regs so that no one has any idea what rules and regs are legitimate rules and regs.

Ralph

Confused? You won't be after the next episode of Soap.


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## NewBerlinBaler

When a person, company or organization doesn't come thru for me, I find an alternative. In the future, it sounds like you'll need to ensure all mail order & internet purchases are delivered via UPS or FedEx.


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## ozarkian

Ok, you got me started. The *"Clavens"*, at the USPS are an archaic bureaucratic mess. Half the time I get someone else's mail. They tell me it's because I am the last stop on the route. Apparently they clean out their vehicles and dump it in my mail box.

I have been a long time Amazon fan. They use to ship everything UPS or FedEx. Professional and timely delivery. Now Amazon uses the cheapest and least professional delivery method. USPS. I am looking for the next up and coming Amazon.

If the box wont fit in your mailbox, going the extra mile and putting it on your porch, is asking way too much. Seems like I make frequent trips to my post office and have conversations with the postmaster. I remind him they the carrier have one job to do, put the correct mail in the correct box. This is not a highly technical task. One Christmas Eve, I put a cash bonus with Christmas card in my mailbox for my carrier. Put the red flag up. That bonus sat in my mailbox for 10 days. They never picked it up. I wish UPS or FedEx would buy out the USPS. If you are going to do a job, do your best to do it right.

If the USPS had to think like a farmer, live on a farmers budget and work like a farmer, they would have been extinct 100 years ago.


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## somedevildawg

They should've seriously downsized the USPS years ago.......my hope is that DJT will, it's a white elephant being handled by drunk sailors.....


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## BWfarms

They tried to pull that stunt here because the house is well over a quarter mile away from the road. In respect, the driveway is considered a road and the mailbox was placed at the intersecting road for their convenience because it was a non issue.

You can request specific carrier amendments. I know a few houses here that are on the road frontage yet the carrier delivers to the door or in a roundabout.


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## Vol

Might be cheaper and easier on all involved to just get a larger mailbox.

Regards, Mike


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## RockyHill

Vol said:


> Might be cheaper and easier on all involved to just get a larger mailbox.
> 
> Regards, Mike


Probably.

Seems like they could have sent a notice saying this was going into effect.

Shelia


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## Farmerbrown2

I don’t understand if they are being paid to deliver something to a certain address and not doing it aren’t they breaking the contract.


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## Ray 54

They are from the government and here to help us. Well if you believe that what else can I sell you today?

I live on a "contract carrier route"( the driver bids for how much they will do the job for,you know lowest priced guy gets the job). Very poor service, good if we go a week without some else's mail. Always makes me wonder how much of our own we never see.

I think contracts are 2 or even 3 years long. So several carriers back one stopped delivering packages any larger than a shoe box. I had a pickup slip about a big package and went to the post office,took forever for them to come back. This being the full on government employee,comes with a little box but steamed up to no end. Finally commomed down and said sorry it took so long,I was looking for a big package. This is ridiculous they need to deliver stuff a lot bigger than this. Went and got a complaint form and told me what to say,as well as unloading about how the carrier for my route showed up about when the others had things sorted and heading out to deliver. Has gotten better since others took over the job. But just got more mail for others than are own last week again.

When the Wonderful Wife gets started for the grandkids Christmas stuff from Amazon FedeX has been here 3 times in one day. Since we are 15 miles from town I don't know how they can do it,and probably get a UPS visit as well.


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## swmnhay

Attitude of the carrier is probably more of it then the rules.Some won't do any more then they have to "not my job"Mine will pull in the yard and beep the horn and if I'm not home he will throw it in pickup cab or set in garage and I don't see that changing even if they changed the rules.Heck he would give me a call if he needed to.


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## somedevildawg

My take is they should be delivering letters only.....snail mail. There are plenty of carriers to go around that have to make a profit......USPS is unfairly competing against those companies with our money. The Amazon deal is of real concern for me, they now deliver packages on Sunday here (only Amazon) that's asinine and absurd....no wonder Amazon can ship a box of toilet paper to you cheaper than you can buy it at the local store, USPS is using our money to strengthen Amazon's bottom line....you have to admit, it's a great business model by Amazon, albeit at our expense. Reminds me of Elon Lusk and his fleecing of the American taxpayer......close it down or severely restrict it to letter size parcels.


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## PaMike

I don't understand the Sunday delivery. One month USPS is almost bankrupt the next they start running on Sunday. You know those union carriers are getting paid big bucks for Sunday work...


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## RockyHill

I totally agree with USPS only needing to deliver letters. My real gripe is the change without any notice. Hey, they could have mailed post cards  When I went to PO today, they were scrambling with what to do with packages. Felt sorry for the lady that waited on us. The change went into effect on Saturday.

Had I known (which apparently the local PO didn't either) I would have not requested the Priority Mail but FedEx which delivers earlier in the day.

The Post Office can't shouldn't expect to have it both ways -- package delivery when they want to.

Shelia


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## DohrmannEnt

somedevildawg said:


> My take is they should be delivering letters only.....snail mail. There are plenty of carriers to go around that have to make a profit......USPS is unfairly competing against those companies with our money. The Amazon deal is of real concern for me, they now deliver packages on Sunday here (only Amazon) that's asinine and absurd....no wonder Amazon can ship a box of toilet paper to you cheaper than you can buy it at the local store, USPS is using our money to strengthen Amazon's bottom line....you have to admit, it's a great business model by Amazon, albeit at our expense. Reminds me of Elon Lusk and his fleecing of the American taxpayer......close it down or severely restrict it to letter size parcels.


USPS is delivering for Amazon in our area as well. This has put pressure on UPS as well. UPS has been working on including Saturday as part of their regular delivery and transit time schedule. They have actually been doing this in certain metro areas for the past 1+ year and are consistently expanding what is normal delivery on Saturday. There is a strike threat with their (UPS) upcoming contract renewal and part of it has to do with negotiations on how to handle staffing/wages...for employees as they expand to Saturday and Sunday delivery. I am assuming that Sunday delivery will become what Saturday currently is - only available in certain areas when Next Day or Second Day service with Sunday (now Saturday) delivery option is selected. I am sure that FedEx will be soon to follow. I believe that FedEx home currently will deliver on Saturday.

With the shortage of people willing to actually work in the market, I don't know how UPS will continue to provide a quality service. If this happens, I wonder what the pressure on small businesses such as us will be to be staffed on Saturdays to be able to ship that extra day by our clients. That leads to additional labor costs, the challenge of finding staff to fill the extra day and most likely will not have an increase in business to offset the additional overhead.

I think the 24-7 demand for services that the likes of Wal-Mart and Amazon have created is putting additional strain on other businesses and industries as well. Most people don't fully understand the efficiencies of scale and believe that smaller companies should be able to provide the same services at the same costs of the likes of Amazon and Wal-Mart.

Sorry about the rant, it does not entirely go along with the original posting.


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## somedevildawg

My best man took a job with UPS last year, I couldn't pay him enuf to keep him, I pay him $15 an hour with no benefits and about 50 hrs a week. UPS pays him $18 an hour with health insurance for $7.50 a month.....I told him to take the job and work part time with me. That's what he did, works 10-5am Sunday thru Thursday so he works with me from 3-8 everyday and all day on Friday and Saturday.
Works out great for him, but the problems they have with help is unbelievable.....he quickly rose to a supervisor within 3-4 months, threatened to quit.....I hear the stories of the sorry ass workers they hire, it's pathetic....but good for him. Trying to keep the natives from getting restless and off their cell phones is a full time job for him......


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## RockyHill

DohrmannEnt said:


> USPS is delivering for Amazon in our area as well. This has put pressure on UPS as well. UPS has been working on including Saturday as part of their regular delivery and transit time schedule. They have actually been doing this in certain metro areas for the past 1+ year and are consistently expanding what is normal delivery on Saturday. There is a strike threat with their (UPS) upcoming contract renewal and part of it has to do with negotiations on how to handle staffing/wages...for employees as they expand to Saturday and Sunday delivery. I am assuming that Sunday delivery will become what Saturday currently is - only available in certain areas when Next Day or Second Day service with Sunday (now Saturday) delivery option is selected. I am sure that FedEx will be soon to follow. I believe that FedEx home currently will deliver on Saturday.
> 
> With the shortage of people willing to actually work in the market, I don't know how UPS will continue to provide a quality service. If this happens, I wonder what the pressure on small businesses such as us will be to be staffed on Saturdays to be able to ship that extra day by our clients. That leads to additional labor costs, the challenge of finding staff to fill the extra day and most likely will not have an increase in business to offset the additional overhead.
> 
> I think the 24-7 demand for services that the likes of Wal-Mart and Amazon have created is putting additional strain on other businesses and industries as well. Most people don't fully understand the efficiencies of scale and believe that smaller companies should be able to provide the same services at the same costs of the likes of Amazon and Wal-Mart.
> 
> Sorry about the rant, it does not entirely go along with the original posting.


Part of my frustration with this particular situation is this order wasn't Amazon or Wal-Mart. These were mower guards from Messicks. The local dealer was going to have to get them shipped in and then us pick them up. Messicks had them in stock, they would fit in the USPS middle size priority box two day shipping. UPS was going to be three days.

I order from Wal-Mart with the $35 minimum order for free shipping. Usually there are several items making up the order. I know that free shipping isn't going to last because most times each item comes separately, sometimes the delivery in a Budget Rental truck comes twice a day. Wal-Mart is not going t continue that.

Amazon shipping isn't exactly free; paid for with Prime membership.

Jeff wants to cut the bottom out of a postmaster approved mailbox and mount it on a barrel with the top cut out so could have large capacity   

Shelia


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## mlappin

Post office is better than it used to be at least here. At one time when shopping Amazon or Ebay if an item was to be shipped USPS I'd keep looking. As of late I haven't had it take six weeks for a package to arrive from a few hundred miles away.

Agree though, post office needs to deliver magazines (what few of those that are still in print) and mail, not packages.


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## DohrmannEnt

RockyHill said:


> Part of my frustration with this particular situation is this order wasn't Amazon or Wal-Mart. These were mower guards from Messicks. The local dealer was going to have to get them shipped in and then us pick them up. Messicks had them in stock, they would fit in the USPS middle size priority box two day shipping. UPS was going to be three days.
> 
> I order from Wal-Mart with the $35 minimum order for free shipping. Usually there are several items making up the order. I know that free shipping isn't going to last because most times each item comes separately, sometimes the delivery in a Budget Rental truck comes twice a day. Wal-Mart is not going t continue that.
> 
> Amazon shipping isn't exactly free; paid for with Prime membership.
> 
> Jeff wants to cut the bottom out of a postmaster approved mailbox and mount it on a barrel with the top cut out so could have large capacity
> 
> Shelia





mlappin said:


> Post office is better than it used to be at least here. At one time when shopping Amazon or Ebay if an item was to be shipped USPS I'd keep looking. As of late I haven't had it take six weeks for a package to arrive from a few hundred miles away.
> 
> Agree though, post office needs to deliver magazines (what few of those that are still in print) and mail, not packages.


I think if the USPS is going to process package shipments, they should stay within a certain size or smaller, such as the small and mid-sized flat rate packages. If they want to get into the package business, then they should offer larger USPS approved mailboxes, or simply bring it to the door like their competitors (UPS and FedEx).


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## mlappin

DohrmannEnt said:


> I think if the USPS is going to process package shipments, they should stay within a certain size or smaller, such as the small and mid-sized flat rate packages. If they want to get into the package business, then they should offer larger USPS approved mailboxes, or simply bring it to the door like their competitors (UPS and FedEx).


Our mail lady almost always brings packages up and leaves em under the car port.


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## SCtrailrider

We are 1/2 mile off the road, we have a really really big mail box here at the house, if something doesn't fit in the box at the road she doesn't have any trouble driving down the drive and tossing it in the big box..

The trouble in my area is UPS & Fedex.. they don't want to drive down the driveway, 90% of the time they toss the package out at the road for everyone to see... I raise cane every time they do it and they still did - for a while, when every package got "stolen" because they didn't bring it to the house, needless to say after about 10 claims for stolen packages they now come to the house...

Sometimes the little guy wins...


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## RockyHill

Our mailbox is over a quarter of a mile from our house. Our house is on a county road, not a private drive. Up until last Saturday if packages didn't fit in the mailbox the mail carrier brought them to the house. One time he commented on bringing the things UPS didn't want to deliver but packages were delivered.

I get notifications from USPS for incoming mail and was surprised about the message that the package on Monday wasn't being delivered. Apparently Saturday the local post office got some "bulletin" (my description, not sure what they called it) that residences where the carrier had to back up could not deliver packages. Post office employees want it to go back to the way it was, they simply aren't equipped to keep packages and handle walk in customers. (We have a 'postal store' where post office boxes are located along with receiving walk in mail, selling supplies, etc.)

Other than our neighbors, I haven't heard of anyone else having this problem. Don't know if people think packages are just delayed or what. I still cannot find anything online about this change going into effect.

Shelia


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## Ray 54

I have no idea how the post office in your area works,but since others have not heard anything about such changes,would not surprise me to hear just another low level bureaucrat trying out how far he can push something.


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## RockyHill

Ray 54 said:


> I have no idea how the post office in your area works,but since others have not heard anything about such changes,would not surprise me to hear just another low level bureaucrat trying out how far he can push something.


That's what I thought too. If this was widespread I think there'd be a lot of people complaining.


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## swmnhay

It wasn't long ago that USPS was going to drop saturday deliveries.


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## ozarkian

If you are charging to deliver mail and packages, then do it right. Many times I would have loved to drop off hay bales at the end of someones driveway and call it good.


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## ozarkian

Another thing, when was the last time you saw the postal service fail to deliver bills and junk mail to your mailbox?


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## luke strawwalker

ozarkian said:


> Ok, you got me started. The *"Clavens"*, at the USPS are an archaic bureaucratic mess. Half the time I get someone else's mail. They tell me it's because I am the last stop on the route. Apparently they clean out their vehicles and dump it in my mail box.
> 
> I have been a long time Amazon fan. They use to ship everything UPS or FedEx. Professional and timely delivery. Now Amazon uses the cheapest and least professional delivery method. USPS. I am looking for the next up and coming Amazon.
> 
> If the box wont fit in your mailbox, going the extra mile and putting it on your porch, is asking way too much. Seems like I make frequent trips to my post office and have conversations with the postmaster. I remind him they the carrier have one job to do, put the correct mail in the correct box. This is not a highly technical task. One Christmas Eve, I put a cash bonus with Christmas card in my mailbox for my carrier. Put the red flag up. That bonus sat in my mailbox for 10 days. They never picked it up. I wish UPS or FedEx would buy out the USPS. If you are going to do a job, do your best to do it right.
> 
> If the USPS had to think like a farmer, live on a farmers budget and work like a farmer, they would have been extinct 100 years ago.


Oh, yeah... BTDT... got the T-shirt...

Ours is very hit-n-miss... sometimes it's pretty good for months at a stretch, then we'll go for weeks/months with just about everybody else's mail in our box but our own. Our mailbox got knocked down and I didn't even bother putting it back up for six months... I don't get anything I want to see anyway-- only Betty's insistence made me go graft the post back together (knucklehead idgit working for one of the BTO's snapped the post off and mailbox with it with their oversize tractors/equipment...)

Not like it's just the "end of the route" stuff-- no, we're nowhere near either end of the route... heck we get stuff from MILES away, other side of town, not even on the same route... just nuts. I used to take it in, have a polite conversation with the postmistress and then wonder to myself if they require someone be able to read to be a letter carrier... and have more goofed up mail in my box by the end of the week...

Got tired of the stupidity, so now I don't even bother... if they haven't done anything about it in a dozen visits, they're not going to... Now when we get other people's mail I just drive through the post office parking lot and dump it in the outgoing mail box... let them sort it out. Not wasting my time or effort since they can't waste their time or effort to actually do their friggin' job...

My folks had to go a few rounds with the FedEx/UPS guys and their bosses. Dad was handicapped to the point he couldn't go outside except on a scooter chair... one day he accidentally catapulted himself off the porch face first into the gravel trying to pick up his box of insulin off the porch after the UPS guy drove up and just pitched the box up on the porch and then tore off... his revving as he hauled @ss is the only way they knew it had been delivered, and they didn't realize that was what it was until hours later, with insulin (in one of those "cold pack" cardboard shipping boxes) sitting out on the porch for several hours in 100 degree late afternoon heat before they realized it HAD been delivered and he went out to get it... then bumped the controls the wrong way trying to pick it up and ended up face down in the gravel driveway with the scooter inverted on his legs.

Things got a LITTLE better when they moved to Shiner, in that they WOULD actually come to the door... most of the time anyway. Thing was they were b!tching about the address system up there, because a few years ago the county decided to go to a 911 address system, which put them at "555 CR 999" (house "555" County Road "999", for instance). Well, they complained because they wanted him to start addressing everything as "555 LAVACA CR 999" because they'd just type in "555 CR 999" into their GPS and, coming out of the delivery station wherever it was, the computer selected the CLOSEST "555 CR 999", which as it turned out, there was ANOTHER county road "999" just over the county line to the north, which was a "GONZALES county road 999" instead of "LAVACA county road 999... SO, they wanted him to SPECIFY *WHICH* county road by adding the county name to the address... IOW, too lazy to do their FRIGGIN' JOB and looking for the easy way out. I even explained it to the guy one day...

"Look, if it's a SHINER address... it's LAVACA county road 999... if it's a DREYER address (closest burg over the county line where "GONZALES county road 999" is located, it's a GONZALES county address... so the CITY will tell you where it goes; no need for the COUNTY crap... He just started arguing with me that it was "too hard" to type in the city name as well as the address-- at that point I just said, "well, sorry for ya" and walked off... to h3ll with that guy... too friggin' lazy to do his job, I'm not wasting time on ya...

Nanny called some supervisors because she's handicapped too and alone a lot now that Dad's gone, and one of their people (FedEx or UPS) decided it was acceptable to just toss packages onto the handicapped ramp from the truck window, toot the horn, and drive off... (they and USPS do the same thing here on *my* porch, as my brother locks his driveway gate when he and the missus go to work, because the shop and tractor shed is over there and the scumbags moving in around here, as Lincoln put it, "the only thing they won't steal is a red-hot stove"... and of course he's ALWAYS got some package or other (and if he don't Betty does) being delivered via "online shopping") She called and talked to someone and explained she was handicapped and alone and didn't need to be out trying to collect packages tossed indiscriminately on the porch, and the lady was quite apologetic and said she'd handle it, and she'd had good service since.

Heck at Shiner the mailman saw that my Dad was having to scooter out to the carport a couple times a week, hobble into the van, and drive out to the county road to collect the mail, and told him, "If you're handicapped, come by the post office, and sign a form, and you can move your mailbox up by your handicap ramp on the house, and we'll deliver the mail right up there to your back door instead of out here on the county road..." SO he did and then had me move the mailbox up to the end of his ramp-- the driver can still deliver out the window, but the mailbox is right at the foot of the ramp where they could easily get the mail without having to get in the van and go after it...

Course, that's Shiner, halfway between San Antonio and Houston, and a NICE place to live... not like this rathole stinking county... Their postal workers can actually READ...

Later! OL J R


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## luke strawwalker

RockyHill said:


> (snip)
> 
> Jeff wants to cut the bottom out of a postmaster approved mailbox and mount it on a barrel with the top cut out so could have large capacity
> 
> Shelia


I've considered doing that...

When I eventually HAVE to replace the mailbox (no door and the post is nailed together with scab lumber) I'm SERIOUSLY thinking about just bolting the mailbox to the side of a burn barrel... that way Betty can toss all the junk mail in there right away and once a week I'll squirt some lighter fluid in there and toss in a match, rather than having to carry all the junk mail in the house and then out again in the trash...

Who the h3ll even uses snail mail anymore?? Betty does 95% of our banking online or in person. Pays all the bills over the phone or online. She gets worthless statements on her retirement stuff, but that's mostly crap. Insurance paperwork is about as worthless... if it's important they could always send it "certified mail" so she'd have to sign for it. Only [email protected] thing I ever get is junk mail and [email protected] stupid jury duty sh!t... Anyway, they raised sand with her about "delivering over the counter" and she raised sand with me til I grafted what was left of the box back up... I don't care if it looks like sh!t-- it's perfectly matched with our postal "service" quality around here... so screw 'em...

Only thing I get that I *do* care about is my "Farm Show" magazine and that only comes every other month... the rest of the time, the mail can just ROT out there for all I care... I don't even pick it up anymore... if Betty wants it, she can get it... LOL

What REALLY p!sses me off is these [email protected] stupid "bulk mail contracts"... talk about us paying for them to use it against us! Go to mail a friggin' letter... what like 52 cents a stamp now or something?? Yet we'll get 15 friggin' junk mail LEGAL SIZE envelopes with 3-5 sheets of CRAP in there, and about half a newspaper's worth of friggin circulars and ads and big mailer-size post-cards with everything from sales to politician campaign garbage on it... it's RIDICULOUS. We're paying FULL PRICE for mail delivery on the stupid snail-mail "business" stuff we send back and forth, bills, statements, forms, etc, but these [email protected] junk mail companies get sweetheart deals on "bulk mail" contracts that allow them to TOTALLY FRIGGIN' SWAMP you with JUNK MAIL for pennies a piece!

If I were king, I'd TOTALLY ELIMINATE *ALL* bulk mail contracts INSTANTLY... If you want to mail it, you PAY FULL PRICE... then I'd tell the postal service, "give it a month or two to settle, then divide your total cost/budget by the number of pieces of mail you're ACTUALLY DELIVERING, and presto-- that's the price of a stamp... reevaluate the stamp prices and adjust accordingly yearly (or quarterly or whatever). That way, if the price dips, and junk mailers want to start spamming everyone in the universe again and costs go up, the price gets adjusted accordingly, so the process is "self governing"...

Eliminate all the stupid "political and nonprofit" exceptions or special deals at the same time... you're delivering a full-size envelope, you pay the full-size price. You want to mail a postcard, you pay postcard price. No bulk mail contracts or sweetheart deals EVER...

Later! OL J R


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## somedevildawg

And don't forget to include Amazon in those sweetheart deals.....if I ship a box of toilet paper to Atlanta, it'll cost more than the toilet paper, but Amazon can ship it to me for what must be .50 cents.....but boy, they're doing 2 million packages a day.....sounds like BTO's may be heading up the postal service


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## CowboyRam

The problem with the USPS is that most of those people that work there could not hold a job anywhere else. We have a family friend that retired from the USPS, and if it was not for the union he would have lost his job years ago.


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## luke strawwalker

somedevildawg said:


> And don't forget to include Amazon in those sweetheart deals.....if I ship a box of toilet paper to Atlanta, it'll cost more than the toilet paper, but Amazon can ship it to me for what must be .50 cents.....but boy, they're doing 2 million packages a day.....sounds like BTO's may be heading up the postal service


Yeah... first time Betty did that and we get this mondo big box and I carry it in wondering "WTF has she bought now?" and she gets home from work and cracks it open and it's a friggin' case of TOILET paper... I'm like "WTF is this?? You buy TP at the friggin' store!"

I guess I'm just hopelessly outdated, because she told me, "Oh, no, not anymore-- you can get it cheaper shipped to you from Amazon!" I just shook my head and said, "whatever"...

SIL does the same thing... only she gets the MONDO-MEGA size boxes with about a 2 or 3 month supply at a time... looks like someone dropped off a dishwasher on her porch when that box arrives...

Later! OL J R


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## luke strawwalker

CowboyRam said:


> The problem with the USPS is that most of those people that work there could not hold a job anywhere else. We have a family friend that retired from the USPS, and if it was not for the union he would have lost his job years ago.


This is true...

It's sad, but true. There WAS a time when USPS was actually a GOOD place to work, and had quality employees. Now it's rare as hen's teeth.

When I was driving a school bus, the next year after I got hired they hired a new guy named Jim. As the FNG the year before, I got assigned a route that had been split off from another driver's route, and she'd cherry-picked the best kids and better roads for her route, and spun off the @sshole kids into the "new" route that I got when I got hired... I didn't complain (too much) and did my job and dealt with the punks and a-holes as best I could, got through the year, and when school let out, I heard that the older lady driver who had the "other, BETTER half" of the route was retiring, so I went to see the boss, who did two tours in Vietnam as a supply guy or something, I told him, "I heard Wilsie was retiring, and I was wondering if I could have her route next year... No secret those kids out there are pretty bad, and I know I'm new and that was the job and that was the breaks, and I kept my mouth shut and did it, but I kinda feel like I've been on KP duty for a year, and I'd like to "move up" and let someone else have my route and take hers..." He agreed that whoever they hired would get my old route and a-hole kids and I'd get Wilsie's route the next year.

So, school starts, and the boss introduces the new hire, Jim. He's kinda wide-eyed and the boss is trying to describe everything he'll need to know outline the route on a map, all of that, and I offer a little advice and Gene (the boss) asks me to 'take him in hand' and show him the ropes. "Sure!" I said, because I knew he'd get an "education" just like I did, and he'd need the help, and I wanted to make sure he got more help that *I* did as a FNG...

SO, we hop in his pickup and I tell him how to drive the route, turn by turn, as we run out there, and tell him where the kids he'll be picking up are, and give him a heads up about who's the "worst of the worst" and all that. We get to chatting and turns out Jim is freshly retired from the postal service.

Turns out he figured he was gonna get drafted for Vietnam after high school, so he joined the Army and ended up driving an old gasoline truck hauling water out at White Sands Missile Range back during the mid-60's... He did three years out there, driving one of those old "slope-back" gasoline tanker trailers behind a military tractor-truck hauling water to fill large several-hundred-gallon tanks located up on the ridgelines on these gravel roads snaking across the desert out in New Mexico... The water was piped down by gravity from the tanks up on the ridges to the "instrument shacks" located out in the valley floors where the scientists had their telemetry equipment and stuff to record data from their missile tests, to cool instruments and for emergency drinking water I suppose. Anyway, he told me how he made extra money-- he found out that the guards and stuff had a hankering for rattlesnake chili, and so he got an old broomstick and some cable and a screw eye and a hose clamp from the motor pool, and made him a "snake catcher" lanyard... he could open up the cable loop attached at one end of the broom stick, and when he saw a big fat rattler out sunning himself on the road hauling water out in the desert, he'd stop the truck, grab his stick, go "lasso" the stupid thing, and then open up one of the old storage compartments behind the rear tires of the old gasoline tanker (back where they used to have the valves and hoses and meters and stuff when it hauled gasoline, but which was all removed for hauling water) and he'd open the door, toss the snake in with the stick, and close the door up, hop in the truck, and take off... On a good day he could catch a half dozen or more rattlers out hauling water, and when he got back to the gates of the base, the guards would come out, he'd open the door, flip the snakes out one by one with the stick, and they'd kill them and skin them and cook them up into chili or whatever... He showed me this HUGE tanned rattlesnake skin one of the guys gave him-- he tanned the things and sold them for hatbands or belts or whatever... and he gave Jim one as a gift one time... Anyway, one day Jim got back and everybody was just staring at him, so he knew SOMETHING was going on, and he was supposed to go see the CO. He went in and the guy stared at him and he told him "I have transfer orders for you-- you're being shipped to Vietnam!" SO, after 2 years driving truck at White Sands, he'd been ordered to do the final year of his hitch in Vietnam... SO, he ended up driving a "deuce-n-a-half" over there hauling supplies off the beach to the supply dump just inland. Stayed "in camp" when he was off-duty, and kept his head down, and other than one small mortar attack and some small-arms fire from the grass or jungle a time or two, it was pretty quiet. He got sent back *just* a couple weeks before his hitch was up (think it had something to do with family or something, don't recall what he told me) and ended up doing "summer camp" manuevers at Fort Knox to kill the time til his discharge date-- and nearly got killed stateside when a couple radio guys running a radio Jeep next to his bivouac climbed a water tower to attach an antenna wire up near the top, and then started "reeling it in" to pull it up into the air to receive radio signals, not realizing there was a power line between them and the water tower, and when it pulled up into the power lines it killed the two radio men in the Jeep and nearly electrocuted several other guys, including Jim... he spent the last few weeks of his hitch in the hospital.

SO, he gets out, and gets a job at a bronze casting company making fancy balustrades and stuff for fancy hotels and stuff, smearing "naval jelly" (muriatic acid) on fresh castings once the sand molds were broken off... He told me about buying his first "Mountain Dew", which was a new soda pop that came out while he was overseas... Anyway, over lunch an older guy told him "so what do you want to do with the rest of your life?? You don't want to work here for the next 40 years I promise you! Go get into something GOOD, NOW, while you're YOUNG!" So he went and applied to the postal service, and did his entire career in the postal service, starting in his home state of Kentucky and ending up in Houston...

He said that the postal service was a great place to work, basically until the mid-late 80's or so... that's when they decided to make the postal service the great "equalizer" and turn it into the poster child of "affirmative action" and basically started "reverse racism", hiring almost exclusively minorities and "disadvantaged" groups, women, welfare cases, etc. Then of course they had always "promoted from within" and started promoting these less-qualified and usually FAR less-than-stellar employees up the chain, simply because of their RACE, GENDER, or "disadvantaged" status, rather than any qualifications or abilities. It got even WORSE as highly qualified workers with EXCELLENT work records were continually not only forced to cover for their lazy, stupid, or inept and completely uncaring co-workers, but then denied promotions that were given to these same unqualified scum, and in many cases they were *expected* to not only train them how to do the job they were denied being promoted to, but in fact usually ended up having to do the [email protected] job for them...

He told me he LOVED working in Houston, and ended up in one of the biggest stations in the city, out at Sharpstown. When he started, he said that yeah, most of his co-workers were white, but they had a few black and Hispanic guys and women and they all did the job well and professionally. If you didn't, you didn't last. Then it all changed... by the time he retired, he said he and one other guy were the only white people still working there, despite the staff at least doubling in that time, and the place was a total mismanaged shambles and nobody did a [email protected] thing... He said he COULD have stayed another couple years and gotten a better retirement, but he had just had enough... everybody was walking on eggshells, because if you even LOOKED at one of these "other groups" the wrong way, they'd file a harassment or racial complaint on you and get you fired (or worse). "It had been a great place to work, but at the end it was just simply awful!"

SO, chalk up another "victory" for the libtards and their idiotic ideas about "affirmative action" and all that sort of completely stupid nonsense...

Later! OL J R


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## r82230

RockyHill said:


> Jeff wants to cut the bottom out of a postmaster approved mailbox and mount it on a barrel with the top cut out so could have large capacity
> 
> Shelia


I thought that I would mention that you might need something a little bigger than a standard 55 gallon barrel  (and I do have the large mail box at the road). Here is what I got delivered a couple weeks ago, at my office. I ask the postman, how did you get any mail in your truck with these boxes inside, he told me he went back to post office at lunch time to pick these four boxes up and bring them to me (one fan is out of the box, BTW). It also seems that they were shipped in some sort of 'partnership', UPS delivered to Post Office, PO, gets the glory of delivering to me. Rough size of the four boxes 14" x 24" x 27"

View media item 7410View media item 7418View media item 7426View media item 7434
Here is what was delivered to my home last week, and it wouldn't fit mail box either, had to go pick up from PO, (no one home at time of delivery, they wouldn't come out to the hay field).

View media item 7442View media item 7450View media item 7458
The 'partnership', might be a little one-sided perhaps.

Larry

PS Amazoo Prime, has to be a money-maker, my DIL has it and I don't, but I still get free 2 day delivery on most items. :huh:


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## RockyHill

r82230 said:


> I thought that I would mention that you might need something a little bigger than a standard 55 gallon barrel  (and I do have the large mail box at the road). Here is what I got delivered a couple weeks ago, at my office. I ask the postman, how did you get any mail in your truck with these boxes inside, he told me he went back to post office at lunch time to pick these four boxes up and bring them to me (one fan is out of the box, BTW). It also seems that they were shipped in some sort of 'partnership', UPS delivered to Post Office, PO, gets the glory of delivering to me. Rough size of the four boxes 14" x 24" x 27"
> 
> Here is what was delivered to my home last week, and it wouldn't fit mail box either, had to go pick up from PO, (no one home at time of delivery, they wouldn't come out to the hay field).
> 
> The 'partnership', might be a little one-sided perhaps.
> 
> Larry
> 
> PS Amazoo Prime, has to be a money-maker, my DIL has it and I don't, but I still get free 2 day delivery on most items. :huh:


those fans going into the new building?

The saga continues, will give update when I have more keyboarding time 

Shelia


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## r82230

RockyHill said:


> those fans going into the new building?
> 
> Shelia


Yep, good guess. Plan is to use power ventilation, through screen doors/window and these four fans. In theory should change air every 20 minutes.

We have these critters (namely raccoons) that like to use the top of any hay as their personal outhouse. And they eat a lot and use the their outhouse frequently it seems. :angry: They even seem to invite their friends and families to use it if it's big enough. So closed overhead doors is the plan, with walk-in entry doors, with storm/screen doors. The storm doors will not be as nice as the ones on the deer blind. 

Larry


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## somedevildawg

Lol, you can bet it's a one way affair.....reckon who gets the short end of that stick


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## IH 1586

We have had times where our mail was off by one person for the entire road.

Today went to open a bill from Erie Insurance and there was a note on the back addressed to me stating what good postmasters we got. She received my bill with hers and no stamp on it. Put a stamp on it and put it back into mail. 250 miles difference between post boxes.


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## swmnhay

I can ship a pallet a couple hundred miles in 1-2 days but it takes a letter 4-5 days.SMH.

Got a new rural mail carrier a yr ago and the amount of screwed up mail has dropped 90%. had the old one for 20 yrs so it's not like he didn't know everyone on the route.

If I'm mailing a letter to a neighbor they pick it up and then they haul it 170 miles to a regional sorting center.Then it gets hauled back to local post office and then the rural carrier sorts it and delivers it.SMH


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## RockyHill

After the entire community has suffered the arrgavation of this Turn Around Ban and flooded our congressman's office with requests for intervention, the ban is lifted effective 8/2/18. I don't have any way of knowing who gets credit for righting this wrong but glad it's over!

Shelia


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## Ray 54

Glad to hear that "writing the congressman" did some good for a change.


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## woodland

RockyHill said:


> After the entire community has suffered the arrgavation of this Turn Around Ban and flooded our congressman's office with requests for intervention, the ban is lifted effective 8/2/18. I don't have any way of knowing who gets credit for righting this wrong but glad it's over!
> 
> Shelia


Squeaky wheel gets the grease. Nice when things work out as they should for a change. Congrats


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## JD3430

I live at the end of a 3/4 mile winding, hilly, private lane. 
When I first moved here 10 years ago, the last 1,000 feet of the lane and the cul de sac were in somewhat bad shape- pot holes & puddles. Pretty typical of PA roads (garbage).
We got a note from the local PO they would "no longer deliver our mail due to the condition of the road". My home and 2 other homes affected by this at the end of our road. 
I guess they were expecting gold paved roads built with a micrometer???

These people are some real prima donnas. We constantly get our neighbors mail and the mail of the former owner of my house who left 10 YEARS AGO.


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## IH 1586

JD3430 said:


> These people are some real prima donnas. We constantly get our neighbors mail and the mail of the former owner of my house who left 10 YEARS AGO.


Is that real mail or junk mail? Since purchasing Grandma's house I have received mail for Grandpa who has not been with us since '89 and dad who has not been with us since 2000. The addresses have changed since then with the E911 system yet still get mail and dads mail followed me when I moved.


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## CowboyRam

Years ago when I was in college I need some information from home, so dad mailed it to me; well I never received it. I finally ended up going home for the weekend to get it; one month later it finally showed up. The US Postal Service is not very reliable. On another note here a few years ago I had ordered some tropical fish online and they sent it through the USPS, when they got the live fish at the post office they had no idea what to do with them, so they actually called and my ex when and picked them up at the post office. I think it maybe depends on where who is working there. For some they don't care if the sun sets or rises as long as they get paid, and then there are some that take their job serious and actually do their job. Most who work in government are just a body that is receiving a paycheck, and are going to as little as possible.


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## RockyHill

CowboyRam said:


> Years ago when I was in college I need some information from home, so dad mailed it to me; well I never received it. I finally ended up going home for the weekend to get it; one month later it finally showed up. The US Postal Service is not very reliable. On another note here a few years ago I had ordered some tropical fish online and they sent it through the USPS, when they got the live fish at the post office they had no idea what to do with them, so they actually called and my ex when and picked them up at the post office. I think it maybe depends on where who is working there. For some they don't care if the sun sets or rises as long as they get paid, and then there are some that take their job serious and actually do their job. Most who work in government are just a body that is receiving a paycheck, and are going to as little as possible.


The letter carriers for our post office seem to fall into this category. Initially I thought there was more looking for excuses to not have to leave vehicle and walk packages to houses. The carriers have stuck with their story that was not the case. They actually had a meeting with the 'higher up' and expressed their dissatisfaction with implementation of the rule the way it was put to them.

Shelia


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## somedevildawg

Had another package "lost" by USPS.....what a bunch of crap, no insurance at all, you're just SOL.....I hope they seriously dismantle them at some point in the near future. This is the third package in about 5 yrs....total value of about $600, gone.


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## JD3430

Outside of the military and the national park service, the only things they seem to do well, gubmit just needs to step back and let the private sector handle the job.


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