I pit myself and the fucking Post Office

[Can Handle the Truth]

I should have paid the $14.50 (or whatever) for next day delivery. But my CD full of urgently-needed CAD drawings too big to email was going to a destination in the same city, and the postal clerk said it would almost definitely get there the next day by regular mail. Like a turd-eating schmuck I trusted her. That was last Thursday afternoon.

Now it's Tuesday evening and I'm entering the tracking number and I see that the father-sucking package has not even fucking left the mother-cunt-eating post office yet!

Dog-cock-suckers, burn in hell!

[Gbro]

Wow someone needs a nap!

The residents of Goodland Minnesota lost their post office sunday night. burned to the ground. Now we know there were some elderly folks that lost some much needed checks in that fire. But i'll bet most will never respond anything like you are.

[Can Handle the Truth]

Wow someone needs a nap!

The residents of Goodland Minnesota lost their post office sunday night. burned to the ground. Now we know there were some elderly folks that lost some much needed checks in that fire. But i'll bet most will never respond anything like you are.
An apologist for the Post Office!
Ya know, normally I would just call you a rat-turd-eating dickless little shit-brained so-and-so, but.... wow. An apologist for the Post Office.
I don't think anything I can say will top that.

[AuntiePam]

Now it's Tuesday evening and I'm entering the tracking number and I see that the father-sucking package has not even fucking left the mother-cunt-eating post office yet!



Maybe it has, but somebody neglected to scan the tracking sticker.

What does "almost definitely" mean anyway? I think it means "maybe".

Same city and it takes three days? Damn.

[nongoog]

No, really. If Dante was alive and writing today, he'd list the Post Office as a distinct level of hell. Everyone in there, on both sides of the counter, is A) Really fucking stupid, B) elderly and confused or C) absolutely nuts.

Somewhat on topic and off topic at the same time, I brought a package to fed-ex on saturday morning to send a valentine's package. When I looked at the tracking information today, turns out it left on MONDAY. wtf? If I bring it on Saturday, in the AM, and pay to ship it out, I expect it to go out that day! What the hell am I paying for, anyway? I might as well have hired some illegal immigrant to bike it across two states... he'd be relaxing with a well-earned enchilada right now and my mother would have her package! Instead, it'll come a day late (and the proverbial dollar short). Oh well.

[Ice Wolf]

Bloody poor service, CHTT. Any chance of putting in a complaint?

[Miss Purl McKnittington]

My mother mailed me a package last Monday (as in nearly two weeks ago), including my favorite shirt, my missing favorite sock, and some mail that had arrived for me at home. It has not arrived. Usually packages take two or three days to travel between us. A week after Mom sent the package, I ordered some yarn from Knitpicks. The yarn arrived four days later -- from Ohio, nearly three times the distance between school and home. Both packages were sent Priority Mail.

Why does the post office torment us so?

[TheLoadedDog]

Why does the post office torment us so?
Because the people who get their mail on time don't mention it.

Australia Post runs consistently at about 95% of mail delivered on or before time. Of the remaining five per cent, the vast majority is delivered within one additional business day. Bear in mind that this includes mail incorrectly addressed (up to 10% of mail has incorrect post codes on it - and we still get most of that there on or before time). There is also mail that has been insufficiently wrapped and falls apart en route (we get blamed for that), mail that has insufficient postage (we get blamed for that too, but we usually send it on in good faith and ask the recipient to pay - up to them), mail where the sender has rung up to complain, but is obviously lying, mail which does not have customs declarations signed, mail with no dangerous goods declarations signed so it cannot travel by air due to aviation laws (all our fault, of course).

I'm sure the situation would be similar in the US. Yes, the Post Office fucks up (and the red van is always parked on the corner), but I'd say our service is consistently better than many airlines, mass transit systems, hospitals, and other things that the public takes for granted.

You can send a physical object across the country for mere cents. That is pretty amazing in the 21st Century. And as ever you get what you pay for (although I think postal services are in fact a better deal than that, by and large). If a thing simply cannot be late as a matter of life or death, then take it there yourself, hire a courier company at twenty times the rate. Or maybe even don't leave it so late. Do what you have to do.


- TLD, postal worker.

[Ice Wolf]

That four-day delay referred to in the OP, for delivery in the same city, is a tad extreme, though. And a reason why people and businesses turn away from using the postal service.

Can't really compare countries and their services, I find. I don't mind NZ Post. They've rarely let me down, even get packages overseas for delivery when they say they will, given a reasonable timeframe, and they're still relatively economical. But perhaps CHTT should have pressed for a more definite assurance than "almost definitely". I certainly don't get that kind of crappily vague assurance here.

[TheLoadedDog]

Can't really compare countries and their services, I find.
Both countries I cited are members of the Universal Postal Union, and are industrialised countries with postal administrations that are subject to intense government and public scrutiny, not to mention external auditing. I'm in the industry, and we do get news from, and compare notes with, foreign postal administrations. They can be compared.

But perhaps CHTT should have pressed for a more definite assurance than "almost definitely". I certainly don't get that kind of crappily vague assurance here.
The clerk was giving the most honest information she could, IMHO, with "almost definitely". She could have said "definitely", and received a thread in the Pit, or she could have tried to up-sell a premium priority service and potentially be pitted for that too. The operative word here is "almost", and if the customer chooses to post an extremely important article even after hearing that, then that's at their own risk.

[Ice Wolf]

Beg your pardon. By the "can't compare" statement -- I should have been more specific. I, as a layman user of my local postal service, can't really compare the service of my postal service with yours, TLD, or that of CHTT. From what I've seen, the Universal Postal Union is one thing -- standrards of customer service at the counter, as with any enterprise, is another and largely individual unless really detailed training is utilised. I may like mine (because of the good customer service) -- I can't say yours is the same without experience of it. (Haven't been in anything like an Aussie postshop. Must try it sometime.)

As for the second bit of your post -- yes. I agree. Probably there was rush factors involved, hectic day, who knows? But me, personally? I'd have pressed for something more definite. I'm told a package will hit the Aussie shores within the week -- I'm satisfied. If I want it more definitely at a destination quicker, I look for alternatives.

[kambuckta]

How do you get a 'tracking number' for something that is sent via regular delivery?

[Contrapuntal]

I should have paid the $14.50 (or whatever) for next day delivery. But my CD full of urgently-needed CAD drawings too big to email was going to a destination in the same city, and the postal clerk said it would almost definitely get there the next day by regular mail. How urgent? Why not take it there yourself?

[StuffLikeThatThere]

No, really. If Dante was alive and writing today, he'd list the Post Office as a distinct level of hell. Everyone in there, on both sides of the counter, is A) Really fucking stupid, B) elderly and confused or C) absolutely nuts.


Wow. Really? I've actually had quite good experiences with the postal service.

When we were dealing with a legal and financial issue, I took an important letter to a neighboring town (we had to go there on another errand anyway) to send certified mail. When I asked the postmistress when it would arrive, she looked at it, and said, "Hmm. Well, I live in the town it's going to, so I'll stop by on my way home and drop it off at the main post office. It'll get there tomorrow." And it did. That was far beyond any requirement of duty that she had, and it really helped us out.

My sister and I had some forwarding issues (too long to explain, but we had both moved and things got mixed up) and I was getting her mail, several states away from where she actually was. I called our home postmistress and said, "I know this isn't actually your fault, or probably your problem, but could you help?" She figured out the problem (mistake at a processing center somewhere), called the correct people, and it was fixed within two days.

Sure, another neighboring town has a postmaster that's kind of a jerk. I can't name any profession that doesn't have some jerks in it, though, so I can't really hold that against the postal service at large.

[Joey P]

Just wanted to mention that the tracking numbers that the USPS gives out are next to useless. They arn't updated until the package is delivered, unlike FedEx and UPS where you can watch the progress.

[chowder]

How do you get a 'tracking number' for something that is sent via regular delivery?
As an ex UK postal worker I was wondering about that

[Gbro]

An apologist for the Post Office!
Ya know, normally I would just call you a rat-turd-eating dickless little shit-brained so-and-so, but.... wow. An apologist for the Post Office.
I don't think anything I can say will top that.

Your title was a misprint then wasn't it.

I could give a rats ass about the post office, its insufferable whiners that get to me.
And i was sympathetic to those that lost important mail in that fire, You on the other hand opted to go cheap, and got it...

[dnooman]

Have you called the recipient to see if they already recieved it by chance? I've recieved UPS packages that were supposedly still in the distribution center according to the UPS website.

[Gbro]

Your title was a misprint then wasn't it.

I could give a rats ass about the post office, its insufferable whiners that get to me.
And i was sympathetic to those that lost important mail in that fire, You on the other hand opted to go cheap, and got it...

I didn't edit in time, so here's another go at it.
I see your user name doesn't fit the you in you.
Maybe you should change it to,
Big Whiner, Biggest Whiner, Will Whine for....., Or just "Whaaaaaaaa"

[Anaamika]

I love the post office.

In 2007, it costs a fortune to call any other country. I can still send a letter uip to four pages for 80 cents. I can send a letter to Mexico and Canada for only 60 cents.

I don't ever bash them for an occasional mistake. Get this - back in December I sent a CD to someone overseas. They never got it, and never got it, and never got it - until today! Thats' right, V-Day! So they eventualyl fixed the mistake. And he's listening to the CD right now.

[astro]

I should have paid the $14.50 (or whatever) for next day delivery. But my CD full of urgently-needed CAD drawings too big to email was going to a destination in the same city, and the postal clerk said it would almost definitely get there the next day by regular mail. Like a turd-eating schmuck I trusted her. That was last Thursday afternoon.

Now it's Tuesday evening and I'm entering the tracking number and I see that the father-sucking package has not even fucking left the mother-cunt-eating post office yet!

Dog-cock-suckers, burn in hell!

This Amazon online storage option seems (http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=16427261) like a pretty good deal and would eliminate the need for mailing.

[XJETGIRLX]

If it had to get there by the next day, and you're in the same city why didn't you either drop it off yourself? Seems if it was that important it would be worth going a few miles out of the way.

[JohnT]

If it had to get there by the next day, and you're in the same city why didn't you either drop it off yourself? Seems if it was that important it would be worth going a few miles out of the way.

Or, more simply, if it needs to be there next day then why not pay the extra $14?

Also... why wait until Tuesday night to track a package that apparently needed to arrive the previous Friday?

[Contrapuntal]

If it had to get there by the next day, and you're in the same city why didn't you either drop it off yourself? Seems if it was that important it would be worth going a few miles out of the way.That's what I was thinking.

[Queuing]

Much like Travel Agents, the Post Office will soon be obsolete (if it isn't already). I, for one, can hardly wait.

[TheLoadedDog]

Much like Travel Agents, the Post Office will soon be obsolete (if it isn't already). I, for one, can hardly wait.
No it won't. Small letters volume was predicted to crash mightily due to email. This was about fifteen years ago, and volumes rose significantly over the 1990s. Only now is there a slight downturn. Letters may be obsolete in the very long term (when everybody is tech-savvy [including the elderly] and are ok with e-bills etc), but strangely the internet will ensure the post office itself will survive. Somebody needs to deliver all that stuff you buy online. Until the internet gets into the teleportation game, the PO is pretty safe.

Think of postal services the way you think of cinemas. Cinemas were battered and bruised by radio, then the big one - TV, and then VCRs, then the internet, then DVDs, but although its demise was predicted at every stage, you can still go out and see a movie. The industry is smaller than in its heyday, but it is still going. My personal prediction is that twenty years out, the PO will be much as it is today. Forty years from now, it might be more of a boutique business, but still there.

[Fear Itself]

How do you get a 'tracking number' for something that is sent via regular delivery?Delivery Confirmation (http://www.usps.com/send/waystosendmail/extraservices/deliveryconfirmationservice.htm)

Unfortunately, they often neglect to scan the delivery confirmation barcode. I have had several packages get delivered (I confirmed it with the recipient), yet the tracking number still said it was at the point of origin.

[dgrdfd]

www.yousendit.com
www.rapidshare.com

[dgrdfd]

Well, never mind actually. I thought those allowed > 100MB file uploads.

[astro]

Well, never mind actually. I thought those allowed > 100MB file uploads.

They do. $ 5 a month will allow up to 2 gig files.

[Queuing]

No it won't. Small letters volume was predicted to crash mightily due to email. This was about fifteen years ago, and volumes rose significantly over the 1990s. Only now is there a slight downturn. Letters may be obsolete in the very long term (when everybody is tech-savvy [including the elderly] and are ok with e-bills etc), but strangely the internet will ensure the post office itself will survive. Somebody needs to deliver all that stuff you buy online. Until the internet gets into the teleportation game, the PO is pretty safe.

Think of postal services the way you think of cinemas. Cinemas were battered and bruised by radio, then the big one - TV, and then VCRs, then the internet, then DVDs, but although its demise was predicted at every stage, you can still go out and see a movie. The industry is smaller than in its heyday, but it is still going. My personal prediction is that twenty years out, the PO will be much as it is today. Forty years from now, it might be more of a boutique business, but still there.
Maybe. You could be right. Of course things will be still have be delivered, I just see a private company doing it. Personally I get basically no wanted mail. Everything is an e-bill, and the packages I do have delivered seem to rarely , is ever, arrive by Canada Post. I do still get magazines delivered by Canada Post however.

[Ice Wolf]

Essentially, our NZ Post is more-or-less a private company, paying dividends to the Government, as I understand, as one of our TV free-to-air networks do. There's some shareholder imput, but they do their own thing. There have been private alternative services that have set up, run for a bit, then fallen by the wayside -- but that's only because of the limited size of the market.

One day, there won't be anything like a state-operated postal system. It will become like our telephones, power, water etc. Contact will probably be either via agencies or the Internet, with transactions electronic and delivery systems contracted out.

Well, according to my cloudy crystal ball. ;) :)

[tdn]

The thing about spending $14 for a delivery service is crap, however. They screw up too. We've all read Pit threads about some of the horror stories. My own makes a good tale -- long after the fact, of course.

But the USPS -- someone is playing head games with us. It's funny but a little creepy as well.

You see, my GF and I live on the same street, in the same building, on the same floor -- but in different apartments. The only difference in our addresses are the apartment numbers. If someone sends something to both of us, with her name listed first and her apartment number, I get it. If I'm listed first, with my apartment number, she gets it.

It's like this subtle, amusing, and inconsequential Mind Fuck.