Anyone else notice USPS's quality of service has severely declined?

[dsgrey]

No problem with USPS lately. I think the UPS and FedEx drivers play kickball with my packages since about half their deliveries are usually freight damaged.

 

[mm54943]

It's sucked for years now. My neighbors and I always end up with each others mail. Luckily I live around honest people.

 

[Jarine88]

My dad retired as a postmaster around 20 years ago. It was kind of "the family business" as I have aunts, uncles and cousins who retired or are still working for the USPS.

There are some great people at the post office who actually want to do a good job. Unfortunately, there are also some not so great people who seem to not care. It was just as hard to fire those people when my dad was still working as it is today. I have never had a good experience with unions.

To my knowledge, I never had any mail lost until a few years ago when we were updating the deed to our house. I mailed in the notarized forms that were drafted by a lawyer. I followed the tracking to one post office and then it disappeared. It was either destroyed or got lost somehow. After a year of waiting, I had to get the lawyer to redo the forms. That was a very costly lost package.

 

[striker55]

That's all well and dandy, but none of that is what makes me angry about this. I understand shit happens, that things get sent to the wrong place, or show up late. It seems to happen more often than it used to, but that's not my real issue here.

The issue I have was with the blatant lies. If the package was simply forgotten or missed, then mark it as such. Don't lie and say that a delivery was attempted and that a notice was left when it wasn't. That makes me have to go reschedule the delivery because of their mistake.

Yes we had a package that person said they couldn't deliver, no one home, I'm retired and don't go anywhere. Confronted the mail person the next day. She said it was someone else and if they bring a package back to the office, someone in the office marks it as such. Don't friggin lie!

 

[kbaxter60]

And it's not just USPS.

The wife and I have a continuing battle with UPS, since they can't seem to deliver to our house. I even made them a helpful job aid, showing our local road, driveway, and place to drop (and also showing th place they DO drop). They insist on leaving our packages on the side of a road, down the hill from our house.

Luckily, we have a neighbor who picks them up and texts us when they are in.
We used to laugh when the UPS ads came on, telling how much MORE they do than "delivery".

We would settle for doing JUST delivery.

"I gave you ONE job!"

 

[Haystack]

And it's not just USPS.

The wife and I have a continuing battle with UPS, since they can't seem to deliver to our house. I even made them a helpful job aid, showing our local road, driveway, and place to drop (and also showing th place they DO drop). They insist on leaving our packages on the side of a road, down the hill from our house.

Luckily, we have a neighbor who picks them up and texts us when they are in.
We used to laugh when the UPS ads came on, telling how much MORE they do than "delivery".

We would settle for doing JUST delivery.

"I gave you ONE job!"

I guess it's just up to the driver. Our UPS guy is terrific! My house is 1/4 mile back in the woods off the road. He knows my gate code, and he opens the gate and brings all our packages back to the house and puts them on the porch. He even makes sure his replacement has our gate code when he's on vacation.

Of all the delivery services, UPS is the only one we have that will do that.

 

[mm54943]

And it's not just USPS.

The wife and I have a continuing battle with UPS, since they can't seem to deliver to our house. I even made them a helpful job aid, showing our local road, driveway, and place to drop (and also showing th place they DO drop). They insist on leaving our packages on the side of a road, down the hill from our house.

Luckily, we have a neighbor who picks them up and texts us when they are in.
We used to laugh when the UPS ads came on, telling how much MORE they do than "delivery".

We would settle for doing JUST delivery.

"I gave you ONE job!"

Seems like ALL delivery services have gone downhill. USPS, FedEx, UPS, and even Amazon.

I've seen people post videos showing fedex drivers throw packages on the porch from several feet away.

Amazon drivers don't even knock anymore. They just dump your shit off and leave.

Even the food delivery services are garbage. We used one through door dash and they left our food on the wrong porch.

 

[Army 1911]

I ordered something for my wife and told Amazon to deliver it to Amazon's local dropbox location.

They returned it to shipper because they couldn't find their own dropbox. I chose the dropbox because it gave a $5 discount. They refunded the money but I had to reorder without the discount.

We don't have a regular mail guy because we are on a substitute route and have a different carrier every day. Packages get delayed because the sub is tired (we are his second route of the day) and doesn't want to carry the package.

 

[striker55]

Last weekend Amazon delivered a package for me and the next door neighbor. Amazon sent me a picture of my package in front of neighbors door, neighbors package to me, I was wondering why I had a big box.

 

[Bozz10mm]

Last weekend Amazon delivered a package for me and the next door neighbor. Amazon sent me a picture of my package in front of neighbors door, neighbors package to me, I was wondering why I had a big box.

Yes, the Amazon photos. I've noticed that when they mis-deliver one of my packages, for some reason, there is no photo. So I end up going to 4 or 5 different neighbors looking for it. Otherwise, there is always a photo of the package on my porch.

 

[Axxe55]

Or anyone could do like my father does. he hasn't had a mailbox outside of his house in over twenty five years now. He rents a PO Box at the post office. Has any packages that are delivered to my brother's shop where they are signed for when they are delivered.

But he doesn't get the wrong packages, or packages that are said to be delivered hat weren't and he gets all of his mail.

 

[TX OMFS]

I ordered a shell holder from Midway that shipped on 7/14, still waiting. I'm guessing it will never arrive or was delivered to the wrong address.

Thanks. It works great!

 

[Glenn B]

The post office has sucked somewhat as far back as I can remember with me getting and sending mail. FedEx is probably worse than the USPS. UPS had been my favorite when I ordered things that needed delivery or when I shipped firearms or ammo, but over the past year, at the particular UPS I use, I have had lots of problems with the counter clerk who thinks she knows all the rules & regulations about shipping guns & ammo. The thing is she does not know them - she thinks she knows them - and therein is a big difference with her.She has not gotten it right even once yet and I estimate she has told me at least 5 or 6 times that something could not be shipped that could be shipped except for the fact she thought she knew better. So, I started bringing the UPS firearms or ammo shipping rules with me and if needed also some of the ATF guidelines about C&R shipping. She still argued with me that she knew better and usually refused to look at the UPS guidelines. Sometimes I had to come back the next day after she asked a supervisor about shipping the items. Last time this happened, I shipped a C&R rifle through the post office. No problems there at all.

 

[Axxe55]

@Glenn B, maybe if you filed a complaint with her supervisor, or had her get the supervisor, or went to someone higher up the ladder and complained, maybe she would stop thinking she knew what she didn't know.

Or find another location and stop fooling aroudn with her.

 

[Glenn B]

@Glenn B, maybe if you filed a complaint with her supervisor, or had her get the supervisor, or went to someone higher up the ladder and complained, maybe she would stop thinking she knew what she didn't know.

Or find another location and stop fooling aroudn with her.

I have asked for her supervisor before. Spoke to one once and she rectified the situation. I also asked to see the supervisor last time I had the problem there. When I asked for the supervisor the clerk blurted out something to the effect: 'he just left for the day'. That was about 5 or 10 seconds after the clerk had told me the supervisor was in the back still checking to see if the shipment was okay. One of the other customers waiting on line almost choked as she apparently tried to stifle her own comment & laughter but some of the laugh got out when she heard the clerk say that. I have made up my mind, the next few times I need to use UPS, I am going to covertly make videos of her. If she gives me a hard time again and I have it recorded, I will file an official complaint with UPS.

Anyway, when I ship guns now, it probably will be through USPS. They are closer, the clerks there are nice and friendly (and one is kinda cute too) and they seem to know the actual rules and regs. It cost about the same as UPS even though when I shipped that C&R rifle, I shipped it registered Priority Mail. I probably will not do that again though, it really slows down shipping because of how they handle registered mail. I likely will save some dollars by not shipping it registered and just using Priority Mail insured. Insurance was included for free with registered mail - or so they told me; so I am not sure how much difference it will make to ship Priority Mail Insured as opposed to registered Priority Mail, I need to check on that but my guess is it will cost less. Another plus about the post office is I usually will need to make only one trip to cash the USPS money order and then ship the gun as I'll be able to do both during the same trip. I go later in the day, usually after 2PM, to cash USPS money orders (which is what I require for payment when selling a gun I am to ship) because by then they almost always have more than enough cash; if they do not have enough it means a return trip the next day or later the same day. As for ammo, I am stuck with UPS because FedEx is just FedEx (as in worse than UPS). It's odd, UPS never gave me a hard time when I shipped in NY one of the most anti-gun states; I think the most they ever questioned was if I had an FFL in order to ship which the clerk there thought I needed. All that took to rectify was to show him the rules.

It is funny, at first, that UPS clerk in Texarkana is always nice to me and I am always nice toward her - we are both quite civil. That is at least until she gets that she knows better bug up her arse and insists she knows better than me, the UPS rules, and what ATF says on the subject and so on. She keeps me (and other customers) waiting for up to 15 or 20 minutes, or longer, while she checks on the rules. Heck the most recent time she made it an issue it took a couple to few hours with two round trips to UPS over two days. Of course, once she starts in being a bulldog, we wind up arguing; it is like we are married or something (perish the thought). It is usually all polite but once, or maybe twice, it got heated. Yet, when we see each other again either at UPS or out in public, like running into one another when shopping, it is like we never argued and are polite acquaintances if not friends. I guess it's just part of the comedy called life. Maybe she just dislikes neckbeards (just had to get that in there before someone else).

Sorry this is so long, it just gets me going.

 

[Coyote9]

A few years ago, USPS was by far the most reliable carrier in my area. I think I might have had one minor issue in several years. I've had two issues with them this week.

1. A package was supposed to be delivered Monday. At no point did the tracking update after it left the the original USPS location. It finally showed up yesterday (Wed). Weird, but not that big of a deal.

2. Another package was supposed to be delivered on Monday. They sent it to the wrong town about an hour North of me, attempted delivery, realized their mistake, and then sent it back to Tulsa which finally sent it to the right town. Here's the thing that pisses me off. Yesterday, the only thing they put in the mailbox was a single letter. The package they were supposed to be delivered is small. It's a 2" bolt and a part the size of a Zippo. There's absolutely no reason why it couldn't fit in the mailbox. They didn't deliver it, and they didn't leave a notice. Instead, they waited until almost 7:30pm to update the tracking. They claim they attempted to deliver it (lie), could not find a suitable place to leave it (lie) and left a notice (lie). I had to reschedule a delivery attempt of that. This is not the first time they've pulled this stunt.

I can deal with stuff being late. Shit happens. The lies do not sit well with me though. That's bullcrap.

The USPS is not funded completely by the Gov therefore- we get what we pay for-deal with it or go FedEx or UPS

 

[Grumps21]

“....USPS's quality of service....”​

Whelp, after reading the title of this thread, I never expected to see USPS and quality used in the same sentence. As for the “service“ aspect, I certainly feel as though I was “serviced” each time have to go into one.
Perhaps I’m a little callous in my view of the USPS, but it’s only because the counter folks really don’t seem to give a crap. We should be lucky for them to wait on us. There’s no incentive to do more than the bare minimum. Now, I lived in a small town for several years, read 2k people, and that PO was nice, employees were friendly. Maybe it’s just the ones in and around Houston that just really suck.

 

[Curt Gunner]

I still write checks for utility payments and such.The bills usually arrive within a few days of each other,
so I mail them at the same time.I drop them in the box at the post office.Ever since January 26,right
after the inaugeration,NONE of them arrive at destination.Now,do they go through the entire box
just to pull out my few pieces or do they trash the entire drop box full? I doubt I am important enough
to be systematicaly removed,so they must trash the whole load. The news talks of problems with
mail theft,it's not getting stolen,it's getting thrown away,or perhaps (tin foil hats)they are mining it
for information.

 

[rotor]

I still write checks for utility payments and such.The bills usually arrive within a few days of each other,
so I mail them at the same time.I drop them in the box at the post office.Ever since January 26,right
after the inaugeration,NONE of them arrive at destination.Now,do they go through the entire box
just to pull out my few pieces or do they trash the entire drop box full? I doubt I am important enough
to be systematicaly removed,so they must trash the whole load. The news talks of problems with
mail theft,it's not getting stolen,it's getting thrown away,or perhaps (tin foil hats)they are mining it
for information.

The only bills I pay by mail are to the IRS and property tax. Everything else is via the bank and their billpay system. Costs me nothing and stuff doesn't get lost. It's not like your privacy is protected now because your check goes through the bank anyway. No postage, proof that you sent the money, what's there not to like?

 

[Grumps21]

The only bills I pay by mail are to the IRS and property tax. Everything else is via the bank and their billpay system. Costs me nothing and stuff doesn't get lost. It's not like your privacy is protected now because your check goes through the bank anyway. No postage, proof that you sent the money, what's there not to like?

Yep, same here. Most are electronic payments but the couple that are still mailed by the bank at least I have an impartial third party backing up that I at least sent the payment