US Priority Mail. Negative Experience

[MJ]

Before I left for Thailand last November 2006.I used USPS Priority mail to send my request for a Thai Visa at the Denver consulate. . It took only 1 week from the time I mailed it and got my passport back, so I did it again 2 weeks ago. I mailed my passport again using priority mail and it arrived at the consulate in Alabama 2 days later, so far so good. I addressed the enclosed return priority envelope back to NYC where I plan to be a week later. The Thai consulate mailed it Oct 31. Priority mail is supposed to take 2 to 4 business days but after 8 days, I began to worry that it was lost. I have an air ticket to leave the country Nov 20 so I made an appointment to get a replacement passport. I found out that I needed original documented proof that I was a US citizen. Apparently scanned copies of my passport or my father's actual naturalization papers with scanned copies of my birth certificate to prove I was his son were not good enough. I went through a bit angst that I might have a problem getting a new passport quickly.
Today, 11 days after it was mailed to me, I finally got my passport, so I am greatly relieved.
To contrast my experience with priority mail, I ordered some items Sunday and Monday from Buy.com and even though I took advantage of their free 7 to 9 business days delivery, the post office delivered the 2 packages in 3 days.
Tuesday, I am going to the post office and lodge a complaint for whatever it's worth.

MJ

 

[bssc]

I remember that Priority Mail's delivery time is couched as "usually" 2-4 days. However, there are no guarantees and if you need it there by a certain time, Express Mail is the way to go. Or, FedEx.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I had something take 45 days to get from california to arizona via priority mail. Everything else has gone pretty quick.

 

[Texas Proud]

I remember that Priority Mail's delivery time is couched as "usually" 2-4 days. However, there are no guarantees and if you need it there by a certain time, Express Mail is the way to go. Or, FedEx.

I will agree... Express Mail at least has tracking.. Priority does not unless you pay for it and then it slows down the delivery as it is manual as opposed to electronic for the Express Mail...

If you are sending important documents, it is worth the extra $10 or so to have a tracking number you can see online...

 

[Nords]

I don't mail packages or heavy envelopes often enough to make retraining worth the effort, but the post office has totally changed in the last five years.

Somewhere over the years I've becomed trained to put my mailings in a cardboard box, wrap it in brown paper, tape it up, and write the address in Magic Marker. Today when I show up with that type of package, the postal employee reaction makes me feel like I'm giving them old soiled diapers contaminated with radioactive waste.

It's probably easier to walk in there with the object you want mailed and have them give you the free box. (I guess it's free because it fits their automated handling equipment and thus you're saving them money.) Then you can enter your recipient's address in their computer and have it print out their barcoded label (for automated scanning). Seal the box's adhesive strip, slap the adhesive barcode inside the marked area, and drop the package in the wall slot.

I guess it's worth looking over their standardized free package sizes and building up a home postage-supply inventory. No wonder spouse is finding rolls of brown paper at local garage sales.

I greatly prefer the post office's touch-screen kiosk to their staff. When I recently tried to mail a book to the Mainland I was relentlessly upsold on repackaging, prioritizing, overnighting, insuring, certifying, receipting, tracking... just let me mail the package!!

 

[lets-retire]

I was the lucky one selected to mail in all cases. They are mailed flat rate Priority and the delivery confirmation costs $.65. The number is able to tracked online. I don't know if you can prepay the envelope to obtain the delivery confirmation though.

 

[MJ]

I will agree... Express Mail at least has tracking.. Priority does not unless you pay for it and then it slows down the delivery as it is manual as opposed to electronic for the Express Mail...

If you are sending important documents, it is worth the extra $10 or so to have a tracking number you can see online...

I also agree. Outside of the mental anxiety it cost me, I got away cheap.

I shared my story, so others, especially PTers traveling light, can learn from my experience.

For me, lesson learned!

MJ

 

[MJ]

I was the lucky one selected to mail in all cases. They are mailed flat rate Priority and the delivery confirmation costs $.65. The number is able to tracked online. I don't know if you can prepay the envelope to obtain the delivery confirmation though.

I had a delivery confirmation going to the Thai consulate but one coming to me didn't matter since I would be signing for it. Unfortunately, they don't track the progress of the letter, only if it arrived.

 

[justin]

I recently bought something from woot.com and it is being shipped USPS. However, the package is being tracked by fedex. I wonder if USPS has contracted fedex to do package tracking?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

More likely that fedex is carrying the package.

I think all of the major carriers have worked out an el cheapo service options where the USPS does pickup and delivery but the carrier does the backbone movement from hub to hub. The DHL version of it I used was supposed to provide DHL tracking, but DHL palmed me off on the USPS and gave me their tracking #'s. Then the post office delivery guy looked at my long, cliff-like driveway and the 60lb package and decided I wasnt home and brought it back to the post office and waited for me to figure it all out and go get it.

 

[REWahoo]

Justin, the USPS (may they rot in the fetid urine of a cancerous goat) has a 'last mile' contract with FedEx. FedEx actually moves and tracks the package to the local PO, then USPS does the final delivery to the customer. If you're lucky.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

USPS-FedEx Agreement Delivers First-Class Service

 

[ScooterGuy]

Use FedEx and pay the price.

 

[USK Coastie]

REWahoo what is the status of your mail delivery? Still going though carriers once a week or so?

 

[REWahoo]

REWahoo what is the status of your mail delivery? Still going though carriers once a week or so?

Although the local postal management team has forever tainted whatever limited respect I had for that institution, mail delivery has improved significantly in the past couple of months. By "improved significantly", I mean we are actually getting mail every day, apparently all of it, prior to 6PM.

The USPS just sent out a survey to local mail patrons asking us to give them feedback on mail service but to limit our comments to include only the service we'd received in the last 30 days. Where were they when we had a total breakdown of mail delivery this past summer? Why didn't we get a chance to complete a survey then? Why wouldn't anyone in the postal system give us anything but lame "it's not my fault" excuses for weeks on end?

The response by local postal officials to that situation was unforgivable and they can take their survey and stick it up their...PO box.

 

[justin]

The USPS just sent out a survey to local mail patrons asking us to give them feedback on mail service but to limit our comments to include only the service we'd received in the last 30 days. Where were they when we had a total breakdown of mail delivery this past summer? Why didn't we get a chance to complete a survey then?

They probably sent you the mail survey last summer. By mail. What, you never received it? Guess they should have fedexed it.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Of course they didnt survey you last summer. They knew what you'd say.

And of course they'll survey you now, but limit you to responding about a time period in which they also know what you'll say.

Anyone else figured out that surveys are BS?

 

[VaCollector]

Although the local postal management team has forever tainted whatever limited respect I had for that institution, mail delivery has improved significantly in the past couple of months. By "improved significantly", I mean we are actually getting mail every day, apparently all of it, prior to 6PM.

The USPS just sent out a survey to local mail patrons asking us to give them feedback on mail service but to limit our comments to include only the service we'd received in the last 30 days. Where were they when we had a total breakdown of mail delivery this past summer? Why didn't we get a chance to complete a survey then? Why wouldn't anyone in the postal system give us anything but lame "it's not my fault" excuses for weeks on end?

The response by local postal officials to that situation was unforgivable and they can take their survey and stick it up their...PO box.

....thought you might be interested in my delivery (or lack thereof) to ZIP code 75035...is that you REWahoo?

...anyway.....USPS...mailed priority with signature confirmation (no insurance)....addressed to a person and addressed correctly...

...ended up delivered to (who knows where) ZIP code 75034 and signed for by an postal employee [-]WTF[/-] because "it wasn't signed when it was delivered".....uhhhh....WHAT!!??....so what's that $2.10 that I paid for signature confirmation for again??

$230 lost in the black hole of Texas (apologies to REWahoo and others )

 

[W2R]

Although the local postal management team has forever tainted whatever limited respect I had for that institution, mail delivery has improved significantly in the past couple of months. By "improved significantly", I mean we are actually getting mail every day, apparently all of it, prior to 6PM.

We didn't get full mail delivery for a year after Hurricane Katrina. For the longest time, we only got letters addressed to us that "looked important", and no junk mail at all. I got maybe a letter or two a week, and nothing more.

At the time, I missed the junk mail, but now I miss the way it was!

I am looking forward to the day when snail mail is officially obsolete.

 

[REWahoo]

Nope, that's not me, not even close. But the service sounds familiar...

 

[Jonathan Pletzke]

USPS experience varies greatly

I have to say that our local post offices have very knowledgeable and friendly people working at the counter. It's incredible. I've been to different locations up and down the coast, but the folks in Chapel Hill and Carrboro North Carolina are great.

I have had good experience with Priority Mail in comparison to Media Mail. The Priority Mail seems to get to locations from Chapel Hill with no major delays. However, my experience with Media Mail is crazy. I've had a book go to San Francisco in about 4 days, but it has taken a month to get to Boston. My wife makes granola, and they send it Fedex ground, and it gets most places with no problem, except in Florida where it goes missing for a few days and also can be delivered to the wrong store.

I guess nothing is perfect, and the variability between services and locations is surprising, considering that a Big Mac or Marriott Burger is so predictable and uniform everywhere.

 

[Texas Proud]

It is part of the game to only tell the bad side... but they do good most of the time.. but even if that is 99.99... there are many millions (?) of misplaced mail...

But, I will give an example of what they can do... this was awhile ago, but one of my co-workers got a complaint letter from a customer... received it Monday morning... so, he shot off a response to the customer on what had happened and put it in the mail on Monday... Tuesday the customer got the letter and shot off his response... Wednesday the co-worker got the customer's letter and responded again with a proposal... Thursday the customer got that letter and responded back... and Friday the co-worker received the customers final letter and then did what was asked....

Now, today it would be in emails... but with different people reading the response and not doing what the other had said or thought... and it would take many weeks to get what you wanted (if you ever could)....

So, are we better off today or not??

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I actually did a pretty good study once that showed that improving speed in communications is counter productive, and the faster and more available the communications, the worse it gets.

Principally for the very reason you note. When it had to be put on paper and mailed, more thought was put into the content, the implications, etc. Less emotion. Frequently written and delivered communications also go through proofreaders or at least an administrative examination.

Fast and highly available communications more frequently result in half baked ideas, angry retorts, and things that require damage control. Its also way too easy to cc: a shitload of people and take time out of their day to examine and critique, and to become 'stakeholders' in a decision or action process that they dont belong in.

Faster response times also produces higher error rates in data entry.

Oh yeah...I didnt publish that study...

 

[Nords]

I actually did a pretty good study once that showed that improving speed in communications is counter productive, and the faster and more available the communications, the worse it gets.

So quantity sucks down quality?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quantity, quality, cost. The same triangle seems to apply...