Mail Delivery Getting Worse?

[Aerides]

It would not bother us in the least if mail was moved from five days a week to three days if it meant more efficient service.

While that may be true for many of us (and for my personal deliveries, I would agree) it would be a huge impact to many in rural areas who depend on deliveries for medication, and small businesses who rely on the USPS for their packages to reach customers. All the small niche product sellers, Etsy makers, Ebay-ers, etc.

More customers would be put off by longer delivery times and reduced windows, opting to shop with bigger places who can afford majorly reduced rates via Fedex and UPS.

The average small business can't compete if their shipment costs $12 to send something that Walmart ships for $4.

 

[Koolau]

While that may be true for many of us (and for my personal deliveries, I would agree) it would be a huge impact to many in rural areas who depend on deliveries for medication, and small businesses who rely on the USPS for their packages to reach customers. All the small niche product sellers, Etsy makers, Ebay-ers, etc.

More customers would be put off by longer delivery times and reduced windows, opting to shop with bigger places who can afford majorly reduced rates via Fedex and UPS.

The average small business can't compete if their shipment costs $12 to send something that Walmart ships for $4.

We have 7-day delivery of packages now! We have 6 day delivery of other mail NOW.

Realistically, it wouldn't work for the mail carriers either. We live in a high rise and our mail carrier spends the better part of an hour many days just filling our buildings mail slots. OFTEN our box is nearly full by the time she finishes. Everyone gets a "warning" letter at Xmas to be certain to empty our boxes every day as they fill up. SO going to 3 day service would require even larger piles of mail delivered to the same size box by an already busy carrier. Yes, I'm sure there could be adaption made, but it would cause lots of problems. Another clue to the "issues" our carrier faces NOW with SIX day mail: She typically arrives around 1:00PM to 2:00PM. SOME days, she is so backed up as to be putting mail in slots AFTER 5:00PM. Maybe Hawaii is more dependent upon USPS than more centrally located states. I can't speak to that. BUT 3 day mail would cause dramatic changes to pull off from what I have seen. YMMV

 

[RetireeRobert]

BUT 3 day mail would cause dramatic changes to pull off from what I have seen. YMMV

Change, always hard, and always resisted. But besides death and taxes, I maintain the only thing else that is certain is change.

 

[VanWinkle]

Actually, most if not all of the losses are due to a crippling mandate enacted by Congress. It's explained here https://news.nd.edu/news/postal-ser...ressional-mandate-not-low-prices-expert-says/

After reading the linked article, I find it to be rather shallow and not much of an explanation for the losses suffered by the post office. Still due to no one wanting to change the status quo. There may be underlying issues, but blaming congress seems to be popular these days.

 

[Midpack]

Mail service seems normal where we are, our carrier is hard working and friendly. But USPS has lost billions almost every year this century (NOT because of the 10 year pension prefunding controversy), and they’re 99%+ not funded by the Federal government - so something has to give. In their defense, Congress has to approve their rate changes, so they’re not allowed to fix their own problems. And no other delivery service has to deal with letter mail (they’re not permitted, though they wouldn’t want that business), which has become a huge losing proposition with so much going online. Like others, 90% of what comes in our mail is pure trash. USPS needs a complete overhaul, but they’re not allowed to…they’re between a rock and a hard place.

 

[Midpack]

Actually, most if not all of the losses are due to a crippling mandate enacted by Congress. It's explained here https://news.nd.edu/news/postal-ser...ressional-mandate-not-low-prices-expert-says/

That’s a misrepresentation, a convenient scapegoat. USPS has continued to lose billions every year even though the aggressive (catch up) prefunding ended in 2016 - 5 years ago.

The aggressive prefunding ran from 2006-2016, so they’re not being asked to fund pensions any differently than other organizations anymore, contributions now are a small fraction of what they were from 2006-2016. USPS would have lost billions almost every year regardless of the prefunding, don't take my word for it - you can see their income statements for every year online to easily verify. During the period, USPS simply didn’t pay the pension funding at all some years, and still lost money.

USPS has lost billions most of the last 20 years even if they had stayed with pay as you go pensions, and made NO pension liability reserves. If any private company tried to fund their pension liability pay as you go, most people would be up in arms. USPS retirees should be thankful their pension liability is being funded. Pay as you go is clearly unsustainable.

Read the (biased by omission of all the facts) link above, and then this one https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer...ns--some-key-myths-and-facts/?sh=315b409b47f5 - and decide…

 

[street]

Mail service is fast here, faster than ever.

I agree! No complaints service is very good, fast and reliable.

 

[aja8888]

I agree! No complaints service is very good, fast and reliable.

I feel a lot of the good service depends on your carrier. We get a "new" one every few months as our route is covered by contractors. And their work ethic varies widely.

 

[Lienlord]

Dropped off a payment in a big blue mailbox recently. It was apparently stolen out of the box (somehow?) and the money order forged and cashed by an individual!
I let the PO know (in case other mail was stolen along with mine). They acted skeptical it happened and said they've had no other notices. Now have the nightmare of trying to get the funds back through Moneygram!

 

[Murph]

Am I the only one who has noticed that mail delivery is getting worse? Letters that used to take three or four days to deliver now take as long as eight to ten days to arrive. Letters mailed from Florida to NYC, take about eight days to arrive. My understanding is that the delivery is expected to get even worse in the near future as mail now transported by air will be soon transported by truck. Ughhhhh

I sent out Christmas cards on 12/4/20 that still haven’t been received.

 

[papaof2]

First class mail has slowed so much that we expect a 400 mile delivery to take at least a week - something that once happened in 2-3 days. USPS small package delivery is even worse with "In transit" often meaning "Scanned before it was tossed into the trailer" - it does not require 5 days to drive across Atlanta from their main hub to any outlying area (even out here at The End Of The Road in Pig Wallow, GA). FedEx is even worse, taking 3 WEEKS to move a package from their metro Atlanta hub out to us folks in the boonies - and the delivery was made by a nondescript driver in a Penske Rental truck. I told one online vendor that he should stop using FedEx as his default carrier in this area to keep his customers happy - he responded that he'll use any shipper I request.

The UPS and FedEx "cheaper than USPS" services, where small packages ride "space available" on the respective carrier's trucks, can also need a week to move a trailer across metro Atlanta from their respective hubs to the USPS hub.

 

[ownyourfuture]

They should reduce delivery to 3 days a week- and they might actually reduce the excessive losses at the Postal Service.

I'm almost certain, sometime in the last 15 years, I saw or read an article showing that the US postmaster general went before Congress and practically begged them to let the USPS drop Saturday delivery to address their losses.

The answer was no.
Only in America.

 

[meleana]

Mail service where I live in NH is better than where it was where I used to live in NY.


We only had a few slow delivery issues when COVID hit last year, but it is fine now. We even get USPS package deliveries on Sundays sometimes.



I do hate that we get mail at the end of the day, though. It was the same in NY. Does anyone get their mail early in the day?

 

[RetireeRobert]

Mail service where I live in NH is better than where it was where I used to live in NY.


We only had a few slow delivery issues when COVID hit last year, but it is fine now. We even get USPS package deliveries on Sundays sometimes.



I do hate that we get mail at the end of the day, though. It was the same in NY. Does anyone get their mail early in the day?

I lucked out. My rural house is served by a carrier who delivers by car, and our location is near the start of her route. So I get my mail usually by ten AM every morning.

Our service has been fairly good for the eleven years out here. Part of one year, the regular carrier retired and we had some newbies for some months. Then it was luck of the draw whether we got only our own mail or some of the neighbors' a house or two away as well--and same for our neighbors. But then we got another regular carrier and service has been impeccable. We get all our mail (as indicated by USPS's online delivery notification app) and only our own mail.

Overall, I think my experience with USPS has been a near zero defect rate for some fifty or sixty years of using the US mails. You will hear no complaints from me.

 

[Time2]

Speaking of deliveries, often the computer says my package is delivered, when it is not. I have always got it, that same day or next. I would think it should be scanned as delivered, when it's delivered. I guess I'm just weird like that.

 

[Car-Guy]

So here's a funny USPS story....(Well it's funny to me )

For the last 10+ years I have had both a PO Box and a local (rural) mail box... I have 99% of my mail delivered to my PO Box but I find keeping the local rural box is a real benefit... Often when I'm ordering something on line, the shipper will not send the item(s) to a PO Box... (Not sure why) So, I just change the address to my local physical address and they'll send it...

Now for the funny part... If the package doesn't fit in the rural mail box, (that is typical) the local mail carrier will NEVER try to deliver it to my door. He/she simply leaves a notice in my rural box to pick up the package at the local PO... Just like I do when I have something shipped directly to my PO BOX.

 

[t49eng]

USPS has become sporadic at best

2 recent instances to illustrate:
1. DW & I sat for our Trusted traveler/Global Entry interviews on May 26. She received her Global Entry card in the mail within one week. I am still waiting for mine & will call the issuing office if I do not receive mine tomorrow, 2 weeks after the interview.
2. I did an online request for a QCD check from Vanguard on Friday at 4PM. The check arrived on Monday!
Surely some of this has to do with the originating office, but the USPS has a major role, no doubt.
We have noticed a great variability in mail delivery times, anywhere from 10AM to 7PM, some days (especially Saturday) maybe not at all. A couple of years ago, you could set your watch (who wears one anymore?) by the mail deliver time.

 

[USGrant1962]

Like folks have said, these days mail seems normal to me. It was horrible this past winter, but AFAIK that was Covid related and peculiar to certain USPS distribution centers. From what I heard, some centers couldn't get people to show up for work with or without Covid. Others operated mostly normally.

 

[iRent2u]

Covid - The “excuse”.

 

[sengsational]

Here's a technique that I learned to manage slow inbound USPS packages. The tracking system will give you a date. The date often comes and goes without the package being delivered.

The tip is not to wait very long before putting in a request to trace it.

I had a package that was a month late. Two days after I opened the ticket, it arrived. Two more instances of packages that missed delivery date and tracking showed no updates also were delivered shortly after the inquiry was made. I wait a few days before taking action, but I think it's worth digging around on the USPS site and poking them sooner, rather than later.

 

[ExPatKiwi]

Forget USPS for international parcel delivery the person behind the counter says it will get there in 8 to 10 business days, in reality it's unknown maybe a month or two. You pay for airmail and instead get ground shipping by sea. I'm seriously thinking to use DHL or FEDEX in the future.

 

[indiajust]

I have received nothing of value from the postal monopoly for decades. It is all spam. The people are nice but the system is crap and desperately needs change. It's amtrak.