Post Office Mail is slower than Molasses in January

Yes, I know, we are in a Pandemic. Yes I know mail volume is higher during the holidays. Yes I know bad weather & rough road conditions.

THE question I have is, why the heck doesn't the POST office know this?
Every year at Christmas it is the same drivel, high volume blah blah blah, not enough employees.

There are tons of unemployed people looking for jobs. I'm sure many would take seasonal jobs sorting mail.
I think the Post office needs a major overhaul. In this day and age why would it take a letter 12+++++days to reach the state next
to it? I don't care what time of year it is.

The weird thing, the closer your mail is going the longer it is taking. I mailed something one state away on December 7th, still not delivered.
Mailed something out west, got there in 3 days!

www.tmj4.com...

“They knew this was coming,” Davel said. “They didn't take the proper steps. The pandemic and holiday shipping rush shouldn't be a surprise. There are people looking for work. Very capable people. Why is it the post office didn't staff up accordingly ahead of Christmas?”

a reply to: JAGStorm

I've heard UPS is having the same problem.

www.washingtonpost.com...

a reply to: JAGStorm

One issue we're having in the great white north is the post office can't staff up. There's no room in the covud rules for many extra employees, and no money for extra infrastructure.

One caveat for us I guess, is that anywhere and everywhere told us to shop local and shop early. So if we didn't (we being me), that's on us.

a reply to: Atsbhct

One caveat for us I guess, is that anywhere and everywhere told us to shop local and shop early. So if we didn't (we being me), that's on us.

End of November, early December should have been early enough.
Some mail has been "stuck" that long.

www.facebook.com...
Over a thousand comments, all the same story. People mailed early things disappeared from tracking and
still hasn't been delivered.

The other problem is that the Post office is still charging for priority mail, well knowing the timeline is not true.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
The weird thing, the closer your mail is going the longer it is taking. I mailed something one state away on December 7th, still not delivered.

Mailed something out west, got there in 3 days!

I have notice that for a while. My sister in Florida, mails me something from the next county, less than 75 miles away, and it takes a week to get to me. My sister in Indiana mails me something, and it is here in three days.

Have not been able to figure that one out.

a reply to: JAGStorm

www.inquirer.com...

“Don’t be using the post office right now because we can’t deliver the mail,” said Laurence Love, an assistant clerk craft director who operates mail sorting machines at the Philadelphia Processing and Delivery Center.

What is worse? What this person is sayin, or how they are saying it..

a reply to: JAGStorm
It is ridiculously slow. I am waiting on 2 Christmas gifts for my daughter to arrive via USPS One of the gifts is the only one in the world. I ordered them early November- hopefully they make it here.

originally posted by: Onlyyouknow
a reply to: JAGStorm
It is ridiculously slow. I am waiting on 2 Christmas gifts for my daughter to arrive via USPS One of the gifts is the only one in the world. I ordered them early November- hopefully they make it here.

The weird thing, as much as I hate Amazon they have stepped up their shipping game this season. Everything I ordered from them has been delivered from 1/2 day to 3 days max.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Yep! Prime shipping from Amazon is 2 weeks where I am. It's crazy.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I have also gotten my packages from the vendors who use UPS really quickly; it’s the USPS that is having a really slow delivery time for me.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
Yes, I know, we are in a Pandemic.

-sigh-

No. We're not. The plan/scam-demic is going rather well though.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: JAGStorm

I've heard UPS is having the same problem.

www.washingtonpost.com...

Sorry...that's my fault with all the stuff my wife orders!

a reply to: JAGStorm

Same here. I live out in the boonies. Way out on a dirt road that is no more than a widened cow pasture, and we get an Amazon truck at least once a day, sometimes twice. Everyone is saying that so far, they have been receiving their orders in less time than promised.

I got a split order from Amazon last week. The delivery was projected for two weeks out. I got four items three days later, and the other item five days later.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
Yes, I know, we are in a Pandemic. Yes I know mail volume is higher during the holidays. Yes I know bad weather & rough road conditions.

THE question I have is, why the heck doesn't the POST office know this?
Every year at Christmas it is the same drivel, high volume blah blah blah, not enough employees.

There are tons of unemployed people looking for jobs. I'm sure many would take seasonal jobs sorting mail.
I think the Post office needs a major overhaul. In this day and age why would it take a letter 12+++++days to reach the state next

“They knew this was coming,” Davel said. “They didn't take the proper steps. The pandemic and holiday shipping rush shouldn't be a surprise. There are people looking for work. Very capable people. Why is it the post office didn't staff up accordingly ahead of Christmas?”

The post office does know this. They are not in control of their own budget, so they can’t make rational budget decisions such as personnel hiring on their own, like ordinary businesses can. It has to do with the way in which they are funded. From Wikipedia:

“The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 obligates the USPS to fund the present value of earned retirement obligations (essentially past promises which have not yet come due) within a ten-year time span. In contrast, private businesses in the United States have no legal obligation to pay for retirement costs at promise-time rather than retirement-time, but about one quarter do.

........

On September 30, 2014, the USPS failed to make a $5.7 billion payment on this debt, the fourth such default.

On February 5, 2020, the House passed The USPS Fairness Act (H.R. 2382) with 309 Yeas and 106 Nays meeting the 2/3rd rule. The measure eliminates the requirement going forward and forgives all payments on which USPS has defaulted.It was moved to the Senate on February 10, 2020 and is awaiting action by senators.”

The PAEA forced the USPS to pull a lot of funds out of their operations budget to cover this mandate from Congress. The unintended consequence was to drastically limit the ability of the USPS to hire new employees.

a reply to: JAGStorm

The USPS is a disaster in the best of times, now add the Covid this year and they might not come back from this.
I resigned/retired as a mail carrier in July because my body couldn’t take the beating anymore, I now have neck, shoulder and back problems from getting beat to death on the job.
This year was the worst I’ve ever seen, and now the holidays are here and a few buddies that are still there say take the most miserable day you ever had and multiple that by 100.....it’s like that every day.
The story they hire “seasonal” workers every year is bullsh!t, at least as far as mail carriers....they might hire extra people in the sorting plants, I don’t know. But never saw them hire any extra seasonal carriers ever.
The carriers are the backbone and they never have enough carriers.
The USPS is the last living dinosaur on earth, they still operate like it’s the 1960s and refuse to change with the times for some reason.
I would not recommend getting a job there to my worst enemy, because they don’t care at all about the workers.
The pay is very good but you will have to dedicate your life to the job because you will not have any free time and if you do, all you will want to do is rest your body until you have to go back to work.
Don’t mail anything if you don’t have to.

Well duh, they are still delivering postal ballots.

They've been hit by COVID. Give them a break.

The people at my local PO are great. They are swamped though.

There is much more package mail due to the "pandemic". Most people have been ordering like mad online.

My cards only took one extra day to arrive, so plan accordingly.

ETA, they've been in the red for a while now. Postal rates haven't kept up with volume. Hiring more people is problematic when there is no money to pay them.

a reply to: JAGStorm

They have been all messed up here since Trump appointed that new guy or whatever. And it's getting worse.
a friend of my bosses put a tracking device in something he mailed to himself just out of curiosity. It sat in the local post office for 8 days before it even got sent on it's way.
wth?

a reply to: RazorV66

Razor, I've used other shipping services. The post office is still the most reliable.

You guys did/do a great job. Sorry to hear it cost you your health though.

originally posted by: horseplay
a reply to: JAGStorm

They have been all messed up here since Trump appointed that new guy or whatever. And it's getting worse.
a friend of my bosses put a tracking device in something he mailed to himself just out of curiosity. It sat in the local post office for 8 days before it even got sent on it's way.
wth?

Now that you mention it, I do recall that a time-sensitive document was significantly delayed for me. I have also read that the new guy is a cluster foxtrot.

Also, something I ordered got boomeranged all over the West before it finally made it to me in the Upper Midwest. Denver, LA, Las Vegas, here.

It was pretty beat up by the time it arrived.