General Forum

I had to post this.   I do not think everyone knows how badly the USPS is struggling under these incredibly difficult and trying times.   I have had to post this message to all of the great ebayers wondering 'Where is my Card?'

Hello!
Thank you for contacting me first.  The USPS is having a historic breakdown as we speak.  Long story short, I have been getting many messages about cards not being delivered.  Could you wait a little longer to see if the card shows up or I can refund asap? (I have had to tell many ebayers, that I promise I am not in need of 0.99 THAT badly and will refund immediately if desired.)

I retired from the USPS in 10/2020.  As you have probably read, even parcels with tracking are being delivered late if at all.   Where I used to work, they are still working on 1st class letters from 12/5-12/12 and carriers were told it will take at least until 1/22-1/29 to catch up with parcels. The local IMF is rerouting local mail (Baltimore, MD) through kansas city and Indianapolis to deliver it to Maryland.  Personally, I have not received any bills or had bill payments received since 12/5 meaning a lot of online payments to avoid late fees.

https://www.radio.com/kywnewsradio/news/local/late-fees-pile-up-as-bills-get-stuck-in-usps-backlog

Any thoughts please stay in contact,
(name redacted!)

Yup, That is the message that I now copy and paste repeatedly.  (heavy sigh)

Anyone who hasn't understood this is either living under a rock or is so selfish that all they can think of is their own end of the deal.  I have waited patiently for two trades from early July that I still believe are in a USPS warehouse bin still waiting to be sorted and moved on their way.

Patience, and yes, there are more important things in life than small pieces of cardboard.

Just a random thought about the USPS breakdown. I have no doubt that there are employees that work hard for the USPS and can be overwhelmed due to the current situation. That being said, Its no secret that the USPS has been mismanaged for years, well before now. My local post office is notorius for long lines and issues ever since Ive lived here (20 years). I went to the post office today with 2 envelopes...1 with cards and another that was similar in size and weight. The card envelope was the standard .55 stamp to Texas, I wanted tracking on the 2nd and they said the cost was almost 13.00 (also to TX) since it was a parcel and not a letter? (envelopes were identical and fedex was 8.50 for 3 days, as opposed to a post office maybe of 4 days) Last week I was at home and heard a loud voice at my door (mailman talking on his cell) and when I got the mail it was jammed full of someones elses mail (same number wrong street). Ive received cards from Florida in 2 days, and cards from Penn took a week. Combine USPS practices,  "news stories" about employees not doing thier jobs and the recent personal experiences Ive had, I wonder if the USPS does anything that makes sense. Cards may be very unimportant when it comes to the mail, but isnt a long line of symptoms of the actual problem with USPS?

I will DEFEND the USPS here. They are under tremendous stress right now. Mail has picked up unbelievably throughout the year and the USPS is constantly losing a battle to move the mail AND limit the virus! At the office where my Mom works, there was a massive outbreak of COVID19 and she got her doctor's note to stay out of work until the middle of this month. She is missing more than a month of pay to try to avoid the virus!!! Every time a single PO gets an outbreak, ALL regular employees are removed from duties. The USPS does not have enough substitutes to cover every single route in any city or rural area. And the truckers are a whole different situation.

Would you rather get your mail fast and have it delivered by someone that might have a virus that might kill you?! OR would you rather wait until your mail carrier can't possibly kill you? I completely understand for people getting bills way late and they can't pay them before the due date, but those companies should also know that and understand what is going on.

BTW, this isn't just USPS having these problems. ALL shipping companies are having the same problems. I actually saw UPS show up here yesterday delivering USPS packages. That's a complete role-reversal!!! Not only was the UPS driver delivering USPS packages, but he was also driving a Budget Rental Truck to make the deliveries! ALL of the shipping companies are beyond swamped with packages. I've been trying NOT to buy, sell, or trade anything for a few months now just to keep stuff out of the shipping lanes. I didn't buy or sell anything in December and the only trade I made took 2 weeks to go from NC to MN.

Oh yeah, I mailed a freebie card in mid-December to someone in my own state. It took 10 days to get there and I could have personally driven it there and drove back home in about 4 hours. Lay off the mailing system and you'll help them catch up!!!!

Not all that long ago we were all told that the $$ problems at the USPS were due to the fact that people were just not mailing anything anymore and the volume was way down. Now we are being told that the volume at the USPS is way too high and therefore cannot be delivered anywhere near "on time" and everybody should stop using it to allow it to "catch up". Honestly, is it just me, or is there something wrong with this business model?

There is no doubt in my mind (as a retired business owner) that the USPS has always been the 'low cost leader' whether for letters or for packages (at least until you start getting into the heavier packages). Maybe it's time to raise its prices to better reflect the costs associated with delivering a birthday card across the continent in 3-4 days (normally). Keep it competitive, but keep it dependable. Unfortunately, one of the biggest costs they have is funding an antiquated retirement system that was set up long ago when things were great. But, USPS agreed to it in good faith with their employees, so they can't just change it. What to do?

The financial problems at the USPS have nothing to do with mail volume. It's because in 2006, Congress mandated that the USPS pre-fund 75 years of retiree health benefits out of its operating budget. Without the mandate the USPS would be in the black. The House passed a bill to repeal the mandate in February, but it has been stalled in the Senate. Then sorting machines were taken out and overtime rules were changed earlier this year, which probably isn't helping matters.

I don't have anything positive to say on the subject, but I will say it's bad. Every year there's the same excuse. At the risk of an argument, I'll leave it at that.

The only thing I'll say on the topic is; 

Our post office averages 400 packages per day and at that rate factors how they will prepare for the upcoming year, how many additional drivers needed etc.  2019 planning could have NEVER predicted what was about to come in 2020. While it was a year of adapting, there was only so much adapting that could happen. Just like every business, trying to find people willing to work thru a world wide pandemic (how do you tell people it's safe to come work for you when you don't even know anymore if it's safe for you to work)

Holiday season hit and the numbers that happened could have never been prepared for. The week after Thanksgiving had 3000+ packages per day going thru our post office where we usually average 400.  The next week, that wasn't any better; 5000+ packages per day. The next week, same. Things are just calming down.  Respect your carriers across all platforms-USPS, FedEx, UPS; the work they put into moving packages this year is beyond amazing. 12 hour days were common, they work until the job is done for the day; not until it's time to clock out. Some of our drivers did have to be pulled from routes at 9pm because it was no longer safe to have them out there, so there were days some packages that should have been delivered that day had to go out next day. A lot of people cried and cried because they had to wait 1 day to get their package but it was at the safety of a human being.

So anyway, just be chill about things. 2020 was rough. No other way to put it. USPS is doing their best. 

I'm from Canada so I don't have an opinion one way or the other about USPS but I can say I have noticed significant delays with trades south of the border. I've seen similar threads tho and I'm wondering if someone can explain to me what EXACTLY is the problem. I get that there is larger volume but that should not bring the system to its knees. I understand there is COVID but I am assuming that similar to any other business or operation there are precautions and plans in place to deal with it. I am not aware of any post offices in Canada being completely shutdown becuase of an outbreak. So help me understand what the real problem is. 

While I completely understand the human factor, and why we're all taking precautions to keep all of us safe, what doesn't make sense is why a package sent from CT to NY went to Kansas for a few days. Why a package going from NJ to NY went to the Newburgh, NY facility, only to go up to Albany, NY and then BACK to the same Newburgh, NY facility before coming to my local PO. Seems that if these had been handled correctly, they could have been out of the system faster, freeing up resources. I had a PWE arrive here on 12/26, postmarked 12/3. We got Christmas cards on the 28th or 29th that were sent on 12/16 from FL, 12/17 from NV, and 12/19 from NJ. Meanwhile, a small package mailed on on 12/28 from NV got to us on 12/30. (These Christmas card ones, I almost understand, but still don't understand why everything coming from FL takes extra days - and that's not a recent development, this has been ongoing for years. We'll send cards out for a holiday a week before, to both NV and FL from NY, and the card to NV will be there in 2-3 days and the one to FL will be delivered AFTER the holiday. And again, this has been going on like this for at least 6 years.)

Generally, I'm pretty impressed with what the USPS is able to accomplish. However, sending something halfway across the country when it only needed to go approximately 45 miles only to blame it on COVID seems disingenuous.