New USPS Cost Cutting by New Chief to Effect Deliveries

The “mail left behind” will probably cause the most issues. Multiple times recently the mail coming into our post office is delayed, causing the carrier (a friend) to be late making deliveries. I don’t see where carrying it over to the next day is going to halp that much, it all still has to be delivered and the delay just moves down the chain as each link can’t get their daily work completed on normal hours.

I live near a mail processing center and the number of non-USPS vehicles handling mail now is staggering. I even saw some moving companies handling mail. I think its getting worse, at least around here, then people have any idea.

If I were in charge, I’d just ban letters marked with “Current Resident”, effectively ending junk mail and lowering the USPS’ volume by about 99.9%. Thinking back, I’ve received maybe (and I’m being generous here) 10 letters that were actually relevant to me in the last year. The hundreds of other things I’ve received have gone right into the recycling.

Possibly related: USPS has lost 2 of my packages recently. The 1st package was headed to NY – instead it ended up at an “undeliverable address” in IND. On the 2nd case, the buyer told me they opened up a missing mail case only to have it closed a day later, citing that the package couldn’t be recovered. Awfully fast, right? I asked for details and got the search ID – didn’t confirm with USPS that it was real, but tracking certainly implied it was lost.

I’ve been having issues with my packages not being scanned at pickup, or when they’re back at the sorting facility. Two were First Class and the latest one is Media Mail rate. The two FC packages never showed up and have completely disappeared, and since they were never scanned the PO can’t help. I’m guessing the MM package will suffer the same fate. 🙁

I suppose Priority Rate is the only sure thing nowadays, but it’s so much more expensive that I can’t build it into my prices or convince buyers to pay for it.

I’ve had those problems in the past, before I moved.

Many times the packages wouldn’t be scanned, until they hit the destination city. If this has just happened, give it a few days.

The media mail package should get scanned when it hits the Bellflower facility.

In the end, the only way I could guarantee a scan, was to go to the Post Office, get in line and get a receipt for each package.

I’ve never had a package completely disappear.  They’ve all eventually been delivered.

I agree, I think these problems will only get worse, as the post Office is being pressured to cut costs.

No scan at pickup is your carrier. That’s just lazy. If they have time to carry it off and put it in their truck, they have time to scan it. I would address it with the carrier or your local postmaster.

My carriers (different all the time) in DC were awful; at our new place in Jax he’s the best.

Let me reply as a current USPS letter carrier in CA.

1. The USPS is mentioned in the constitution, ‘The Congress shall have Power To establish Post Offices and post Roads’, that’s it, there is nothing about delivery so it is vulnerable in this capitalist society.

2. The USPS is insolvent because in 2006 they passed a law to require them to pre-fund retirement benefits for current employees 75 years into the future. The house recently pass a bill to rescind part of this to only include pensions and not health care costs but it did not pass the senate.

3.  We are horribly understaffed in our office, as I see it, due to: a) 7 people out of 25 carriers on disability, some legit and quite a few scammers, b) UPS pays way more than the post office (we start at $20 and max out at $35/hr after 12 years, UPS starts out at $21 and goes up to $40 after 4 years). c) For every 5 people I have seen come in to start work, 4 quit due to pressure to be instantly fast, the job is very physical, too many hours (6 days a week with 10-12 hour days until you become a ‘regular’ which can take 1-3 years).

4. As annoying as all those presort standard or ‘current resident’ flyers are, that is what is keeping our lights on. Post Masters at each office spend a part of each day reaching out to local businesses trying to get them to commit to sending those things out. We hate junk mail too but realize it pays our salary.

5. With Covid, package volume is similar to Christmas and our little LLVs are not designed for that many parcels. Sometime I think Washington has no clue as to what is happening at the local level and only sees the data.

6. The data, every day they tell me how many letters I have and they base the amount of time it should take me to do my route based on that data. It’s a joke, the packages are the most time consuming, letters are easy. Parcels, I have to run up 2-3 flights of stairs (it’s steep and funky here in N Cal. y’all) or else they will get stolen.

The bottom line, write your representative and ask to get rid of pre-funding or you may not get mail delivered to your house. Do you think if they privatize, Amazon won’t find a way to consolidate delivery locations so you don’t get mail at your door? Think of all the medicine, stimulus checks and affordable packages we deliver to the elderly and rural citizens. Please pay attention to the news and vote, (by mail 😉 .

Sorry this is so long but it’s important and affects us as Ebayers,

Colleen

Seems that USPS was slow thru May and improved until about July 4. This seemed to be a Covid-19 thing. But since July 4, they have been getting slower again for many of our outgoing first-class & priority items. If you watch the tracking, some packages are taking the scenic route, probably via truck. Perhaps this is from the new cost-cutting measures and Covid-19 must still have its effects.

It seems prudent to get packages to the post office earlier in the day right now.

Our regular postman never seems to scan our packages if we leave them in the mailbox. And since he comes in the afternoon, sometimes late afternoon, packages sometimes spend an extra day locally before they arrive at a sort hub.

So we have been getting scans at the post office, usually by standing in line. The packages may or may not be delivered any sooner but I prefer to have a timely acceptance scan.

Sellers: Get timely acceptance scans. Message customers with a ship notification that includes the tracking number.

Buyers: If you buy on eBay, some of your items may have guaranteed delivery. If delivery is even one day late, you can get a voucher from eBay for $5 or more. You have to request it. There is a link to click. Watch your myeBay purchase history for this. The $5 comes from eBay not the seller.

The new PMG (Post Master General) is trying a ‘new’ thing. No one works more than 8 hours so anything left over, gets left behind and processed the next day. This includes processing plants.

FYI, I always scan accepted and do my best to get them out in that days’ outgoing truck. Your best bet is to get to know your carrier and leave them frozen drinking water in the mailbox on a hot day 😉 . If they are lame, unfortunately, you will have to take them to the PO by 5PM. Let your carrier know you have a business and they should help you, most carriers really want to do a good job and be helpful.

Colleen

Wow, I’m seeing delays on many of my inbound and outgoing packages.

I’m sure the reduction of commercial airline flights isn’t helping matters.

As long as the tracking is updated, I can live with it.

I’ve also got one outgoing priority mail package right now, with no update in 6 days.

Life is certainly interesting.

Maybe this will force out a lot of the bad blood within the USPS. There’s enough information out there to realize that the percentage of people within the org who are acting in good faith are less than the majority that’s just there to collect checks and shift blame around when someone is found to have been doing mail fraud for 10 years.

I feel for the carriers who are overworked. One of them was killed here after the local PO refused to change her route following weeks of death threats – someone shot and killed her because she left a “mail undeliverable – loose dog” notice after the 2nd or 3rd dog attack.