They Want To Know What We Think...
By LadyMarissa
@LadyMarissa (12148)
United States
May 14, 2010 7:23pm CST
http://prc.gov/prc-pages/default.aspx
The Post Office wants to know what we think!!! I think they should be fired!!! The above link will take you to their site where they are proposing what they claim will save them millions of dollars. I seriously doubt it!!! The Post Office became so freaking unreliable years ago that I've STOPPED using them in every way I can. It got to where I needed to mail my bills atleast 2 weeks in advance. Living like most...from paycheck to paycheck...I always had the dilemma of when to mail my bills. If I mailed 2 weeks before they were due, I had to worry about the check clearing the bank before my paycheck did. If I waited until it was safe to mail the check, the post office always took their own sweet time delivering it. If I mailed it 2 weeks in advance, they delivered it within 2 days & I had returned check fees to contend with. So, I STOPPED mailing my bills & began paying online so I had MORE control over when the money cleared my bank!!! I also STOPPED receiving my bills via snail mail opting for electronic delivery. ALL incoming money is direct deposited to my bank so I KNOW when it will be there...NOT wonder when the Post Office will finally decide to deliver it!!!
I never was a big letter writer & with the invention of email, I STOPPED mailing letters altogether!!! I also now send my greeting cards via email.
My Post Office is about 15 miles from where I live & they are now only open for 1 hour on Saturday mornings,. So, I don't even try & get there while they're open on Saturdays. It's way too far to drive & miss there close time by one minute simple because they sat their clock 5 minutes fast so they could go home.
Since necessity is the mother of all inventions, I'm sure somebody will come up with a BETTER way to handle the mail. There should be BETTER electronic capabilities in our future.
The US Post Office was a good service UNTIL it was outsourced to a private company...back in the 70's (I think). Now I just find it an EXTREMELY frustrating service!!! If you have any suggestions or comments, there is a link about half way down the page of the above link & there is an address as to where you can snail mail your comments. My question is...do you even care that the Post Office doesn't want to provide service anymore??? Will it mean that your life will come to an end??? I think the prevailing company should be fired & replaced with a newer & BETTER idea!!! Do you, by any chance, have a better idea???
1 person likes this
4 responses
@roxxtime (299)
• United States
15 May 10
The post office has never been anything to write home about (lol pardun the pun), at least not in my generation but we didn't realize how bad they sucked til we had options. So am I understanding that USPS is wanting to be a Monday-Friday thing? I think that's how I read it from that link. My thoughts on it are why not? They have already fallen short in comparison to our other options and if they weren't soooo huge I don't think we would use them anymore. It is still a convienance to have the mail placed in our boxes 6 days a week but it is unreliable on when we may get it.
I can completely empathize with your frustration I pretty much had it out and washed my hands of it months ago. However their online system rocks out. I will order free boxes (which is cool of them) and print my own labels and pay for them online so I never have to deal with that sucky excuse for an "Office", but I would miss walking to my mailbox on Saturday. My life isn't this sad but I LOVE getting mail. It is alot of times the highlight of my day because there is good stuff there. Especially Saturdays it gives a little hope that maybe just maybe you wont have to wait til Monday. I agree fire them all. Where is FedEx I thought they would have taken over years ago.
1 person likes this
@LadyMarissa (12148)
• United States
16 May 10
Well, I heard rumors that UPS was trying to take over USPS & I can't imagine it being any worse!!!
@LadyMarissa (12148)
• United States
24 May 10
That does NOT surprise me in the least!!! I have a PO Box as I have problems with a particular neighbor's children stealing mail. I only check my mail about once a week. So, I have a running joke with the clerks about packages I receive. Often I'll have 3 maybe 4 notices & I'll only have 1 package. Well, a few weeks back I go in & have 1 notice. I go to the counter to get my package The clerk brings out 5 packages. I tell her that can't be mine as I should have ONLY 1. She laughed & said these are ALL yours. I took them & when I got to my car, I began looking through them. NOT one was mine!!! They were a different name & the box next to mine. So, I go back in & stand in line again just to be told I didn't have ANY packages. The clerk was laughing about it. On top of giving me the wrong packages, she had scanned them in as delivered. I could have kept them & God only knows what was in them & the true recipient would have been out of her goods & being told that she had accepted them & had to fight to get them replaced..
@ClassyCat (1214)
• United States
24 May 10
I have a friend who took a small packett to the P.O. - had them weigh it and stamp it with the proper amount of postage, only to have it returned a few days later with "innsuficient postage" stamped on it .34 cents still due. And it was a 'business' mail.
She gave it to a friend who lived in another small town nearby, who did the same as she did, and it went through.
Can you figure that one out? I can't.
I think a lot of the P.O. employees count on their unions to fight for them, no matter what, and that they can hardly get fired for anything these days.
1 person likes this
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
15 May 10
Hey LadyM! I would have to agree with you pretty much! I don't
get much stuff by snail mail anymore except crap mail! I only
get 3 bills and my bank statement and if I chose to I could
get all that online! I pay almost everything online except 2
bills that I am getting help paying right now, so unfortunately
I still have to depend on snail mail for the time being! We
don't have as serious problem here as you are describing! Our
mail situation is still working pretty much as it has for years!
The only thing they are thinking about is cutting the Saturday
delivery and who cares! I can wait an extra day for the bills,
who couldn't! But, what you are describing is a travesty of
the Government which we have here in other ways like Public
Transportation, Fire Departments, Police Departments, Transit
Security being cut where we in NYS need them the most! NYS
is one of the most vulnerable States to possible terrorist attacks
and they want to cut the transit authority services! Now that
is scary! We already had an attempt a month ago with a car
bomber and they want to leave us vulnerable again? Everyone
knows NYC is a place to be watched! Just because the terrorists
feel that taking the "Towers" down was "too easy" they are going
to try here again! WTF? So, to me nothing that the Government does
suprises me! They are just too phucking stupid! They only care about
their own stupid lives, cheating on their stupid spouses and whatever
they can steal or get away with while in public office!
1 person likes this
@LadyMarissa (12148)
• United States
15 May 10
We used to have GREAT postal services here. Unfortunately, within the last year, it has just gone to hell!!! As for public transportation, it is nonexistent here. We do have taxi service, but it is about to go under. I don't think we have to worry about terrorists coming here as they could blow us off the map & nobody would notice!!! NYC has MORE people in one apartment building than we have in our entire town!!! 
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
15 May 10
I'm fortunate that my post office is quite literally down the block and across the street from me, but their service sucks too. For the number of people in my neighborhood, it's too small and understaffed--I avoid like the plague doing anything that involves the Post Office on Mondays or Tuesday or the day after a holiday as the line is from here to Terre Haute--uh, meaning long..LOL. Also some years ago, they developed a stupid policy. My particular block has been designated a "busy" block, meaning due to so many people on my block alone (at least 800 people) if there are packages for us we can't pick them up at this post office but another one several miles away..like who the heck can get to it? I can't (I'll usually call for a redelivery to my door if I have a package). As for the dilemma of sending my money for my bills, I too do most of my bill paying on-line save the rent which I can't do. In that case, so I have a paper trail of proof I paid, I get a money order and send it certified, Priority and Return Receipt (don't trust my landlord) I too have direct deposit and when I used to use checks I wouldn't send anything out for bills until I saw that money in my account--uh, just in case of a mix up
As for ending the Saturday service...wouldn't really bother me too much. BTW--I hardly write letters or send cards either...either I send e-cards or do emails...there are only two people in my life though who don't have computers, so have no choice but to send cards the old fashioned snail mail way
@ClassyCat (1214)
• United States
15 May 10
Same here in Oklahoma City - service is less and cost is more.
The post office near me is always busy and never has enough staff to make transitions quick. Been there several times to see a line of 6 - 10 people waiting, and only one clerk working.
And because I live in a neighbor hood where stealing is happening from time to time, I have a note in fairly large print to "all deliveries" - that if I am not home to please leave packages at my back door. The postal service will not do that - - but UPS does, and they'll get most of my business, because of their thoughtfulness and consideration.
1 person likes this
@LadyMarissa (12148)
• United States
15 May 10
With the lousy service I receive here in my tiny little town, I can imagine the frustration in NYC or OC. There are only 5,000 people in my town & the line is long at my PO. I remember when I lived in DC, it was nothing to be in line for over an hour only to be told they couldn't help you.
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
15 May 10
This will be different, so hang on!
I had forgotten what a post office was supposed to be like till I moved back home to the Midwest. When I lived in Arizona, my mom could send me a card on the 15th and it wouldn't get to me till the 25th or later. Now she sends me something and it takes no more than 2 days to get here. The employees in Arizona were slow, sullen and unfriendly, resentful if you actually gave them some work to do. Here in Ohio, they are cheerful and helpful. My mail lady picks up my mail from my box on the porth--in Arizona they refused to do that and mailboxes were fortified community affairs a block from the house.
My son sent me a card a few months ago. He sent it on a Monday but it wasn't postmarked till Thursday!!! Once it left Arizona it traveled pretty fast but that delay is unacceptable.
Your profile doesn't show where you live but I think that the area you live in and its expectations and underlying work ethic and morals affect your post office. Yes, the PO is crappy in some states because the people are lazy and have no pride.
@LadyMarissa (12148)
• United States
15 May 10
In the last 25 years I've lived in 3 different states & it appears to be the same problem pretty much everywhere I've lived. In DC I mailed an insurance payment across town & my Mother a birthday card on the same day. My Mom lived 4 states away & had her card in 3 days...2 weeks later my insurance payment hadn't arrived & they were threatening to cancel my policy. In SC I mailed a card to my Aunt in Atlanta on the same day she mailed me a letter. 3 days later I had my letter & she didn't receive her card for 10 days. It was ONLY 150 miles away. I could have walked it to her faster!!! I will say that when I first moved to Georgia that my Post Office was pretty efficient. I remember the day I said "ut-oh things will be going down hill." It had just been announced on the news that the Post Office was losing money & would be cutting back on service including Saturday delivery. The very next visit, the sign on the door said we'll be cutting back our Saturday hours from noon to 11:00 am. One week later the sign said we'll only be open on Saturdays from 9:00am to 10:00 am. I wonder what they can possibly get done in 1 hour when the staff resents coming in for one lousy hour. That's NOT worth getting up & getting dressed for!!! There's one lady who has been working there for 50 years. She still KNOWS what customer service is!!! Sadly, her customer service ONLY lasts until she puts the mail in the outgoing tub!!! I'm thrilled to hear that somewhere out there, there is still a Post Office that knows how to service their customers!!! 
@redmaryjane (891)
• United States
15 May 10
I think that there has to be some sort of morale boost for the PO if this is the case. I appreciate technology and email and sms and all but there's seriously nothing else than getting something in the mail and tangibly opening it.
Where I live, the PO system is kinda iffy and the mailmen are desperate. Now by desperate I mean that once they handle a card postmarked from anywhere in the US, they assume that there's cash in it. My aunt therefore writes "DO NOT FOLD PICTURES INSIDE" on both sides.
As to that morale boost...someone has to dig up a Mailman edition of "Who Are The People In Your Neighborhood" to remind everyone how important the PO is in communication.
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