Our postal service is a huge mess.
By Marie Coyle
@MarieCoyle (28806)
April 10, 2024 2:50pm CST
There are few businesses or amenities that we can count on to always be true and steady. It used to be, not long ago, that the USPS was one of those trusted things. They would always deliver the mail in a timely manner (and to the correct address) boxes and such were never beat up or squished, carriers didn't get caught stealing gift cards, and it didn't cost .68 cents to mail a letter or a card, either.
That's the going rate as we speak, for a card or letter-- 68 cents. The USPS is hoping to raise the price AGAIN in July, to 73 cents for the Forever stamp. If you are way ahead on stamps, or are not aware, Forever stamps are supposed to be good forever and you can use them regardless of another price hike, without paying anything additional.
No wonder no one hardly sends letters and cards anymore. Not only do they resort to texts and emails and such, but the personal touch of getting mail will be obsolete before long at this rate. How high can it get, to buy a stamp??
Not to mention the amount of money the postal service wastes on sending packages. Have you ever actually tracked a package that you sent to someone, or something you ordered? It can get super silly! The last package I tracked was one I sent to Florida to my youngest daughter. It went to several cities north of me (Central/northern Illinois) around Chicago, then Chicago, then Minneapolis, MN. It goes on and on...it sat in Nashville for 3 days (I sent this priority mail!) It sat in Atlanta for 3 more days, it finally arrived at its destination 12 days after I sent it. So much for ''priority'' mail. The only thing priority means to them is that you spend extra money, I guess.
So sad to see a good thing just crumble like it has. I don't see it surviving at this point.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/the-us-postal-service-wants-to-hike-stamp-prices-again-in-july-here-s-how-much-you-ll-pay/ar-BB1lo9SK?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=32e3746f8d1e417d915f31e35de602e1&ei=26
15 people like this
14 responses
@FourWalls (62267)
• United States
11 Apr
I worked at the post office for eight years. What we did, and what apparently passes as “work” today, are worlds apart.
I’ve had two credit cards stolen by the mailman (yes, stolen, as in not delivered to my house [I have a secure, locked mailbox at my house]) in the last 15 months. You wouldn’t believe the gibberish they put in the letter they sent “apologizing” for it (via my congressman). When I complained in person they told me that I was basically SOL (plum out of luck). 
3 people like this
@FourWalls (62267)
• United States
11 Apr
@MarieCoyle — I have “informed delivery,” where I get pictures of the mail due to arrive. That’s how I knew they were missing. No problem for me because I canceled the missing cards immediately.
2 people like this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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11 Apr
I have had two friends get credit cards stolen, they went through a nightmare to fix it all. And they have locked mailboxes as well. It's gotten so ridiculous, now what used to be a respected place of business that we all loved is a complete joke.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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11 Apr
@FourWalls
I have that as well. Hopefully with that and the locked box, I’m safe. 
2 people like this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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11 Apr
For the most part, in the US you get your social security, etc. automatically deposited in your bank account. It sure wouldn't be safe now to count on it arriving in the mail.
2 people like this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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12 Apr
@grenery8
Maybe they should just hide the important mail in all of the junk mail. We would get it for sure then, no one wants junk mail!
2 people like this
@celticeagle (159227)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Apr
My grandmother and I used to write back and forth a lot after mom re-married and we moved to Pocatello. I could send her a letter for 5 cents. That was back in the 60's. I haven't used DHL or others in ages. Don't recall the last time.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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10 Apr
I think about some that spend extra for just the right card, and then get charged out the nose to send it as well. Pretty sad, and certainly not a bargain.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (159227)
• Boise, Idaho
11 Apr
@MarieCoyle ........Whatever works for them I guess.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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11 Apr
@celticeagle
It's nice to get them, but oh, so much to be spent on just a card, it's wild.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (458591)
• Switzerland
12 Apr
@MarieCoyle It is very sad when we witness good things going into pieces.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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12 Apr
@LadyDuck
It seems the entire world is changing, and not for the better, although it would bring me a lot of joy to say that it was better, we know it's not. So many businesses everywhere that were successful for years, have closed or are struggling terribly.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (206087)
• Walnut Creek, California
11 Apr
I cannot have checks sent to my mail box. They are regularly stolen. Some have actually been cashed. Of course I reported these events to the Postal Inspector. Until they (the thefts) became so routine I just gave up. Nothing was done.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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11 Apr
I know you have written about that happening. That's really terrible that nothing was done, because no doubt the person or persons that are doing that are still getting away with it. I'm sorry that happened to you.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (206087)
• Walnut Creek, California
11 Apr
@MarieCoyle All I can do is shake my head. I was supposed to get stimulus checks during Covid, I think. But I will survive.
1 person likes this
@just4him (306704)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
11 Apr
That's a long time for a priority package to reach its destination.
I've seen commercials about the revamping the Postal system is doing to make it better and easier for delivery services. I hope that means there's hope for the Postal industry.
I didn't know stamps were going up again. I should probably get more now so I won't be scrambling for them when I send out my Christmas cards to people on myLot. I'm sure that means international stamps are also going up.
1 person likes this
@just4him (306704)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
11 Apr
@MarieCoyle Yes, it does. Still, I had over 50 cards last year. Some were mailed, most were from people in the building.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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11 Apr
I can see why people don't send Christmas cards out much anymore. It adds up very quickly.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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12 Apr
@just4him
I sent them for many years. Yes, they are nice to receive. Things are just not feasible for me to get that done right now.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (85648)
• United States
10 Apr
I spent a lot on mailing Christmas cards alone last year. Some of my Christmas cards they called packages, and instead of like a dollar twenty something, they charged me five bucks. I’m talking about Christmas cards that no one would call anything but a card. Then, one I sent to a fellow Mylotter took 18 days to arrive, and since they counted it as a package, I tracked that card. It went everywhere it wasn’t supposed to go before it got to that mylotter.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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10 Apr
Oh, that just highway robbery, to charge that much for a card!! Good grief!!
1 person likes this
.@much2say (53952)
• Los Angeles, California
14 Apr
@MarieCoyle I take it they are just trying to hold on at this point . . . but I really don't know how much longer they can. Our beloved mailman is retiring very soon . . . although we will miss him, we do think he's probably doing this at the right time.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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14 Apr
Like so many other things, it has just gone to pieces. If you are going to provide a service, do it right or don't do it at all, but then that's just my opinion. They need to get some new head honchos with a brain or two between them and work out this mess.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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14 Apr
@much2say
Yes, he probably is retiring at a good time. I think the entire postal system is in such a snarl, that they may never recover. You're right, it can't be much longer.
1 person likes this
@jstory07 (134466)
• Roseburg, Oregon
19 Apr
@MarieCoyle The post people take their time doing everything..
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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19 Apr
@jstory07
They are failing, and it's time for them to step up or give up.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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18 Apr
That is more than typical now. They seemed to have closed a lot of mail centers and moved them elsewhere, only to send them back to the ''old'' center that is supposed to be defunct? Like everything else lately, it makes no sense, Judy!
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (95440)
• Marion, Ohio
10 Apr
The mail has become a joke. I send as little as possible
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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10 Apr
I know a lady who works for our local village office. She says almost everyone pays online now. She also said if people pay via mail, it rarely arrives on time so they don’t charge late fees now.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (95440)
• Marion, Ohio
10 Apr
@MarieCoyle We have had the bills be late getting to us. Makes it very hard to pay it on time
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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10 Apr
@wolfgirl569
This has happened to me many times as well.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (73570)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
10 Apr
I have not used postal service in ages and don't even know the price of stamps anymore, While there was no technology I loved to write letters and always had a nice box of stationary to write on,
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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10 Apr
When my aunt was still alive, she called me every day,if I was not with her. But she also sent a card and a letter every week as well. I miss that. Letters are pretty much obsolete now, it’s sad.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118506)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Apr
We have a huge postal facility here in Gainesville, I guess it was a regional staging hub for mailing letters and packages. So it used to be that if I was to mail something to someone across town. it would get handled by that postal facility and then arrive at the destination like a day or two later. Well, a few years ago, the boneheads in charge decided it would be a cost-cutting move to have mail processed in Jacksonville now (1 hour away) instead of in Gainesville. So, now, if I want to mail a letter across town to someone, it gets picked up from my address in Gainesville, gets shipped to Jacksonville an hour away, and then shipped back to Gainesville to be delivered to the recipient. It now takes like 3-5 days to mail a local letter. And they didn't even close down our huge postal facility! So I want to know how in the world they are saving money by having to ship mail out of town just for it to be shipped back to town to the recipient?
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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11 Apr
Nothing they do now makes any sense whatsoever, Jeff.
When the mail van comes down my street and stops at the houses, he or she has to turn off the engine for every single stop. And these townhouses are not that big or far apart. This is a nice neighborhood, no one is lurking around waiting to steal a mail van. Off and on repeatedly, so ridiculous. Just one of the many things that the USPS does that qualifies them as an idiotic business.
I do live not far from a processing center, so anything that I have sent locally usually, but not always, arrives in a fairly timely manner. But nothing they do is done efficiently, as we know!!! So frustrating!!!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (326054)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Apr
Our postal service is heading the same way. There is no much point comparing prices country to country but our stamps are $1.20 (I think that's right) now. Seniors get a certain number of free stamps. I rarely send anything by mail nowadays.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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10 Apr
I rarely use our mail service. I have one daughter that lives far from me, that’s the big exception!!
It would be so nice if seniors could get some free stamps here, I know they would be appreciated.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (156584)
• United States
11 Apr
The USPS is not the efficient machine that it once was. Continuing to raise rates isn't going to fix it. Have a good day.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (156584)
• United States
12 Apr
@MarieCoyle Yes, it used to be a good job.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (28806)
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12 Apr
@LindaOHio
We never even have the same carrier person. And they never come at the same time. I've seen them there very late at night, putting mail in boxes...it makes a person wonder about the entire postal system, and we know it has failed terribly now.
1 person likes this
