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December 22, 2006
USPS - We Deliver For You,
and Sometimes We Even Get the Address Right!
Today I got my neighbor's mail. Actually, I got the mail from two different neighbors. And I have no idea which neighbor might have mine.
I called the USPS 1-800 number to see what they could do. The short answer? Not much. So I did what any good American would do when talkiing to an organization that has screwed up but can't be bothered to take responsibility for it - I got irate.
Basically, if there was a bill among my mail, and whoever has it doesn't do the right thing and either hand-deliver it to me or put it in the next day's mail, then that's it. I lose it. Gone.
I asked the lady on the phone whether there was a postcard on file they could deliver in my area that said "Due to a mistake, you may have inadvertently received another person's mail. Please leave that mail in your mailbox the next mail day and we'll take care of it."
Nope. "We don't do that, sir."
So what if I miss a bill and get a late fee because of it? "We can give you a letter that creditors may accept."
That's it? "Yes, that's all we can do."
So basically the post office's answer to its own incompetence is the goodwill of others. Nice.
I know this is a busy time of year for the Postal Service, but busy should not excuse sloppy. It's the job of the guy who delivers the mail to get it to the right house. Let's face it - the job is not rocket science. Does the address of the handful of mail you just grabbed match the address on the mailbox? If yes, then deliver. If no, then there's a problem.
And yes, everyone makes mistakes at work. But we pay letter carriers well, and the reason we pay them well is because the work is so important - getting the right piece of mail to the right house is vital when dealing with personal or financial information.
The most maddening thing is that because the postal service is so heavily unionized, chances are absolutely nothing will happen to the carrier who screwed up.
Bah, humbug to the postal service. Viva UPS, FedEx and DHL.
Posted by slublog at December 22, 2006 04:19 PM
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Comments
I have my own story about UPS. UPS tried to deliver a package to us. We have no idea what it is. Could be a small gift from my or the wife's employer. Thrice they tried to deliver and we were not at home. The sender put a mark that allows them to deliver only in person. We tried to leave explicit instructions with them to just drop the package on the steps. No dice. They made three tries. Now we will have to go to their warehouse to pick the thing up. They close at 6. We get home after 7. Sigh!
Posted by: Tushar D at December 22, 2006 07:53 PM
Actually, you just reminded me that I've hated UPS since they went on strike about a decade ago. My car was broken down at the time and needed a part to fix. The shop wanted to order the part, but couldn't because of the strike.
So BOO UPS!
Posted by: Slublog at December 22, 2006 07:59 PM
Well Tushar, booing UPS because the Teamsters went out on strike seems a bit silly. It was a catastrophically stupid strike because the Teamsters got less than what they would have received before the strike. Blame the union, not the company.
Posted by: Daniel at December 23, 2006 08:22 AM
That was me, not Tushar.
Can I boo them because they block traffic, instead?
Posted by: Slublog at December 23, 2006 11:24 AM
I get my neighbors mail at least once a month. I always deliver it to their box myself and luckily my neighbors are nice enough to do the same for me.
I never had any problems with UPS, but one time DHL kept telling me my package had been delivered when it had'nt. Only took a few hours for them to figure out it had been delivered to the wrong address so it was'nt too bad.
Posted by: Scot at December 23, 2006 11:27 PM