So, There I was....* beginning the highlight activity of my day, nowadays. That would be driving the mile and a half from my house to our mailbox to check the mail. Ahh, retired life...simple pleasures, lifelong treasures.
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| Our Mailbox (and our 5 neighbor's) |
I've checked my Amazon account and am scheduled to have two small packages delivered. Unfortunately, the delivery service is marked as USPS.
I say unfortunately, because the Post Office delivers to my mailbox. FedEx delivers to my driveway and UPS delivers to my door. I sure wish Mr. Bezos would put a little select button in the order form. USPS-free. FedEx $5. UPS $10. He would be a VERY rich man, instead of just a rich man.
Just sayin'.
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| We call this the Tree Tunnel. Believe me, there are deer in this picture, somewhere. The Bastiges! |
In any case, I'm navigating my way down to the mailbox keeping a keen eye out for Odocoileus hemionus, which, if I'm not mistaken means Stunningly Stupid yet Suicidal Deer. Beans might call them something like Mule Deer, Sarge might call them Black Tail Deer. I'm just sticking with SSyS Deer.
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| Source |
Fortunately, the SSyS Deer seem to be calm for a change. Although I see a few, none seem interested in seeing how close they can get to the front of my truck as they decide to change sides of the road. I manage to arrive at the Mailbox unscathed. Park and walk over to the mailbox. Open and look inside. Rather than seeing the expected two packages, both of which are roughly cell phone sized, I see a pink slip. It says the packages could not be delivered as my mailbox was full.
The only thing in the mailbox was a single sheet of pink paper measuring 2.5" x 6".
So, I get to wait a day for the packages to get returned to the post office for me to pick up.
The following day, I travel into town and stop by the PO. There's a package pickup door beside the usual post office counter with a clerk behind it. I start walking to the pickup door and notice a hand written note saying they're short handed and packages need to be picked up at the counter.
There's one clerk. 10 people are in line ahead of me. 20 minutes later, I'm next to next in line. I notice a guy come in and walk over to the package pickup door. One of the folks behind me points out the note and tells him we're all waiting.
At that point, the clerk says "It's OK, just push the bell. There are people back there who can help."
I suspect they will be able to fix the hole in the roof above my position eventually.
So, we all go over to the pickup door. Fortunately, the lady who had talked to the guy pointed out that I was next in line. They may have noticed the expression on my face. I ring the bell, a worker comes and opens the door. I hand her my slip. She closes the door and, 15 minutes later, comes back and says they can't find my packages. She'll have to check with the delivery guy when he gets back to find what he did with them.
I turn around and start to walk out. As I passed the guy who went to ring the bell, he said "Never underestimate the government's ability to F**k things up."
Truer words were never spoken. Still haven't gotten those two packages, did get a refund from Amazon. Drove over to WalMart and purchased what I needed. Mr. Bezos, please consider my suggestion.
Years ago, I applied for a job described as "Rural Carrier Associate". I filled out the paperwork, went to Houston for a test, jumped through the hoops, and was rewarded with an interview with the local Postmaster. After a few minutes, I realized the job was to deliver mail only when the regular carrier did not work. Otherwise, a job as a temp, using my own vehicle, and at a wage much lower than my construction wages.
ReplyDeleteI declined the job, marked it up as a life lesson, and wondered how someone with any type of financial needs could take the job. Such part time work is a filler for someone with another source of income and I certainly didn't have that luxury. That, and how anyone in that position could ever really learn their route, always had a number of excuses for not delivering their mail, and the worst could happen was being fired from a thankless job with little pay.
I think you had a rural carrier associate on the day you expected your package. It was somewhat larger, a quick check box on a small piece of paper eliminates trying to find you, and they bring it back to the hub for the regular carrier to deliver some other day. They had no real responsibility, the regular carrier gets the brunt of the dissatisfaction, and you get to drive miles to waste your time finding out the regular carrier has your package in their vehicle.
Jess,
DeleteI suspect you are correct. Having seen our regular driver, I know that she is a she and the clerk at the door referred to a he. So...Your explanation might also explain why I never received the packages at all. Not wishing to cast aspersions, but a five letter word beginning and ending with a t could very easily explain it.
Back when I drove truck for the USPS, the docks were full of what we drivers called Postal Possums, who would play dead, when there was work to be done.
DeleteYeah, I suspect that's still true. The package pickup window opens up to the back. One can see that there are several people back there doing "something". Yet there's only one person out front handling customers in a multi-customer line. Not surprisingly, there isn't a customer service survey anywhere in sight.
DeleteYou need to put a Deer Smucker on your truck.
ReplyDeleteIt's like an extra heavy duty brush guard. All police cars and trucks have them up here in the North. Rhino even makes one that is PIT maneuver certified!
DeleteStB,
DeleteYeah I do. It's one of those things that you don't need until you need it...Then you need it bad!
StB 2
DeleteCoffee hasn't kicked in yet. PIT maneuver?
It's also good for protests, random Austinitish zombie hordes, and other pestulent and pustulant outbreaks.
DeleteAlso helps to push brush (aka: fallen trees n stuff) out of the road.
I try to stay away from Austin, although it is coming to me, so might need one soon.
DeletePursuit Intervention Technique. Where you use the squad's front end, to spin out the pursued car, into the ditch.
DeleteStB,
DeleteAhh, interesting. Although it's unlikely I'll use it for that, I suppose it's much like a weapon. It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
You know things have gone to shite when you can't trust the Postal Service.
ReplyDeleteApparently. Turnover in our Post Office seems to be horrific. One of the Teacher's aides from the local district started working at the post office about a month ago. Haven't seen her for a couple of weeks now. I suspect Jess's description above might be a factor.
DeleteNotice the clerk took 20 minutes to say what you could have used as soon as YOU walked up to the pickup door.......aaarrrgh!
ReplyDeleteYep, As I walked over to the Package pickup door. I very carefully removed the note, and deposited it in the trash. I am usually a patient person, but I really don't like having my time wasted. Fortunately the lady that couldn't find my package was polite and apologetic so I waited until I was in my truck before speaking my mind.
DeleteNow do not be overly outspoken against USPS. Surely you have heard the term "going Postal." Do you really want to enjoy THAT?
ReplyDeleteAnd USPS at least knows where I live. UPS has frequently delivered to random neighbors MILES AWAY. And I got a package through FedEx with TIRE marks on it.
No, I don't. However, the USPS service has been steadily getting worse lately. I don't believe the know where I live, just where my mailbox is located. Sometimes. I do know my UPS driver and my FedEx driver and am happy with their service. On our way home from our cruise, on a Sunday, I got a call from the FedEx guy who was delivering a wine order asking if anyone would be home to receive it. I explained we were about an hour out. He said he could sign for it himself and Leave it at the front door. Given that we live in the middle of nowhere and two gates between us and them, no big deal.
DeleteJuvat, it always seems like a crap shoot. Some places we have lived we had excellent USPS delivery service. Other places, we had exactly the experience you had.
ReplyDeleteI will say that although I have often had helpful individuals at the post office, the whole system seems set up to be inefficient. I would love to see a consulting firm dig into their operations the same way they dig into private industries' operations. That would be a revealing report, I trow.
ThB
DeleteYep, I agree. As I mentioned earlier, one of our Teacher aides took a job with them. Nice person, always upbeat, friendly, but I haven't seen here in a while. It would be an interesting report though wouldn't it. And it would be a good start on Gummint in general wouldn't it.
USPS is a perfect example of how almost anything the .gov touches turns into a clusterf... Mainly by putting up with a system that enables lazy employees with a poor attitude (see the VA for another example). While there are still postal employees that seem to care about their job and their customers, they are way too few and far between. I have two carriers on my route. One organizes the mail by size and stands it up on edge in the mailbox before making sure the door is closed all the way to keep any rain out. The other just throws the mail inside and flips up the door in a minimal effort to close it, resulting in a 3/4" gap at the top that lets the rain in. Complaints to the local postmaster have done nothing to correct the behavior... I bet that Mr. Bezos could take over the USPS and for a lot less money give a lot better service ... although I'd hate to give him more power ...
ReplyDeleteTom,
DeleteAgree. I'd just like the option to select how it gets delivered. Some things I don't really care how they get delivered others I do and would pay for. I don't get that option and that bugs me especially when the things I care about get screwed up. I don't think Mr Bezos, or anyone else, could unscrew the Post Office, without blanket firing authority. That authority would go a long way to fixing a lot of things wrong with our Gummint. IMHO.
yep, blanket firing authority would be a really good step for the USPS - and also the VA and VA hospitals...
DeleteAnd for some reason, postal peoples (who, by their very nature encounter lots and lots of people) are, surprisingly, not mandated to get jabbed for der Covidiocracy. Funny that. Almost like people who by their very job description have to go from place to place and touch everything aren't able to spread der plague-o-the-day just because special USPS status or something. Hmmmm...
DeleteI know, make everyone an employee, that will stop der plague-o-the-day!
That is interesting, isn't it. Almost like a conspiracy or something.
DeleteI guess having Amazon prime and next day free delivery isn't worth the money when you live rural. Do you have that large mailbox in the picture? Seems like that should fit some packages unless you're buying a mattress or something.
ReplyDeleteNo, that one belongs to our "Next Door" neighbor. He has similar issues.
DeleteI'm waiting on a part for my car. The tracking data says that it was transferred to the USPS in Parma, Ohio. The date was Jan 23rd. There is no tracking from there. Parma, Ohio is about a four hour drive from here.
ReplyDeleteCould be worse, could be a gun part being shipped via FedEx. Then you'd never ever ever see it if it goes through Chicago or Atlanta.
DeleteOne other thing I've noticed - when I get packages sent via USPS which have been tracked, I'll often get an email stating that my package has been delivered. But the package doesn't arrive until a day or two or three later. Seems like they are marking it as delivered much earlier than the actual delivery - would they be doing that to make their statistics of on-time delivery look better??? Kind of like the fast food joints tracking how long it takes to serve customers at the drive through asking (telling?) you to pull through and wait over at the curb while they serve people behind you... they keep their timely service stats up that way.
ReplyDeleteThey are marked as delivered when they are loaded into the boxes that get loaded on the delivery vehicles. Which sucks.
DeleteYep. But, hey, their numbers look good.
DeleteThose aren't mule deer. Those are Giant Mutant Huge Friggin Deer on Steroids. Well, in comparison to Florida's large dog-size-deer. We've got little elven pixie deer as our normal deer, except when somebody accidentally releases a mulie or twelve or so. Because it's hot and suchnot and apparently deer adapt to our climate by not growing as friggin huge and giant as all y'all's deers.
ReplyDeleteThat's not even considering the toy-poodle sized Key Deer, which are more like living kids' stuffed animals. Might knock you off your skateboard or cause a bit of a bump on your golf-cart, but against a full-sized vehicle, less damage than your average armadillo. Whooooo....
As to USPS and package deliveries... Grrrr... The 'Zon employees, I swear, think shaking their fingers 20' from the door means they've knocked. Good thing Kegan the wonderdog likes standing up on the bed and announcing package delivery at the top of his voice (3 barks means package, continued barking means idiots at the door (which means my right hand goes to Mr. American Croatian Weapon.)
Our current USPS person drives around with rubber kitchen gloves, a cloth mask over a paper mask and a spitshield. Or did the last time I saw her. The DoomPorn is strong in that one.
Our dogs are pretty good watch dogs also. They alert us that the septic water sprinkler has turned on (every morning). They alert us that the birds are outside eating from the bird feeders. They're especially good at alerting us to the FedEx/UPS delivery trucks. Which is kinda nice as I can meet the driver at his truck and he's back on the road a tad faster. It's about 50/50 on USPS troops wearing the mask at least at the post office. Our driver tends to wear one in the car by herself with the window down. Go figure.
DeleteHow would NASA solve this?
ReplyDeleteTake 10 years and 50 Billion Dollars in order to figure out they need to take another 10 years and 150 billion to find out they need to take another 10 years and 450 billion and...
DeleteAnd anything they build that's man-rated won't work unless 10x the amount it originally cost will be spent, and even then it will kill 1 out of 50 users.
Down here in Bandera, TX, my daughter and son-in-law had a similar bad experience with USPS. Back in early December, some thieves went through the rural mailbox row where their mailbox is located and which is over a mile from their house too. Not only was the mail stolen, but the mailboxes were smashed. Regular mail (bills and junk), Christmas cards and Christmas present were stolen.
ReplyDeleteSo, they immediately moved their mail delivery to a P.O. Box in Kerrville, TX, where my daughter works. The Bandera Post office is only open Monday through Friday until 5 PM and wouldn't work for them. Well, mail was not showing up at their new P.O. Box. My daughter got away from work early and went to the Bandera office to check and see if the mail had been forwarded. The postal counter service person was a grumpy old man. He went back to check and quickly return. He told her there was nothing. So a couple of work days later she did the same thing, with the same grumpy old man and got the same answer. My son-in-law then went on an off-weekday he had, he is a fireman/paramedic, to check on the mail situation. He got a much more pleasant lady at the customer service counter. She went back and found one of the P.O.'s work boxes full of mail and packages. Now everything goes through Kerrville.
Though the USPS is supposed to be a government owned corporation, so they would have more freedom to improve themselves, it is still a big or bigger mess than when it was directly under government control. It would seem to be populated by the prototypical lazy government worker. And COVID is no excuse; especially the "OhMyGod" variant.
BillB, I've thought about getting an PO Box a time or two. May still do it. Reluctance is due to the travel time required to go there. Although, I seem to be going there anyway to redeem the pink slip. Might talk that over with Mrs. J.
DeleteI think Bigger Mess is the more accurate term.
Currently $138.00 a year for a P O box in Texas.... Back when, $60.00 a year.
DeleteThanks for the info. Could be worth it in terms of reduced Blood Pressure.
DeleteSpeaking as someone who sells on fleabay and ships to customers, I am not very happy with USPS either. They are often 24 to 48 hours to scan a parcel into their system after I place it in the drop at the post office. Then it may spend another 24 to 36 hours moving between different USPS facilities before it actually leaves town. For several months, almost everything I shipped to ANYWHERE in the US ended up going through New Jersey no matter where I shipped it. Why would a box being shipped from Missouri to Arizona. Texas, or California need to go to New Jersey first?
ReplyDeleteBefore I retired, I could just put anything for UPS or FedEx on the designated cart at work since they were there at least twice a day every day. Now I have to go to the UPS Store to drop off UPS and they usually have a long line. FedEx Store is about eight miles away, but the line is usually short since they are better staffed. All I have to do is drop off since the shipping is already paid and the label printed and attached. Supposedly I could drop the FedEx at Walgreens, but I suspect that would be a bigger pain in the rear than the drive to FedEx.
FF,
DeleteAll three are in town, so the mileage is about the same. The service at both UPS and FedEx dropoffs are better (by far) than USPS.
Gotta love that... Others have watched FedUp/UPS pull up, then drive off without ever getting out of the truck, yet the package mysteriously shows as 'delivered'... Sigh...
ReplyDeleteHaven't had that happen. but that would be disappointing.
Delete(Don McCollor) We have a rural mail carrier with a private jeep with right hand steering wheel (rural mailboxes are on the right going with traffic [strange riding in in the left seat]). One time her big dog was sitting in the left seat when she passed a Deputy Sheriff going the other way. His brake lights came on, he did a bootleg turn, and his lights came on. Stopped her wondering if the dog was driving,,,
ReplyDeleteThanks, Don, needed the chuckle.
DeleteThe label on my email file for UPS is labeled Useless Parcel Service. Since I pay a monthly fee for Amazon Prime, why aren't all my orders delivered by Amazon Prime? Inquiring minds want to know.
ReplyDeleteI suspect volume would prevent that at this point, WSF, but I suspect Amazon will grow into it. I see a lot of Amazon Prime trucks between here and Austin though, haven't had one deliver to me yet.
DeleteUSPS knows where I live. UPS knows where I live. Ferd Ex? In my area they are legendary for "Improving neighborhood relationships" As in, you get to meet all your neighbors while trying to locate your package. One neighbor made a sign for his front porch telling them I didn't live there, and driving directions to my house.
ReplyDeleteNow, that LAST line was funny!
DeleteBut...was it effective?