Trouble with the mail?


 
J

Joan

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Never received last months mortgage statement, son-in-law never received his birthday card mailed over a week before. Anyone else having such problems or is our postal service just the shi*iest around?
 
I’ve not found any serious problems, some things have been a little slow but, not bad. There are always hiccups but, this whole thing is new. We shall see. I’m not worried.
 
We have problems with mail theft from curbside boxes here in the village, my neighbor to the east has a police report from about a year ago when their mail was rifled, torn up, looking for checks and dropped on the pavement right there. I don't get anything delivered curbside if possible, we use a P.O. box as much as possible. As with any delivery service..... last mile is always problematic.

Edit: I should point out that the MN DMV flat out requires a street address if a mail box is available there for LE use (this is a 2 beer story.....) Thus, my new driver's license, renewals, etc., all get delivered curb side and that's just a license for identity theft.
 
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It's been sporadic. For 35 years I could count on my mail person delivering the mail by noon.
This year it's been whenever they show up.
 
I put money into a separate account that we use for either emergency or vacation money.
I requested $1400 the end of June so that we'd have travelling money on our trip to Maine.
The day before we left, July 7th, Pammi called and said that we hadn't gotten the check yet. :mad:
I called the credit union and after some research, they said that the check hadn't been cashed, but they'd get me another in the mail.
I guess the trip was going to go on the old credit card! :mad:
We came back and the new check was there, which I deposited and used to pay off said credit card.
2 weeks later, here comes the original check, post marked from June 29!
No idea where it had been, but it got tore into very small pieces and thrown away.
 
Joan said:
Never received last months mortgage statement, son-in-law never received his birthday card mailed over a week before. Anyone else having such problems or is our postal service just the shi*iest around?
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Sorry to say, this has nothing to do with what is going on now. This has been going on longer than that.
 
I have not noticed anything... but I need to come down from the hills into town once a week or so to check the PO box 'cause I do not get mail delivery where I live.
 
USPS has been so bad I have stopped using them for my business shipping instead relying solely on FedEx and UPS. I have had mixers shipped from and to me that either did not arrive..................ever, or arrived in totally beat up and ruined condition and or late by months (not days). The last straw was last year I sold a cell phone on EBay. EBay has been promoting a shipping product they concocted called Smart Post. SP uses FedEx to the city of receipt. It is then changed over to the USPS. It is a few $$$ cheaper than either service alone. I figured WTH I will try it. Well, the FedEx part went great. Then it was handed off to USPS. There the trail went dead. Well that EMEI is being used so the phone was stolen when it was handed over to USPS. Even some of my friends and family members who work with/for USPS tell me the same. If something is seen as "value" the odds of it making to the destination get MUCH slimmer. If it needs careful handling fuggedaboutit.
FedEx and UPS have never given me an issue. <Moderator deleted political comment>
 
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Well, all this does not make me have any less confidence in the Postal Service. For over thirty years I used registered mail to ship diamonds, and other valuables with not one loss or even delay. I will freely admit that registered mail requires a signature at every hand off but, certified mail and registered mail is a perfectly fine way to send valuables, sorry Larry, finding the cheapest method of shipment sometimes fails as yours did.
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
Well, all this does not make me have any less confidence in the Postal Service. For over thirty years I used registered mail to ship diamonds, and other valuables with not one loss or even delay. I will freely admit that registered mail requires a signature at every hand off but, certified mail and registered mail is a perfectly fine way to send valuables, sorry Larry, finding the cheapest method of shipment sometimes fails as yours did.
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The price paid for shipping should NOT have any baring on how "safe" it is. I can understand it meaning differing speeds but safety and security should NEVER change. I should be able to have complete confidence that if I put something in the post, it will get there in the same condition I sent it in and within a timely manner, without being destroyed, lost or stolen
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
Well, all this does not make me have any less confidence in the Postal Service. For over thirty years I used registered mail to ship diamonds, and other valuables with not one loss or even delay. I will freely admit that registered mail requires a signature at every hand off but, certified mail and registered mail is a perfectly fine way to send valuables, sorry Larry, finding the cheapest method of shipment sometimes fails as yours did.
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I read a news article yesterday where someone had purportedly had a winning lottery ticket worth $1,000. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, they were not able to get into a lottery office (which sort of smells on it's own....) They sent the ticket via certified mail...... and it never got there. Or at least, hasn't gotten there yet. The lottery was going to have to pay out to the secondary winner (no, I do not recall what game this was,) and the original winner would not be paid out.

About all that you can do is to add additional insurance to cover value whenever you're mailing or shipping anything of value, and hope that the hoops you have to jump through to claim it are not too Draconian.
 
DH just reminded me, our mail lady has been seen driving down the street, many times on her phone. Also DH and neighbors find mail scattered in the street.
 
LMichaels said:
The price paid for shipping should NOT have any baring on how "safe" it is. I can understand it meaning differing speeds but safety and security should NEVER change. I should be able to have complete confidence that if I put something in the post, it will get there in the same condition I sent it in and within a timely manner, without being destroyed, lost or stolen
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I’m not arguing that in the least, my point simply was if you want tracking and accountability, registered mail is a little slower but, there is a chain of evidence. No more, no less.
Totally agree about cost not having any BEARING on confidence, thieves are everywhere, and there is little which can be done about that. There will be someone, somewhere that will always have a bad experience. I guess I’ve only had two things lost in my life...in the mail! In my house? That’s a whole different mystery.
 
Please honor our restriction on political discussion...let's leave USPS and voting out of this thread.

Joan, one of my birthday cards was mailed in Michigan on Sept. 2 and did not arrive in California until Sept. 17. I use the USPS Informed Delivery feature to get a preview of the mail that is supposed to be delivered each day. Six months ago it was quite accurate, if it said I was receiving 3 pieces of mail today and showed a scan of three envelopes, I'd get those items today. It's less reliable now, sometimes things don't come on the day Informed Delivery says they should. We also have problems with mail theft throughout San Jose. Lots of neighbors have security cameras and frequently post mail and package thefts on Nextdoor.

As for UPS, I don't ship much with them, but I do received packages through them. I've noticed their scheduled delivery notices are wrong about 20% of the time. Sometimes my package is supposedly on the truck and out for delivery but doesn't arrive. I then get a rescheduling notice for the next day or if it was supposed to come on a Friday it's delayed until the following Monday. I think the package volume just outstrips their ability to deliver.
 
I have had the same happen with UPS only a couple times. But even with those issues still find them more reliable. My go to is FedEx for just about everything I do.
 
LMichaels said:
I have had the same happen with UPS only a couple times. But even with those issues still find them more reliable. My go to is FedEx for just about everything I do.
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It can be particularly nerve-wracking with UPS because many refrigerated/frozen food deliveries are shipped by UPS. You order early in the week, it's supposed to arrive later in the week, often with Two-Day Delivery, and the threat of an additional day of delay is always worrisome.
 
Chris, when I started this thread, I was just venting. We have had so much trouble with our mail person (lady). She is always on her phone, and has scattered everyone's mail all over the road, and so on. Is that a no-no talking about that?
 
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