CHAT Anyone else havingtrouble with the USPS?

[Thunderbird]

Being old fashioned we pay the majority of our bills by check in the mail. Several months ago we did not receive a bill for our life insurance so we had to call and pay by credit card. I recently ordered some components to be delivered by USPS priority mail. This took an extra week an it languished at a distribution center. Recently the phone company sent me an E mail saying they had not received payment. A check with the bank revealed of 5 checks sent out on 17 May two have not been processed. We have never had this happen before. Any one else having irregularities?

 

[Texican]

Probably a processing problem.

Earlier in February, I sent a required government form work by Priority Mail to Philly and it took four days after arriving in Philly to be delivered. First time with any sort of problem with USPS.

Found it better to pay with credit card where you have a record of the payment being made, just remember to pay off that credit card bill each month.

You can also do direct withdrawal from your bank account. Remember to add the withdrawal to your bank record.

Texican....

 

[Murt]

the usps is slammed with packages---worse than Christmas
the letter volume is way down
there is a program called Informed Delivery (IIRC) that will send a picture to your smart phone of what is supposed to be delivered that day

 

[skwentnaflyer]

the usps is slammed with packages---worse than Christmas
the letter volume is way down
there is a program called Informed Delivery (IIRC) that will send a picture to your smart phone of what is supposed to be delivered that day

That's not working correctly either.
They are sending trailers of mail from places like Denver, Chicago, and Minneapolis to other hubs for sorting. I have a friend who works in the local sort center and she says it's totally crazy.

 

[Grock]

Yeah its bad. Priority mail is now 7-10 days. First class? Hahahah.. more like steerage class.
In their defense, if thats possible, my UPS guy said the other day its nuts, like Christmas, even worse. His route is now 1/4 of what it used to be. And he's working 10-12 hour days,

 

[Betty_Rose]

My priority packages are taking 7+ days to travel 1,000 miles. It's been frustrating for everyone.

And heaven help you if your mail ended up getting routed somewhere that the looting was present. Didn't they set fire to a handful of post offices?

 

[nomifyle]

Before Katrina I started paying my bills on line, not with bill pay from my bank, but directly to the website. I'm blessed to have never had a problem. During Katrina people cried and moaned that they got behind in their bills because it took months to get mail to people affected by Katrina. I had no sympathy, people surely know when their bills are due and should not need a bill to pay. That may be a little harsh, but it is what it is. DH uses bill pay with his bank to pay his bills. Finally after being late to pay on a couple of things he started keeping a list of what his bills are and when they need to be paid. Personally, I've kept a list of what I owe, how much I own, how my I pay and when to pay for as long as I can remember.

I started working for Tulane University Medical School in 1992 and they pay once a month. It was tough to work with that for the first couple of months, but I got use to it, so when I got on SS I had not problem. I pay everything around the first of the month, I've worked it so much bills are almost all due on the first, so no late payments.

As to the OP, yes, I've had things delivered late late late with the post office. Even before the pandemic Federal Express was lousy, but UPS was always timely. Now Amazon more often than not does not even process a shipment for a few days after I ordered. I'm keeping a lits of all of my expenditures in an effort to control my spending. Its so easy to just pop onto Amazon and order, but damn that adds up so now I have better control.

Sorry for getting off topic, its so easy to digress.

Judy

 

[ivantherussian03]

It took 30 days for my mail to be delivered.

 

[patriotgal]

Many envelopes and pkgs from mountain home, ar, are disappearing into a black hole in Fayetteville. Couple friends have pkgs that have been there for 3 weeks. Calls to USPS do no good.

 

[Gardener]

In April it took 10 days for mail to go to the next city from us, about 25 miles, and another 10 days to make the trip back. In mid-May it started improving, at least locally. A relative ordered something from California 3 weeks ago. It was suppose to be delivered Monday of this week, but it has only made it half way here, to Colorado.

I think there were bags of mail that just got set aside. We have a subscription to a bi-weekly news magazine. Last week we received 3 magazines on the same day, covering 2 editions from April and one from May.

 

[byronandkathy2003]

Being old fashioned we pay the majority of our bills by check in the mail. Several months ago we did not receive a bill for our life insurance so we had to call and pay by credit card. I recently ordered some components to be delivered by USPS priority mail. This took an extra week an it languished at a distribution center. Recently the phone company sent me an E mail saying they had not received payment. A check with the bank revealed of 5 checks sent out on 17 May two have not been processed. We have never had this happen before. Any one else having irregularities?

wait until this happens to you .

10 years ago we went to the post office and got a money order for $18.50.
we sent the money order to the trash company we have to start up service.
so they did not pick up the trash and we called them and they said we never paid them.
we went to the post office to ask why the money order did not get to the trash company..
the post office told us if i remember right it would $13.00 plus dollars that we would have to pay them to find what they lost..
so 10 years later still have no idea where that money order is or went..
the USPS screws up one man rock fights..

 

[Big Sarge]

No problems on my side of the US so far. I've been ordering stuff on ebay that have been shipped USPS and I have been receiving them fairly quickly and the tracking has been on point for said pkgs. Notice that I said packages. Don't know about letter sized mail. There's no problem of me getting all that junk mail for sure.

 

[Wildwood]

Some sellers on ebay and Amazon are taking advantage of the situation too. They are waiting a week or two to ship and blaming it all on the mail or in the case of Amazon, selling things they don't have in stock. I'm over buying anything on Amazon that is not shipped by Amazon.

 

[meezy]

I sell on eBay and it’s mostly been fine. But I sent a package to a friend on 5/28 with 1-day priority (she is 10 miles away) and tracking says it’s due tomorrow!

 

[fish hook]

I ordered an item from Amazon,through prime.Was scheduled to be delivered May 13.On June 3rd i canceled the order,tracking said the same thing for the entire time,something like sent to the next facility.

 

[mikeabn]

Funny you should say that. My incoming mail has been light and it seems to take a while for outgoing to reach its destination.

 

[Nana]

For me it's been outgoing mail. Can't seem to get the carrier to turn his head enough to see that the flag is up. If it's something important and it's not picked up I have to drive uptown to put it in a box.

 

[teedee]

We have a rural delivery person Debby. She is always on time and we have little miss directed items. When she is replaced by a substitute all bets are off!

 

[Doat]

Remember, like other government agencies it is run by incompetence. This is not a cover all but there are many holding positions that should not be.

 

[WalknTrot]

Been a bit slower. I mail bills a few days earlier than usual. Packages, I've had no problem.

Best thing? Less junk mail by a mile.

 

[Looks Harmless]

Things are a bit slower but it's to be expected considering the volume they are dealing with along with Covid1984 and the "protests"

 

[Panner]

I learned a long time ago to pay all bills online. I never have any problems. My son just had stuff he ordered online shipped by uses. Tracking showed it was sitting at the local post office for 3 days before they delivered it. They wouldn't let him pick it up there.

 

[Red Baron]

I learned a long time ago to pay all bills online. I never have any problems. My son just had stuff he ordered online shipped by uses. Tracking showed it was sitting at the local post office for 3 days before they delivered it. They wouldn't let him pick it up there.

I pay all bills online now.

Much more convenient and you have instant confirmation that you made the payment on time.

 

[20Gauge]

the usps is slammed with packages---worse than Christmas
the letter volume is way down
there is a program called Informed Delivery (IIRC) that will send a picture to your smart phone of what is supposed to be delivered that day

This is an excellent program. Take advantage of it.

 

[20Gauge]

Been a bit slower. I mail bills a few days earlier than usual. Packages, I've had no problem.

Best thing? Less junk mail by a mile.

A BIT SLOWER??????

Sorry for yelling. We are currently lucky to get mail 2 days a week from our local USPS.

It is a darn good thing I no longer rely on them too much. I pay everything I can online now.

 

[WalknTrot]

A BIT SLOWER??????

Sorry for yelling. We are currently lucky to get mail 2 days a week from our local USPS.

It is a darn good thing I no longer rely on them too much. I pay everything I can online now.

Not had that kind of problem at all. Pretty decent hard working bunch at our post offices.

 

[IdahoMom]

My letter carrier still comes daily at 11:30 am, but I feel like the last three weeks or so I only get mail on Wednesday?

I ordered seeds from a third party seller on Amazon on April 3. Was immediately given a tracking number and a delivery date of May 9. Than May 19th, May 20 and June 3. When I finally asked the seller to refund my money they said they were trying to ship as soon as possible. I wasn't aware they could get a shipping number without shipping but yeah, they can. No more third party sellers for me.

 

[Fairwillows]

Being old fashioned we pay the majority of our bills by check in the mail. Several months ago we did not receive a bill for our life insurance so we had to call and pay by credit card. I recently ordered some components to be delivered by USPS priority mail. This took an extra week an it languished at a distribution center. Recently the phone company sent me an E mail saying they had not received payment. A check with the bank revealed of 5 checks sent out on 17 May two have not been processed. We have never had this happen before. Any one else having irregularities?

I read that usps are making package delivery, their priority. Lots of workers refusing to work because of the pandemic. So substitute carriers pulled in. I worked at USPS for 11 years. Worst job EVER! it paid well, but the BS you have to swallow is intolerable! Good luck. I do all my bills online, no problems.

 

[WanderLore]

2 months for check to get 3 miles to well company. We went ahead and paid them in person when we could track them down. They drove over and left us the check they finally got, 2 months later.

 

[exiled2tx]

I've complained on one of these threads about the USPS in mid-April or so and how an Express Mail package took 36 hours for 20 miles (but I did get back the postage money).
But honestly, I was just thinking a couple of times this week how well it is working. We don't use USPS for bills - mostly cards for birthdays, anniversaries, Mother's Day plus occasionally to send on some paperwork to someone. My DD and SIL's anniversary was late May. They are 1300 miles away from us in a large city. Past years, it would take about 10 days for a card w gift (not a package) to reach them. This year, it was there in under a week. My in-laws anniversary - took 1 day for a card to get there, vs. 3-4 in the past.
I was attributing it to lower mail volume but maybe we've just been lucky.

 

[tech020]

I have a daughter who was a mail carrier in Minneapolis until her knees were shot. She applied and was selected for a management position and now is the branch manager for a post office near downtown. Two other offices were destroyed in the riots and now she has to take the mail and people into her branch. Total chaos. She runs a tight ship but the overcrowding is not good and the other displaced manager is a not liked by his people. Her staff has caught up but the other areas are way behind plus at least one semi trailer was burned to the frame. Not good.

As a customer, I have had some weird experiences with the PO. Back in 2016, I mailed an estate tax return to the IRS, using registered return receipt and it never got to the IRS. Had to resubmit the whole deal and the PO did "refund" the postage, but not my time. This year I mailed two checks on different banks to two IRS offices and neither has been cashed or applied to my account. PO or IRS, take your pick. I will be using FedEx or UPS next time!

 

[Jeff B.]

Knock on wood... we have excellent service from FedEx (all), UPS and even the USPO. So far the worst we’ve encountered from the PO is putting other people’s stuff in our box. It’s always been within the ‘hood, so I walk or drive it over depending on how far it is.

jeff B.

 

[straightstreet]

For the past couple of months DS has had problems with USPS. He has received no first class delivery, no package delivery. He's complained a couple times to the post office. His bills now come thru email notification or auto pay. I'm not sure about package delivery. I don't think he's ordered anything since the last delivery was "lost".

 

[DragonBurrow]

Expect this trend to continue or get worse. My work depends heavily on postal mail and it is a disaster trying to predict delivery times. The postal service is shilling for a bailout right now so it’s in their best interest to let things slide a bit more. Many creditors have no fee options or are waving fees for payment right now.