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Well as long as they ditch USPS I'll be happy. I really want to support the idea of a federal postal service, but it consistently sucks in comparison to UPS.

by flavor8 10y ago

aNoob7000 10y ago
Comparing US Postal Service to UPS is not fair. USPS doesn't have all the flexibility that UPS has with regards to price and whom they will service. The US Postal service has to pickup and deliver mail to all Americans, UPS doesn't.
- cujo 10y ago
  People don't complain about USPS because they suck at delivering to my "island" home in the middle of a swamp. They complain about USPS because somehow they seem to get a lot of employees who just don't try. In my experience, Fedex and UPS deliver when they say they will. USPS "attempts" deliver all the time only for the package to fail to arrive. I live in the urban part of a small city/big town. There is essentially never a reason a package can't be delivered. My latest gripe concerns the USPS person that delivers my daily mail. She loves to catch me outside and let me know that she doesn't "legally" have to deliver my mail if there is snow on my steps. I live in New England. Everyone has fucking snow on their steps.
  - BoorishBears 10y ago
    I live in New England too, back when I lived in a suburb the first thing we did when it snowed (and even while it snowed) was clear a path and the steps for deliveries. I could understand not being home a few times to clear them, but I also know I wouldn't want risk walking on snow covered steps if I could avoid it...
  - Navarr 10y ago
    Snow can and will cover up ice. That makes walking those steps inherently dangerous. She's being a bit of a jerk about it, but really she just wants her safety to be assured.
    - avn2109 10y ago
      "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" (Written above the postal HQ in Manhatta)
      - BoorishBears 10y ago
        What about broken hips?
  - rhodysurf 10y ago
    Ive had this issue to.. I live in RI. In 2013 there were a bunch of huge snow storms and my roommates and I were lazy college kids and dont go the extra mile shoveling out the front of the house where the mailbox was. We dint get mail for a month, until the post office told us that we had mail waiting at their location.
  - xadhominemx 10y ago
    She walks up and down snow covered steps all day every winter. She can't do her job if she slips and injures herself. The policy makes good sense.
- joekrill 10y ago
  Huh? Where does UPS not ship to? I'm pretty sure they ship everywhere.
  - the-dude 10y ago
    I am confident UPS does not ship to certain countries where they have no presence. No web sources at the moment, but heard this from my shipment broker. edit: and they charge more for hard to reach places. really.
    - ryanlol 10y ago
      Yeah, I think only DHL services North Korea for example.
jayrox 10y ago
USPS could do a few things to improve and they really aren't that big. For the following examples consider this: I live on a "no outlet" road. Meaning 100% of traffic is for the 20 houses on the street and not through traffic. And of the local traffic it is extremely minimal, we have more kids playing on the street than we have cars. 1) Stop being lazy. For example, I ordered something from Amazon and even though I have Prime, I paid for next day delivery. It was something I really needed. I rushed home that day excited to finish a project. Looking out the window I watched the USPS guy drive right past my house. A short while later I got a notice from Amazon that my package wasn't delivered due to an obstruction blocking my mailbox. I go out to the mailbox and look around trying to figure out what the obstruction was. The only thing I could figure out that would be possibly considered an obstruction was the trash cans I had just taken out that were about 5 feet to the left of the mailbox. 2) Consider somethings could possibly be fragile and take that into account when handling. For example, earlier this week I had 2 "large" flat envelopes delivered that were clearly way too large for my mailbox. Instead of considering that the contents may be fragile the USPS guy just jammed the envelopes into the mailbox the best he could making them into a crumpled mess.
- ghaff 10y ago
  Your #1 is my main complaint. I live at the end of a long gravel driveway which is admittedly not always in the best of shape, especially in the winter. UPS (and other non-USPS) carriers still have no choice but to come down the driveway. USPS will often do things like hang boxes of the mailbox (where they've been stolen from time to time) or jam them into the mailbox. (The situation has gotten somewhat better since I got a huge mailbox that can accommodate most packages.)
- enraged_camel 10y ago
  It's not about laziness. Fedex and UP ruthlessly measures the efficiency of their drivers by timing their every single activity. This information is displayed in real-time to managers back at the warehouse, who can see, for instance, if a particular delivery is taking longer than average. This is why many drivers game the system by skipping deliveries that they think will take too long, or (for packages that require signature) wait for only ~5 seconds after knocking on the door before deciding that you must not be home.
joekrill 10y ago
I mostly agree. I would actually pay UPS a monthly fee to takeover my mail delivery if it were an option. Do you live in a city? In my (albeit very anecdotal) experience, folks in cities HATE the USPS, while in the suburbs they seem to be great. I live in Philadelphia but work in a small suburb just across the bridge in New Jersey, and it's like night and day. I absolutely hate dealing with USPS in the city. Service is slow, they are miserable, say they leave packages when they don't. They "attempt" delivery so I ALWAYS have to go to the post office to pick up my packages (which takes usually an hour or two of my time). Then you have to worry about things like packages being stolen. But in the suburbs it's the complete opposite. The woman (it's always the same woman) at the post office is super friendly, very nice, service is fast, there's never a long line. Incidentally, I have the exact same experience with liquor stores in PA (which are state run).
- johnward 10y ago
  My small town post office is actually great but I tried to go to one in Pittsburgh and wanted to off myself. So inefficient and slow. The employees clearly hate their jobs but know they can do the bare minimum and not be fired. Same is true of my local DMV vs the regional one.
- flavor8 10y ago
  I live on a mountain half a mile up an unpaved road (there are a half dozen or so houses on the road, not just us). UPS will drive to our door. Fedex will drive halfway up and leave packages by the side of the road (there is a gate and a turnaround there.) USPS won't even bother putting packages on the delivery truck; instead I need to drive 15 minutes to the post office to pick them up. The most infuriating thing is that when they put a slip in our mailbox, it generates a "Sorry we missed you, delivery attempted" email which is utter and clear BS. This might be a relatively extreme situation, but they have also sucked in the prior suburban and urban places I've lived.

Well as long as they ditch USPS I'll be happy. I really want to support the idea of a federal postal service, but it consistently sucks in comparison to UPS.

by flavor8 10y ago

Well as long as they ditch USPS I'll be happy. I really want to support the idea of a federal postal service, but it consistently sucks in comparison to UPS.

aNoob7000 10y ago

Comparing US Postal Service to UPS is not fair. USPS doesn't have all the flexibility that UPS has with regards to price and whom they will service. The US Postal service has to pickup and deliver mail to all Americans, UPS doesn't.

cujo 10y ago
People don't complain about USPS because they suck at delivering to my "island" home in the middle of a swamp. They complain about USPS because somehow they seem to get a lot of employees who just don't try. In my experience, Fedex and UPS deliver when they say they will. USPS "attempts" deliver all the time only for the package to fail to arrive. I live in the urban part of a small city/big town. There is essentially never a reason a package can't be delivered. My latest gripe concerns the USPS person that delivers my daily mail. She loves to catch me outside and let me know that she doesn't "legally" have to deliver my mail if there is snow on my steps. I live in New England. Everyone has fucking snow on their steps.
- BoorishBears 10y ago
  I live in New England too, back when I lived in a suburb the first thing we did when it snowed (and even while it snowed) was clear a path and the steps for deliveries. I could understand not being home a few times to clear them, but I also know I wouldn't want risk walking on snow covered steps if I could avoid it...
- Navarr 10y ago
  Snow can and will cover up ice. That makes walking those steps inherently dangerous. She's being a bit of a jerk about it, but really she just wants her safety to be assured.
  - avn2109 10y ago
    "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" (Written above the postal HQ in Manhatta)
    - BoorishBears 10y ago
      What about broken hips?
- rhodysurf 10y ago
  Ive had this issue to.. I live in RI. In 2013 there were a bunch of huge snow storms and my roommates and I were lazy college kids and dont go the extra mile shoveling out the front of the house where the mailbox was. We dint get mail for a month, until the post office told us that we had mail waiting at their location.
- xadhominemx 10y ago
  She walks up and down snow covered steps all day every winter. She can't do her job if she slips and injures herself. The policy makes good sense.
joekrill 10y ago
Huh? Where does UPS not ship to? I'm pretty sure they ship everywhere.
- the-dude 10y ago
  I am confident UPS does not ship to certain countries where they have no presence. No web sources at the moment, but heard this from my shipment broker. edit: and they charge more for hard to reach places. really.
  - ryanlol 10y ago
    Yeah, I think only DHL services North Korea for example.

jayrox 10y ago

USPS could do a few things to improve and they really aren't that big. For the following examples consider this: I live on a "no outlet" road. Meaning 100% of traffic is for the 20 houses on the street and not through traffic. And of the local traffic it is extremely minimal, we have more kids playing on the street than we have cars. 1) Stop being lazy. For example, I ordered something from Amazon and even though I have Prime, I paid for next day delivery. It was something I really needed. I rushed home that day excited to finish a project. Looking out the window I watched the USPS guy drive right past my house. A short while later I got a notice from Amazon that my package wasn't delivered due to an obstruction blocking my mailbox. I go out to the mailbox and look around trying to figure out what the obstruction was. The only thing I could figure out that would be possibly considered an obstruction was the trash cans I had just taken out that were about 5 feet to the left of the mailbox. 2) Consider somethings could possibly be fragile and take that into account when handling. For example, earlier this week I had 2 "large" flat envelopes delivered that were clearly way too large for my mailbox. Instead of considering that the contents may be fragile the USPS guy just jammed the envelopes into the mailbox the best he could making them into a crumpled mess.

ghaff 10y ago
Your #1 is my main complaint. I live at the end of a long gravel driveway which is admittedly not always in the best of shape, especially in the winter. UPS (and other non-USPS) carriers still have no choice but to come down the driveway. USPS will often do things like hang boxes of the mailbox (where they've been stolen from time to time) or jam them into the mailbox. (The situation has gotten somewhat better since I got a huge mailbox that can accommodate most packages.)
enraged_camel 10y ago
It's not about laziness. Fedex and UP ruthlessly measures the efficiency of their drivers by timing their every single activity. This information is displayed in real-time to managers back at the warehouse, who can see, for instance, if a particular delivery is taking longer than average. This is why many drivers game the system by skipping deliveries that they think will take too long, or (for packages that require signature) wait for only ~5 seconds after knocking on the door before deciding that you must not be home.

joekrill 10y ago

I mostly agree. I would actually pay UPS a monthly fee to takeover my mail delivery if it were an option. Do you live in a city? In my (albeit very anecdotal) experience, folks in cities HATE the USPS, while in the suburbs they seem to be great. I live in Philadelphia but work in a small suburb just across the bridge in New Jersey, and it's like night and day. I absolutely hate dealing with USPS in the city. Service is slow, they are miserable, say they leave packages when they don't. They "attempt" delivery so I ALWAYS have to go to the post office to pick up my packages (which takes usually an hour or two of my time). Then you have to worry about things like packages being stolen. But in the suburbs it's the complete opposite. The woman (it's always the same woman) at the post office is super friendly, very nice, service is fast, there's never a long line. Incidentally, I have the exact same experience with liquor stores in PA (which are state run).

johnward 10y ago
My small town post office is actually great but I tried to go to one in Pittsburgh and wanted to off myself. So inefficient and slow. The employees clearly hate their jobs but know they can do the bare minimum and not be fired. Same is true of my local DMV vs the regional one.
flavor8 10y ago
I live on a mountain half a mile up an unpaved road (there are a half dozen or so houses on the road, not just us). UPS will drive to our door. Fedex will drive halfway up and leave packages by the side of the road (there is a gate and a turnaround there.) USPS won't even bother putting packages on the delivery truck; instead I need to drive 15 minutes to the post office to pick them up. The most infuriating thing is that when they put a slip in our mailbox, it generates a "Sorry we missed you, delivery attempted" email which is utter and clear BS. This might be a relatively extreme situation, but they have also sucked in the prior suburban and urban places I've lived.