5 ms·

So you've never heard of competitive addressing, then. Instead of PO BOX 1234, Anytown, ST USA you use Street Address of Post Office, Unit # PO BOX Number, Any

So you've never heard of competitive addressing, then. Instead of PO BOX 1234, Anytown, ST USA you use Street Address of Post Office, Unit # PO BOX Number, Anytown ST USA. In addition to giving you a "real" street address, it works for any services unable to otherwise deliver to a PO BOX like UPS, Fedex or DHL, because as long as they deliver during business hours, the post office will sign for your package. I use this to great effect as package theft is so rampant in my area. It does add a one day delay since the package is signed for by my post office and not delivered into my po box until the next day. And I've had to call and complain to Amazon a few times until they stopped trying to use their vans to deliver to that address. The drivers rarely read the instructions that say "You must deliver during business hours as this is a post office." When Amazon actually ships via USPS to my po box I get the packages same day as delivery so it's the best of all scenarios. Really I don't know why people have a such hate on for the post office. I love it. https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing/competitivepoboxes https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing/competitivepoboxes But yeah most likely a process server will leave the post office frustrated. I'm not sure if that's a bug or a feature. :-)

skak 5y ago
The only reason people on HN have hate for the post office is they are influenced by capitalists who want another industry to “disrupt.” American oligarchs have been declaring war on public services since the New Deal, and over time American workers have sadly been propagandized to buy into it. As a result, the U.S. Post Office is not what it used to be (it used to offer banking services!!!) but it’s still one of the best things we have left. Not to mention its glowing record of equal employment.
- handrous 5y ago
  Someone on HN once mentioned that anti-USPO plays are likely aimed at "freeing up" all the prime real estate the USPO owns in cities all over the country for private buyers, which was the thing that finally made some people and groups' evident hate and ill-wishing for the post office make sense to me. I'm sure killing some competition is also a factor for certain interests, but that was never enough, I thought, to explain all the forces working against them.
  - skak 5y ago
    The real estate effort makes sense because it gives an objective to organize around. In the case I made, I should probably elaborate. I don’t think there are many groups of people wanting to take over mail delivery for profit, or that those groups are terribly committed. I think it more often serves as an ideological punching bag that represents public services in general. The USPS is often cited in arguments for why public healthcare supposedly can never work, for example, despite it’s success in most developed nations. This depends on attacking public services in general. Currently, maintaining this sentiment for the private sector against the public sector is important to the effort to withhold IP of the coronavirus vaccine from the third world. IP laws are often complained about by HN readers, but IP itself is not. This conflict between regulation and anarchy is an eternal contradiction in the entrepreneurial pursuit, but public services which serve working people equally are ideologically beyond the pale, enemies of the entrepreneurial spirit.
    - zentiggr 5y ago
      The inherent contradiction between -- "let me do anything I want, I want to succeed and be huge!" -- "make sure I can stop anyone that wants to do the same thing, I want to be the only one to succeed and be huge!"
- pjc50 5y ago
  Don't forget the people trying to destroy it so they can prevent postal voting in certain counties.
- sneak 5y ago
  Replace "disrupt" with "replace with an improved version" and you have accurately characterized my view. The USPS does an absolutely terrible job, by objective measure. Many of their locations are significantly understaffed, with 30-60 minute waits for basic services (for paying customers!). Rude, unhelpful employees are the norm. Why should package and letter delivery be a public service? Their approach is not working.
  - brendoelfrendo 5y ago
    With the exception of wait times for in-person service, I don't really get the impression that the USPS does a worse job than any other delivery service. Mail arrives consistently, on time, and at competitive prices. > Why should package and letter delivery be a public service? Because everyone needs equal access to those services. Everyone, no exceptions, regardless of how profitable it is or not.
    - sneak 5y ago
      > Mail arrives consistently, on time, and at competitive prices. That's absolutely not true in most parts of their coverage area, especially the extremely dense ones (for example in Manhattan). With FedEx, it is. > Because everyone needs equal access to those services. Everyone, no exceptions, regardless of how profitable it is or not. This, even if we take its premise on faith, seems like an argument for subsidy, not necessarily a publicly operated service like the USPS. Food access is required for all people but we don't have government farms, we give people food credits. We have private hospitals and Medicaid, for another example. I'm also not sold on the idea that in 2021 (that is, email, webapps, and government subsidized smartphones with browsers and government subsidized network service) that equal access to postal mail is the necessity it once was. Many services now are unusable without an email address, and while they require a postal address the stuff there can be ignored forever if you can access the website and receive email.
    - spfzero 5y ago
      For most shipments in the weight categories I use, USPS is the least expensive. It's as reliable as Fed Ex or UPS in my experience. I do go into the post office fairly regularly, and have a PO box as well. Everyone's nice enough, they can answer pretty much any question you have. They're experienced, career employees, rather than franchisees. Yes, you usually have to wait in line for some things, but they have kiosks for simple tasks. I'm sure others will have had other anecdotal experiences, both bad and good, that's just the nature of a large organization. I've lived in several different cities over time and USPS has been consistently fine.
- sio8ohPi 5y ago
  As someone who loves to complain about the post office, you're way overthinking it. There's no conspiracy. I just hate spam.
  - AlexandrB 5y ago
    When I was a kid, I had a job delivering spam. A lot it does not come from the post office but from other delivery services.
  - mech422 5y ago
    Exactly - especially in the age of online billing and e-statements, the stupid super market flyers filling up my box for nothing is annoying as hell. I got a PO Box, not that my local P.O. seems to be able to actually honor a change of address form. And I actively avoid anything that uses postal delivery. I'm much happier now :-P
- mech422 5y ago
  I have hate for the post office because I get like 1 legitimate piece of mail a month, yet the post office is constantly stuffing those stupid supermarket flyers in my box with no opt-out. So I got a PO Box...Aaaannnd of course the P.O. couldn't forward that 1 piece of mail properly :-p so yeah - I find them useless and actively avoid any items that will be delivered by them (eg 'e-packet' stuff from aliexpress is a no go)
  - technofiend 5y ago
    Interesting. I literally never get flyers of any kind in my po box. I used to get them at home but opted out using the usual process. Weirdly I have the opposite experience using foreign delivery services: my wife buys items from Japan regularly that come DHL and I've never lost one. But I don't use my po box to forward mail, just receive it. https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Refuse-unwanted-mail-and-remove-name-from-mailing-lists https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Refuse-unwanted-mail-and-remo...
    - mech422 5y ago
      Unless its changed - you can't refuse stuff addressed to 'occupant' like supermarket flyers. You can remove your _name_ from mailing lists, but that wasnt' my issue. So I got a 'PO Box' from a local ups store type place. Now I don't get junk mail. Maybe the difference is due to my "PO Box" actually being at a store and not an actual Post Office? It's at a local ups store/mailboxes etc. type store, so the Post Office would actually have to forward the mail, not just drop it in a PO Box on premise.
dimva 5y ago
the USPS consistently has the highest favorability rating of any government agency, at 91%: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2021/04/usps-earns-91-approval-in-ig-survey-despite-pandemic-challenges/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2021/04/usps...
- treeman79 5y ago
  Impressive. Grew up when “Going postal” was a popular expression due to how often postal workers went on shooting rampages. I recall efforts to reduce stress as apparently managers were tired of being murdered. Maybe new phrase will be “Going Amazon”
  - btilly 5y ago
    The reason for that was that the US government tried to guarantee jobs for veterans. The one government task that could use relatively uneducated but fit people no matter where they happened to live was postal delivery. So a lot of veterans with PTSD and weapons training wound up as postal delivery workers. Veterans with PTSD and weapons training sometimes flip out and shoot people.
OldHand2018 5y ago
> But yeah most likely a process server will leave the post office frustrated. I'm not sure if that's a bug or a feature. :-) It’s probably one of those things that starts as a feature and quickly morphs into a really, really big bug.
sneak 5y ago
The part of this that is news to me (I have long known about using the street address of the post office with #BOXNUMBER, and used this to get driver's licenses in the past) is that they will now accept UPS/FedEx shipments to a PO box when addressed in this manner. For a long time, the USPS would simply refuse to accept deliveries from competitors, which always struck me as the utmost in anticompetitive, non-interoperable-by-design bullshit. I'm glad to hear they have stopped.
IG_Semmelweiss 5y ago
Be careful. There are services companies use to detect if they are delivering to a PO Box or not. It basically blacklists any po box- hosting address.

skak 5y ago

The only reason people on HN have hate for the post office is they are influenced by capitalists who want another industry to “disrupt.” American oligarchs have been declaring war on public services since the New Deal, and over time American workers have sadly been propagandized to buy into it. As a result, the U.S. Post Office is not what it used to be (it used to offer banking services!!!) but it’s still one of the best things we have left. Not to mention its glowing record of equal employment.

handrous 5y ago
Someone on HN once mentioned that anti-USPO plays are likely aimed at "freeing up" all the prime real estate the USPO owns in cities all over the country for private buyers, which was the thing that finally made some people and groups' evident hate and ill-wishing for the post office make sense to me. I'm sure killing some competition is also a factor for certain interests, but that was never enough, I thought, to explain all the forces working against them.
- skak 5y ago
  The real estate effort makes sense because it gives an objective to organize around. In the case I made, I should probably elaborate. I don’t think there are many groups of people wanting to take over mail delivery for profit, or that those groups are terribly committed. I think it more often serves as an ideological punching bag that represents public services in general. The USPS is often cited in arguments for why public healthcare supposedly can never work, for example, despite it’s success in most developed nations. This depends on attacking public services in general. Currently, maintaining this sentiment for the private sector against the public sector is important to the effort to withhold IP of the coronavirus vaccine from the third world. IP laws are often complained about by HN readers, but IP itself is not. This conflict between regulation and anarchy is an eternal contradiction in the entrepreneurial pursuit, but public services which serve working people equally are ideologically beyond the pale, enemies of the entrepreneurial spirit.
  - zentiggr 5y ago
    The inherent contradiction between -- "let me do anything I want, I want to succeed and be huge!" -- "make sure I can stop anyone that wants to do the same thing, I want to be the only one to succeed and be huge!"
pjc50 5y ago
Don't forget the people trying to destroy it so they can prevent postal voting in certain counties.
sneak 5y ago
Replace "disrupt" with "replace with an improved version" and you have accurately characterized my view. The USPS does an absolutely terrible job, by objective measure. Many of their locations are significantly understaffed, with 30-60 minute waits for basic services (for paying customers!). Rude, unhelpful employees are the norm. Why should package and letter delivery be a public service? Their approach is not working.
- brendoelfrendo 5y ago
  With the exception of wait times for in-person service, I don't really get the impression that the USPS does a worse job than any other delivery service. Mail arrives consistently, on time, and at competitive prices. > Why should package and letter delivery be a public service? Because everyone needs equal access to those services. Everyone, no exceptions, regardless of how profitable it is or not.
  - sneak 5y ago
    > Mail arrives consistently, on time, and at competitive prices. That's absolutely not true in most parts of their coverage area, especially the extremely dense ones (for example in Manhattan). With FedEx, it is. > Because everyone needs equal access to those services. Everyone, no exceptions, regardless of how profitable it is or not. This, even if we take its premise on faith, seems like an argument for subsidy, not necessarily a publicly operated service like the USPS. Food access is required for all people but we don't have government farms, we give people food credits. We have private hospitals and Medicaid, for another example. I'm also not sold on the idea that in 2021 (that is, email, webapps, and government subsidized smartphones with browsers and government subsidized network service) that equal access to postal mail is the necessity it once was. Many services now are unusable without an email address, and while they require a postal address the stuff there can be ignored forever if you can access the website and receive email.
  - spfzero 5y ago
    For most shipments in the weight categories I use, USPS is the least expensive. It's as reliable as Fed Ex or UPS in my experience. I do go into the post office fairly regularly, and have a PO box as well. Everyone's nice enough, they can answer pretty much any question you have. They're experienced, career employees, rather than franchisees. Yes, you usually have to wait in line for some things, but they have kiosks for simple tasks. I'm sure others will have had other anecdotal experiences, both bad and good, that's just the nature of a large organization. I've lived in several different cities over time and USPS has been consistently fine.
sio8ohPi 5y ago
As someone who loves to complain about the post office, you're way overthinking it. There's no conspiracy. I just hate spam.
- AlexandrB 5y ago
  When I was a kid, I had a job delivering spam. A lot it does not come from the post office but from other delivery services.
- mech422 5y ago
  Exactly - especially in the age of online billing and e-statements, the stupid super market flyers filling up my box for nothing is annoying as hell. I got a PO Box, not that my local P.O. seems to be able to actually honor a change of address form. And I actively avoid anything that uses postal delivery. I'm much happier now :-P
mech422 5y ago
I have hate for the post office because I get like 1 legitimate piece of mail a month, yet the post office is constantly stuffing those stupid supermarket flyers in my box with no opt-out. So I got a PO Box...Aaaannnd of course the P.O. couldn't forward that 1 piece of mail properly :-p so yeah - I find them useless and actively avoid any items that will be delivered by them (eg 'e-packet' stuff from aliexpress is a no go)
- technofiend 5y ago
  Interesting. I literally never get flyers of any kind in my po box. I used to get them at home but opted out using the usual process. Weirdly I have the opposite experience using foreign delivery services: my wife buys items from Japan regularly that come DHL and I've never lost one. But I don't use my po box to forward mail, just receive it. https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Refuse-unwanted-mail-and-remove-name-from-mailing-lists https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Refuse-unwanted-mail-and-remo...
  - mech422 5y ago
    Unless its changed - you can't refuse stuff addressed to 'occupant' like supermarket flyers. You can remove your _name_ from mailing lists, but that wasnt' my issue. So I got a 'PO Box' from a local ups store type place. Now I don't get junk mail. Maybe the difference is due to my "PO Box" actually being at a store and not an actual Post Office? It's at a local ups store/mailboxes etc. type store, so the Post Office would actually have to forward the mail, not just drop it in a PO Box on premise.

dimva 5y ago

the USPS consistently has the highest favorability rating of any government agency, at 91%: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2021/04/usps-earns-91-approval-in-ig-survey-despite-pandemic-challenges/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2021/04/usps...

treeman79 5y ago
Impressive. Grew up when “Going postal” was a popular expression due to how often postal workers went on shooting rampages. I recall efforts to reduce stress as apparently managers were tired of being murdered. Maybe new phrase will be “Going Amazon”
- btilly 5y ago
  The reason for that was that the US government tried to guarantee jobs for veterans. The one government task that could use relatively uneducated but fit people no matter where they happened to live was postal delivery. So a lot of veterans with PTSD and weapons training wound up as postal delivery workers. Veterans with PTSD and weapons training sometimes flip out and shoot people.

OldHand2018 5y ago

> But yeah most likely a process server will leave the post office frustrated. I'm not sure if that's a bug or a feature. :-) It’s probably one of those things that starts as a feature and quickly morphs into a really, really big bug.

sneak 5y ago

The part of this that is news to me (I have long known about using the street address of the post office with #BOXNUMBER, and used this to get driver's licenses in the past) is that they will now accept UPS/FedEx shipments to a PO box when addressed in this manner. For a long time, the USPS would simply refuse to accept deliveries from competitors, which always struck me as the utmost in anticompetitive, non-interoperable-by-design bullshit. I'm glad to hear they have stopped.

IG_Semmelweiss 5y ago

Be careful. There are services companies use to detect if they are delivering to a PO Box or not. It basically blacklists any po box- hosting address.