USPS tracking entertainment

[Leejohn]

I think the USPS is private ran now.

 

[texasjohn]

Am unaware of any option to have packages delivered to the house...about 100 yards down road from mailbox. I complained once about an item which would, obviously fit since it was about the size of an old time Sears catalog, and was told ... someone else did the sorting today...I would have put it in your mail box....no mention of a way to sign up to get it delivered all the way to the house. Perhaps being unkind, I mark it down to lazy and not wanting to carry something....oh, yes, I also now remember something about somebody having an injured arm and not being able to lift over 10 lbs or so for a while. As usual, these things don't stand up to scrutiny... or logic...it's just "that's the way it's done."

Our mail carrier brings anything that won't fit in our mailbox up the driveway to our door. We filled out a card a couple years back asking what our preferences were for things that won't fit in the mail box. Is this something that is up to the local postmaster's policies maybe? The other place we lived in Maine, we got the pickup card, like you described.

 

[Carl_NH]

I too find the USPS lacking vs UPS but USPS was setup to deliver a 1000 pieces of mail (950 pcs junk mail) and maybe several packages on any given day per 100 residences. UPS per was set up to deliver boxes and packages and to the same 100 residences maybe at the rate of 20 a day.

USPS had to refine their infrastruture to do packages and compete that FedEx and UPS have had for a long time. Not defending USPS but they have somewhat different primary objectives.

 

[Bird]

I too find the USPS lacking vs UPS but USPS was setup to deliver a 1000 pieces of mail (950 pcs junk mail) and maybe several packages on any given day per 100 residences. UPS per was set up to deliver boxes and packages and to the same 100 residences maybe at the rate of 20 a day.

Very true.

USPS had to refine their infrastruture to do packages and compete that FedEx and UPS have had for a long time. Not defending USPS but they have somewhat different primary objectives.

But some of us are old enough to remember when USPS (parcel post) was the only one delivering packages, too, unless they were big enough to be handled by truck freight.:laughing: In fact, I was a postal clerk in the Dallas Post Office for 5 years. And I was working a window when the price of first class stamps went from 4 cents to 5 cents. I used to sell stamps for 4 cents, air mail for 7 cents, and special delivery for 30 cents.

So the USPS had a monopoly for many years. I guess everyone has their own opinion as to whether it was luck, better management, better workers, or whatever that allowed UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc. to take over the most profitable part of the business.

 

[dave1949]

Am unaware of any option to have packages delivered to the house...about 100 yards down road from mailbox. I complained once about an item which would, obviously fit since it was about the size of an old time Sears catalog, and was told ... someone else did the sorting today...I would have put it in your mail box....no mention of a way to sign up to get it delivered all the way to the house. Perhaps being unkind, I mark it down to lazy and not wanting to carry something....oh, yes, I also now remember something about somebody having an injured arm and not being able to lift over 10 lbs or so for a while. As usual, these things don't stand up to scrutiny... or logic...it's just "that's the way it's done."

I think it must have to do with the local postmaster and how dedicated they are to providing service. Our mail carrier drives, not walks, so that makes a difference I suppose. It appears they drive personally owned vehicles dedicated to their carrier job. Our current carrier drives a right-hand steering Jeep Wrangler, the carrier that retired last year drove a normal Subaru wagon.

As usual, Bird's memory was more complete than mine , but we were given the same card to fill out when our carriers changed, for preferences on large packages, where or whether to leave packages if not home, etc. The card looked like a standard USPS form, so I assume it is available to any postmaster dedicated enough to use it.

If that is true, then the problem with poor service is we don't know what the level of service is supposed to be, and therefore don't complain, like we would in other situations where we aren't getting what we paid for.

Carl in NH and Bird's observations are on the mark. The USPS isn't in the same business as UPS/FEDEX/etc. Maybe the USPS could have developed a package delivery system back in the 1970's-80's, but they didn't. Would Congress have invested in that, and would the union rules have prevented it, who knows?

Fact remains that we don't know how much UPS/FEDEX would have to charge to deliver first-class/media/business-rate mail to every address six days-per-week.

 

[The kid]

My experience, USPS tracking is just one step ahead of a complete joke. It says...it's shipped, and gives an expected arrival date...I don't seem to be able to follow it thru the system the way I can with a UPS package. Further, although I have an extremely large mail box, any package bigger than a big envelope is held at the post office with a "too large for mailbox" note in the mailbox. In actuality, the mail folks simply didn't want to mess with carrying a package and make me go pick it up. True, MY box is BIG and many, many packages will fit in it, but they simply remember all the other smaller mail boxes along the road and treat me as I am a small box kinda guy.:mur:

I give my postman a nice gift every year for Christmas. He brings my packages to my backdoor and leaves them generally in the exact same place. We have a vandal proof mailbox which is about standard size so all larger packages to to my backdoor. My point here each carrier sorts and routes their own mail. If the carrier knows you personally and your not just a number to he/she. Maybe they will put items in your oversized mailboxes. Hope you guys have a Merry Christmas.

 

[Bird]

Maybe the USPS could have developed a package delivery system back in the 1970's-80's, but they didn't.

They had a system in place as far back as the 1930s; just didn't keep up to date. I don't remember just when it was, but my grandfather, who hauled mail between the train station and the post office in Ardmore, OK, from the early 40s until trains quit hauling mail, told about the first parcel post delivery system. It was a contract job and the guy who got the bid to deliver parcel post in Ardmore showed up the first day with his horse and wagon, dumped all the packages into the wagon, climbed up on the seat, picked up the first package, and took off to deliver it. Poor guy didn't think about sorting and laying out a route. My grandfather always laughed about it; said the guy nearly ran his horse to death, back and forth across town, showed up at the end of the day with nearly half the packages still on the wagon, and quit after that one day.:laughing:

And before I worked 5 years in the Dallas Post Office as a clerk, my first postal job was delivering parcel post. In 1957, the Postmaster in Plano, TX, asked me if I could work part time as a mail carrier (he had a carrier in the hospital and was short handed). But when he found out I was 17, he said you had to be 18. But the next day, he came back and had gotten special permission to give me a temporary 3 month appointment, when that expired me gave me another 3 month appointment, and when that expired I was 18 and he gave me a one year appointment.:laughing:

Now in those days, the postman (letter carrier) walked and went up to the door at each house, so a different person delivered the parcel post, and that was my first job. The Plano Post Office at the time had one vehicle; a 1949 Willys panel truck with no driver's door, no muffler, and no key; just a toggle switch. And anyone could deliver all the parcel post in 2 hours or less, then return to the Post Office and go on a walking route.:laughing:

 

[dave1949]

They had a system in place as far back as the 1930s; just didn't keep up to date. I don't remember just when it was, but my grandfather, who hauled mail between the train station and the post office in Ardmore, OK, from the early 40s until trains quit hauling mail, told about the first parcel post delivery system. It was a contract job and the guy who got the bid to deliver parcel post in Ardmore showed up the first day with his horse and wagon, dumped all the packages into the wagon, climbed up on the seat, picked up the first package, and took off to deliver it. Poor guy didn't think about sorting and laying out a route. My grandfather always laughed about it; said the guy nearly ran his horse to death, back and forth across town, showed up at the end of the day with nearly half the packages still on the wagon, and quit after that one day.:laughing:

And before I worked 5 years in the Dallas Post Office as a clerk, my first postal job was delivering parcel post. In 1957, the Postmaster in Plano, TX, asked me if I could work part time as a mail carrier (he had a carrier in the hospital and was short handed). But when he found out I was 17, he said you had to be 18. But the next day, he came back and had gotten special permission to give me a temporary 3 month appointment, when that expired me gave me another 3 month appointment, and when that expired I was 18 and he gave me a one year appointment.:laughing:

Now in those days, the postman (letter carrier) walked and went up to the door at each house, so a different person delivered the parcel post, and that was my first job. The Plano Post Office at the time had one vehicle; a 1949 Willys panel truck with no driver's door, no muffler, and no key; just a toggle switch. And anyone could deliver all the parcel post in 2 hours or less, then return to the Post Office and go on a walking route.:laughing:

I like your historic(al) remembrances, Bird. I guess I should have said the USPS could have developed a modern package delivery system.

Think of how much investment in planes, terminals, trucks, etc., that entails. It's probably better that that business was developed by private firms. There is little public interest at stake if an Amazon order arrives today or tomorrow, but some letters and documents sent and received do have a legal standing which serves the public interest. I wonder how long that will last?

There are third-party go-betweens which serve as a trusted party/verifiers for electronic documents, and anymore, paper seems to be more of a hassle that people try to avoid.

 

[wdchyd]

I think the USPS is private ran now.

Private ran no.....

You must be confusing the bulk mail between post offices are moved by private contract carrier (cheapest bid trucking company)....IIRC, only postal employees can actually collect/touch/sort the mail and do final delivery

 

[Soundguy]

what I find funny are when i track one at lunch and it says delivered... I get home.. not there.. then later int he day it shows up...

go figure..