Small Rant

[Atticus]

I bought a vintage work jacket from eBay for a friend's Christmas present. Evidently, the postman tried to deliver it to my office on Thursday, December 26th but we were closed. We were open the next day, Friday December 27, but no jacket. Today I went looking for my jacket by tracking number and found that it was at our main post office "available for pick up". So I guess the postman attempted one delivery to my office and when that was unsuccessful, he threw the package in the back of the post office to see if someone would notice that it was missing. No notice. No nothing.

I'm damn glad the U S Postal Service wasn't charged with the responsibility of capturing Iwo Jima or inventing the light bulb. One unsuccessful try and that would be that. We'd all be sitting around chatting in Japanese by candle light.

AF

 

[Peter Graham]

Geoff, I understand your frustration because I've had similar things happen recently but I think it's a sign of the times. If the USPS is anything like our Royal Mail, who have been privatised, had their pensions and conditions of work eroded and been put on time limited contracts. How can you expect a quality service from a workforce whose jobs and conditions are constantly under threat ?

 

[bfrench]

Hi, Geoff,

I've had the same service from UPS - really frustration when the driver has a failed delivery and then doesn't take if off the truck at the depot - apparently drove around with it for two days before finding it - all this after three visits by me to the depot.

As for USPS - I've had nothing but spectacular service - same for Canada Post - had a guitar delivered from Florida to Niagara Falls, Canada in four days and delivered to the door without mishap - go figure.

And, yes, we seem to be headed toward privatization of our postal system as well.

 

[Andy B.]

AF,

Yes, normally they should leave a note and it states you can pick it up, or sign the note and put it back in the mailbox and they will attempt a redelivery in two or three days. I generally find it easier to just go to the post office instead of signing things and waiting for all the back and forth. But the mail carrier should have left you a note. It's about the size of a 2.5"x5" yellow postcard.

Andy B.

 

[Atticus]

AF,

Yes, normally they should leave a note and it states you can pick it up, or sign the note and put it back in the mailbox and they will attempt a redelivery in two or three days. I generally find it easier to just go to the post office instead of signing things and waiting for all the back and forth. But the mail carrier should have left you a note. It's about the size of a 2.5"x5" yellow postcard.

Andy B.

Hi Andy. He wouldn't have even had to leave me a note. My paralegal and our receptionist were both at the office all day Friday and all day today. He comes with the mail every day. He knows them both. He could have just said to either of them, "Hey, Geoff's got a package down at the office. Can ya tell him to come pick it up?"

AF

 

[Atticus]

- had a guitar delivered from Florida to Niagara Falls, Canada in four days and delivered to the door without mishap - go figure.

Not to get sidetracked in my own thread...but from Florida? Not Pennsylvania? What kind of guitar?

AF

 

[Atticus]

And not to beat a dead horse (pardon the pun) but some of you older members may recall that this local post office did exactly the same thing with my Goodwear A-1 back in '08. I had to hunt it down after it went missing for a week. Finally found it in the main post office back room, half opened but, thankfully, undamaged.

AF

 

[dujardin]

different places, same problem

belgian post is surely not better

 

[bfrench]

- had a guitar delivered from Florida to Niagara Falls, Canada in four days and delivered to the door without mishap - go figure.

Not to get sidetracked in my own thread...but from Florida? Not Pennsylvania? What kind of guitar?

AF

Martin HD-28V - bought it through a Martin distributor in Naples - My Favorite Guitars - great discount from manufacturers list - total delivery time including it going from Nazareth, PA to Naples to here was under two weeks.

 

[Phantomfixer]

maybe the guy is a jacket collector too???? or he was just having an off day with the Christmas rush??? But a routine delivery guy IM experience, they usually do good..I have all my packages delivered to the office, a county building. All the UPS,Fed Ex and USPS folks are regulars and they know the mail room ladies AND when we are closed..

Glad it worked out for you>>>> but what a pain

 

[Jason]

Australia Post is still fully government owned, and it too falls short regularly. I have everything sent to my work address... no point in sending stuff to my home address during working (postal) hours when I'm not home. But since my work address is more a field depot than anything else, frequently there's no-one there to receive stuff. It's pretty simple: gate open - someone is there, gate closed - we're out. The Aust Post delivery drivers don't even bother attempting delivery these days, even if the gate is open. They just leave their card in the letterbox to have me collect it at the local post office.

And then it gets more frustrating when there's items that require Customs Duty to be collected by the post office. Customs attach their collection demand with instructions and then release it to the postal system. Sounds good until you read the instructions, that goes something like:
"Instructions to postal staff:
step 1: NEVER remove this document from the parcel.
step 2: DO NOT deliver this article to the recipient, hold for collection of Duties at the Post Office.
step 3: ....
step 4: ....
step 5: please remove this document from the parcel and send to the recipient as a notification of Customs duty payable"

And of course, two out of three items with Customs duty to be paid never have any notification of arrival sent out, since steps 1 & 2 were dutifully followed. :roll:

By contrast, the most positive experiences I've had has been from purchases in the UK. I've bought some bulky & awkward-to-ship things from there, and the items have arrived safely - half way around the world - consistently in less than a week!

 

[Atticus]

The story here isn't over yet. I was busy today in court, so my paralegal set about locating my jacket for me. Yesterday, when I went looking for it at the downtown post office, I was told it was at our main Post Office. I was told that by the guy behind the counter at the downtown post office who clearly didn't want to be bothered with looking for it. Catherine had a feeling that his story wasn't so. Sure enough, she finally ended up calling the local post master who found it, of course, at the downtown post office. So when I broke free from court this afternoon, I ran down to pick up my jacket.

They had closed early (at 1:30 PM) to begin their New Years eve.

I still don't have the jacket but I'm beginning to think it will be a good Christmas gift for Tommy next year.

AF

 

[grommet]

I'm damn glad the U S Postal Service wasn't charged with the responsibility of capturing Iwo Jima or inventing the light bulb. One unsuccessful try and that would be that. We'd all be sitting around chatting in Japanese by candle light.

AF

Kyandoru ni hi o tsukeru!