I could not believe my ears when I heard the heated exchange between Sens. Arlen Specter and Ted Kennedy about the letter that did or didn't get delivered.
It happened during the confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito. The two senators argued about who knew what, when.
Kennedy said Specter knew about the article in the "Vanguard" newsletter because he'd sent him a letter about it on Dec. 22.
Specter said he knew no such thing because he never got the letter.
Kennedy said of course he knew, because he (Kennedy) mailed the letter on a date certain and had a copy of the letter to prove it.
And then the jackpot!
Specter riposted that just because a letter is mailed doesn't mean a person receives it.
NO! You mean mail can get lost?
What a shock, though it's nice to have a senator acknowledge it. Too bad he doesn't do something about it. Now there's an issue for congressional hearings.
The only thing we get is an across the board, Jan. 8 postal-rate increase, not for "operating costs or revenue shortfall," but because Congress now requires the USPS to put $3.1 billion in an escrow account – just in case. They'll decide, we are told, in the future what to do with the money. Talk about a slush fund!
Oh, and by the way, they plan to raise rates again next year to cover rising costs.
Lucky us!
The postal service system is a shambles, filled with union featherbedding, inferior hiring practices, too many people who do not speak English, invisible discipline, the apparently impossibility of firing, and a pervasive refusal to admit that there are problems and that customers have legitimate complaints about poor or invisible service.
I never would have dreamed that during a Supreme Court nominee hearing, there would be a disagreement about the delivery – or non-delivery – of a letter.
What made it all the more delicious was that it made my case that the U.S. Postal Service isn't a "service." It also showed I'm not the only person to have such problems, despite what I'm told whenever I complain to those ostensibly in charge. You know, the supervisors, the managers, the postmasters – the ones who have the titles, no doubt the extra union perks, benefits and salary and the ability to look you straight in the eye and lie.
Well maybe that's too harsh. How about "fabricate"? Or "be creative"? Or perhaps simply "hedge any responsibility at all"?
Understand: If you have a problem with mail delivery or service, it is never – repeat, never – the fault of the carrier or the local post office. The blame/responsibility/fault/failing/blunder/stupidity is always – always – on someone else's turf, preferably yours.
For all the problems, I have now and earlier (see my earlier column, "Post Office Snow Job") I've never had a problem solved or had anyone take responsibility. There's only an apology if one is requested. Meaningless.
Solutions? Never.
You name it, I've experienced it, including a postmaster who, when I told him I was so unhappy with the continued errors and problems that I planned to complain to the district and Washington, looked at me coldly and said he "didn't appreciate being threatened." I assured him, it wasn't a threat – it was a promise.
Too bad he got transferred and promoted before I got to lay it all on him directly.
Note I said, "promoted." It's the old Peter Principle: The ignorant, ill equipped, lazy and stupid keep getting promoted rather than the system dealing with the problems. I need only look at the staff turnover in my own Post Office, plus the merry-go-round of "postmasters," to see their system is one of perpetual cover-up. This includes the supervisor in November who, as I was describing delivery errors, whined that he didn't know me and besides he had a toothache. With that, he slammed the door in my face. He, too, was transferred.
Over Christmas, I told my daughter I was still having problems – she couldn't believe it. After I got home the night of the 26th, they continued.
Tuesday, Dec. 27: I went in to pick up my vacation-held mail. I waited and waited, talked to three different people and was finally told, they couldn't find it!
One clerk told me there was a huge pile of mail in there and it was all mixed up. I had to go to work and said I'd be back the next day.
Wednesday, Dec. 28: I went in to pick up my mail and after another wait, was given the mail in one of their plastic bins. Some was loose and some was wrapped with a rubber band. I took it home.
The loose mail was my Post Office box mail, but the top letter in the rubber-banded stack belonged to a resident with the same street number, but on a different street. I thought it was a one-letter error.
It wasn't. In fact, I was given a 9-inch stack of someone else's private, first-class mail! Where was my mail?
Thursday, Dec. 29: I went back, returned the mail which wasn't mine, complained about the errors, also on behalf of the people whose mail I got – that's dangerous! They still couldn't find my mail until one clerk told me they had to climb on top of a table to look and finally found it in the carrier's cubbyhole, which is not where it's supposed to be.
That night, I looked through it all and discovered a large envelope I'd mailed on Dec. 18, having weighed it and purchased the stamps at the counter with a clerk on the 17th, telling her I planned to drop it in the mail slot the next day. Which I did.
But, it was returned to me with a note saying envelopes over a pound must be mailed with a clerk. That explained why after nearly two weeks it sat lost in the Post Office (sorry, Mom), but it doesn't explain why the clerk didn't know about that regulation. That's her job!
Silly me, expecting people to know their job.
In addition, I'd received two and three copies of two different weekly magazines, one from three weeks earlier. That means they sat somewhere, ignored (or being read?) until they finally got delivered.
Friday, Dec. 30: I went back to complain again, getting the usual excuses and blank stares. I identified the woman who made the error. She was corrected and instructed in front of me as to what she did wrong. No apology. She's lacking in English as well as common sense and manners.
While there, I mailed some letters at the counter. One of the outgoing pieces was a postcard to one of my membership organizations. The clerk took it and round-stamped it with the outgoing date: Dec. 30.
Saturday, Dec. 31: Guess what was delivered to my home mailbox? Right! The outgoing postcard.
I still can't figure that one out. Neither can they.
One person told me the scanner misread it. Another said it didn't go thru the scanner – people did the sorting.
The card was properly addressed, preprinted by the organization. My name and address were in small type on the lower left of the backside of the card.
Go figure, but you must admit, I hit the jackpot that week: a mistake every single day – five days in a row. It's a good thing Monday, the 26th, was a holiday or they'd have set another record. They're closed on Sunday.
They used to have a clock on the wall behind the clerks and then posted a sign saying if you're not waited on within five minutes, you'd get a free stamp. That lasted about two weeks. They solved it by removing the sign and the clock!
Not long ago there were post office complaint forms for customer use. The only problem was that after the form was sent in, nothing happened. The complaint fell into a black hole.
So they solved that problem. They eliminated the complaint forms!
Now, we get to complain in person to the local supervisor-postmaster and nothing happens. I've had so many problems that I know the answers before they even open their mouths:
- "We put all the mail we get in post office boxes every day. There is never any mail left over for the next day."
- "Have you contacted the publication?" Yes. Oh.
- "It's not us, it's the district." Passing the buck.
- "It's so busy and we have substitute people." More buck passing.
- "Tell me what publications you're having the problem with and we'll track them." Then what? Absolutely nothing.
- "This is so unusual." Right, except for the thousands of other people with the same problems.
The response to my other column on this issue buried me in e-mails from across the country from people with similar problems. I spread the word in my town and was astounded at the number of people with the same problems, sometimes worse.
There was a complaint filed last week in the upscale Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles concerning continual mail deliveries as late as 10:30 at night.
Heaven help us. Now there are plans to have everyone vote by mail! There's no end.
But wait, next year's promised rate hike will certainly improve things. Won't it?
No wonder Fed-Ex and UPS are successful. No wonder faxes and e-mail are so popular.
Anyone for the pony express? Besides, those horses need work.