Live dangerously? Mail a letter. Be more daring … expect it to arrive at its destination!
I took that risk today. I mailed some bill payments and Christmas presents and tried to cover my bases. I certified, insured, got proof of mailing and had machine postage rather than stamps put on each envelope. Not cheap.
Then I crossed my fingers. I would have had a drink to steady my nerves but I had to drive home, so that was out of the question!
To say I’ve no confidence in the United States Postal Service to do its job is the understatement of the year – perhaps the century.
I just can’t get excited that I get some mail. What about what arrives late, what I never receive and the letters I mail which never reach their destination?
I’ve had insurance policies cancelled because notices and bills didn’t arrive. In the last two months, I didn’t receive my property-tax bill, my car-registration renewal, a phone bill and a credit-card bill. Weekly magazines pile up and are delivered three and four at a time, monthlies arrive weeks late. Letters have taken two weeks to travel 20 miles. Dated sale notices for local businesses arrive two weeks late.
Last year, I mailed 3 boxes of Christmas gifts across the country on the same day, the same mail class, to the same address. All were insured and required recipient signatures. All were left without the signatures.
One box took 11 days, arriving on Christmas Eve. The second arrived Dec. 31 and the third arrived Jan. 19.
In 1860, the Pony Express got mail across the country in 10 days!
I’ve lost track of the number of bill payments I’ve mailed, but which never reached their destination. The stop-payment fees I’ve paid to the bank, the late charges against me on a variety of billings, and scores of phone calls to utilities, cable companies, mortgage companies, credit-card companies and more reflect the magnitude of the problem.
I’ve even had certified mail get lost and one returned for lack of postage!
The service loves to brag about the billions of pieces of mail handled every year. It appears they keep records – but only of good news.
You’re in a black hole if you try to find out how much mail arrives late, or is damaged, or lost.
It appears the USPS bureaucrats solved the dilemma of dealing with complaints: stall, intimidate and ignore.
The first tactic is the blank stare. Then, they say no one else has such problems. They listen to complaints but insist they’re monitored and that the problem could never be in their facility; it must be somewhere else.
They never apologize for the problems.
They’ve discontinued customer complaint forms. I have a file of ones I’d mailed in, with no response. I take that back. Several years ago, I reported a piece of missing mail. Eight months later, I got a form letter that said, yes, my mail was lost. Oh.
The USPS is touting that it’s ending 2003 with a $3.9 billion surplus. That’s good because last year they lost $676 million – the year before, they were $1.7 billion in the red. They’re promising not to raise rates again till 2006. Whoa, Nelly!
They attribute the losses to a huge drop in first-class mail volume, mainly, they say, due to terrorist fears and the economy.
Wrong. Volume is down because service is rotten, security is invisible and reliability non-existent.
And, we have choices: Fed-Ex, UPS, courier, phone, fax and e-mail. All give consumers levels of security and dependability, plus something else: responsibility. Those companies make good on problems. The Postal Service just shrugs – don’t even try to collect insurance on lost mail!
When I complained to the postmaster about my problems, when I asked why there was no file of my repeated complaints, when I reported continued lost mail – he did nothing. When I said I planned to make these problems and lack of assistance made known, he accused me of threatening him.
I’m repeatedly told no one else has these problems. But that’s not true. I’ve found at least six other people with similar problems. And guess what? When they complain, they’re told “no one else has these problems.”
We’ve all about had it with ineffective supervisors running an operation that puts service last, is short-staffed, badly scheduled and treats customers as bothersome enemies who spoil their day.
He thinks I’m a pest? One of the other unhappy people is ready to picket.
I’m tempted! I’m tempted!
