Opuscula Post Office Personnel lie To Customers

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED to a piece of Priority Mail.

It never arrived.

The tracking notice showed

You item is being held at the (Branch Name) post office at 6:19 p.m. on February 11, 2021. This is at the request of the customer.

I WENT TO THE Post Office and spoke to a person who claimed to be a supervisor.

I showed the “supervisor” the tracking message (ibid.) and complained that the letter carrier who SHOULD have delivered my priority mail

• Never delivered any mail to ANYONE on my block on 2/12/2021
• That the customer (this scrivener) never requested that the letter carrier return the mail to the post office (since I never SAW it).
• That this is not the first time this letter carrier has failed to deliver — one previous time she took a Certified letter back rather than put it in my street-side mailbox.
• That this letter carrier is notorious in the neighborhood for failing to deliver mail on a daily basis; sometimes she simply fails to deliver ANY mail.

The “supervisor” told me

• My mail was not at the post office.
• That my mail was with the letter carrier who failed to deliver my mail on 2/11/2021
• That the letter carrier’s vehicle “broke down” and she was unable to finish her appointed rounds
• That the letter carrier was completing her rounds from Thursday on Friday (2-12) and that I could expect my mail to arrive earlier (than the carriers normal 6:30-7:00 p.m. delivery time)

Does not compute

I admit that having had many problems with this letter carrier in the past I am suspicious.

The Post Office tracking claimed the package was at the post office branch.

It was not.

The Post Office tracker claimed the customer requested the letter carrier to return the mail to the branch.

We did not.

The Post Office “supervisor” said the letter carrier would pick up where she left off when her vehicle allegedly became disabled.

Does that mean the people who were SUPPOSED to get mail on Friday (2/12) MIGHT get Friday’s mail on Saturday, 2/13?

Fortunately for the people in my neighborhood, once a week — and only once a week — we get our mail delivered in a timely manner and on the day it is expected. That day is the day the incompetent letter carrier is replaced by her alternate.

Protection

Although at least two supervisors have fielded complaints about this letter carrier for years, nothing can be done to remove or even reassign her. Union and seniority.

I have complained to my useless senators — Rubio and Scott — and I don’t even get a “We got your message” response. I don’t bother with my local rep to Pelosi’s House; she is even more useless than Rubio and Scott.

Telephone out of service — for a week!

Both my Spouse and I called the post office branch to confirm that the missing mail piece was there.

On both occasions, the phone rang and rang and rang until it finally disconnected.

When I mentioned this to the “supervisor,” she told me the phones had been out for a week.

If a real business’ phones were out of service, someone would be calling the telephone company to get things working again — YESTERDAY.

The USPS’ inaction proves to me that the organization’s name is a misnomer; there is NO “service” in U.S. Postal Service.

I have lived all over the lower 48 (states) and NEVER had such poor mail service; even on rural routes in the winter where it snows.

I also lived overseas in a socialist country known for bungled bureaucracy and even there, mail service was more dependable.

This is not a GOP-Dumbocrat issue. The problem preceded both Trump and Harris-Emhoff administrations.

To paraphrase America’s first Post Master (https://tinyurl.com/5gn6fj3e), “for want of the mail” an opportunity was lost.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on USPS

Opuscula It isn’t easy Saying good-bye To some vendors

KERMIT THE FROG sang “It isn’t easy being green.”

If he ever tried to close out technology accounts, he would find that “being green” is the least of his worries.

 

We — my Spouse and I — are relocating.

We’re going to move closer to the grandchildren.

We have accounts for (alphabetically)

Electric
Internet
Mobile phones (2)
Water

We also are selling a car. In Florida, the plate stays with the seller, an inconvenience implemented in the 1970s.

Finally, we have to get an OK from the homeowners’ management association. (The buyers have even more association hoops to clear.)

Closing proof

In order to terminate our account with the city’s Water Department, we have to PROVE we sold the house. Present a copy of the closing papers.

Just to turn off the WATER!

What if we were leaving for our vacation home in the UP of Michigan. Seems fair; the snowbirds come south every winter. Turn off the water for “n” months. What do I have to do to prove I’m leaving town and I don’t want to chance a water pipe might break?

What is the Water Department going to demand of the buyers? ANOTHER copy of the closing?

Ridiculous.

Our homeowner’s insurance carrier also wants a copy of the closing document.

Perhaps I simply don’t want to pay for homeowner’s insurance. The house is free and clear. I am not obliged by law (so far) to have homeowner’s insurance.

People would be foolish not to have homeowner’s insurance — never mind that it fails to include flood insurance and that every time a hurricane comes ashore in Louisiana or Texas the insurers raise OUR rates in south Florida.

I thought this was 2011, not an Orwellian 1984.

Our mobile phones are with Consumer Cellular. Normally it is a “so-so” company. That’s probably the “norm” for phone companies in the 20s (2000, 2001, etc.).

The Spouse called Consumer Cellular and told Customer Service we want to cancel service on a specific date.

CSR replied: We can’t do that. You have to call us on the day you are canceling service.

Hopefully we will be able to call Consumer Cellular from the airport to get the service stopped.

Alternatively, we could just ignore bills from Consumer Cellular, but I was not brought up that way.

I may have to remember to bring a Consumer Cellular statement with us so I’ll know what to cancel — in case our phone numbers are insufficient.

One would think we were Consumer Cellular’s only customer and that our bill is in the hundreds of thousands every month. (We are not and our bill is not.)

AT&T only asks that we return a modem/router we had for internet connectivity. I’ve had the device for a number of years and, frankly, I cannot conceive of a reason AT&T would want it back. Maybe AT&T techs can salvage or scavenge parts from it.

To AT&T’s credit, it is proving pre-paid FedEx service back to a company address. It also is allowing sufficient time for one of my sons to get to a local FedEx to get the device on its way.

AT&T told my Spouse that the device could be returned by either UPS or FedEx, but it sent a document to ship via FedEx. Both work for me.

What AT&T apparently was unable to accomplish was a change of address so we will have to trust our highly unreliable and oft complained about letter carrier to get the bill forwarded.

I’ve lived all over the U.S. and I NEVER had such lousy mail service. There are days when no one on my city block gets mail — the carrier simply doesn’t deliver or collect mail and nothing can be done to replace the carrier.

Florida Power & Light, FPL, was the easiest of all to terminate.

The Spouse called FPL — I prefer email; she’s great on the phone — and asked that the power be turned off on a specific date.

FPL said no problem; the power would be turned off one (1) day after the requested date. The helpful clerk even gave my Spouse a “guesstimated” bill.

USPS The Post Office now charges for a Change of Address: US$1.05.

I’ve moved a lot and I never had to pay for a change of address. USPS is happy to bill my credit card.

Of course, the “modern” Post Office (that may or may not deliver mail, ibid.) also has a steep surcharge for Stamps By Mail. Almost like buying stamps from a vending machine (do they still have those?).

I could understand if the surcharge and the postage to get the stamps to me were about the same, but they are far from that.

We got a Change of Address form from the USPS and mailed it — postage free — at a free-standing mail box (almost an anomaly anymore, akin to corner pay phones).

If we waited for the lazy letter carrier to collect the card — the alternate carrier is great — we would be well settled in into our new residence.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Saying good-byed

Opuscula Dear Graduates, Are you searching For a 100% safe job?

NOTE TO 2020 high school grads: If you’re looking for a job from which you cannot be fired for any reason apply to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS)

You’ll be protected by Civil Service (even if YOU are not civil to the people with whom you interact) and by a union.

 

 

If you become a letter carrier, you don’t have to deliver the mail if you don’t feel like it.

If you are color blind to the color red, that’s OK; those raised red flags on mail boxes don’t mean you have to collect the mail from the box. That will be your choice.

You may refuse to get out of your vehicle to deliver an item too large for the mailbox to the customer’s door. After all, that’s a walk of, perhaps, 10 yards each way. Take it back to the post office and report that you tried to deliver it but were unable to do so. Never mind the lie. You’re a USPS employee and above the truth.

If you don’t want to deliver a certified mail piece, simply mark it “No one available to sign.” Never mind that there WAS a person in residence all day the day the certified letter was to be delivered. Just another lie in the life of a protected letter carrier.

 

Why this rant?

The regular letter carrier on my route on more than one occasion has failed to deliver the mail that, according to Informed Delivery,^® should be in the mailbox.

She also
• Failed to deliver a certified letter, and
• failed to deliver a light-weight package that was too big for the letter box

I was told by a supervisor that the mail pieces shown in Informed Delivery are scanned in another city and the mail may not arrive in my town the same day. My town is less than 25 miles away from where the “mail pieces” are scanned.

If the day-late delivery was consistent, I’d believe what I was told.

But it is NOT consistent.

 

WHAT IS WORSE is that when mail is put into the curb-side mailbox for collection (pick-up) it isn’t — picked up.

Yes, Virginia, the red flag WAS raised and yes, the letter to be picked up was put into the mailbox early in the day.

Never put payments into a curb-side mailbox; the raised red flag, while it means nothing to some letter carriers, it is an invitation to thieves to pilfer the mail.

 

©Jeff Koterba,Omaha World Herald (https://tinyurl.com/yb5nlnjq)

 

IN OTHER WORDS, the letter carrier NEVER CAME DOWN MY STREET.

 

The “regular” letter carrier on my route works a five-day week. Sunday is off and one one other day an alternate carrier delivers the mail.

We always know when the alternate delivers the mail: it arrives before 7 p.m.

According to the route supervisor, there may be reasons why the mail delivery is to late. A slothful carrier is one reason I would suggest.

 

Don’t bother to complain

 

©Rex F. May "baloocartoons.com”

 

I have complained, to no avail, to

• The carrier’s supervisor
• The USPS Inspector General
• My two senators in Washington

The USPS IG said there was nothing to be done.

The senators “acknowledge” my communication with a form letter of no consequence. (I won’t vote for them again.)

My local congressional representative has proven time and again to be totally useless for anything unless the person is a “Major Donor,” which for this person I am not.

The USPS supervisor, having no support higher up, has her hands tied.

 

Internet, UPS, DHL, FedEx options

 

The USPS often is heard complaining — usually when raising the price of postage — that people are not using its services as they once did.

Given the level of “service” the letter carriers provide, is it any wonder?

I live in a printed document world. I don’t want “he said-she said” confrontations. Put it in writing.

I can print emails. I can print WhatsApp exchanges. I can do a screen capture of anything I can show on a computer screen. Do I REALLY need USPS?

Yes. I still want to see paper bills and statements.

I still occasionally want to send a letter to someone I care about — email, et al, somehow lacks the “touch” that only a “real” missive conveys.

But when USPS so disregards its customer base, when USPS protects employees who disgrace its name and former reputation (Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. ¹) why bother to complain. Apparently no one cares if the mail is delivered or if there remains any "service" in "United States Postal Service".
Is this the new "American way?"

 

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Sources

1. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
This is commonly misidentified as the creed of our mail carriers, but actually it is just the inscription found on the General Post Office in New York City at 8th Avenue and 33rd Street.
https://www.infoplease.com/askeds/post-office-motto

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Safest Job

Opuscula USPS & other Aggravations

APRIL 2020 was a bad month for this scrivener.

I had dealings with a reluctant medical equipment company.

My mail was routinely late or not delivered or collected, either.

Sequestered in the house, my purchases were via the WWW.

Those that were delivered by someone other than the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) arrived on time and were left at the door.

 

 

THE USPS, which unless I am mistaken, still gets some of our tax dollars and regularly raises the price of postage, can’t get it right.

Today, I am waiting for a package that should have been delivered on 1 May. Today is 4 May.

Where is my package? According to USPS (see image, below), the package was shipped from the vendor on 25 April from Houston TX via DHL.

 

The above image was checked for changes shortly before this entry was uploaded.

 

USPS reports that the package arrived at the DHL facility in ORLANDO Fl (why Orlando?) on 28 April.

Why Orlando? Miami FL is the USPS regional center for my area. Maybe DHL drivers are afraid to drive in Dade County. I don’t blame them.

Note that in the image above, USPS states that IT did not receive the package on the 28th of April.

The package has been sitting in Orlando — doing what? Waiting for Universal and the Mouse to open the parks again? — since 28 April.

The famous Barefoot Mailman¹ could have delivered the package on foot by now.

Let’s see, April 28 was a Tuesday. The package, USPS claims, arrived at the Orlando DHL facility at 4:08 a.m.

So, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Monday, and now Tuesday, 5 May. Six full days to get a small package from Orlando to Miami to Hollywood FL.

But USPS reports that the package STILL sits in Orlando at DHL’s facility. If USPS knows the package is being held at the DHL facility, why doesn’t it prompt DHL to move it to USPS?

Complaining is a waste if time

We have absolutely terrible service where I live.

I subscribe to the USPS Informed Delivery service that shows me the mail I can expect on the same or next day. (The items are scanned in the Miami facility and then sent to my local distribution office where the mail is sorted and the letter carrier assigned to my route collects the mail for my address.)

The mail often is stuffed into the wrong mail box if it is delivered at all.

When it is delivered by the regular carrier, the mail arrives — when it arrives — after 6 p.m. (When the mail arrives in a timely manner — say before 5 p.m. — we know the alternate carrier was delivering that day.)

This is a motor route, so the carrier cannot blame the bad service on sore feet. Lately the days have been “warm,” but mostly rain free.

My neighbors and I have complained to the local distribution center. Nothing can be done.

I complained to the USPS Inspector General. Based on the response I got from that address, I think I was dealing with the USPS Inspector Private (E-1)! Useless.

I’ve even electronically buttonholed my U.S. senators; for that I received a “got your note” response but nothing more.

Talk abut job security.

Letter carriers are protected like none other.

We have had excellent service in the past — elsewhere.

 

Yet another Hyundai recall

Recently Hyundai sent me a recall letter for my 2008 Elantra.

Problem with the brake system.

Keep the car away from buildings, it said, because it could catch fire due to a brake component — even if the car is turned off.

This is the second time there has been a recall for a brake related issue.

The first time I took my care to the Rick Case dealership on US 441/FL 7 was to replace a faulty brake component. Turned out the replacement component was faulty. The replacement unit kept my brake lights lit and caused me to call road service to jump the battery. The chief mechanic told me to “get a new battery.” He had one for more than $200. I bought a battery elsewhere.

When the same thing happened again, the battery was once again jumped and I drove to the dealership. FINALLY someone diagnosed the problem: a faulty replacement part.

In the end, the service manager refunded what I paid for the battery and, most reluctantly, replaced the bulbs that were never intended to be on for long periods.

Given the current conditions, being sequestered at home due to the Chinese virus du jour, and seeing tv advertisements that car dealers were going to their clients rather than forcing their clients to come to them (and sit in a waiting room shared with other possibly virus-infected customers), I asked via email, and later snail mail, if Rick Case would do the same. I am in the “high risk” category and the recall warned that the car could catch fire at any time, even with everything turned off.

I heard nothing from Rick Case.

I heard nothing from Hyundai HQ.

This, then, is my first, and last, Hyundai. The CAR’S OK; the DEALER is not.

My wife took her Hyundai (now replaced with a Benz) to the Rick Case shop in Weston for a wheel alignment.

The job was done AND THEN the mechanic told my wife the car needed new struts, a/k/a “shocks.”

Wait — if shocks (struts) are replaced, don’t the wheels have to be aligned?

Yes, of course. Even kids in high school auto class know that.

But you just aligned the wheels and THEN checked the suspension? A Dilbert moment.

To be fair, the only other problem I’ve had in the years I’ve owned the 2008 Elantra was a faulty thermostat, replaced under warranty. Mechanically the car’s pretty good; the interior, not so much.

Granted, the car is not a $60,000 or more vehicle, but to fail to even ACKNOWLEDGE multiple communications is unconscionable, both on the part of Risk Case and Hyundai, especially when the communications are about a federally-mandated safety recall..

 

Rolling along with a rollator

I am unbalanced. Most of my alleged friends will attest to that.

In truth, I can’t walk far without toppling over, even when I am sober as the proverbial judge.

To get around, my doctor ordered a rollator for me.

A rollator, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a four-wheel walker.

The first rollator that came my way was for a shorter person; the handle bars maximum height above ground was 35 inches.

It let me get around, but it left me with pains in the shoulders, neck, and triceps.

Worse, my point of vision was about three feet in front of the rollator so, unless I lifted my head (painful) I could not see cars, mothers with perambulators, or loose canines approaching.

My doctor agreed to order a new rollator with much higher handle bars.

 

Tale of two rollators: small (left) vs. large (right)

 

GETTING the new rollator from One Homecare was more “painful” than using the too-small-for-me original rollator.

The office ordered the rollator and One Homecare rejected it, it lacked a specific part number.

One Homecare called me — the patient — and told me — the patient — what the order needed to be acceptable.

Can you call my doctor’s office and tell the people there what you need?

No, we don’t have that capability.

Can you fax the information to my doctor’s office?

No, we don’t have that capability.

But, One Homecare CAN call the me — dare I repeat myself, the patient.

Unbelievable.

Finally my doctor’s office “got it right” and One Homecare sent it to Humana, my Medicare Advantage plan company, for approval.

Humana approved the rollator and called me, leaving the usual cryptic message “The service your doctor ordered has been approved.” The patient gets to guess WHICH “service” the doctor ordered.

At this point, One Homecare should be calling me to set up a delivery date.

Instead, if bounced the Humana authorization back to Humana to cross an “T” or dot an “I”.

I called One Homecare customer service several times and never got satisfaction.

It turns out One Homecare had to order the rollator (from China where it is manufactured?) and it finally arrived. (Had One Homecare told me the device was back-ordered, I would have understood.)

The new, red, Drive Nitro Tall rollator finally was delivered and quickly put into use.

To its credit, One Homecare delivered both rollators fully assembled and the delivery person even gave a brief demonstration of how it works.

Now I can tour the neighborhood sans shoulder and neck pain. I still keep my cane at hand to fend off loose dogs. I think I will add a can of aerosol spray to “mark” my attackers and, perhaps, to convince them — and their scoff law owners — to keep them away from people with walkers and canes.

 

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Sources

1. Barefoot mailman: https://tinyurl.com/y9qnft2o

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Aggravations

Opuscula Best job in U.S.? Letter carrier

 

WHAT IS THE BEST JOB IN THE U.S.?

Being a letter carrier.

 

 

IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE if you do your job diligently or if you are derelict in your duties, you are above reproach.

On my street

The ONLY time my mail is delivered

To the correct address Before 6:30 p.m.

is one day a week when the alternate carrier makes the circuit.

The regular carrier is surly, particularly to my elderly neighbor who is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

My neighbor complained to the local USPS office — to no avail.

I have complained on several occasions to the local USPS office, usually to no avail.

I sometimes get a response from the USPS, but the “bottom line” is that nothing is accomplished; the mail still is mis-directed.

Yesterday, Wednesday, 18 March 2020, the letter carrier did not even show up!

This particular letter carrier is on a roll.

My neighbor was waiting for a small package, probably dog food. She is elderly and, except when walking her ankle bitter, she is “in residence.”

The letter carrier, rather than get out of her vehicle to deliver the package to the door, stuck a note in the woman’s mailbox stating ”Unable to deliver, no one at home.”

Do I believe my neighbor?

You bet.

This same carrier failed to deliver a certified letter, again, because she was too lazy to walk to my door (I was in) to have be sign for the missive. I ended up going to the post office the next day to sign for and collect my certified mail.

It’s a long hike from the street to the front door — maybe 30 feet maximum.

The letter carrier seems healthy enough.

‘Course, similar to a lot of people sporting handicap hang tags, maybe appearances are deceiving. (Looking at local grocery store parking lot handicap-only spaces and watching the drivers as they go to and from the store makes me wonder why they need the tag.)

How do I know?

I know the letter carrier failed to deliver mail to my street-side mail box because

Informed Delivery showed me four (4) mail items that should have been delivered on the 18th
An outgoing letter was left in the box and the red flag still was raised.

Knowing complaining to the local USPS supervisor was a waste of time, I complained to the Inspector General’s office.

Turns out the complaint, via the USPS web, went to the Inspector Lieutenant’s office in Miami.

I promptly was informed that the Miami office forwarded my complaint to the local USPS office.

Worse, Miami effectively told me ”Don’t bother us again.”

Doubly protected

Letter carriers have more protection than a hazmat responder.

They have union protection from The National Association of Letter Carriers (NARC), part of the AFL-CIO. (https://www.nalc.org/)

The letter carriers, and other USPS employees, also are covered by Civil Service, even though many are anything BUT civil.

Given the number of times mail addressed to my house number has ended up in a neighbor’s mail box — sometimes a neighbor more than a mile away! — I wonder if the Civil Service exam requires the potential letter carrier to read arabic (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) digits and house numbers composed of those digits.

Perhaps the only requirement to be a letter carrier is the ability to drive a right-hand drive vehicle. Admittedly, that IS tricky unless the person learned to drive in England or a few other British colonies (Canada excluded).

Yes, some letter carriers walk their routes and they have my respect when the weather is anything but nice — here temperatures easily climb into the 90s, with equal relative humidity; sudden storms can put an inch or more of rainwater on the ground in minutes. Still, most deliver mail by vehicle.

To be fair

Some, probably most, letter carriers are good, conscientious people who take their work seriously.

I met the alternate carrier and she was polite, on time, and delivered the mail to the correct address.

We used to have a good carrier on this route, but Miss Take has seniority and took over the route.

We had a letter carrier in Clearwater FL, “Vic” by name, who not only delivered the mail to the right address, but he KNEW most of the families on his route. When my children were young, they used to run to meet him. (But then they, like their father, waved to the garbage men when they came by.)

The folks at the local USPS branch are fine; they try, but there is nothing they can do about the letter carrier who is supposed to work the route on which my house is included.

She has seniority and bid on the route when the previous letter carrier — a nice guy who was a model carrier — retired.

My neighbors and I went from good service by a personable man to unsatisfactory service from the current carrier.

To whom to complain?

To whom can I complain? Who can possibly take this woman to task for her inefficiencies and dereliction of duty?

The powers that be in the post office obviously are powerless to replace, or even reassign, this carrier.

If anyone wants a job from which they cannot be fired for anything less than murder, take the test to be a letter carrier.

You will have absolute job security.

And you can tell your customers and managers what you think of them with impunity.

 

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Letter Carriers

Opuscula Careless carrier Can’t get it right

I KNOW IT’S NOT “FAIR,” BUT some letter carriers can’t even deal with numbers.

Back in the day, letter carriers rarely made a mistake in delivering the mail.

They had, or at least seemed to have, pride in what they did.

Apparently, that no longer is the case.

My house number ends in “80.”

My mail often ends up in a mailbox with the number “84” on it.

“84” is next door to “80” (this scrivener had nothing to do with the numbering scheme).

Two or three times a week — every week — my next door neighbor, like me a senior citizen, rings the bell and hands me an envelop sent to my address but that ended up at her address.

I sometimes get mail addressed to my neighbors on the north side of my house, but mostly the SNAFU — and, sadly, it IS “Situation Normal” — is mail to my neighbor to the south.

I have Informed Delivery, a USPS product that scans most standard-size mail and sends an email with scanned images so I’ll know — more or less — what should be in my street-side mail box before the carrier arrives.

Informed Delivery includes an option to notify the post office when a mail piece fails to arrive.

UNFORTUNATELY, although I all too frequently report missing mail via Informed Delivery, the misdirected mail continues as SOP: Standard Operating Procedure for the letter carrier assigned to the route,

One day out of six I can depend on getting all my mail at a reasonable hour; that day is when the regular carrier is replaced by an alternate.

A manager at the facility from which my mail is delivered promises — again and again — that she will “talk” to the carrier.

Given Civil Service, talk is about all she can do.

The careless carrier apparently has sufficient seniority to claim what must be an easy route; all deliveries are to roadside mail boxes. No walking in the warm Florida sun; no wading through puddles when it rains.

I confess I am spoiled.

I’m old enough to remember letter carriers who knew almost everyone on their route.

Even with motor routes, the carriers knew their customers.

My three kids, now adults, used to run out to greet Vic, our letter carrier in another town and, apparently, another time. ‘Course they used to wave to the trash collectors — who in turn would toot the big truck’s horn. (Something about small kids and BIG trucks.)

The regular letter carrier on my route is surly. My neighbor frequently reports on the carrier’s unkind attitude to the neighbor.

Admittedly, times have changed. Now it is not uncommon to see a package tossed over a decorative fence — no dogs anywhere — because it was too far to walk from the vehicle to the residence door; too much of a bother.

I am tempted now and again to “go electronic”; to do my banking and bill paying online. But, both my Spouse and I are reluctant to trust our payments' security on the Internet. There simply is too much ID theft and “misdirection” of funds and we are capable of either taking our outgoing mail to a letter box (which may not be safe) or directly to the merchant.

Has anyone else noticed that some banks — notably Bank of America — have discontinued drive-through service? Canceling the drive-through probably put several people out of work at each location. For a handicapped person, the loss of this service is sorely missed.

It is one thing to lose a service, e.g., the bank’s drive-through, but it is another to lose decent service for a critical product: the U.S. mail. For the former, blame “cost-cutting” and The Bottom Line; for the other, there is no excuse.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Careless Carriers

Opuscula Prices go up While service Level falls more

THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, USPS, can’t deliver the mail but it can increase postage rates.

Somehow that “does not compute.”

USPS HAS A FREE service called Informed Delivery. Everyone with an address, even a post office box, a computer, and an email address can sign up for the program.

Informed Delivery sends an email to the subscriber every day the subscriber has mail.

Basically, USPS scans envelopes for the address and includes the scans in the email.

 

Checking up on letter carrier

I find the nicest thing about Informed Delivery is I know when my carrier fails to deliver the mail.

This happens all too frequently. In the last 10 days the letter carrier has given my mail to someone else twice.

Twice in 10 days.

Once she left my mail with a neighbor who kindly brought it over to me. It was a bill that needed immediate attention.

Yesterday she failed to deliver what might be a tax document. Since I never received the item, I have to guess what the envelope contained.

I ordered a small package from a California company.

The package included tracking.

I tracked the package and discovered it had been delivered to the addressee.

Since I was the address and I knew I still was waiting for the product, I complained, via Informed Delivery, that while the letter carrier CLAIMED she delivered the small package, she did not deliver it to the person to whom it was addressed: me.

It took two weeks before USPS tracked down my package and delivered it to me.

Meanwhile, the vendor sent a second unit, this time via a different (more reliable) carrier.

I returned the original small package — at my expense — to the vendor.

 

Letter carriers and letter carriers

When I lived in Clearwater FL we had excellent, gold star, service. The regular letter carrier — Vic, by name — knew the people on his route. He also knew how to read addresses, unlike the letter carrier from the Fort Lauderdale FL substation.

Unlike the current letter carrier, Vic was personable. One of my neighbors frequently tells me how “nasty” the letter carrier is. I usually don’t see her, but on the rare occcasions we do encounter each other I know she is “surly. “

My neighbors and I have to tolerate this woman five days-a-week. One day — and it rotates — each week we get an alternate carrier.

 

Protected worker

When the package that was delivered someplace finally made it to my address, the letter carrier delivered it into my hand.

Did she apologize for my inconvenience?

Certainly not.

All she offered was the the party to whom she DID deliver my package tore it open before realizing the package was addressed to “someone else.”

Did USPS seal up the package? No.

Did USPS put my package inside another wrapper to prevent any parts from getting lost?

No again.

YET THE USPS RAISED THE PRICE OF POSTAGE.

That is similar to a restaurant including an 18% (or higher) “gratuity” for lousy service — AND THEN SUGGESTING THE DINER ADD ANOTHER TIP.

It’s no wonder that USPS is losing business to electronic mail and even to the “twice the price” parcel services.

USPS HAS the technology.

What USPS lacks are personnel who CARE about their jobs, who believe their jobs are important and perform them accordingly.

What USPS has are people sans work ethic; people who have no pride in what they are paid to do. People who, at least it seems to me, had someone take the Civil Service exam for them (since at least my regular letter carrier can’t seem to comprehend a four-digit number).

USPS personnel have health care and, I suppose, it includes some vision benefits. If my carrier is so blind she cannot READ A PRINTED (not written by hand) address, she shouldn’t be driving the truck.

I realize even letter carriers delivering mail from a truck must deal with the elements here is south Florida (the USPS could easily and with minimal costs mitigate that), but as someone once said: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen..” In other words, if you won’t do the job, quit and goes elsewhere.

I really wish my regular letter carrier WOULD “quit and goes elsewhere.”

Unfortunately for me, she is protected by Civil Service and a union.

All I have is a useless congresswoman who won’t represent the majority of her gerrymandered district.

Since Ms. Congresswoman’s mail if franked (free to her), the increase in postage has no impact on her mailings. Interestingly, while many U.S. government workers either worked sans pay or were furloughed, Ms. Congresswoman and her fellows made sure THEY were paid.

 

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on letter carriers

Opuscula Letter carriers Help us meet Our neighbors

THANKS TO USPS LETTER CARRIERS people up and down my street are meeting their neighbors.

Either I visit my neighbors or they visit me.

Why?

WHY BECAUSE OUR letter carrier apparently CANNOT READ NUMBERS Perhaps she’s blind in one eye and cannot see out of the other.

I subscribe to the USPS Informed Delivery service.

Informed Delivery sends me an email every day that mail is addressed to my address. Great idea. Not only am I informed that another bill is on its way, but I also see a scanned image of the mail piece.

The other day Informed Delivery informed that I had a fistful of mail on the way.

Our letter carrier not only failed Number Reading 101, but she likes to sleep in. Mail to my address comes anytime after 3:30 p.m.; sometimes after 5:30 p.m. (When the substitute delivers, the mail sometimes arrives shortly after noon, but never later than 2:30 p.m.)

Informed Delivery has an option to report missing mail.

I used it to report that NONE of the several pieces USPS promised to have in my mailbox ended up in my mailbox.

The next day, my next door neighbor rang my bell.

When I answered I saw she had that “fistful” of mail.

I could understand how a letter carrier could mis-deliver mail to an address more than 10 digits different from mine. My understanding is that this woman, known to my neighbor for her surly disposition and disrespect for packages, must have had a third grader take the USPS letter carrier exam for her; she quite obviously cannot read digits (as in numbers, not fingers and toes).

On more than one occasion I have had a neighbor’s mail stuffed into my mail box.

My neighbor’s box and mine share the same post — the assembly looks like a lower case “t” with the two mail boxes on the t’s crossbar.

The letter carrier seems consistent — she puts the mail in a box to the south of the correct box — at least when she’s heading north. Maybe she puts misdirected mail in the northernmost mailbox when she’s headed south. (Our mailboxes are next to the street so the carrier never needs to leave the vehicle.)

I requested a mail ballot for the last two elections (primary and general). I failed to receive either. I went to the Supervisor of Elections’ office and complained.

Turns out the SOE’s office had me in the correct city, but not as USPS would have it. The area in which I live once was in the county but was absorbed by the city more than a dozen years ago; USPS never updated its information so my address is (incorrectly) in another city. Government in action..

The Supervisor of Elections, after yet another election snafu, just resigned.

I CAN get mail delivered to my mailbox using the correct city PROVIDING the fill 5+4 ZIP code is used. Five digits after the city in which I live and the mail goes to never-never land.

After my neighbor delivered that “fistful” of mail I filed a complaint with USPS.

Via the computer.

Given that letter carriers are protected both by Civil Service and a union, I have no reason to believe anything will change — or perhaps mail to my address will simply “disappear.”

The sad thing is, there ARE letter carriers who do the job and do it with civility.

When we lived in Clearwater FL, we had a mailman who was a great person as well as a great letter carrier. The type person who epitomizes what a letter carrier should be.

There was, briefly, a good letter carrier on my block, but he has gone on to a better route — at least he no longer delivers mail to our box. Accurate. Early afternoon delivery. Personable. Everything a customer could want in a letter carrier.

So far we have escaped having the “letter carrier from hell” — the one who, for whatever reason, decided to quit and in the process, dumped all the mail in his truck on the side of the road.

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Sources

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Mail

Opuscula Letter carriers Who can't READ!

 

APPARENTLY SCHOOLS no longer teach Readin', 'Ritin', and 'Rithmetic - the 3Rs.

Now I am convinced Civil Service exams for letter carriers no longer require the ability to read.

Thursday evening I found a letter in my mailbox addressed to someone who does not live at this address. I don't know that the person EVER lived at this address.

Being a good citizen, I marked, in large red letters

NOT AT THIS ADDRESS

stuck the letter back into the mail box and raised the flag.

Friday evening - our letter carrier apparently likes to sleep in and deliveries before 5 p.m. tells us the alternate delivered that day - I went out to collect the mail and - surprise - the letter bearing the words in large red letters

NOT AT THIS ADDRESS

was still in my mailbox.

I carried the letter, with the usual junk mail, into the house where I took a pen and, in large red letters added

RETURN TO SENDER

all the while thinking of an Elvis Presley song.

When we lived in Clearwater (FL) we had an EXCELLENT letter carrier named Vic. He was a personable fellow who delivered the mail 5 days-a-week (the 6th day, which rotated, was delivered by a substitute).

Now, with a Fort Lauderdale address, the regular mail carrier is a surly woman who delivers the mail in the early evening - after 5 p.m. most days - and who apparently is unable to comprehend the significance of the words

NOT AT THIS ADDRESS

and

RETURN TO SENDER

I recently requested a hold on my mail while I was away from town. The hold was to end on the day after I return.

On the day after my return I did indeed receive some mail, AND a bright yellow "Hold" placard that I put back into my mailbox after raising the flag.

Since I had to go to the not exactly next door post office to collect my held mail the last time I used this service, I was pleasantly surprised to have my held mail.

The REAL surprise came the next day when I received the rest of my held mail, about foour times as many items as the previous day.

But at least the letter carrier du jour had the good sense to take the bright yellow "Hold" placard with her. (Over the several years I have lived at this address I have never seen a male letter carrier on this route.)

It does no good to complain. I tried that and all I got was push back from the post office; not only do the letter carriers have a strong union but they are backed by the U.S. government- a double whammy assuring the customer ALWAYS loses.

As the price of stamps goes up, the level of service goes down.

Just like the level of respect this nation once enjoyed in other countries. Maybe something can be done about the respect issue, but I doubt there's any hope for the USPS.