Wednesday, September 9, 2020

How the United States Postal Service (USPS) is Corrupt and Manipulative on Various Levels

USPS Is Problematic

Here we are in the latter part of 2020 and the USPS - United States Postal Service - is crying out that they are broke once again.  I can not begin to remember how many times I have heard this.

As a person who has used USPS for years mailing letters and business packages, I can attest that the service continues to decline with USPS being mismanaged and hiring unqualified people to work for them.

There was a time that your mailman (mail person) was reliable as clock work and would be on time, and was always friendly and respectful.  Now days, the majority are younger people, who are on their cell phones continually, stopping to text, and/or being on social media.  Their focus is not on what they were hired to do, deliver mail, sort mail and work to be on time with deliveries.

Deliberate Delays

 

USPS deliberately delays First Class Mail deliveries, especially packages.  I have spoke to some "insiders" who tell me that this is what they are to do.  One reason is to force people to pay for Priority Mail with no guarantee it will be delivered on time either from the USPS. The second reason is to dun the government for more funding in dollars.   I have had numerous delays with Priority Mail as well, and it is the standard now that the packages one receives looks like it has been through a war zone.

How many times have you tracked a package that shows a set delivery date, only to suddenly see that delivery date disappear with a message "Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility." Then, day after day, you see the same message leaving you clueless when to expect delivery or where your package is sitting.  Your package is sitting off to the side, with USPS doing their deliberate delay following a policy that is verbal in nature.  This is very frustrating to you and to your customers.  This applies to both First Class Mail and also Priority Mail.

Another example that I will share is the instance right now.  I sent a first class package to a customer in Australia from here in the United States.  All international packages seem to travel at the same, every so slow rate, whether First Class Mail or Priority Mail.  Back to this instance, below is some of the tracking I will share with you and you will see how screwed up it is.  Tracking updates are from physical scans, so when tracking shows a location, the package is actually at that physical location and scanned.

Example

 

September 2, 2020, 4:50 pm 
Departed
HONG KONG
Your item departed from an intermediate transfer airport in HONG KONG INT'L, HONG KONG on September 2, 2020 at 4:50 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination.


September 1, 2020, 5:15 pm
Arrived
SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES

August 30, 2020, 8:14 am
Departed
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

August 29, 2020, 12:31 am
Departed
SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES 


Notice that on August 29th, the package left San Francisco.  It arrived in Sydney, Australia on the 30th. Then, boom, it arrived BACK in San Francisco on September 1st. Tracking does not show it ever left San Francisco.  Suddenly, the package is scanned in Hong Kong on September 2nd.  So far the package has been in the United States, Australia,  then the United States again, and now is somewhere either at Hong Kong, or an unknown location.

This is just one example shared here.  This has happened to me with at least a dozen international shipments.  The above is First Class Mail because I was getting no better results spending much more for Priority Mail shipping.  Same delays and the same limbos and unbelievable screw ups.

A third reason for these delays is to thwart mail in voting in the upcoming United States Presidential election this year, 2020.  The opposition, you know, the Democrats, will reference all the delays and problems that USPS is having because of under-funding. (Lies, by the way, as explained above.)  They will also claim that the USPS is an unreliable means to handle the volume of mail in votes.

That being said, if the USPS is under-funded, it is from not the actual funding but from the gross negligence of management of processes and personnel.  Also, there is monies that appear to never truly be accounted for.  Easy to make things look good or bad on paper these days as everything is digital. 

Postage Rate Review


Let's look at how postage rates have gone up.  I am 64 years old at the time of this writing.  I can remember when a First Class letter was $.03 and had a delivery window, maximum, of three days anywhere in the Continental United States.  Then it went up to $.05 for a First Class letter and stayed there for years.  From there, it started going up, and more recently, it is almost every year now, that the USPS applies to increase postage rates.  

One would think that with such a huge increase, within my lifetime, from $.03 to the present cost of $.55 for a First Class Letter, that delivery time would still stay the same and/or get quicker.  The opposite has happened as we all know and as explained above.

Mismanagement of the USPS needs to be addressed.  The whole company needs to be restructured.  My proposal is that that entity file for bankruptcy, and then a public owned option become available on the stock market.  Far too many people within the USPS who simply are not needed and certainly do not care.

Do not care you ask?  Yes.  Have you ever called customer service?  If so, have you ever gotten positive results?  What I get is them always shifting the blame onto another location or person.  A classic run around.  Same with any online electronic contact with customer service.

Let's address the COVID-19 situation.  Is this the reason for delays. No.  Why do I say no?  Simple, this issue has been in existence longer than the virus has been floating around.  It has been standard USPS practice for a minimum of 3 to 5 years now, the deliberate delays and the manipulative practices they use. 

Feel free to share your feelings in comment below! I would love to hear some of your experiences.

 

2 comments:

  1. I agree with you 100%. Yet they try to put the blame on President Trump, again, failing to simply acknowledge that they have internal problems and move to correct them. Always shifting the blame elsewhere.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree 100% and I am seeing absolutely no change to this shifting of the blame! Thank you for stopping by, reading and taking the time to share your thoughts.

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