The U.S. Post Office at Work - OMG

[sfsteves]

No one has been more critical of the post office than I ... I've got so many horror stories that I could tell, a couple of which contain actual humor (unless you're a postal worker) ...
That said, I don't know what they've done in recent years, but something changed and I've become a fan ... it's the UPS guys that are now on my sh** list ... all of the pipe related stuff and all of the cigars I order come from the right coast ... sent on UPS, I'm lucky to get them in a week, more often 8 or 9 days ... sent via the USPS, I get them most often in 3 days, sometimes in 4 ... and, most ridiculous of all, if the shipper sends it to me via the UPS economy rate (which they'll generally do on free ship items), one or two EXTRA days will be required because instead of delivering to my house, they take it to the USPS office nearest me (less than a mile) for the post office to make the actual delivery ...
I won't take back all of the critical things I had to say about the USPS over the years, they deserved every bit of it ... but they now seem to have their act together and I am a happy consignee who'll specify USPS on anything coming my way ...

 

[peckinpahhombre]

:rofl:

 

[bulldogbriar]

I have recently bought a pipe from some one on eBay, and the person sent it from Long Island NY and I live in Cortland Ny so I figured it would arrive in 3 days I watched the track it it went from New York to Virginia to Maine to New Jersey then to me. It like they send it to other states to pass time to get it their by the expected arrival date.

 

[brian64]

I don't know what they've done in recent years, but something changed and I've become a fan

Hmmm...you weren’t by any chance put through their Re-Education Program were you? It’s even possible you were and have no memory of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nKlzQo3Wqo

 

[ohiopuffer]

All I know is if you lose my new Boswell pipe before I ever smoke it you are not my friend. :wink:

 

[phil67]

Greets!
I’m a newcomer to this forum and (somewhat) a newcomer to pipe smoking, but I’ll not get into that now. I’m 67 and a retired USPS letter carrier after 34 years of service, so I may sound somewhat biased, but please let me try to place things in perspective here. First, I’ve not read each and every post on this thread, but I can surmise the general gist of it all.
The USPS has, and always will be the butt of jokes just as politics and politicians are. Hey, it’s part and parcel of America and always will be as they are fair game; ‘Snail Mail’, ‘Going Postal’, etc. Go to the Amazon feedback site and look at the multitude of hatred and complaints toward USPS, UPS and FedEx. It’s all relative as to each and everyone’s experience with each courier service. Personally, I love and always try to use UPS when I order something, albeit they are quite expensive as compared to USPS. Then again, there are people who absolutely hate UPS. I recently ordered some tobacco from SmokingPipes.com via regular ground UPS service and received it in two days! By the same token, I’ve also been quite surprised as to how fast USPS has recently become in their delivery of parcels and their new and updated Tracking Service. Let’s face facts here; anytime you order something and it goes FUBAR it becomes personal and very irritating, and understandably so. As the old adage goes; sh*t happens at times.
Other than that, I’ve found this site to be a wealth of information with great and friendly input. I say that because I own and run a forum site, aside from belonging to a few others (not tobacco related), and I find it very refreshing as to how helpful and friendly everyone seems to be here. A breath of fresh air as compared to so many other forum sites.

 

[numbersix]

Welcome Phil - good to have you here. I will state that I have nothing but respect for letter carriers.

 

[phil67]

I will state that I have nothing but respect for letter carriers.

No problem there #6 as I never took your post as disrespectful in any way shape or form to letter carriers. These issues are bound to happen with any given courier service at one time or another, and keeping in mind the huge volume of parcels that they handle on a daily basis. I've experienced them myself with both USPS and UPS. I'll be the first to admit that when it happens it can become quite disconcerting/irritating. Other than that, thank you for the kind welcome. :wink:

 

[ssjones]

I just send and rec'd a total of five packages, three received and one sent. 100% success ratio, with one of the five delivered a day earlier than predicted.
I tracked them getting email updates daily and via the USPS phone app, I knew where they were every step of the way. My packages come thru Baltimore or Washington DC, neither noted for efficient, well, anything.
No complaints here. My two packages cost about just over $6 to ship, it's hard to beat that.

 

[ssjones]

I keep posting that I have not had any issues with tracked packages, sent 1st Class Priority. Today, the PO really went above and beyond. I mailed the old 1938 Parker back to Dave Jacobsen in MA. Unfortunately, I used his old address in a nearby town. I rec'd notification yesterday that the package had been delivered. Today, I rec'd a notification that it was "Undeliverable as addressed". That is when I discovered my mistake. I quickly called the Post Office of the wrong town and the guy asked for the addresses name. When I told him Dave's name, he said, yep, we saw that and sent it over to the correct nearby town (I guess Dave had forwarding setup). It turns out Dave had rec'd it yesterday, the expected day of delivery. I was and am still amazed.

 

[nsfisher]

Wow. Unbelievable thread! Glad I don't deliver the mail.