Curbside Mailboxes

[Charles2222]

Perhaps this is on the books and I don't know it, but I've never heard of such here (Texas), but doesn't it surprise you that in the age where it's illegal to booby-trap your home for burglars, not because they're worried about the poor innocent burglar, but because firemen etc, might get caught in it should they need forcible entry, that this should happen? Yes curbside mailboxes. Why is it's not illegal to park vehicles in front of them? Afterall, the poor little postman would have to get out of his jeep that way, and we can't have that. Comments?

If it's not on the books now, I'm sure it won't be long before it is. And to think that in the old days the post office was saving all that fuel and not polluting the "ENVIRONMENT" (emphasis made more for sarcastic purposes than anything else) as much by walking from house to house. Don't they portray themselves as being another arm of enviro wackos? Well it's not too surprising, as you know how the intellectual movers are, the ideas are for everybody else.

Yes, I have a bone to pick with the post office as you might had guessed. They seem to have lost a package that I shipped to Belkin which was a damaged router. Belkin would replace it free of charge, only my package had to get to them and I pay the postage for that delivery. Six days after a 2 day priority mailing, it still wasn't at belkin allegedly. I call the post office to see what they could do, that despite not having tracking (which I thought priority mail would do) I did have a receipt.

USPS gets some info, makes a trouble ticket of it, then claims they will call me back by end of next next business day. The day after that last day, I call again and describe this failure. So, what do they do? Make a new ticket with the same promise. What happens? The same thing, still no call back on the second day. So I get on temporary hold by Belkin, as $60 charge to my credit card, so I could get the fine working replacement for it, for a unit that probably is only worth $40 or less, and I paid 9.50 shipping to make matters worse.

I would at least like PO to tell me they delivered it. It doesn't matter if anybody signed for it or it went to the wrong place, because this way I can tell Belkin that PO claims they got it; despite the fact that Belkin may not cooperate since it wasn't tracked. What a letdown, and I thought Belkin was doing me a huge favor (they have a lifetime warranty to basically give you free replacements - at least on paper). So what should had costed me $40 to replace, I threw the dice hoping on PO and Belkin, and now it looks like $70 down the tube. Well at least this router works far better than the other one did (the other one was three years old, and I hadn't used it very much due to it's being defective).

Curbside mailbox parking free zone anyone?

[rogueusmc]

I remember when they told us that we were going to curbside mailboxes...they told us we had until a certain date to put it up or they would put one up for us (plain gray on a metal engineer's stake) and charge us $250 to do so.

It just doesn't add up...they make it easier on themselves (not having to get out of the vehicle) claiming it is making them more efficient...but postage goes up every six months anyway.

Semper Fi,
Lee

[pasternakski]

ORIGINAL: Charles_22
Why is it's not illegal to park vehicles in front of them?

I tell ya, Charles, you need to get one of them semi-auto 12-gauge shotguns with the 12-round drum magazine. Just think what you could do to any vehicle rolling through your lawn or parked in front of your mailbox.

And you think such a weapon is non-geezer? HAH!

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: pasternakski

ORIGINAL: Charles_22
Why is it's not illegal to park vehicles in front of them?

I tell ya, Charles, you need to get one of them semi-auto 12-gauge shotguns with the 12-round drum magazine. Just think what you could do to any vehicle rolling through your lawn or parked in front of your mailbox.

And you think such a weapon is non-geezer? HAH!

How you err from the geezer way! You all too quickly forget the philospohy of non-effort, and even if nixing that tenet, you also forget the nescessity of only scaring things as opposed to conquering them, for conquering would give less to gripe about.

Maybe I should get the neighbor to constantly park in front of my mailbox and kill two birds with one stone? I guess I would have to grant the neighbor access to driving through my yard again though, because it might not be attractive enough otherwise.

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: rogueusmc

I remember when they told us that we were going to curbside mailboxes...they told us we had until a certain date to put it up or they would put one up for us (plain gray on a metal engineer's stake) and charge us $250 to do so.

It just doesn't add up...they make it easier on themselves (not having to get out of the vehicle) claiming it is making them more efficient...but postage goes up every six months anyway.

Semper Fi,
Lee

Fortunately for me they took care of that before I moved here. I now have an expensive stone curbside mailbox, which has at least kept the brats from the school from bothering. Some guys get punks on their front lawn, but not only do I get SUV's but also school kids (though I have a sidewalk). I wondered why a good number of homes had a fenced in front yard. The last straw with my once wooden post mailbox? Some idiot completely ran over it at 9pm. He didn't graze it and destroy it, he hit it so flush his whole truck was in my yard (I get no repect I tell ya, no respect). I suppose he would had turned tail, but he couldn't get it restarted and it was towed away by the cops. Yeah, young punk possibly illegal alien type. Was keen enough not to have his driver's license with him either. Once more, no seeming comprehension of hinglish. I think he failed the sobreity test and he was handcuffed away. I'm not even the one who called the cops. He wasn't part of the clan next door thankfully.

Oh no, something just occurred to me.....maybe the guy without the license was looking for that place on the corner of the curb where in levels out a bit, and was therfore wanting to drive through my yard like the neighbors, but just made a very poor job of it. No, no, no, I won't accept that. This is really starting to worry me a bit now. As my yard being something of a throughfare, consider the following. The area, before the last year was dry, and now there's like 6 licquor stores within walking distance. Add to that, despite that I called it in to the cops, that my street, which was widened about 4 years ago, has since then become a highway for a good many people. I'm serious. I have in my earlier days been in working environments where I could observe a lot of non-residential traffic, so I have some idea of what traffic does regularly, but my street is any exception, and as far as I can tell the police ignored my plea. What was that? To monitor my street for speed some and i told them the whole story. It's a 30mph zone, but especially after people are regularly getting home from work, I will "hear" cars blowing by approximately 90mph or greater. It's so radically loud and quick, it's real easy to tell the speed increase without seeing it. I told them about this one fellow I haven't seen in a long time, that everyday would blow through there once or twice, and he drove a motorcycle. Totally unprotected. I bet that fool is dead and that's why I haven't seen him.

So with all the shenanigans around here, it occured to me one day that just watch some day some moron will crash into my house and kill me with his so-called driving. Now add up violations of my front lawn by at least three different people (though one was the mailbox crash) confirmed, 90mph or greater drivers, and close by licquor stores. It don't seem so far-fatched now. And to think this goes on a street with a school and playground. I don't think I have ever heard or saw a single car pulled over for speeding here in 20 years, though I have seen one pulled over for who knows what (probably doing 30mph in the school zone). I certainly have never heard sirens in chase or even another fast car pacing those that I hear speed past. I might see police driving through once in a while (it is a 30mph highway afterall) but that's about it.

[Greybriar]

Whenever I want to mail a package cheaply and have proof it got delivered I use Delivery Confirmation. The recipient of the package doesn't sign for it but the postal employee who delivered it confirms it got delivered. There are also Signature Confirmation services, but I only use those when the item I'm mailing is valuable enough to warrant the higher cost. Unless there's been a change that I am not aware of, Registered Mail is used for the most valuable items and Express Mail is used when the item needs to get there as soon as possible. There are other classifications of mail as well; just ask a knowledgeable postal employee about what is the most appropriate way to mail something that fits your needs. And by the way, the last I heard the cost of Priority Mail was only pennies more than Parcel Post and the speedier delivery more than made up for the difference in cost.

Perhaps I am taking too much for granted as I live in a small town but the mail service I am provided with is top notch. The Post Office here is also in the process of moving the mailboxes from beside the front doors to the curbs in front of our homes. There are no changes for the current residents though, and only the new people who move in after someone has died or moved away or who have built new homes will have curbside delivery. So it is being phased in gradually. To ram something down a postal customer's throat like a $250 charge for a mandatory move as rogueusmc described would get people so riled up here that...well, let's just say it would not be a good idea for the Postal Service to carry on that way.

After my father died a few years ago, I was concerned about my mother going down the front steps of her home to get the mail from her mailbox. She was eighty at the time, and the possibility existed that she could fall and break a hip or even worse, particularly with the snow and ice that winter usually brings in this part of the country. So I called the Postmaster where she lives and explained the situation to him. I felt considerably better afterward when he authorized her mailbox to be moved near her door on the porch.

I have experienced a lot of human kindness and consideration in most of my dealings with the U.S. Postal Service. Oh, I've had a few run-ins with the Postal Service in the past but nothing to get too bent out of shape over.

In closing, I would like to share this little story with you: An aunt of mine had had the same city letter carrier for nearly thirty years. One day she found her Social Security check laying in her front lawn where the letter carrier had apparently dropped it. She was so upset about the incident that she complained about it for weeks. She forgot all those years of dedicated service because of the one time he made a mistake.

[2ndACR]

I refuse to use the useless Postal Service for anything important.........I will use Fedex or UPS. When the US Postal Service was created way back, they had a goal of Philidelphia to New York in 3 days........I barely get a card mailed across the street in 3 days.
 
Not keen on that Monopoly they have when the Feds sue to prevent any other type of monopoly. The USPS will even sue girl scouts trying to raise money by delivering Xmas cards to your neighbors, because it is door to door delivery.
 
Plus the few people I know who work in the USPS are pulling down 60,000 per year "delivering" mail. One make a bit more than that and never gets out of his vehicle.........someone parked in front of mail box......they get no mail that day.

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: Greybriar

Whenever I want to mail a package cheaply and have proof it got delivered I use Delivery Confirmation. The recipient of the package doesn't sign for it but the postal employee who delivered it confirms it got delivered. There are also Signature Confirmation services, but I only use those when the item I'm mailing is valuable enough to warrant the higher cost. Unless there's been a change that I am not aware of, Registered Mail is used for the most valuable items and Express Mail is used when the item needs to get there as soon as possible. There are other classifications of mail as well; just ask a knowledgeable postal employee about what is the most appropriate way to mail something that fits your needs. And by the way, the last I heard the cost of Priority Mail was only pennies more than Parcel Post and the speedier delivery more than made up for the difference in cost.

Perhaps I am taking too much for granted as I live in a small town but the mail service I am provided with is top notch. The Post Office here is also in the process of moving the mailboxes from beside the front doors to the curbs in front of our homes. There are no changes for the current residents though, and only the new people who move in after someone has died or moved away or who have built new homes will have curbside delivery. So it is being phased in gradually. To ram something down a postal customer's throat like a $250 charge for a mandatory move as rogueusmc described would get people so riled up here that...well, let's just say it would not be a good idea for the Postal Service to carry on that way.

After my father died a few years ago, I was concerned about my mother going down the front steps of her home to get the mail from her mailbox. She was eighty at the time, and the possibility existed that she could fall and break a hip or even worse, particularly with the snow and ice that winter usually brings in this part of the country. So I called the Postmaster where she lives and explained the situation to him. I felt considerably better afterward when he authorized her mailbox to be moved near her door on the porch.

I have experienced a lot of human kindness and consideration in most of my dealings with the U.S. Postal Service. Oh, I've had a few run-ins with the Postal Service in the past but nothing to get too bent out of shape over.

In closing, I would like to share this little story with you: An aunt of mine had had the same city letter carrier for nearly thirty years. One day she found her Social Security check laying in her front lawn where the letter carrier had apparently dropped it. She was so upset about the incident that she complained about it for weeks. She forgot all those years of dedicated service because of the one time he made a mistake.

Interesting post, but it sounds like your USPS is more of a dream world. I didn't go off on a tangent about my mailo service, because I've just given up on it in a number of ways, though the package I was delivering was in the suburbs of Dallas (that's how much I trust 'the big city postal') but it still often has the big city mentality. For example, I learned differently afterwards, when I went in I asked them if they provided tracking on packages, and he said yes, and then he suggested me get out of line and go try signing some thing or other behind me, and then he mentioned express mail, which I suppose was that, and then he mentioned priority, so given the convenient ease of not having to lose my place at the head of the line I chose priority. Yes, priority isn't tracked as I later found out elsewhere - Great. Other than opening 15 minutes later than their door claimed they opened the one morning I was there early, what few times I needed them I gues sthey were adequate, but given how I haven't used them more than a dozen times (going through the line for service that is) that's not exactly encouraging.

Back to my delivery which does come from big city USPS. Regularly, very regularly, like 3 or 4 times a month, I will get somebody else mail. Most of the time it's the nexct door neighbors and some or all of my own. Other times it's with no possible match whatsoever, such as same street, or same address number but different street, and a few times not only is it not the correct city, but there are no matches whatsoever. And it's not like my deliverer doesn't know about this either (not that I have phoned him in or anything). When this happens, I pplace the foreign mail back in the mailbox telling hin to re-deliver and explaining why it is incorrect. Strangely enough though, it has occurred to me now, that I haven't seen a mishap with him for maybe 6 weeks now. I had talked to him the first time to warn himm of my new mailbox and he said he had never seen one that operated that way before. It has a seesaw in it that will drop in the back when there is weight on it. Well the last time he was in error, he rang my doorbell. It turns out that he had mis-delivered again but knew he had, but he couldn't retrieve it becuase it got swallowed up. I then opened it anbd gave the errant portions, and there were a lot, back.

At that point I had the theory, that he always delivered that way, just throwing any ol' slop in people's mailboxes, and since he could think about it and check it afterwards it didn't matter too much, but when one swallows anything pretty much put in there, uh-oh. Ever since that one day, not that I was mean to him, in fact he probably got the opposite impression, but then my previous notes could be a bit more curt, th email has looked fine. I have always noticed that evrythign I really needed, nbills, I have always, but with all the errors I have seen I have to wonder not only how much has been lost, but also how many people would just throw foreign mail away.

So yeah, there's more to this than I first mentioned. If I were so cruel or what not to the USPS, I would had sold that chap out a long time ago. Instead, only he and I know of his, or the people who sort his bundles, numerous errors. On delivering packages and buying stamps you can see right there why I use the suburbs mail office instead, but also because I grew up there. In that city, at least where my parents live, it's still doorstep delivery. I pity those who or basically immobile having to go to the curb and with my mail being big city, the thought of their making an excpetion for little old ladies is pretty close to laughable. I could foresee a "get you neighbors to pick it up" as the response. I don't know of a case like that just yet, but that's what I would expect. I mean the big city can't let people "walk" all over them like everybody and their dog using mototized carts at Walmart, can they? Believe me, I can see a neighbor driving numerous times through my lawn and just tell him that it angers me and don't do it anymore and the lousy mail service hasn't been squealed on at all through all of this; I'm not exactly Mr. Perfect myself.

Oh, just to show you don't know big city very well, try this on for size. I complained on thsi board yesterday about my street being a highway with a 30mph posted on it. The city came in and widened the street and reset or replaced the wooden mailboxes and we had no choice in the matter as far as I knew. One catch though, I can't recall the amount, but everybody had to pay for "their" piece of the road. I think they tried to get across the impression that the city ate 50% of the bill. I was charged between $500-$900. So maybe now you can recollect just why the big cities have been vacated more for the burbs, but do recall also, my story of the USPS package was a burbian one.

[Scott_WAR]

Most cities in the US have gone this route. It starts with the gangs and thugs. Merchants then leave because they get tires of being robbed. When the merchants leave tax revenue goes down and must be replaced. The citizens find themselves paying for services that taxes are supposed to pay for. The citizens leave. Tax revenue is lost from the citizens leaving and must be replaced, placing a larger burden on those that remain,................. and the cycle repeats until the city basically dies, is replaced by that small town down the highway,...whcih eventually becomes the next city,.........the thugs and criminals move to where the people are now, the new city,...............merchants leave...........

[Greybriar]

Well, Charles_22, you did the right thing by letting the letter carrier know about his mistake. Putting the misdelivered mail back in your mailbox is the best thing you could have done. A lot of people here would have driven to the post office, showed the misdelivered mail to a postal employee other than the errant carrier, and raised a big fuss that would have accomplished nothing more than causing the letter carrier embarrassment at his place of employment. Of course the postal customer would have had his head swollen a little more than it already was.

I remember one year when I mailed my mother a birthday card and it wasn't delivered before her birthday. A week went by and it still hadn't showed up. Finally after about two weeks the card arrived. It had been delivered to the house a block west of my parents' home that had the same number but a different street. What was particularly upsetting was the fact that both the husband and wife at that address were employed by the Postal Service. At least the card finally got to its destination and the money I had enclosed in it was still there.

There is no doubt the U.S. Postal Service is and has been in a state of change. Its dependence on automation may have sped up the process of getting the mail ready for delivery and to the delivery station, but it has also caused problems. Additionally, private enterprise wants the Postal Service's business, but only the parts that are profitable. That includes concentrated delivery areas like major cities, for example. The areas that aren't profitable would be left the responsibility of the Postal Service if they had their way.

Too many people aren't aware of the fact that the Post Office was not established to make a profit. It was founded to provide a service for all citizens of the United States. As a local Postmaster once remarked, "All we have to sell is service." I hardly think UPS, Fed Ex, or any other delivery service will ever rise above being in it for the buck.

I'm just glad I haven't experienced the problems others have with their local Post Offices.

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: Scott_WAR

Most cities in the US have gone this route. It starts with the gangs and thugs. Merchants then leave because they get tires of being robbed. When the merchants leave tax revenue goes down and must be replaced. The citizens find themselves paying for services that taxes are supposed to pay for. The citizens leave. Tax revenue is lost from the citizens leaving and must be replaced, placing a larger burden on those that remain,................. and the cycle repeats until the city basically dies, is replaced by that small town down the highway,...whcih eventually becomes the next city,.........the thugs and criminals move to where the people are now, the new city,...............merchants leave...........

Very good deduction. If you want anything even resembling service, where the primary goal isn't sticking diversity in your face as much as is possible, then you're going to have to live somewhere at least 50 miles from a big city, and you can probably forget about getting a good paying job there.

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: Greybriar

Well, Charles_22, you did the right thing by letting the letter carrier know about his mistake. Putting the misdelivered mail back in your mailbox is the best thing you could have done. A lot of people here would have driven to the post office, showed the misdelivered mail to a postal employee other than the errant carrier, and raised a big fuss that would have accomplished nothing more than causing the letter carrier embarrassment at his place of employment. Of course the postal customer would have had his head swollen a little more than it already was.

I remember one year when I mailed my mother a birthday card and it wasn't delivered before her birthday. A week went by and it still hadn't showed up. Finally after about two weeks the card arrived. It had been delivered to the house a block west of my parents' home that had the same number but a different street. What was particularly upsetting was the fact that both the husband and wife at that address were employed by the Postal Service. At least the card finally got to its destination and the money I had enclosed in it was still there.

There is no doubt the U.S. Postal Service is and has been in a state of change. Its dependence on automation may have sped up the process of getting the mail ready for delivery and to the delivery station, but it has also caused problems. Additionally, private enterprise wants the Postal Service's business, but only the parts that are profitable. That includes concentrated delivery areas like major cities, for example. The areas that aren't profitable would be left the responsibility of the Postal Service if they had their way.

Too many people aren't aware of the fact that the Post Office was not established to make a profit. It was founded to provide a service for all citizens of the United States. As a local Postmaster once remarked, "All we have to sell is service." I hardly think UPS, Fed Ex, or any other delivery service will ever rise above being in it for the buck.

I'm just glad I haven't experienced the problems others have with their local Post Offices.

I don't know greybriar, I think even in this you're wrong about what happens in the big city when people complain, especially if you're not from what ever group of people is getting the better policy treatment. I don't complain to his superiors on something of a moral ground, and just plain decency, but had I complained I doubt anything would had changed. The reputation that the USPS has for being little more than a guarateed job for vets is hardly terribly ill-founded. You have to remember, this isn't 'just' big city, it is also government. So maybe my 60yo+ letter carrier (if he's a vet I do not know) would just get shifted to another route or 'demoted' to sort mail. I couldn't even necessarily blame him anyway, as I have no idea what system they set up and whether it's those in that system he deals with that are causing the problem (sorting and such).

Let me rip another complaint now. I have had maybe 5-6 one day deliveries paid for on some packages in the last year with UPS. I just didn't feel like waiting for the 2nd day or longer. We're talking UPS now, not USPS. I track the shipment on the internet, and it arrives there, gets on the truck first thing in the morning, and you think I would get it, right? There's no reason for delay, it is a one-day package, as quick as I could pay for. So here I am expecting I will get my package at noon latest, but what happened in the majority of those cases was I got them like 6pm (one truned into a 2 day delivery and that didn't arrive till noon then)! Now while that may not sound so bad, realize an entire workday just passed. To add to that? The national HQ, where this truck is laden, is a mere 5 minute drive from my house! In fact, last time I saw an UPS truck just a bit down the street as I retruned from buying groceries. So what happens? My package arrived like two hours later, presumably from a different truck. My theory is that I get late deliveries on what are obviously hurry packages, is because the drivers are always going to the rich side of town first. Oh, my USPS general mail deliveries are very often after 5pm too. Just deplorable.

I emailed UPS about some of this nonsense, and asked what can I do to pick it up and have it NOT put on the truck since I am able to track them and pick up with ease? They said I had to get the shipper to agree to put a very verbose message on there which would alert them to not truck it (and it had to be to their exacting specifications too). Me telling UPS to not truck ANY of my packages was not sufficient. Can you imagine, amazon for example, when they gather items often from various places, even slightly thinking about agreeing to do such a thing, and with so little notice that a 1 day deliver would take? I doubt even Matrix would be looney enough to agree to such idiocy. Sure they need to be alerted to not put it on the truck but you would think they could have a basic customer alert, if needed, when they scanned any package through. I guess I'm not a business so I don't get such perks, and instead am given a solution that virtually no business would agree to in order to help me. Yes, people, get your special UPS truck delivery denial forms here! I'm sure not very many UPS customers have the, ahem, misfortune of living 5 minutes away from a center and then having it sit on the truck all day long. Of course a lot of businesses only allow you one carrier choice, but you can bet if I want next day delivery, and have a choice, it won't be UPS. At least USPS 'might' come by around 1 or 2pm. The USPS station is actually much further from my house than the UPS one. I had one through Fedex once and their delivery was noonish; much better.

Oh man, that second paragraph of yours is funny. Well at least they didn't cover up for their compatriots by trashing it, as I'm sure so many ordinary citizens in the big city do.

As far as your last paragraph is concerned though, just remember something. My dad, and doubtless many others, are fooled that USPS is practically some sort of setup dedicated to goodness and wholesomeness, and good for you, your USPS may well be, but I get REAL tired of people telling me how cheap mailing a letter is. Heck, you can't get better value for 42 cents. Really? Think about how your tax dollars support the government, which is what USPS is, and then maybe you won't think that 42 cents is so cheap. I'm amazed the gov allowed carriers like UPS and Fedex into their market in the first place. Im not fooled by a 42 cent stamp, they get a lot more of my money than that to fuel their monopoly.

[pasternakski]

ORIGINAL: Charles_22
My dad, and doubtless many others, are fooled that USPS is practically some sort of setup dedicated to goodness and wholesomeness, and good for you, your USPS may well be, but I get REAL tired of people telling me how cheap mailing a letter is. Heck, you can't get better value for 42 cents. Really? Think about how your tax dollars support the government, which is what USPS is, and then maybe you won't think that 42 cents is so cheap. I'm amazed the gov allowed carriers like UPS and Fedex into their market in the first place. Im not fooled by a 42 cent stamp, they get a lot more of my money than that to fuel their monopoly.

Chas, old pal, I hate to be disputatious with you, but you don't have the facts here. USPS is no longer a "government agency" (research it and check it out if you doubt my word). Hasn't been for a long time. Further, your postage costs are subsidized by all that junk mail, without which you would likely be paying a couple of bucks per letter for delivery. And, as you mention, UPS, FedEx, and other completely private carriers compete directly with USPS. I'm glad they do, it keeps my postage and minor shipping costs down. USPS is pretty good by comparison, and I use their services frequently, although other carriers are better in certain ways.

It's a pretty healthy environment, in my estimation. Sounds to me like you live in the wrong place and need to build some fences, put up some signs, and go to a meeting of your local government's monthly meeting where citizen complaints are heard, where you can ask for what you need from law enforcement and civic responsibility to protect your property rights and privacy.

[2ndACR]

Okay, well I can sympathize with the late deliveries................how about this one........9am.......9 houses down from me you will see a USPS truck delivering mail from Woodland drive east, he then goes up Woodland........now my mail will arrive at or around 4pm..............you explain that USPS idiocy to me?
 
I have asked, I was told that they have to deliver the way they are told. 2 side streets off mine get delivery of mail to the door by 10am..................but yet my street does not get it until 4pm, yet he parks on my street to make the deliveries to the side streets (which dead end). That is about the most stupid route I have ever seen.
 
I am in the service industry and I rip the heads off my dispatchers if they jack up the route of my techs. That costs me fuel, payroll and makes them work longer than they should have to. I cleaned up that mess along time ago, my dispatchers are not allowed to leave the office until the techs are en-route to the last call. They watch that route like a hawk, because they want to go home too.
 
 

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: pasternakski

ORIGINAL: Charles_22
My dad, and doubtless many others, are fooled that USPS is practically some sort of setup dedicated to goodness and wholesomeness, and good for you, your USPS may well be, but I get REAL tired of people telling me how cheap mailing a letter is. Heck, you can't get better value for 42 cents. Really? Think about how your tax dollars support the government, which is what USPS is, and then maybe you won't think that 42 cents is so cheap. I'm amazed the gov allowed carriers like UPS and Fedex into their market in the first place. Im not fooled by a 42 cent stamp, they get a lot more of my money than that to fuel their monopoly.

Chas, old pal, I hate to be disputatious with you, but you don't have the facts here. USPS is no longer a "government agency" (research it and check it out if you doubt my word). Hasn't been for a long time. Further, your postage costs are subsidized by all that junk mail, without which you would likely be paying a couple of bucks per letter for delivery. And, as you mention, UPS, FedEx, and other completely private carriers compete directly with USPS. I'm glad they do, it keeps my postage and minor shipping costs down. USPS is pretty good by comparison, and I use their services frequently, although other carriers are better in certain ways.

It's a pretty healthy environment, in my estimation. Sounds to me like you live in the wrong place and need to build some fences, put up some signs, and go to a meeting of your local government's monthly meeting where citizen complaints are heard, where you can ask for what you need from law enforcement and civic responsibility to protect your property rights and privacy.

Well all the junk mail certainly on my mind when I wrote that, because I knew there was some bonus they were getting for that. If in fact they aren't government anymore, they're still a monopoly; at least for basic mail they are.

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: 2ndACR

Okay, well I can sympathize with the late deliveries................how about this one........9am.......9 houses down from me you will see a USPS truck delivering mail from Woodland drive east, he then goes up Woodland........now my mail will arrive at or around 4pm..............you explain that USPS idiocy to me?

I have asked, I was told that they have to deliver the way they are told. 2 side streets off mine get delivery of mail to the door by 10am..................but yet my street does not get it until 4pm, yet he parks on my street to make the deliveries to the side streets (which dead end). That is about the most stupid route I have ever seen.

I am in the service industry and I rip the heads off my dispatchers if they jack up the route of my techs. That costs me fuel, payroll and makes them work longer than they should have to. I cleaned up that mess along time ago, my dispatchers are not allowed to leave the office until the techs are en-route to the last call. They watch that route like a hawk, because they want to go home too.

This is almost as bad, but it doesn't bother me because of who they are, but when they're government what do you expect? Trash guys, pick up acroos the street about 7am. Can you believe that? They must be waking up people (not me) that bleeding early. Trash pickup across the street is the front yard. My pickup is in my alley, which they pick up approximately 5-6 hours later.

Your Woodland, you mentioned 'east'. does your street have an east on one side and west on the other? If so, unfortunately, that would make them different streets, for idiots anyway. My street has no north, south, east, or west, just the name.

I know one way to explain this idiocy, though it's not true across the board I'm sure. Suppose the UPS driver I saw that morning, that was the edge of his route? The same with you. Then later, some other guy who first goes to another side of town first (think NDallas in my case) comes to the edge of his route being just down the street from the other route's edge and my home.

[pasternakski]

ORIGINAL: 2ndACR

Okay, well I can sympathize with the late deliveries

Obviously, somebody has drawn up the delivery schedule on a map. That somebody probably isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Thing is, you get your mail on the same day, right? USPS is doing what it can for you. If you give 'em a reason to change, they are usually receptive to it, but only if they see an advantage from their end (and USPS characteristically can't see as far as the end of the nose on their face, and it's a short, flat nose, usually).

You ought to try to deal with mail delivery where I live now, which is on an out-of-the-way island in an out-of-the-way sea in an out-of-the-way part of the world.

Of course, I'm retired, have no debts or other obligations, and don't give a crap, but, you know...

[2ndACR]

Charles,
 
Map quest Rosebud Dr, in Irving, Tx..........find Woodland, and National. National, Woodland and Rosebud from Woodland to the  East has mail prior to 10am..............everything west of Woodland on Rosebud...........4pm.
 
And it is the same mail carrier. here you go.
 
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Irving&state=TX&address=Rosebud+Dr&zipcode=75060

[Charles2222]

2ndACR didn't specify the terms of his delivery, whether it was the basic or priority of some kind. In my case, it was worse in a way, which I mentioned before, unless, that is, he had one day air too. Mine just gets to me so late from UPS, which I said is just a 5 minute drive away, that it is basically a 2nd day. Imagine me as a business for example, if it doesn't arrive by daylight hours, it's pretty much useless for that day, or at least can be. I didn't order next day air just to see it 1.75 days later. That's my whole point, if it's speed delivery like that, youcan't tell me that the driver has that many 1-day deliveries, especially to places 5 minutes away. But, then again, I realize it would be a wash for them to make detours everytime they got an 1 day air to make it even slightly resemble a 24 hour delivery, but it's not like they put it on a truck at noon. Every damn time it's on a truck practically before I get out of bed. It occurs to me that perhaps I should get over there before it can load (if possible) on the truck, but I have some VERY early load times. I can forget them searching the truck for it, even if the driver won't be leaving for another hour (my guess), but then they probably lock the place up to customers pickup till, well probably till their trucks are out the chute.

You ought to see one of the interstates when those guys hit the road about 830. Must see like 50 trucks at one time.

[KG Erwin]

Where I live, the roadside mailboxes are inviolate. You don't mess with somone's mailbox, unless the carrier puts something in your box that belongs to a neighbor. You put it where it belongs and go on your way, as a good citizen should.