Friday, September 30, 2011

The US Post Office Has Some Splainin' To Do

I sent 4 boxes through the US Post Office two weeks ago. I added a delivery confirmation sticker to each one so I could track the progress.

They were filled with old books my father had willed to me and I was in no rush to receive them so I sent them Media Mail at a discounted price. I did not insure them. Those were my two First Mistakes. After that, nothing matters.

Now, just because I was in no rush to receive them and didn't buy insurance doesn't automatically mean I didn't care if I ever saw them again. If that were the case, I wouldn't have bothered to box them up and drive to the Post Office and pay $80.00 to mail them across country.

But the condition the boxes were in when 3 of them arrived at my door makes me wonder why the Average American hasn't gone "postal" on the Post Office.

Is there anyone left in this country that actually gives a darn about their job? or have we finally just collectively accepted that :

1. nothing that matters to anyone else is 'my' problem.
2. if there's nothing in for me, why should I care?
3. everyone else has enough so I'll just take some of theirs to make things even-Steven.
4. you can't pay me enough to make this job worth any effort on my part.
5. I'm just in it for the benefits and retirement.

The first 2 boxes arrived in short order. They are mangled and torn and the contents of one have been removed. 2 books are missing from that box. The third box is still sitting in Jersey City and the fourth arrived yesterday. Here is what it looks like.

That photo doesn't do it justice. There is on top a red stamp that barely reads

IN HANDLING
P CCEPT OUR APOLOGIES
& R PAIRED A

MEMPHIS TN 36136-9998

Half the contents are missing. Those that arrived are destroyed. The covers and outer spine are ripped from the binding. These were old Washington Irving books. One book looks as though it were driven over by heavy equipment. However, as an added bonus, I have received in this box someone's law book and pages of a law exam. Again, half the contents I packed and paid for to be shipped to me are just gone. The last book I gave my father, The Leopard, is gone. I had ordered it from England. I took it back because I wanted to read it. There goes that.

I, at this point in time, hold little hope that the third box ever shows up at all. If it did, I'll keel over from heart failure.

So, in conclusion, here is the feeling I am left with.

I hope the USPS is shut down. I now refer to all the workers at the Post Office as a Collective.

You brought this on yourself. You make your CUSTOMER who pays your salary stand in endless lines to mail something while who knows what the other employees are doing in the back. You work at a snail's pace and don't make eye contact when you finally utter the word, "Next".

You speak to the CUSTOMER as though whatever they ask of you is boring, irrelevant or self-evident and the only thing you have interest in is your next work break. I hate to tell you this but just because YOU know that this sticker is used under this circumstance and THAT sticker is necessary for THIS package doesn't mean that the rest of US are idiots for NOT KNOWING. It's too bad USPS workers don't have mandatory forehead tattoos to alert the rest of us so WE can speak to them in our jobs the way they speak to us in theirs! If you don't like dealing with customers, get a job at a plant nursery. The rest of us are tired of your attitudes.

OH YEAH, and when we complain, we get a stone wall. Nothing changes.

I hope you remember poorly you performed and how little you cared when you go belly-up. I hope you wonder and worry like the rest of us do about our futures. YOU USED TO CARE. What happened?


FEDEX and UPS are out-working you and I hope a third party starts up to compete with THEM.


To end the vent, I'll say this philosophically; I didn't have these books 2 weeks ago and my life will continue without them just fine.

It's a real shame that I can't have them because some gorilla in a warehouse decides that my stuff is unimportant and/or more useful to someone else, as opposed to ...say.....someone like me, so taking it or breaking it is completely acceptable behavior.

Thanks. Thanks so very much.

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