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pirate
pirate HalfDork
1/10/21 10:40 a.m.

I took a package to post office two weeks before Christmas and asked when they thought it would be delivered.  They said " I have no idea". Kept tracking but didn't get any information. Finally started getting information and discovered the package had spent 10 days in the post office I delivered it to then another 5 days in transit. One postal worker said USPS had three time normal volume in December. Sent a 38 pound package from southeast to California that USPS  wouldn't accept via UPS and it arrived in 5 days. 

Mustang50
Mustang50 Reader
1/10/21 11:36 a.m.

Has anyone looked in to sending the magazine via UPS?  Or is it too expensive and/or not practical.  

Also, I've 2 different stories regarding USPS volume this year, one is totals were lower due to Amazon doing a lot of their own deliveries, and the other is volume was high due to more online shopping caused by Covid 19.  It would be nice if we could trust someone in charge to tell us the truth.

pirate
pirate HalfDork
1/10/21 1:25 p.m.

Well USPS doesn't rely on making a profit to stay in business. UPS  and FedEx have to make a profit to stay in business so they have to be efficient. USPS Priority Mail has a much better reputation for reasonable delivery. 

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter)
vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
1/10/21 1:35 p.m.
pirate said:

Well USPS doesn't rely on making a profit to stay in business. UPS  and FedEx have to make a profit to stay in business so they have to be efficient. USPS Priority Mail has a much better reputation for reasonable delivery. 

USPS is not a business. It's a federally funded service of your government. In that regard no different than the military. They don't make a profit either I might add.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter)
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
1/10/21 2:54 p.m.
vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:
pirate said:

Well USPS doesn't rely on making a profit to stay in business. UPS  and FedEx have to make a profit to stay in business so they have to be efficient. USPS Priority Mail has a much better reputation for reasonable delivery. 

USPS is not a business. It's a federally funded service of your government. In that regard no different than the military. They don't make a profit either I might add.

Yes and no.  It is an independent agency of the executive branch.  From Wiki: 

...and was transformed by the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 into the United States Postal Service as an independent agency.[5] Since the early 1980s, many direct tax subsidies to the USPS (with the exception of subsidies for costs associated with disabled and overseas voters) have been reduced or eliminated

So, it began as a government agency, became independent in 1970, and now derives the preponderance of it's operational budget via generating its own revenue.

From Quora:  

Is the USPS subsidized by the U.S. government?

No. it is subsidized by the sale of postal products and the delivery services you receive for free. It's a long time myth that the USPS is Government subsidized by taxpayer dollars.

From Dennis Copeland, Federal Technology Policy office:

Is the USPS subsidized by the U.S. government?

NO, not in the traditional sense. The USPS revenue comes from their business operations, not from taxpayers. However, they DO receive a benefit in the form of being able to borrow at favorable rates, by having restrictions on other companies being able to handle 1st class mail, and a few other ‘benefits’. BUT there are all kinds of things that are actually the OPPOSITE of a subsidy from taxpayers. Here are a few:

  • When the federal government allowed other businesses to handle the package business (DHL, FEDEX, UPS) these companies took the most profitable business and left the USPS with the least profitable - delivery to EVERY household, regardless of the cost of delivery. My favorite example is that the Havasupai tribe that lives on the floor of the Grand Canyon, receives first class mail and packages (for a regular stamp price), by USPS mule train - no private company wants this business… or any business for 50cents to every door in America - no matter the distances between the customers.
  • The congress has forced the USPS to FORWARD FUND pensions very far into the future (no company does this). There are people that haven’t been born or hired by USPS yet, for which the USPS is required to lock up their pensions.
  • Universal delivery: USPS is required to provide door-to-door, end-of-driveway service to EVERY household in the US, for the price of first class stamp.
  • The congress will not allow USPS to close those money losing, dinky post offices all around the nation, primarily because they are jobs for the localities… not because it’s efficient, or cost effective.

So in many ways the USPS has the WORST of both worlds, the congress controls what they can do and must do, yet forces them to do business whether it’s profitable or not. AND the congress also works to keep the price of USPS’s services low, including the price of stamps

 So, although it was established as a government office, it is now a non-profit independent organization which is still under the regulation of the government.  They're like a teenager who got kicked out of the house and cut off from the money, but they still have to follow their parents' rules.

pirate
pirate HalfDork
1/10/21 4:32 p.m.

Well I guess I should have just said is it's unlikely the post office will cease to exist even though it's not profitable unlike private businesses who have to be profitable. 

Mustang50
Mustang50 Reader
1/10/21 5:36 p.m.

In "The Miracle on 34th Street" it was a department of the federal government.  

L5wolvesf
L5wolvesf HalfDork
1/10/21 5:47 p.m.
Mustang50 said:

In "The Miracle on 34th Street" it was a department of the federal government.  

"Miracle on 34th Street" is a movie (not reality), from 1947, about Santa Claus (also not real - sorry).

Mustang50
Mustang50 Reader
1/10/21 11:14 p.m.

In reply to L5wolvesf :

Didn't recognize a bad joke when you see one.

aw614
aw614 Reader
1/11/21 7:42 a.m.
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

I got my GRM yesterday. More accurately, I got TWO copies of it yesterday for some reason........

 

I also got two copies of the current issue too

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 MegaDork
1/11/21 8:53 a.m.

My big $ rotary parts order shipped from the left coast back in early December via 2-day Priority Mail.  After falling into a black hole for two weeks tracking-wise, it magically appeared the day before Christmas.  

I believe in Christmas miracles!

A number of Christmas cards took over two weeks to get where they were going.

So yeah, the USPS, between the Wuhan Fluhan and extraordinarily high volume, was seriously in the weeds and running at least two weeks behind schedule.   Maybe they've caught up by now?

Vigo (Forum Supporter)
Vigo (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
1/11/21 9:49 a.m.

The current state of the USPS is an orchestrated hitjob. They didn't forget how to do their jobs all of a sudden. They've been under the crosshairs of certain political elements for decades, but in recent years the attacks grew from 'just' congressional meddling to executive meddling as well. They'll probably bounce back substantially this year with the return to purely congressional meddling, I would think. I want to know when they'll be allowed to have nice things again so i can buy a 30 year old Grumman LLV that's finally been allowed to come out of service, lol.

A few days ago an amazon driver opened the sliding door to hand me something and he was wearing floral pattern swim trunks and cowboy boots to go along with his Amazon shirt. I dont care, but if you're worried about dress code that's not a high bar for the USPS to exceed. cheeky

Marjorie Suddard
Marjorie Suddard General Manager
1/11/21 9:58 a.m.

The latest GRM (Feb. 2021) shipped from the printer 12/22. The latest CMS (Jan. 2021) shipped from the printer November 24.

It's ridiculously cost-prohibitive to ship to homes using UPS or other USPS alternatives, but our printer does drop-ship magazines directly to the large central mail facilities (think LA, Atlanta, etc.) and THEN puts them into the mail stream. This saves a lot of time since the USPS does not move mail from hub to hub nearly as quickly as they used to.

And yes, this fall's shenanigans with the mail service have had a visible effect on our magazines getting delivered. As well as lots of other mail.

Margie

Marjorie Suddard
Marjorie Suddard General Manager
1/11/21 10:00 a.m.
aw614 said:
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

I got my GRM yesterday. More accurately, I got TWO copies of it yesterday for some reason........

 

I also got two copies of the current issue too

Hey, would you guys mind taking a pic of your duplicate labels (if you have both) and emailing them to me? Margie@grassrootsmotorsports.com.

Thank you!!

aw614
aw614 Reader
1/11/21 10:11 a.m.
Marjorie Suddard said:
aw614 said:
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

I got my GRM yesterday. More accurately, I got TWO copies of it yesterday for some reason........

 

I also got two copies of the current issue too

Hey, would you guys mind taking a pic of your duplicate labels (if you have both) and emailing them to me? Margie@grassrootsmotorsports.com.

Thank you!!

Just sent you an image of the labels.

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter)
vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
1/11/21 8:50 p.m.

So my brake line just arrived. Great. I bent up my own on Saturday!

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 MegaDork
1/12/21 6:15 a.m.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
vsquaredbyrho said:

In reply to ddavidv :

Please don't claim affirmative action is a cause of decline in a service, without very strong evidence. Equating clothing appearance with ability is a logical falsehood. The general dress code in all of public society has changed tremendously since the mid-century.

Truth.  Mid-century it was just becoming kosher for a man to not wear a suit, tie, and hat in public.

WTH?!  You mean there are people going about without wearing a suit, tie, and hat?  What have we become?  Barbarians?

Next we'll be seeing overweight women going about in Wal-Mart wearing Spandex yoga pants two sizes too small!  Make it stop!

FSP_ZX2
FSP_ZX2 SuperDork
1/12/21 6:39 a.m.

I mailed a Christmas card from Milwaukee on 12/21.  It arrived in Crossville, TN on 1/11.    Pony Express would have been faster. 

ddavidv
ddavidv PowerDork
1/12/21 6:46 a.m.
vsquaredbyrho said:

In reply to ddavidv :

Please don't claim affirmative action is a cause of decline in a service, without very strong evidence. Equating clothing appearance with ability is a logical falsehood. The general dress code in all of public society has changed tremendously since the mid-century.

I knew mentioning that would bring the defenders out. I will only relay that my non-biased father saw a sudden change in hiring practice to fill quotas. Skin color and gender took precedence over qualifications.

The attire change began as a practical matter pushed by the union (ball caps and more comfortable shoes) but it quickly devolved into a lowest common denominator challenge. The attire difference is not a cause but it is a visible symptom of the decline in professionalism the entire service went through.

alfadriver (Forum Supporter)
alfadriver (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
1/12/21 6:49 a.m.
Marjorie Suddard said:

The latest GRM (Feb. 2021) shipped from the printer 12/22. The latest CMS (Jan. 2021) shipped from the printer November 24.

It's ridiculously cost-prohibitive to ship to homes using UPS or other USPS alternatives, but our printer does drop-ship magazines directly to the large central mail facilities (think LA, Atlanta, etc.) and THEN puts them into the mail stream. This saves a lot of time since the USPS does not move mail from hub to hub nearly as quickly as they used to.

And yes, this fall's shenanigans with the mail service have had a visible effect on our magazines getting delivered. As well as lots of other mail.

Margie

Having gotten neither- when should we notify you that we've gotten neither?

Marjorie Suddard
Marjorie Suddard General Manager
1/12/21 6:57 a.m.

In reply to alfadriver (Forum Supporter) :

For sure you should've had CMS Jan by now. Drop me an email and I'll check to see all is ok with your sub and make sure a replacement goes out to you. GRM Feb, sadly, is still within the "normal" delivery window.

Margie

MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt UltimaDork
1/12/21 7:40 a.m.

We had to temporarily suspend all USPS shipping where I work, except to our own state (less distance to drop the ball) and Canada (because UPS seems to charge Canadians a lot of "brokerage fees" with no apparent benefit to the customer). We'd been getting too many complaints of packages taking too long and sometimes being reported lost, only to appear weeks later.

It seems that really all carriers have been having difficulty meeting delivery targets; USPS simply has it a bit worse than the others.

wae
wae UberDork
1/12/21 7:56 a.m.

I bought some vinyl on eBay on November 29th.  On the 30th it was dropped off at the post office and on Dec 1st was "processed through" Tampa.  I kind of forgot that I bought vinyl until I went to go buy vinyl after Christmas and realized that I had already bought vinyl (in theory) so I started looking around the house for it.  Turns out, according to USPS it was "Arriving Late" with an estimated delivery date of December 5th.  To be fair, I don't think the specified the year...

I really didn't want to burn the eBay seller, but on the other hand I was out $20 and didn't have the vinyl so I opened a case or request with them and asked them to poke USPS for me.  My assumption was that if a claim needed to be filed with USPS about a lost package it would be best to come from the shipper and plus they're the ones that chose to use USPS, not me, so cost of doing business is dealing with logistics, sorryaboutyourluckonthat.  Anyway, they opened a case on Jan 4th with USPS, the case was closed on the 6th, and the package was processed through Cincinnati on the 7th.  Where it sat again.  It was finally delivered yesterday. 

Apparently the words "priority", "2", and "day" have other meanings that I'm not aware of.

Ian F (Forum Supporter)
Ian F (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
1/12/21 7:56 a.m.
mdshaw said:

The USPS is causing big problems with eBay sellers also. Because of ebay's refund/return policies, sellers are having to give refunds for lost/delayed items that  aren't their fault. 
Like the steering wheel I ordered 12/1, was lost by usps & seller refunded me on 12/30. On 1/5 it showed up.

Ditto.  I sold a bike part on eBay and shipped it out Dec 1.  Last tracking scan was on Dec 2 and nothing since (checked again yesterday). The Post Office worker at my nearby office thinks it got misplaced at the distribution center the next town over.  I have been in contact with the buyer, but she finally had to file a claim through eBay.  At least through that process I should get refunded my eBay fees. The buyer said they will pay me if/when the item gets to them... we'll see.  I have shipped/mailed a lot of other stuff since then and the packages have been delivered without a problem.  Just this one item - which I partially blame on myself for using a small box (since the item was pretty small) which I am guessing literally fell through a crack in the system somewhere.  Next step will be to file the insurance claim, which I'm guessing will be... fun. 

In reply to wae :

Well... I suppose that gives me some hope my eBay sale will get processed through eventually.

captainawesome
captainawesome HalfDork
1/12/21 3:32 p.m.

I have halted all Ebay purchases or any purchases for that matter that don't use either UPS or FedEx since my December packages just disappeared. I've had so many late packages I'd rather pay the extra fees to ensure I can receive it in enough time for it to be useful. I've never had an issue like this before, but it's made me question my previous commitment to the USPS. Usually it was my go to place. Always reasonably on time, and priced fairly. I hope they can get this sorted, but there are quite a few transfer station areas that are just flooded with packages that take well over a month before it even gets scanned into the system. Insane. I have one that still hasn't budged from exactly one month ago.

I also received two issues of the December I think. I'll double check on that.

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