posted on June 4, 2001 09:55:59 AM new
First I want to say we've had very few problems with packages being delivered to customers. Even using media mail our items have arrived promptly. BUT we had a problem last week!
We've been selling lots of craft books and mailing them in a heavy photo mailer. We tape over the address label and tape to make sure they stay sealed. A customer emailed last Tuesday to say their books (3 craft bookelets) arrived wet and damaged. They were mailed on Friday and in perfect condition. They couldn't have gotten that wet from a little rain or being dropped in a puddle.
She called her PO and then emailed me back. They had arrived at her house without postage (but not with postage due). We recently bought an old stamp album full of unused plate blocks and sheets. Most of the newer ones are not worth selling so we had used them on her package. Someone along the line decided they wanted those stamps and soaked them off the mailer!
I don't know whether to laugh or cry! We're going to ask our local PO if we can take the mailers in, have them cancelled, and then tape over them to prevent this problem in the future.
posted on June 4, 2001 04:25:30 PM new
>A waitress makes $2.00 an hour plus tips. A Postal employee makes $12.00 to $20.0 a hour plus medical and retirement benifits.<
Apples & oranges.
A waitress works inside, heated & air conditioned, out of the elements.
Your letter carrier is outside, winter, spring, summer and fall, about 5 hours a day.
(not that being a waitress is any easier, but for more than $21.00 per hour AND benifits I would choose the carriers job over $2.00 and tips)
Add to that the fact that most people blame the post office (and it's employees) for everything and you'll see that it's not the job it used to be.
Every time a package is late, lost or damaged it's the PO's fault.
Not!
Lots of other people handle your packages, including, but not limited to, Airborne Express and many airline employees.
(certainly you have heard of the damage that airlines cause to luggage. What makes you think that they treat packages any better??)
As for tipping, we get more than the average amount of mail and boxes,(as I am sure many of you ebayr's do also) including many cases of FREE Priority shipping supplies every month, so dropping a few dollars in an envelope once a year is no big deal.
Our letter carrier plays Santa for us daily.
We certainly can do it to him at Christmas time.
I guess that we have been lucky, or maybe just not unlucky, but our items seem to make it to their destinations unharmed. (at least so far)
posted on June 4, 2001 06:00:05 PM new
>As for tipping, we get more than the average amount of mail and boxes,(as I am sure many of you ebayr's do also) including many cases of FREE Priority shipping supplies every month, so dropping a few dollars in an envelope once a year is no big deal.<
Apples and Oranges??? All those packages you get help pay for their wages and benifits. Those "free" priority shipping supplies are not "free", the price is built into the $3.50 one pound priority rate. (13 oz. first class which is just as quick, is much cheaper, but there are no "free" supplies.) This is like the Bar that has a "Free Lunch" sign, but charges $6.00 for a drink.
>Our letter carrier plays Santa for us daily.
We certainly can do it to him at Christmas time.<
Our letter carrier works, and get paid, just like I do.
Nothing wrong with giving them a little gift if you feel like it, but if that's the only way they will give you good service, then they are lazy good for nothing feather merchants. (for those that don't know what a feather merchant is, it is a lazy good for nothing civil servant.)
Oh... My letter carrier LIKES me. She pulled up in the driveway one day with a bunch of vines all tangled up around the drive shaft of her Jeep. I grabbed a pair of cutters, and went under her Jeep, and cut the vines loose. Hows that for a "Tip"?
posted on June 4, 2001 08:03:15 PM new
WOW!!!
I did not know I made "...$20/hour plus medical and retirement benifits".
My brother-in-law works for UPS...(you should hear the discussions we have, "Na-uh, we're better than you!" "No! We're BETTER than you!" )...he makes double what I do and his medical/dental is free. I have to pay monthly fee's for my medical/dental, just like any other person.
When I started, over 20 years ago, most other carriers were college educated. We had quite a few nurses, teachers, even a pharmacist. The economy was slow and USPS pay was good. Now with the great economy (for now, anyways), we are having a hard time recruiting qualified employee's.
Military get preferencial treatment but most are not interested in the heavy workload as a mail carrier. Now most of our new employees got low scores on their civil service test (scrapping the bottom of the barrell), are young and inexperienced in customer service, or see this job as something to pay the bills for now but don't see a future in it as a career.
We are overworked, as someone already mentioned, but there is no excuse for poor customer service. I spoil my customers and they know it! They thank me every Christmas.
[ edited by Malady on Jun 4, 2001 08:03 PM ]
posted on June 5, 2001 05:27:20 AM new
<All those packages you get help pay for their wages and benifits. <
The packages don't "help pay" anything, the shipping charges may.
<Those "free" priority shipping supplies are not "free", the price is built into the $3.50 one pound priority rate.>
You could look at it that way.
<(13 oz. first class which is just as quick, is much cheaper, but there are no "free" supplies.)>
And your point here is?????
<This is like the Bar that has a "Free Lunch" sign, but charges $6.00 for a drink.>
Again, you could look at it that way, but there is no other "bar" offering free lunches, and the others charge more for the drink!
(how much to ship 1 pound via the other guys? More than $3.50)
We could nit-pick this all day long and get no where, so there is no point in continueing.
Lots of people have all of the answers to solving the Postal Systems troubles, yet there still is no competition for small packages & letters. Because almost all of our sales are 2 pounds or less we'll be sticking with what works for us. USPS
I can understand if you don't think a tip is necessary. I also understand how some of you look at things a little differently than I do. You should do what works for you.
posted on June 5, 2001 06:45:02 AM new
I really feel for the postal worker at our post office because the supervision is consistantly yelling, screaming, unreasonable. Just a constant emotional abuse and threats. The local paper has run pieces on specific events. One woman had a little girl get sick in line and a worker rushed them to the restroom and was berated in front of the custome. Then the customer was given the bums rush - physically thrown out.
The main office in this postal district is the Royal Oak post office where twice employees have come in and shot the whole place up. Another time they had a bomb go off which was not publicized much.
Once could be random - but to continually have these kinds of problems you have to make a lot of people pretty angry.
In the newspaper when asked why they had 1500 grievences unresolve the supervisers said "Oh it is just a bargining stratagy by the union. Those are not real legitimate grievences."
1500?
posted on June 18, 2001 06:17:53 AM new
Having had about 10 years in the restaurant business in the past, and now a government employee (not USPS) that deals with the public, I'd have to agree that a person can have a much easier time with life if they are just a bit nicer in their everyday dealings. While I agree that a person shouldn't have to give gifts to the postman to get good service, don't you think that if you treat your postman right he will remember you, and *might* even care a tiny bit about the condition of your mail? Just human nature...
Enough of that...I know how the Postal Service can make more money and cut the red ink, and possibly even keep the rates lower for us "civilians": get rid of bulk rate prices and charge all of the junk mail distributers the same prices as the rest of us. It might even cut down on the garbage mail we all get, which in turn would lighten the load for the carriers!
"Who's tending the bar? Sniping works up a thirst"
posted on June 18, 2001 06:42:00 AM new
I have a PO Box and they still cram it in as tight as they can. It falls out the back of it to be crammed in again the next day.
Recently the Priority boxes have been really mangled..
And I hear they are raising rates again..aarrgghh.
CArole
posted on June 18, 2001 07:00:00 AM new
Although I get GREAT service from my regular carrier, it is no secret that he hates all the packages I get.
He once told me those brown trucks deliver packages, not the red white & blue ones.
And I do have the largest mailbox available, do not tip government employes or use any other ploys to assure that he does his job as well as I have every reason to expect.
I am pleasant and offer a sympathetic ear and go right on getting as many packages as I want to order. And I don't get them out of the brown trucks either-they break things!
posted on June 18, 2001 10:54:03 PM new
I have only been back on Ebay for about a month and have recived only about 4-5 packages. Out of those few packages I have had 1 package thrust into my hands (the only one brought to my door) 2 have been rubber band-ed (?) to my mail box and the kicker 1 was found in the ditch about 3 feet from my mailbox, in the middle of branches weeds etc. Now how long do you think it would take to wrap 4 rubber bands around my package and mailbox? Next tell me how long it would take to drive 30 feet to put my package on the porch? About the same? Think I should bake her some browines or something?
posted on June 19, 2001 12:56:13 AM new
I think the USPS is also bias against Bidders as well...
One day, a friend at the local K-Mart told me to not come in, the Western Union Money Order Machine got a really nasty Power Surge and blew up (don't ask for specifics; that's how he told me over the phone).
I darted to the PO, and had my obligatory Packages to mail, plus my lone Mailer with a copy of an invoice for an eBay auction. Plus, a Signature Confirmation sticker slapped onto the front.
I got to a clerk (old Lady, maybe around 60) I told her in the begining, I needed a MO for XXXX for something I had to mail out.
She makes the MO, but refused to give it to me. She then begins to check in my packages...
That's when I argue with her I need to fill it out for my mailer. She refuses to give it to me citing "You have to pay for it" and "It's how I do it."
I got extremely frustrated, and I just refused to pay for the mailer and SC, and paid for everything. I grabbed my mailer and MO, filled it out in the lobby, and drove over to another PO and mailed it there.
Truth be told, I complained it to my Cousin...who's a USPS Postal Inspector.
At least I have some satisfaction. Hopefully, the next time I get her, I can just 'casually" ask about the new rates...
:\\\\\\\"Crystalline Sliver cannot be the target of spells or abilities.
posted on June 19, 2001 04:42:25 AM new
After working as a window clerk for the USPS for 15 years I've pretty much heard every complaint possible. I'm not going to start defending every carrier because some of them are really bad but I was lucky enough to work with a lot of excellent ones also. Kind of like in any job.
Barbarasgirl, I did want to make a comment about why the carrier does not pull into your driveway with your package. Chances are he is not allowed to because he is not allowed to backup. I know this is another wacky USPS rule, but in most offices carriers are only allowed to backup with prior permission from management. Each route has an actual book at the carrier's case in the office which lists at what points, if any, during the route the carrier is allowed to back. Usually it is only allowed if there is absolutely no alternative. Do some carriers break the rule to help out a customer? Sure. Do some insist on following the rule to avoid punishment from managemnt? Well, yes, it is their job afterall.
[ edited by mapledr1216 on Jun 19, 2001 04:43 AM ]
posted on June 19, 2001 09:31:40 AM new
We've always gotten good mail service and recently had a party for our letter carrier who had been on the route for 30 years. She loved the party and had a blast. I got to know her and found that she knows all the people and news in the neighborhood, and because everyone knows her, she is offered the use of the bathroom or a quick cup of coffee by many folks. I joined in and found the human to human kindness was really appreciated. Having a business in my home adds a bunch to her load and being supportive doesn't hurt. I also show this at Christmas time in a big way, after all, if not for my ebay stuff she wouldn't be ahuling those boxes up the stairs.
posted on June 19, 2001 10:24:09 PM new
Guys, Ladies,
Giving them cookies or "bribes" is not the solution. That is their duty, they get paid well for delivering mail and parcels etc. They are the ones that should have the courtesy to tuck them in nicely.
If we go by your "ways", we'll have to bribe the cops, or maybe the garbage men.
I will never accept a bribe and do that person a special favour. Corruption
posted on June 20, 2001 07:54:07 AM new
I feel "bad"...
On one hand, I have several close friends that work for the USPS, and they do a bang-up job in all that they do there...
After my items leave my office, I cringe...
4 refunds in 2.5 weeks, because I stand by my items no matter what happens to them...
An old camera, whose shipping box had a TIRE MARK on it, an 1839 Bible that arrived with it's corner mashed and 2 sets of post cards that one buyer said "Looked like someone tried to eat the package".
Since the incident with the glass, I package things so they are almost bullet proof, but what do we do now...
The deliveries to me are great, except one time when the book I received was left out in what was most likely a flood, but at least my carrier apoloigized for it's condition, and waited while I opened it (the shipper did not wrap it in plastic, so you may imagine what all that moisture did to an 18th century copy of Pilgrims Progress).
Yet we never thank the workers for the 90% or so success rate.
Thank you, all Postal Workers, for your successes, and work hard to eliminate the failures.
Rick
In the begining, God created the heavens and the earth.
posted on June 20, 2001 10:19:15 PM new
mapledr1216-thanks for the info, I think the rule doesnt make much sense though. Do you know WHY they can't back up? You would think that when it came to leaving packages in the ditch vs. backing up, the latter would win. Who woulda known?
smartcom said:
Giving them cookies or "bribes" is not the solution. That is their duty, they get paid well for delivering mail and parcels etc.
I just tought it needed to be repeated. I agree with you 100%.
posted on June 21, 2001 05:39:43 AM new
Barbarasgirl, it is purely a safety issue. Postal management does not believe a carrier can back up the vehicle without running someone over, so they just don't let them back up.
Obviously they are not supposed to leave your package in such a manner that it ends up in the ditch. It definitely sounds like your carrier is a tad on the careless side!
posted on June 21, 2001 11:11:30 AM new
Avaloncourt
I do not consider my gift to the carriers a bribe, I consider it a thank you. A thanks for all the times Mr. UPS came back because I didn't have that money order, when he comes back for pickup a second time because my order is not ready to ship yet, when he gets a 3 day select sticker from another store for my package because I don't have one.
And for MR. USPS, well, his thanks is for delivering the packages on a second trip if my store isn't open, for not jamming items in my mailbox, sometimes just for the smile when I need it.
I consider it a gift from ME to HIM, not my business to USPS or UPS. Both men go out of their way for me, and I for them.
I am very fortunate to have carriers who have treated me well. After all, they could be handling my stuff like some of what I have read here.
posted on June 21, 2001 02:45:08 PM new
mapledr1216:
I guess the moderators didn't catch you're snotty little comment to me.
Regardless, when it comes to blathering on "in an idiotic manner", you must have a lot of experience, because you do it quite well. The USPS window clerk's job IS the cushiest of all.
Talk to some letter carriers and you may learn a thing or two.
Sniping works up a thirst"
about 3 feet from my mailbox, in the middle of branches weeds etc. Now how long do you think it would take to wrap 4 rubber bands around my package and mailbox? Next tell me how long it would take to drive 30 feet to put my package on the porch? About the same? Think I should bake her some browines or something? 