They have specific envelopes for this–not against the rules 
http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/ship/packaging/supplies/envelopes.html
[QUOTE=Guilherme;6310322]
USPS has its problems, but I can still send a letter to either Key West or Point Barrow or a soldier in Kandahar or a sailor on a ship off Hong Kong for the same fee. That’s kind of amazing when you think about it. It’s one of the essential “infrastructure” items that knits us together as a nation. It would be a shame to see it fail for any reason.
G.[/QUOTE]
Here is a summation of the bailout and what it is about. I agree completely that the USPS should have to restructure itself rather than using taxpayer money to keep this organization in place as it is now.
In the upper midwest there is a company called “Speedee”. I have had lots of horse vaccines and other items delivered by them overnight. They delivered a package one night at almost 9:00. The delivery person was very apologetic that it was late in the day but he thought maybe we needed it. He had had a horrible day (weather related) but delivered all his packages as promised. There is no pick up in our area but I always ask for them if available.
Maybe you should provide a receptacle for them to put the package in ?
I have an aluminium trunk for this purpose.
http://www.nalc.org/depart/cau/pdf/manuals/POM/POM_9--12_08.pdf
Section 617 of the Postal Operations Manual. !!
617.2 Delivery of Parcels
617.21 Heavy or Bulky Items
A heavy or bulky item of any class is delivered as addressed, if facilities are
available.
617.22 Delivery to Other Than the Addressee or Mail Receptacle
Unless the addressee has filed a written order asking that mail not be left
outside the authorized delivery receptacle, parcels that do not require a
signature may be left in a reasonably safe place, such as a porch or stairway
that is protected from the weather, if:
a. The addressee has filed a written order to leave parcels.
b. The mailer has endorsed the item “Carrier — Leave if No Response.”
The endorsement must appear in the upper left corner of the address
side of the piece or the upper left corner of the addressing area of the
piece, directly below the return address. The endorsement and return
address must be printed in the same reading direction as the delivery
address, with a clear space of at least 1/4 inch above and below the
endorsement. The lettering of the endorsement must be in bold print
and as large as, or larger than, the lettering of the addressee’s name
and address but never smaller than 8-point type. The lettering of the
endorsement must also stand out clearly against its background.
617.3 Additional Attempts to Deliver
617.31 Someone Normally Available to Receive Parcel
When someone is normally available to receive parcels, but an ordinary
parcel (parcel without any extra services) cannot be delivered on the carrier’s
first attempt, a second delivery attempt is made the next working day and no PS Form 3849 is left on the initial attempt. If the parcel cannot be delivered on the second attempt, leave PS Form 3849 at the address to indicate that the parcel is being held.
617.32 No One Usually Available to Receive Parcels
If no one is available to receive the parcel and the carrier knows that
someone at the address is not usually available to receive parcels, PS Form
3849 is completed and left after the first attempt. When it is not known if
someone is usually available to receive parcels, PS Form 3849 is left after the first attempt. Additional attempts are made only at the customer’s request.
617.33 Parcel Not Called For
A second notice is sent if the parcel is not called for after 5 days. If there is no response within 15 days after the first notice and no retention period is specified by the sender, the parcel is treated as undeliverable according to POM 68, Undeliverable Mail. When a retention period is specified, it is
observed up to 30 days after the first notice. An additional attempt to deliver is made only if requested by the addressee.
617.34 Perishable Parcel
If a parcel is endorsed “Postmaster: Perishable. If not delivered within
5 days, call 1-800-XXX-XXXX.” A Postal Service employee must call the
telephone number printed by the mailer in the endorsement. The Postal
Service employee gives the mailer the customer’s name, address, and, if
necessary, keyline information. A second attempt to deliver is made only if
requested by the addressee. A second notice is sent if the parcel is not
called for after 5 days. If the parcel remains unclaimed 10 days after the first delivery attempt or the retention period specified by the mailer, the parcel is handled according to POM 68, Undeliverable Mail. Mailers of perishable items who want to use this endorsement must place the endorsement along the left or bottom edge of the address label. The lettering of the endorsement must be in boldface type and as large as, or larger than, the lettering of the addressee’s name and address but never smaller than 8-point type.
Next we shall be hearing how DeltaWaved stormed into the PO in a fit of rage & totally got cut off of mail delivery period, & is now required to go pick up her mail in person at the General Mail Facility…
DelatWave, go in with a big smile & speak kindly. Seriously.
[QUOTE=Bluey;6308739]
Our rural area has never ever had mail delivery.
We always had a PO Box # and went to the Post Office to get our mail.
You are lucky you get your mail delivered at all.;)[/QUOTE]
Yeah, this is what my brother has and he lives in town!
I don’t think there is any rule that says they have to deliver to the house. They have to get the mail to the local delivery POINT, Post Office, where local rules, including budget, might dictate how the mail gets to the person. Small budget? Everyone comes to get their mail at the Post Office. Ever stop and think how MANY MILES extra, all those 1 and 2 mile driveways cost in fuel and time? Adds up to more than an 8hr day, with incredible fuel expense for each delivery vehicle. And Bluey’s area would include hundreds of DAILY miles, just using the roads!!
Can’t say anything about the local delivery Mail person, poor services. Though maybe going above the local Post Master for help, if local complaining isn’t working. Dogs and other obstacles you consider “minor” can cause grave injuries to the delivery person, so Postal folks are told to avoid “situations” with possible problems. Even the nicest dog can bite for unexplained reasons. Delivery folks shouldn’t have to deal with loose dogs of any kind.
[QUOTE=alspharmd;6309497]
The USPS sucks. Plain and simple. I would pay double the price to have a package delivered via UPS.
As someone said earlier, it really is no secret why the organization is in such financial trouble. I wouldn’t mind doing away with them all together and having everything either delivered electronically or via UPS.[/QUOTE]
The ones near me CLOSE during lunchtime. I think that perhaps if they wish to stay in business they shouldn’t close during the time most people are likely to come (on their lunch hours). It took me three trips this past year to mail an Xmas parcel. I went to my in town post office. You guessed it, closed. Sign was adamant that the next closest post office was open when they’re closed. Next branch was nine miles away. Got there, also closed. Third trip, sent package. Would have gone to UPS, but also needed stamps for cards. Should have just bought those at the grocery store.
[QUOTE=ThisTooShallPass;6310462]
DelatWave, go in with a big smile & speak kindly. Seriously.[/QUOTE]
Honey, vinegar and flys.
The other thing I would do is since you say you driveway is 1/4 and 1/4 mile is the cutoff I would measure it and know exactly how many feet it is. Is it possible it’s 10 feet shorter than 1/4 mile? Then you just make them play by their own rules…
What about a drop box partially up the drive?
I don’t even know if the distance of 1/4 mile is one way or there and back again. Or to be truthful, where it states that - in the contract, in the manual(s), no clue.
There’s three kinds of carriers and they each have different rules, city carriers, the guys who drive the little trucks and wear a uniform, rural carrier associates, no uniform but sometimes they drive the little trucks and sometimes they drive their own vehicles, and highway contract drivers - they bid to take the mail from the main facility out to small post offices and sometimes as part of that bid they do delivery too.
If you have a rural carrier, they are supposed to offer to sell you stamps and postage too. Mine treated me pretty good, I used to hand her my parcels and she’d take them back and mail them and then charge me the next day or so. Somehow I can’t see the one(s) I have now doing that, they have never even given me the little envelopes you are supposed to get to order stamps with.
I guess they aren’t too big to fail because they are sure so big that the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.
I don’t even live in the US and the USPC has managed to tick me off! LOL All our family is in the States (we’re Americans) and mailing anything to the US costs more than anywhere else. AND there is now a $10 surcharge for any package over 16oz. When I complained to our Post people, he just sighed and said it’s something the US has added, they can’t do a thing about it.
The Australian Post has their own quirks and issues . . . we get mail delivered M-W-F (I think it’s daily in town, though) They don’t pick up. Ever. Anywhere. Anything. You have to take everything to the Post office, even just to drop a letter in the box. Packages are never left, but we get a slip telling us to go collect it.
Hours are 9-5 M-F No Saturdays.
File your complaint on the post office website. I recently complained about our mailman who was driving at crazy speeds past riders and dog walkers on our25mph, 1 lane road. I got a nice email back from our postmaster, and our mailman is being polite now and driving safely.
Your best solution is to have everything delivered by UPS. The post office is just a dinosaur that will soon be relegated to its rightful place in a museum. The days of a post office that does a good job are over.
Our mail lady drives down our driveway to deliver packages. And then chucks them on to the porch from her mail truck about 10 feet away.
k,thanks :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=ozjb;6312810]
I don’t even live in the US and the USPC has managed to tick me off! LOL All our family is in the States (we’re Americans) and mailing anything to the US costs more than anywhere else. AND there is now a $10 surcharge for any package over 16oz. When I complained to our Post people, he just sighed and said it’s something the US has added, they can’t do a thing about it.
The Australian Post has their own quirks and issues . . . we get mail delivered M-W-F (I think it’s daily in town, though) They don’t pick up. Ever. Anywhere. Anything. You have to take everything to the Post office, even just to drop a letter in the box. Packages are never left, but we get a slip telling us to go collect it.
Hours are 9-5 M-F No Saturdays.[/QUOTE]
Here in Canada you have to take all you packages to the post office. Nothing gets picked up. Never knew it was an option. Though we do get our mail weekdays. I get a slip too, to go pick up a package at the local general store that is also our post office.
we have zero problems with the postal service; might be because when its 100F we have bottles of ice water for the carrier setting in ice by the mailbox for them
[QUOTE=wcporter;6312845]
Our mail lady drives down our driveway to deliver packages. And then chucks them on to the porch from her mail truck about 10 feet away.
k,thanks :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
as said file a complaint but not to the post master but to the postal inspector’s office, they are the police force of the postal service
A friend of mine had this problem. I think in her case, it was with all deliveries, USPO, UPS, etc. She solved it by putting in a home-made dropbox with hinged lid just inside her ranch gate. She built it out of wood, it stood up on legs, had a hinged lid covered with roofing tin to keep contents dry, and a big label, “Deliveries.” USPO, etc. were fine with delivering her packages there.
My driveway is less than 1/4 mile long and they won’t drive up to my house for deliveries either. The mail lady sits out at the mailbox and honks (sometimes), then just puts the card in the mail marked with “we tried to deliver you package, but you weren’t home” or whatever it is. Wrong, I was home and I saw you not even try to come up the house when I went to see what the dogs were barking at.
The bad thing about it is that I am 12 miles from one PO and 20 miles from the other. Which ones services my house? The one 20 miles away. What hours are the open? M-F 8-5 What hours do I work? M-F 8-5
I try to get things delivered to work, but since my work is near the other PO and gets service on Saturdays, it never fails that they try and deliver my items to work on Saturday.
My carrier also has issues with closing my mailbox. It’s always left open with my mail halfway hanging out of it.
I have this hate/love relationship with the post office. I live right next to the mail center of our apartment complex. As in the dude has to pass Right By My Door to put ANY mail in. Has this helped in the delivery of anything? NOPE! Sometimes I get a pink slip, sometimes I have to play roulette with the mail system. In conjunction with being right by the mail center I am also adjacent to the post office. You would THINK my mail if not delivered would land there all of 100 ft from the complex. NOPE! My mail comes out of the woodlands, a 2 hour drive to get to me. Now the center I live next to is supposedly the grandpa of em all as in all of the Houston mail goes to this place to get sorted. So, it flys/trains/autos into the big complex and then gets train/auto/flown an extra two hours away from me. This flawed logic is truly and utterly lost on me. I also have a PO box, same po box for YEARS! I always get at least 1/2 of that box full of other people’s mail. I just file LOTS of complaints when needed and try to bribe the carriers I can.
[QUOTE=Flagstaff Foxhunter;6308636]
Feeling your pain but don’t have a solution. The PO is serious f’d up. My mailbox is 1.2 miles from my home in the Phoenix area. I have a locking box because theft is a problem. There are two cluster boxes and 74 other mailboxes at this corner. If a package will not fit in my mail slot, I have to drive 20 miles and stand in line up to 40 minutes to get my parcel. There is NO reason the homes in my neighborhood should not have box locations closer to our houses. There is no room for any more boxes to be added where the current mass of them is. AND, I have seen the carrier going up a driveway of one home served by the boxes. Bribery?
I can’t select another PO, even though there is a closer one that is never busy.[/QUOTE]
Can you pay for a post office box at the closer one? I have a co-worker who does that. She is also a business person (who needs a secure place for delivery purpsoes) and, even though two post offices are equi-distant from our work, has a P.O. Box at the less busy one.
When we built our house, my husband and I made sure that we had the largest mailbox that we could find installed by our driveway. Small and even some medium packages will fit in the box. The Post Office absolutely refuses to drive down our 300’ driveway. When I asked our local postmaster about it, I was informed that postal workres are not allowed to back their vehicles up. Never mind the fact that they can turn their trucks around behind the house. They don’t care.
Whenever possible, I select UPS or FedEx for package delivery, even when it costs a little more.
