USPS: "We can't" culture at its finest. How to restore mail service?

F

Fordiesel69

Joined
Sep 10, 2005
Messages
2,537
Location
Erie, PA
I am finding the whole "I can't" "we can't" culture that has notched up since the big C extremely frustrating. I have lived at my property for 11 years now and have never had a legit disruption in mail delivery. The state plow has broken my mailbox post twice. I always rebuilt it from scratch, to the letter, to the specs provided from our municipality. They have taken the state regulations and township regulations and put it in an easy to read homeowner drawing so that you can get your mailbox perfect to their requirments.

Each year that has gone by, the snow level and mound height has always been the same, it builds up, it melts down, it has always required the mailman to use a device out their window to reach all of the mailboxes due to the state highway and the snow loads. I have never in the past had issues getting mail delivered, and to be quite frank they actually delivered mail to my broken mailbox when it was a few inches from the ground. What has changed now other than terrible employees?

I have not been getting any mail since shortly after Christmas. They are unable to deliver as a result of too much snow, making it unsafe for their drivers. They recommended me to get an app / sign up on their website and I can have my mail held at my request. They will not restore service until the state gets the snow mounds reduced. I called our local penndot and they have never heard of this and said they do not control the snow buildup on the side of the roads and re-iterated that nothing has changed on their end.


Any suggestions?
 
I've lived in my home for 20+ years. Until about a year ago my mail service was/is horrific. Delivery person(s) will outright life and claim a parcel in "undeliverable" or obstruction to delivery. THe physical location is as lively as a morgue and slow as molasses. Then the middle aged workers began to be replaced with millennials and a few Z's. The difference has been night and day! Actual smiles and hello's and delivery is rather consistent now.

Sounds like you should be speaking to the Postmaster and maybe providing images of your delivery site. Good luck.
 
I live north of Harrisburg PA, had less than 2 inches of snow Last week. Have not received mail for the last week, waiting on prescriptions (heart and asthma) and such. Per the tracking it says can not be delivered due to hazardous weather conditions. Yeah Right!! Sun shine past 5 days, UPS FedEx Amazon all make it up the road, Heck even the pizza delivery boy in is Honda Civic has been up delivering to neighbors.

Neighbors went to local PO and asked for their mail. They were told to come back next day to pick up—they did go back to find out that is was out for delivery—Never delivered!!

We all filed complaints on USPS website to no avail as can not call the number for the PO since it’s a generic USPS 800 number. The local number that was found is never answered, it just times out. We did get acknowledgements via email that USPS has received the “concerns” and will get back to us.

I gather they will respond after mail is delivered and give a canned apology.

44 years here and never had an issue--welcome to the new millennium!

When you go in and ask to speak to Postmaster they claim that he/she is not there , you then ask for a supervisor and they get a blank deer eye look on their faces and claim that he didn't show up today.
 
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BISCUT said:
Then the middle aged workers ....
Click to expand...
That describes the old ladies that work at the front desk at the post office near where I work (its a big regional post office; if you live in the Chicago suburbs chances are a lot of your mail goes through it). They've spent their entire careers there, just counting down the months or years until they retire. Five people in line means it'll be a 45-minute wait as the old ladies take their sweet time weighing up a package or counting out a bunch of stamps for the customers. Then it's Break Time before the next customer can step up to the counter!
 
CarbonToast said:
Sounds like an issue the previous driver was working around. If snow is blocking it, dig it out. We always had to dig out around and past the mailbox. The city plows don't do that.
Click to expand...
+1

I always clear around the mailbox so they can get to it when I do the driveway.

I'm sure the "new" policy is due to a few drivers getting stuck and requiring a tow. My mail lady told me a story last time I saw her about how she got stuck at the end of someone's driveway delivering a package and it took hours for a tow truck to show up.
 
grisby said:
Can't speak to Postmaster because they don't answer phone and when you go to PO he/she is never there.....

I live north of Harrisburg PA, had less than 2 inches of snow Last week. Have not received mail for the last week, waiting on prescriptions (heart and asthma) and such. Per the tracking it says can not be delivered due to hazardous weather conditions. Yeah Right!! Sun shine past 5 days, UPS FedEx Amazon all make it up the road, Heck even the pizza delivery boy in is Honda Civic has been up delivering to neighbors.

Neighbors went to local PO and asked for their mail. They were told to come back next day to pick up—they did go back to find out that is was out for delivery—Never delivered!!

We all filed complaints on USPS website to no avail as can not call the number for the PO since it’s a generic USPS 800 number. We did get acknowledgements via email that USPS are received the “concerns” and will get back to us.

I gather they will respond after mail is delivered and give a canned apology.

44 years here and never had an issue--welcome to the new millennium!
Click to expand...

If it's that bad and sure sounds it!! All of you should contact your congressman. You would be surprised how quickly they can get the attention needed for a remedy.
 
You will not win if you get into a spitting contest with a rural mail carrier. Been there done that, daughter also has been there done that with a different carrier nearby. They control whether you ever get your mail or not. It sounds like the current carrier isn't willing to use a device to reach the mailbox. Maybe that's not required and previous carrier was going above and beyond. Searching USPS it sounds like it's homeowner responsibility to make it possible for the carrier to drive up to the mailbox and put mail in. To answer your question how to restore mail service, it sounds like per USPS shoveling out the mailbox is the correct way. I lived in rural NW Pa for 50 years I know what you're dealing with around Erie. Now where we are snow isn't a problem but if there's a car parked close enough our psycho carrier can't roll in and out with no effort she'll drive past.

Apparently USPS doesn't issue these to carriers:
1736518793705.webp
 
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Mentioned this on another USPS thread, had a card mailed in July to the now well-known ATL area USPS dead zone, still undelivered. Fwiw, I agree that it's now a culture thing that imo starts at the very top with the current PG, a completely incompetent schmuck.

That your local postal zone refuses to deliver mail at their whim, incomprehensible to me. Are you at least able to pick it up at the PO, or make arrangements for that? Best of luck getting the situation resolved.
 
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BISCUT said:
If it's that bad and sure sounds it!! All of you should contact your congressman. You would be surprised how quickly they can get the attention needed for a remedy.
Click to expand...
I had to do this several years ago. Not related to weather but a “ fill in “ mail person had turned in a form saying I had moved. The person had left a copy of the form in my mail box after a week of not receiving any mail. I went to the post office and showed the manager the note which had been initialed and they said they couldn’t tell who left it from just initials! I asked them to look back to that date and find out who had ran my route that day. He said there’s no way to do that! I told him that was a classic example of CYA and he didn’t answer. I contacted my congressman at his local office and it was straightened out in a couple of days. I’ve lived here for 30 years and our regular mailman of 10 years said he thought it odd that I had moved and not said anything to him.
 
grisby said:
I live north of Harrisburg PA, had less than 2 inches of snow Last week. Have not received mail for the last week, waiting on prescriptions (heart and asthma) and such. Per the tracking it says can not be delivered due to hazardous weather conditions. Yeah Right!! Sun shine past 5 days, UPS FedEx Amazon all make it up the road, Heck even the pizza delivery boy in is Honda Civic has been up delivering to neighbors.

Neighbors went to local PO and asked for their mail. They were told to come back next day to pick up—they did go back to find out that is was out for delivery—Never delivered!!

We all filed complaints on USPS website to no avail as can not call the number for the PO since it’s a generic USPS 800 number. The local number that was found is never answered, it just times out. We did get acknowledgements via email that USPS has received the “concerns” and will get back to us.

I gather they will respond after mail is delivered and give a canned apology.

44 years here and never had an issue--welcome to the new millennium!

When you go in and ask to speak to Postmaster they claim that he/she is not there , you then ask for a supervisor and they get a blank deer eye look on their faces and claim that he didn't show up today.
Click to expand...
America's unions at work for you!
 
No longer applicable.............

This phrase means that regardless of the weather conditions, including rain, sunshine, snow, or sleet, deliveries will still be made; it's essentially a statement about reliable delivery service, often associated with the United States Postal Service and their unofficial motto, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.".
 
Hohn said:
auction off the USPS facilities
Click to expand...
Good luck with that. You might as well try to sell the US Coast Guard.

While there's no substitute for facts and detailed descriptions in these matters, you can't overlook the cantankerousness which one slob employee can create.

I've felt people are chronically unhappy and unsatisfied all my life.
The auto assembly worker who'll admit to whacking a car just to see the dent go down the line is one romanticized example.
 
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