USPS - Slow, and seems to be getting worse

[rjackson44]

haven't had one problem

[sportscomicfantasy]

I mail out between 5-10 items on average a week of mostly my newer stuff I am selling. I agree that the mail has been taking longer. I send most with 1st class tracking but have maybe one on average that goes out priority mail.

My priority mail has taken longer, have a few arrive in 3 days, but mostly 5-6 business days. I had a couple that took 10 days.

Now my 1st class mail mostly 2-3 days befoe the virus on average, with a few exceptions of course. Now they are mostly 3-5 days, but with a few going around 6-8 and a couple going longer.

[buymycards]

Most of my mail is still being delivered in a timely manner, but I expect major slowdowns.

The instructions from the new Postmaster General (who has no Postal experience) is that absolutely no overtime will be used by anyone. If a carrier is out on the street and they can't get done in 8 hours, they bring the mail back for delivery the next day. That includes packages. If the truck from the processing plant is supposed to leave the plant at 4:30 am to deliver to the local Post Offices, the truck has to leave on time, even if it means letting mail sit on the dock and hopefully, it will go out the next day.

The tough thing about the no overtime rule is that many of the offices are understaffed. Not enough carriers, clerks, mail processors, etc. to go around, and, in the Post Office the hiring and training process can take months. Covid is making the situation even worse.

Locally, I am seeing some of my packages arrive at the plant in Madison at 2:30 in the morning, and normally, they would be on the truck leaving for my Post Office when it leaves at 4:30. Now, the packages are sitting in Madison for 1 or 2 days before they are sent out to the local Post Offices. This is going to create a big bottle neck in the processing centers, and they were having major problems already.

In spite of all of this, I can't complain about the service that I have been receiving.

[Yankees1964]

Originally Posted by buymycards

Most of my mail is still being delivered in a timely manner, but I expect major slowdowns.

The instructions from the new Postmaster General (who has no Postal experience) is that absolutely no overtime will be used by anyone. If a carrier is out on the street and they can't get done in 8 hours, they bring the mail back for delivery the next day. That includes packages. If the truck from the processing plant is supposed to leave the plant at 4:30 am to deliver to the local Post Offices, the truck has to leave on time, even if it means letting mail sit on the dock and hopefully, it will go out the next day.

The tough thing about the no overtime rule is that many of the offices are understaffed. Not enough carriers, clerks, mail processors, etc. to go around, and, in the Post Office the hiring and training process can take months. Covid is making the situation even worse.

Locally, I am seeing some of my packages arrive at the plant in Madison at 2:30 in the morning, and normally, they would be on the truck leaving for my Post Office when it leaves at 4:30. Now, the packages are sitting in Madison for 1 or 2 days before they are sent out to the local Post Offices. This is going to create a big bottle neck in the processing centers, and they were having major problems already.

In spite of all of this, I can't complain about the service that I have been receiving.

What Rick said is 100% correct. The new Postmaster General is not helping.

[whitehse]

Originally Posted by buymycards

Most of my mail is still being delivered in a timely manner, but I expect major slowdowns.

The instructions from the new Postmaster General (who has no Postal experience) is that absolutely no overtime will be used by anyone. If a carrier is out on the street and they can't get done in 8 hours, they bring the mail back for delivery the next day. That includes packages. If the truck from the processing plant is supposed to leave the plant at 4:30 am to deliver to the local Post Offices, the truck has to leave on time, even if it means letting mail sit on the dock and hopefully, it will go out the next day.

The tough thing about the no overtime rule is that many of the offices are understaffed. Not enough carriers, clerks, mail processors, etc. to go around, and, in the Post Office the hiring and training process can take months. Covid is making the situation even worse.

Locally, I am seeing some of my packages arrive at the plant in Madison at 2:30 in the morning, and normally, they would be on the truck leaving for my Post Office when it leaves at 4:30. Now, the packages are sitting in Madison for 1 or 2 days before they are sent out to the local Post Offices. This is going to create a big bottle neck in the processing centers, and they were having major problems already.

In spite of all of this, I can't complain about the service that I have been receiving.

I do have a question as my wife and I frequently joke that someone must be getting huge amounts of overtime as our local PO is delivering packages on a Sunday with Amazon packages appearing the most frequent Sunday deliveries. Are those workers getting overtime or Sunday shift differential or is that just extra workers who are doing package delivery only and getting paid straight time and likely working perhaps only on Sundays?

[buymycards]

Originally Posted by whitehse

I do have a question as my wife and I frequently joke that someone must be getting huge amounts of overtime as our local PO is delivering packages on a Sunday with Amazon packages appearing the most frequent Sunday deliveries. Are those workers getting overtime or Sunday shift differential or is that just extra workers who are doing package delivery only and getting paid straight time and likely working perhaps only on Sundays?

Many of these workers are hired to deliver packages on Saturday and Sunday. I have been retired for 3 years, but in the past, full time workers were not allowed to deliver Amazon on Sundays. Only part timers were used. Then, they hired people especially for Amazon deliveries. The USPS would never admit it, but Amazon has been bad for the Postal Service and because of Amazon's discounts, I believe the Po is losing money by delivering Amazon.

[cubman1941]

Originally Posted by buymycards

Most of my mail is still being delivered in a timely manner, but I expect major slowdowns.

The instructions from the new Postmaster General (who has no Postal experience) is that absolutely no overtime will be used by anyone. If a carrier is out on the street and they can't get done in 8 hours, they bring the mail back for delivery the next day. That includes packages. If the truck from the processing plant is supposed to leave the plant at 4:30 am to deliver to the local Post Offices, the truck has to leave on time, even if it means letting mail sit on the dock and hopefully, it will go out the next day.

The tough thing about the no overtime rule is that many of the offices are understaffed. Not enough carriers, clerks, mail processors, etc. to go around, and, in the Post Office the hiring and training process can take months. Covid is making the situation even worse.

Locally, I am seeing some of my packages arrive at the plant in Madison at 2:30 in the morning, and normally, they would be on the truck leaving for my Post Office when it leaves at 4:30. Now, the packages are sitting in Madison for 1 or 2 days before they are sent out to the local Post Offices. This is going to create a big bottle neck in the processing centers, and they were having major problems already.

In spite of all of this, I can't complain about the service that I have been receiving.

My son is a postmaster in a small post office in Wisconsin. He visited last week and I asked him about this. They are struggling with the no overtime rule.
He also confirmed about packages being left in the processing center because when it is time to leave, the employees leave and what is on the line is left until the next day. However, Amazon is in the process of setting up delivery of their own packages so this will ease the burden of the P.O., however, it also will be a big lose of revenue.

[earlywynnfan]

I'm mailing 20-30 items per week, and I've only had one problem recently, that was also in Michigan. Seems to have sat in Detroit for about 2-3 weeks, but did arrive.

[nickedson]

Michigan - specifically southern Michigan - seems to be where some packages go to sit for a month or more with the USPS. I've had 2 packages get "lost" in southern Michigan for more than 5 weeks and one package from the Detroit area take more than 4 weeks to get to me. Ironically, I sent a big ticket card (more than $6,500) out to California last month and it arrived in 2 days. Go figure!

[earlywynnfan]

Originally Posted by buymycards

Most of my mail is still being delivered in a timely manner, but I expect major slowdowns.

The instructions from the new Postmaster General (who has no Postal experience) is that absolutely no overtime will be used by anyone. If a carrier is out on the street and they can't get done in 8 hours, they bring the mail back for delivery the next day. That includes packages. If the truck from the processing plant is supposed to leave the plant at 4:30 am to deliver to the local Post Offices, the truck has to leave on time, even if it means letting mail sit on the dock and hopefully, it will go out the next day.

The tough thing about the no overtime rule is that many of the offices are understaffed. Not enough carriers, clerks, mail processors, etc. to go around, and, in the Post Office the hiring and training process can take months. Covid is making the situation even worse.

Locally, I am seeing some of my packages arrive at the plant in Madison at 2:30 in the morning, and normally, they would be on the truck leaving for my Post Office when it leaves at 4:30. Now, the packages are sitting in Madison for 1 or 2 days before they are sent out to the local Post Offices. This is going to create a big bottle neck in the processing centers, and they were having major problems already.

In spite of all of this, I can't complain about the service that I have been receiving.

Hmm, as the 3rd last house on the longest route in my town, I'm envisioning many days without any mail delivery. Bummer!!