OT. Slower Mail Delivery

So sad. Too bad.

If I could stop using U.S. mail completely, I would.

Cindy Hamilton

I use it on occasion. Maybe 30 times a year. A couple of greeting cards and the rest for letters. Yes, letters. Remember them? I have friend that I write to once or twice a month, print and mail. Been doing it for 40 years. No, not love letters. She recently told me she still has a few of the original that were hand written.

For me, some things still require the USPS.

The AAA cards I send to my kids each year, the quote page and deposit check I just sent to the tree trimming company, mail that occasionally shows up for my kids even though they haven't lived here in 10ish years. SWMBO still pays some bills by check/mail. My mailbox hangs on the wall right next to my front door. We clip envelopes on the outside of the mailbox and the carrier takes them away.

I use the USPS Click-N-Ship service to create shipping labels for packages that I send to the kids. For small packages that can go 1st class I use PayPal's USPS label creation service. 1st Class is cheaper than Priority mail, but the Click-N-Ship site doesn't offer 1st Class as an option. (You know they do that on purpose. If you don't know about the PayPal service, and don't want to go to the PO, you'll most likely pay extra for Priority Mail service via Click-N-Ship.)

For really small packages, I leave them on the stoop under the mailbox with a note on the mailbox and an arrow pointing down. For larger packages, I use the option at Click-N-Ship to let the USPS know that there is a package to pick up. If they know the size, they know to bring the truck to my house instead of carrying it around.

My normal mail carrier is really nice. Sometimes she'll drop off the mail, ring my bell and let me know that she'll be back for the package. "I don't want you to think I forgot it. I've just got too much to carry around right now." A little later, she'll pull up in her truck and pick up the package.

She's out sick right now. (dog attack) I hope she gets well soon.

Last week the mail lady was delivering my Amazon package at the same time the Amazon van was delivering next door. Probably a size and product origin thing to decide carrier.

What happens with items that don't fit in the slot, especially when you are gone for a year or two?

For packages I sure would. I order a lot off ebay and many things sent by usps takes a while to get here. I ordered two things from China that are about the sise of a 9 volt battery each. It made it to the US up north of here, laid around for several days , is now in Atlanta where it has been for 5 days. I am in NC so it probably just bypassed the state I live in.

Nah, Amazon only delivers via their own trucks to people they really like ;-)

The so-obvious solution to the post office's financial and staffing problems is to reduce mail delivery from six days a week to five.

That eliminates a ton of extra carrier employees needed to cover the sixth day on delivery routes handled by the full time folks who work just five day weeks.

Of course, the unions and their lap dog politicians would never sit still for that!!

That explains it!

After all that hand wringing about the mail in ballots, there was no significant problem with them getting delivered. It certainly wasn't enough to swing a single EC vote and that is all that matters.

I just sent birthday cards to my kids and they left my roadside box on Saturday. The kids got them in Northern Michigan on Tuesday and that area has horrible delivery times as a general rule.

It is unfunded debt so USPS comes crying to congress every few years for $10 billion or so.

The government dumping that obligation on them doomed a "private" USPS to failure from the start.

Dunno, I just quoted the published rate. I am still using "forever" stamps I bought years ago. It is way better than money in the bank.

I think Micky has lived in the city all his life. The last walking route I was on was in 1964. I had a cluster box in the apartments I lived in and in 1970 I was on a rural route at my house. I am on a rural route here too. For years I didn't have an address. I was just "box 709 RR2". The uniform addressing scheme came along in the 80s and gave us a grid address.

I use priority mail all the time. It is really easy. It is all online. If someone wants you to ship them something they can E-mail you the Priority Mail label as a PDF and you just stick it on the box and arrange a pickup. It is gone.

More likely, where it is coming from. The gray trucks usually deliver stuff sourced from a local fulfillment center. Last Mile USPS can be from anywhere. That is getting more rare here since they built a hub in Ft Myers

Stuff from China is a whole other thing USPS doesn't make squat on those deliveries because of the postal union (a treaty, not a labor organization). They basically pay Chinese postage and the US carries it for free. That is why you can buy a widget from China, shipped to your house from Poon Tang China via Long Beach cheaper than you could mail it to the guy across the street.

Or even reduce it to six. On Sunday they are out delivering Amazon packages.

Which day would you eliminate? I'll bet they more money per stop delivering for Amazon on Sunday than most other days of the week delivering regular mail.

I doubt they would have signed up for that if it was money losing line of business.

So if they are not love letters, what are they for 40 years?

I hadn't even thought of that. With cluster boxes you'd have to walk out to the box to send a letter. And it's one thing to have it waiting for the carrier on your own stoop, but right there on the cluster box where eveyone has to come by to get their mail, can examine it or take it... a lot of people won't want to mail a letter that way.

You're right. I'm glad you told me.

Yes, she sounds like a peach.