[appophylite]

I've yet to have any major problem with USPS either. Yes, their business hours are not necessarily the best, but I work around it as much as a I can and have had no problems with ruined or lost packages. I only use UPS and FedEx for receiving packages or sending packages for work. Otherwise I usually stick to USPS for most of my personal stuff.

 

[Bob_McBob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sokolov91 /img/forum/go_quote.gif As a Canadian, I prefer USPS as I don't have to pay the outrageous fees Fedex and UPS charge to get an item into my country by ground service. I once received second hand speaker cables that were valued at 99.99 USD on the declaration. I had to pay 48.76 to get them into my door because the sender chose UPS Standard.

Fixed.

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheWuss /img/forum/go_quote.gif not to mention the whole difference with signature-upon-delivery packages. with USPS, you simply go pick it up at the post office next day. With UPS, you have to wait for one more delivery attempt, where they pick up the slip they left you the previous day. then on the third day, when all the stars align, you hopefully get your package. at 6:30 pm.

In many markets, if you get the info-notice number before 7pm you can request same-day will-call from UPS.

I've done it many times. What i find odd is that you need the number of the notice, not the tracking number for the package.

The basic procedure is to plug the info-notice number into the tracking form, then click the link that lets you request a delivery change, and then i forget if you have to select will-call before it will let you select same-day will-call.

Then the UPS dock calls you when they have it ready, and you go pick it up around 8pm.

Works great for me, as the UPS dock is less than 5 minutes away, and 8pm is a time i can be there.

If i have to go to my home post office, my only option is to do it saturday, because they don't open until I'm 40 miles away and they're closed before i get home.

 

[pseudohippy]

I prefer the USPS. And that has nothing to do with the fact they pay my mortgage and all my bills

 

[Alec E]

USPS horror stories:

1. I rented a box so I could receive packages without their being thrown down onto my front porch, or taken to my neighbor's. Funny thing: tracking information keeps telling me my packages have been "delivered," but there's nothing in the box. No little slip saying I have a package at the counter. Several times I print my tracking info and show it to the counter attendant. Each time they glance around for a moment or two, then, "Ah, here it is." Why was there no slip in my box? "Dunno! Funny."

This happened half a dozen times in as many months. At least. One day I ask, again: Why no notification slip? The woman answers: "I probably just forgot to put it in." No apology.

I have a new laptop delivered to this box. They put it on the floor behind the counter. It is there for three days before I get the slip. "We wondered if anybody was ever gonna come git that!"

2. I apply for a passport. I request expedited service. I bring exactly the amount of money with me that the State Dept website says is required for the application plus expedited service. The USPS clerk tells me the price is something like $30 more than that (I may be forgetting the actual difference). Why? For two-way overnight delivery. I don't wish to purchase that, I say. You have to, she says. The State Department website says I don't, I say. The woman gets very, very upset. I've done a fair amount of research and I know what Expedited Service means, what it gets you. I am satisfied that this service will mean my passport will be ready in plenty of time--more than a month before I need it. Tensions escalate. The clerk keeps putting her hand on her forehead and closing her eyes. She looks at the clerk to her side and gestures at me. She does this many times while I'm explaining how the State Dept processes applications, a process about which, she makes clear, she knows literally nothing. I never raise my voice. She raises hers many times and says that I am "being impossible." I say something about her ignorance of the process. She shouts: "He called me ignorant! Ignorant!" No, I didn't. "YES YOU DID." Then, the climax: "I am not your slave!" She leaves in tears. Another clerk processes my application.

I have the passport a week later.

 

[Uncle Erik]

The USPS has always been good to me. Never lost a package or had any significant damage. Sometimes they take a day or two longer than they should, but I don't get exercised over that.

If I miss a package, I can easily pick it up on Saturday morning at the local office.

UPS and FedEx are much, much more difficult to get missed packages from. Last time I missed UPS twice, I had to give them something like $6 to have it rerouted to my office. FedEx has a counter, but it's farther away and always seems to have idiots in front of me. Typically, people who show up with an unpacked item, pack it on the counter and asking approximately 300 questions about costs and hypotheticals about delivery. I once waited nearly two hours with three people ahead of me.

 

[Lil' Knight]

^ Sad to hear your stories but actually, those stuffs are irresponsible employee's faults.

 

[cyberspyder]

You guys are lucky that you get to look forward to mail on Saturday's for such a long time....none of that stuff here in Canada.

 

[Alec E]

I agree that for small packages, shipping USPS makes the most sense. The UPS Store will charge you for a strip of tape, for God's sake.

My impression of many USPS employees is that they have a perhaps excessive amount of job security, like many city, state, and federal employees. It atrophies the brain, and the manners.

For larger packages, I would go with UPS. Their facilities are much more modern than FedEx's. I worked in both when I was younger, and I was shocked at how brutally things like new computers were tossed about and slammed at FedEx. One reason may be that they're nonunion, so there are fewer supervising eyes on the floor.

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif The USPS has always been good to me. Never lost a package or had any significant damage. Sometimes they take a day or two longer than they should, but I don't get exercised over that. If I miss a package, I can easily pick it up on Saturday morning at the local office. UPS and FedEx are much, much more difficult to get missed packages from. Last time I missed UPS twice, I had to give them something like $6 to have it rerouted to my office. FedEx has a counter, but it's farther away and always seems to have idiots in front of me. Typically, people who show up with an unpacked item, pack it on the counter and asking approximately 300 questions about costs and hypotheticals about delivery. I once waited nearly two hours with three people ahead of me.

Like i said earlier, with UPS, I get the info-notice number, punch it into the website, and request will-call.

If i do it early enough in the evening, i can get it that night. If not, I pick it up on the way home the next evening.

After-hours will-call is weird because technically they are closed when you get there, but only technically because they're still in there unloading trucks and whatnot. You just go in the employee entrance and down a hall to an office where a clerk has a half dozen evening will-call packages waiting. I've done this many times.

At FedEx, yeah, i have to show up a little before closing time and just hope the driver is back. And yes, there is always someone packing something on the counter and asking 300 questions, and only one clerk working the desk. Annoying, but it can be done.

In my experience the USPS is the least cooperative of the three, and if they end all saturday services that means I'll have to be more than 2 hours late for work if ever i have to sign for anything in person. Why? because i work for a living, and fate has it that i work for a living a good 40 miles from home.

An additional factor here is the selective blindness of the customer service reps at my bank. I don't typically have things shipped to work because my work address isn't referenced on my visa account.

I know that this can be done. I've done it at least three times. But i have to talk to 10 service reps at the bank before i find the one that knows that it can be done. Most of them tell me that it is impossible.

And i haven't had that kind of patience yet, since getting my current job.

And of course ebay & other paypal transactions have to go to the one address paypal knows about.

 

[ChromeJob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by koven /img/forum/go_quote.gif USPS to propose 5-day mail schedule, major cuts - Yahoo! Finance Thoughts?

S*** service for too-high prices. I've had more packages lost by them in 14 months than in my previous 40-odd years.

I use Fedex Ground now, cheaper (with my account), more reliable, with tracking and guaranteed delivery built-in.

It's a sophomoric view, I know, but I wouldn't give a rat's patoot if the USPS just died and crumbled away.

 

[BryanP]

I've shipped I would say probably hundreds of items in the past decade and never had a SINGLE issue with USPS. Everything sent Priority or Airmail made it without delays, not sure if I'm lucky here, but they've been extremely reliable. The only thing that sucks is the lack of semi-real time tracking (unless you only want to know if something been delivered lol... not talking about that kind of 'semi tracking'), but at least things have arrived on time with some sort of confirmation.

I've had the stupidest stuff happen with Fedex and UPS(and it's not my fault, I put in MY part to actually be at home to wait). USPS Priority I've sent things to the east coast in 3 days where UPS and Fedex taken up to 5 days using "home delivery" or "express" for an interstate package (within 500 miles). They also have a habit of leaving packages (expensive ones at times) without even a signature even though it requires a direct sig.

The tracking is awesome and helps when I'm highly anticipating something, but it hurts when they can't fulfill things on their end.

I wouldn't hesitate to use the services despite the fact I'm talking pretty negatively because all-in-all, the packages have arrived safely. But in comparison to USPS, I haven't really had great experience with the other shipping services.

 

[robm321]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecclesand /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually, they are a quasi-government institution in that they do NOT operate off our tax dollars.

While it's technically independent, It's owned by the government and run by the The President's appointees along with the post master general. To me, that's run by the government. Others may see it differently.

They get a small amount from taxes ~$100 million. I was mainly assuming a future bailout.

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob_McBob /img/forum/go_quote.gif Fixed.

Enlighten me?

 

[Mutarotation]

As a foreigner ordering a lot of stuff from the US, I'm, actually quite pleased with the service and speed provided by the USPS. Their tracking system is a lot better than the Danish post's, and their rates are reasonable.