I can remember the days when you could send a letter with just a name and town, and they would get it. The carriers knew everybody.
I sent out statements this week to remind two customers about unpaid invoices. The first one told me the check was mailed 5/16. I thought maybe they were mistaken, did it really get sent, etc. Today the other customer told me they mailed their check on the 19th (today is the 30th).
So, I went to the post office. The woman there looked at me like "what do you want me to do?". So, she shuffled (I mean walking slooow) into the back, and came out about 10 minutes later saying if they weren't sent certified, there was nothing they could do. Who sends checks by certified mail? I asked what I could do. She had no answer. Basically, they don't care.
A year or two ago I sent a check to a local company that collects taxes for a whole bunch of surrounding communities. They are located in the same town as I am. I would imagine they receive more mail than almost any other address in my town. I transposed digits on the address. It came back 15 days later saying "address unknown". By then, of course, my tax payment was late. I realize it probably was a computer that rejected it, but 15 days? And of course no one could manually check that, that would be too much to ask.
This thread isn't long for this world, but I'll chime in anyway.
I receive my health care at the VA facility in Boise. The care is top-notch. Of the over 1,000 facilities nation-wide we have potential issues at 42. Those howling the loudest are the same elected officials who just threw our benefits and funding in the toilet to make a political point.
Rant over, Tom
a personal observation..
about government jobs:
Anybody with any ambition is scorned and eventually demoted or "cornered" in the basement. Reason? You make everybody else, including your boss, look bad. Like they needed the help, anyway.
I've never seen a bureaucratic government position that was filled by anybody that cared about anything but "quitting time". I realize there are a few folks in positions that care and try to do their part. It's probably only a matter of time until their budget is cut.
In the case of the Veteran's Admin it's double-trouble because so many's well being depends on someone who actually cares. Apparently none of them care. Sad state of affairs.
Lyrics written in 1968 but still fitting 46 years later.
I'm pretty sure if you google around you could pin point the law which was signed circa 2005 that is considered to be an overt attempt to destroy the USPS.
Someteen years ago, my youngest wrote a letter to grandma and addressed the envelope herself in her 5 year-old scrawl. I inspected it prior to stamping and mailing it for her. I admit it was not the best handwriting but in my humble opinion it was legible. It came back about three weeks later marked "illegible". The return address was more "illegible" than the to address. I was livid and the wife wisely forbade me to take it in to the post office personally.
Interestingly enough, I am one of the aforesaid gub'mint employees. My office is in the back corner of the basement too. Can't make everybody happy, but we at least give it a try. Maybe it's the rural location but I've gotten my mail with only my name being correct. I guess it all depends on where you're at.
Humans Do Not Touch Mush Mail These Days
There are thousands of small Post Offices who dump all the mail in a box and send it to a computer facility. The local postmaster is forbidden to read the address and put it in the right box until it has traveled more than 100 miles and sent through dozens of machines. Then it comes back to the Post Office and is put in a box 4' from where it was a few days ago or delivered to a house across the street.
Every time a machine touches mail it has a better chance of being lost that when it is touched by a human.
Some how or other all that wasted fuel is a time saver.
They have done way with local mail boxes or mail slots at the post office.
In years past most cities had 3 times a day delivery. A local store could send a postcard to order office supplies and have the supplies delivered in that afternoon's last delivery.
My father had a business in a small town. We walked to the Post Office three times a day to get mail and often times repair parts.
Somehow we are supposed to be better off?
Pauil in PA
Humans Do Not Touch Mush Mail These Days
Yes, in my town, to mail a letter to someone in the same town, they load it on a truck and drive it two hours down the road, then ship it back the following day. Nobody can explain it to me, including the postal employees.
Thank you, B-man
For your response as well as for your service.
Don
a personal observation..
I've never seen a bureaucratic government position that was filled by anybody that cared about anything but "quitting time"
No offence, old partner, but maybe you need to get out of Okllahoma, or Pakistan or where ever the heck you get that attitude from, more often. That's just ignorant.
Sorry, but you pissed me off. I am a government employee these days and your b.s. mindset is way off base.
And I don't need your anecdotes, I've got some too.
Don
Freaking Government Workers
NM
Humans Do Not Touch Mush Mail These Days
Was not that long ago there were two drop slots, LOCAL & OUT OF TOWN, in every post office. Local was hand canceled, hand sorted and in the carrier's sort box (or the in post office mail box) at end of shift.
Don
Didn't mean to piss-off anybody ol' buddy. Just speakin' my mind.
I too was a government employee for a number of years and, sadly, that was my personal observation, as I stated.
Don
I'm sorry, Paden.
I'm probably drunk.
Here, let me ask my wife....
Yup, I am.
Disregard everything I just said.
I love you, bro.
Don
Just my 2 cents.
I've been employed in State service for 15 years. For the first 10 I gave it all I had. But after being jerked around and seeing how many others did so little and not get demoted or fired it has put me in a different mind-frame.
I don't give a P___ what others do. I go in and do whatever I'm allowed to do and go home with a clear conscience, every day - 5 days a week. If I didn't I'd be all twisted up inside. I know 'cause that used to be exactly what happened. For 10 long years.
I matured and just realized I'm not going to change the world by getting upset. Doesn't make any difference if I did. Nobody cared. But I still maintain my work ethic as best I can. It means taking up my cross everyday and trudging on. In Gub'mint service its all about the politics; and I don't play that game.
Just my 2 cents.
Likewise.
I enjoy the heck out of my job most of the time and I don't have to spend very much time in the office which helps tremendously.
Don
I tried to be annoyed but I just filled my glass with Speyburn 10 and considering you are a respected member of this forum I let it roll off like water off of a ducks back.
Government is slow and inefficient but the private only cares about speed and profits. I've been on both sides and there are good people in both and bad people too. In the private it's the brother-in-law there because of nepotism who shows up a 9am keeping the rest of the crew waiting 3 hours. In the govt it's the lazy no account who no one bothers to try to fire because even if you succeed they will get a sympathetic ear in the Skelly hearing (a Calif innovation like most of our common law, it's innovative), so everyone else just tries to limit the damage caused by this person.
What can I say.
Like Mapman said, I just do my job and I'm fortunate to work with a group of top notch people, everyone pulls their weight.
Humans Do Not Touch Mush Mail These Days
My God! I'd forgotten all about that.
Another "thing" from our past vanished.
Bluetooth
USPS and UPS always provided great service here until....
USPS started suffering when a new postmaster took over locally and started changing some of the delivery routes. Classic case of "If it is not broken don't fix it" syndrome.
Then Katrina came and a post office that was wiped off the face of the earth below New Orleans was located to our post office. Then to reopen the New Orleans Post Office all mail here would be trucked as Paul P mentions to New Orleans and then back for local delivery.
Then we had a mail carrier who was constantly trying to multi task by talking on their phone during delivery using a Bluetooth device. Lots of goof ups.
UPS for many years provided great parcel service here but our current UPS guy has the phone/Bluetooth thing going on and he is a constant screw-up. IF you are expecting a UOS delivery, you need to get alerts sent to you because the chance that this UPS driver is going screw it up somehow while chatting away.
