United States Postal Service Consumer Reviews - Page 6

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA -- Priority mail shipped from NC to AZ on 10/9/15. 10/16/15 still waiting. Tracking is a joke. According to their personnel the tracking updates don't necessarily mean that is where it is. Calling the 800 number; forget about it, endless loop of a bs phone system. Some vendors will only ship via USPS. Those are now vendors I will never purchase from. Only the government can have such a jacked up system. UPS and FEDEX for now on!!!!!!!

NEW JERSEY -- A package shipped priority from Florida to New Jersey was delivered completely mangled, not to mention late, as it was out for delivery in the wrong town, TWICE. The package was wedding invitations and they were tossed all about the box, some with torn/bent corners, some completely not even usable. So thank you USPS, for making me spend more money to order more invites to replace the ones that were destroyed - to which I will spend even more money shipping them through another service since you have proved time and time again how careless you are.

ALLENDALE, MICHIGAN -- Sent a package on Monday, February 8th. It was supposed to be received by Wednesday, February 10th. It was finally dropped in the "parcel locker" at my apartment complex on Saturday. BUT, the mail person was supposed to leave a key to the parcel locker in my mailbox, and they did not. I called the post office and explained the situation, and the woman said that she would get back to me, took my phone number and said the situation would be resolved. It has not been resolved, she has not called, I am furious.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA -- I recently moved to San Diego around a month ago and it has been hard to find work. Talking with friends from where I moved from they all decided to chip in and send me some cash. Along with the cash a good friend of mine included a motherboard and processor for my broke down computer. He sent both together in an express box thinking that would be the fastest and cheapest way to get me what I needed and in time. Leave it to the post office to seize the package claiming the money was intended to purchase medical marijuana. WHAT??

How they made this decision I am not certain. I have never even mailed an envelope from San Diego since I have been here. All the information on the box was accurate for both the sender and myself so no flags there. Still they seized the package and it has been two days now and no communication since. Both myself and my friend who mailed the package have tried to get a hold of the inspector. Left multiple voicemail messages; none of them returned.

I have already filed a complaint with the inspector general and am looking on the internet for anywhere else I can express my disgust. So apparently it seems to be legal for an employee of the postal service to just assume something and that is all that is required to seize your personal belongings.

It is not illegal to send any amount of cash through the post office as long as its intent is legal. Also the burden is on the post office to prove otherwise which so far they have not. In the meantime I am out the money and belongings sent in the package and every friend who contributed is also out their money and that is what angers me the most. My friends cared enough to get together and send me some cash to help me out and this is what they get for being kind.

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA -- The USPS "Click-N-Ship" service is promoted as being easy and simple to use. It IS easy until you try printing out a label. This online service is an unfriendly user. After all the time I've spent online just trying to print a shipping label, I could have made a trip to the post office. They take all your shipping info (AND your money), and then, good luck trying to print out the label. I tried for two hours to get my label to print. I even switched browsers, and went in from different directions. Nothing helped! But wouldn't you know, they got my money right away, and I got NO shipping label.

Something else with Click-N-Ship happened a few months ago. I was just trying to get an estimate, and they charged me before I was given a chance to agree to anything. There was no "YES", no "Complete transaction", nothing to click on. It just went through and charged directly to my account. I had to wait weeks for a refund. The USPS website appears to be user-friendly, but is, in fact, just an unfriendly user. Difficult to navigate and it loops you into areas you don't want to be in. I now use FedEx and UPS as much as possible.

No wonder they're losing money! I feel sorry for the carriers, as they are overworked (I have a carrier friend), but much could be accomplished if they would only get their website straight. CALLING ALL GEEKS! Their site needs a SERIOUS makeover!

And here's one for a laugh: Three different times I have gone to the USPS website and tried to have my mail held while I was on vacation. The first time, even though there was a "resume" date, I had to contact the local post office and remind them to deliver my old mail; the second time, they completely lost ALL of my mail (they claimed I had not received any mail at all during that period); the third time, they ignored the online request and squashed 2-1/2 weeks of mail into my tiny mailbox.

When I called to ask about it, I was told I needed to go to the local post office to make sure they got the message!!! OK, so what is the point of online services if you have to go to the post office anyway??? I am SOOOOO disgusted with these guys.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA -- I have the misfortune to live in Henrico County, VA just outside Richmond, Va. Of course, in their wisdom, the USPS assigned my community a Richmond Zip Code forcing us to deal with the East End Richmond Post Office, better known because of its plastic shields at the counter and locked areas, the "War Zone".

For 12 years I have suffered and complained to the Post Master General and the local post office by telephone (try to use their online complaint e-mail forms and you will probably find as I do that they do not work - broken links, locked fields, etc.) about: (1) mis-delivered mail, i.e. all mail in my cul de sac delivered to my mailbox, my correctly addressed mail delivered to a person in Richmond with a totally different name and zip code, etc. (2) delivery of my mail consistently after 6:30PM (3) packages not delivered requiring me to pay a cab (I do not drive and there is no bus service) to go to the "War Zone".

The excuses they give me are numerous - can't hire enough people because they, "can't find enough employees to pass the legal requirements and drug testing" (actual quote). They are afraid someone will steal the package if they leave it (UPS and FedEx have no such problem and I have never missed receiving a package), my neighborhood is the last on the route, etc.

I have a family in France and right now I am waiting to call a cab to pick up the package they sent. As usual, it was delivered after 6:30PM and although I was home either the carrier did not use the doorbell or simply knocked once and left. So, I am going to tell my family in Europe to not attempt to send packages and to rely on IM and e-mail for our correspondence.

I will choose the more expensive method of sending my packages by FedEX or UPS. I have already switched to almost exclusively electronic cards and correspondence. It appears to me that if the Post Office wants to become financially viable they might consider providing decent service.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- I agree 100% with the other reviewer here commenting on the Nancy B. Jefferson location. I've lived at this address for 15 years, and have rarely received reliable mail. About 4 years ago I called because myself and my tenant were missing mail, which we still regularly do. The supervisor took my complaint, and then TOLD MY CARRIER, mentioning my name and address. So that, the next time I saw her, she accused me of complaining about her. Nice management skills in evidence, here!

My mail delivery got worse after that -- which was shocking to me. Just kidding. It just makes sense. I was too frightened at that point to ever say anything again. I think I have a different carrier at this time, but they seem to change regularly now, also, so sometimes I get mail, and sometimes/mostly I don't. There's at least one piece (bill) missing each month. I make sure to specify delivery confirmation or insurance on anything being shipped to me, which does seem to help.

They've removed ALL post boxes in my neighborhood so that the nearest one is 8 blocks away, which, in the winter, isn't fun. It's become SUCH a giant hassle for me to mail anything at this point (I work from my home). So to mail anything I need to drive to the post office, about 2 miles away.

I called to have the mailbox that was until recently two blocks from my house replaced, and they said they'd done a study and found it wasn't being used enough and would not be replaced. I'M about to go postal, it's such a hassle for me to get anything in to the mail these days. And they wonder why they're doing so poorly, fiscally? They used to actually be quite profitable.... I wonder what patronage job took over as the CEO or whatever the top Postal job is. Yes, I'm cynical, in a Chicago kind of way.

BEREA, OHIO -- Lately I have been having problems with lost and/or mis-delivered mail to my residence in Berea, OH. On many occasions I have found my mail in my downstairs neighbor's mailbox (he is good at giving me my mail, though). And on a few occasions, I never received certain pieces of mail, including my gas and telephone bills for February and three Netflix DVD's that were supposedly mailed from the Cleveland distribution center on the 11th, and had not arrived as of today, the 17th. (I reported the three DVD's to Netflix as missing, and replacements are supposed to be mailed tomorrow, the 18th.)

Apparently my mail carrier isn't doing a very good job sorting the mail, so I wonder if the missing mail was delivered to other neighbors' houses and not returned. As far as I know, I doubt it if anybody is stealing mail from my mailbox, since I have received other bills and mail.

I had to pay the telephone and gas bills by phone, so I don't fall behind on them. And some days, the mailman is so lazy that he puts the mail for both me and my other neighbor in the third neighbor's mailbox (my building has 3 apartments). I am getting concerned because of the mistakes this mailman is making, since I am missing some mail I receive regularly. I don't want to fall behind on my bills because of the mailman's mistakes.

I'm also debating on whether I should get a post office box and have my mail delivered there instead. This would mean submitting a change of address, though. This is getting ridiculous. These problems usually occur when there is a substitute mailman on my route. The regular mailman rarely makes these mistakes, but more often than not, my mail does end up getting mis-delivered or missing. Whatever mailman who is on my route needs to take his time and make sure the mail is properly separated and delivered. Thank you.

I understand that you should never send cash through the mail. I never have and never will, however it's not always easy to break someone else's ways: My grandmother called me on 1/14/09 and told me she was sending my birthday money ($50) in the mail with a card as she has done every year for the past 20 years. I received the card today, 1/16/09, and found that the envelope had been opened and re-taped, and there was a handwritten note on the back with "sorry opened by mistake delivered to wrong address". Of course, the $50 was missing. On the front of the card, my zip code written by my grandmother as part of my address had been scribbled out, someone else re-wrote my zip code then scribbled it out again, then wrote it a third time on the front of the envelope.

Again, my grandmother has been sending my birthday cards to this same address for the past 10 out of 20 years. She know my correct zip code and prints legibly. I can see through the scribble enough to see that the correct zip code was written originally. In addition, the postal barcode at the bottom clearly reads "18018". I have no reason to believe that this card was delivered to someone's home, opened, and then handed back to the postman for re-delivery for several reasons:

1) If someone is going to steal money after a card was delivered at the wrong residential address, why would the thief bother to give the card back to the postman to redeliver? It would be easier to just throw away the card as though it never existed.

2) The card is postmarked 1/14/09. It has always taken exactly 2 days for mail to come from my grandmother's address to mine. If the card was truly delivered "accidentally" to the wrong zip code, it is not likely that I would have received it until at least the 17th when the postman was able to redeliver it. This gives me reason to believe that the crime was committed by a U.S. postal worker.