I find the need to show an ID to use my credit card at a post office to be annoying. I can understand the need to ensure that the person changing an address or getting a passport is who s/he says s/he is, but the routine check to buy stamps or mail a package is not necessary. I asked the postal employee yesterday whether the PO gets a lot of fraudulent use of credit cards that makes the check necessary and she assured me that it did. However, I find no news stories on such offenses. The stories instead detail theft of credit cards by postal service employees, use of credit card scanners on self-service machines, etc. (It also seems to me that such offenses would have to be pursued by the owner of the credit card, not the post office, which actually got its money.) Maybe you should look into this policy (if indeed it is one).

My husband and I filled out a mail forwarding form for the Ann Arbor, MI post office for 2 months. We are in St. Petersburg, FL The mail was to go to our sons house in Troy Michigan. After not receiving ordered medicine ( 3 weeks late) I called our pharmacy rep and found that the medicine had been shipped to a PO box in San Diego and returned to the pharmaceutical rep as non deliverable We are now concerned about our additional bills and legal information floating around. Please contact us immediate.

The USPS offices in Laredo, Texas have the worst service, unfriendly and no customer service at all. No one ever answers the phones to help customers . The passport service is always closed . They don't post when they are not going to open so we won't waste our time driving over there. It is the Worst government agency in Laredo,Texas. They need to go to a seminar to teach them friendliness and customer service.
Please help do something about this.

With the way mail is changing why should we keep the way we vote on stamps. I respect all the past people and things honor on the stamps but what if every state could have a way of honoring oridinary people as well as the federal. Honoring someone when they are dead does not make sense they could enjoy what their leagacy was. I don't mean honoring serial killers or criminals hard working people who derserve to know what they did when they were alive. For example Bobby Bowden,Derek jeter I have alist of oridnarty people I would love to see on stamp. Wy is it that Government refuses to change when it is them in the wrong,

Turn over the postal system to private companies and cut loose all the employees to where they are all private. This way attitude and service will improve along with productions and this way it can show a profit not losses. The new postal system is really a joke no one is held accountable and the tail is waging the dog. This has to be stopped I certainly hope Fed Ex or UPS takes it over then maybe things will run efficiently and there will be employee accountability. The postal employees specially the ones doing customer service need to understand that their jobs are not a ten year that they can be there for ever and retire even if they do a bad job.

Thanks a lot!!!!

Excuse my impertinence, but I thought the USPS OIG was supposed to be an independent entity that weeded out fraud, waste and abuse, at ALL levels. Why does it seem like your office is only gunning for rank-and-file workers, who for the most part, are only where they are because of management? Why don't we ever hear about waste at management level? Hasn't anyone looked into the practice of detailing EAS to other offices for no other reason, it seems, than to collect per diems, that I know must range into the millions of dollars annually. Or has anyone questioned how a RIF could occur in the EAS ranks, yet no one actually lost their job (according to the NAPS website)? It seems you are just trying to fulfill the PMG's goals of slashing the people that actually process the mail while bad managers just get moved around.

I have the same concern about international packages. We also create the labels via Endicia. Up through the end of July 2009, if our carrier individually scanned the international packages, they at least showed up as having been accepted into the mailstream. Now they no longer do, even though our carrier still has been scanning them.

This really makes us look bad, as our customers think that we never actually MAILED their packages!

Yes, I know that for $1 I could purchase "proof of mailing"... but that's not really the point. If a barcoded label has already been created, what's so hard / costly about just doing an acceptance scan? It makes such a big difference to the sender, and also the recipient!

Does anyone thought of combining the mail handler's union and clerks' union into just one union for function 1? Why not rewrite the contract so that it applies to both mailhandlers and clerks. This will help the managers understand and apply the contract effectively. It will be less confusion, less grievances and most of all we can maximize the use of our employees. Of course we can reduce the union stewards in our facilities who most of the time spending their time soliciting grievances instead of performing their jobs. We don't have to deal with different Union stewards who themselves are confuse of their own contract. And the worst part, shop stewards asking for monetary settlement with their ridiculous grievances. Don't they think they are part of the problem why Post Office is now in this situation?

I heard a rumor that due to the bailout (one of the many billion-dollar bailouts) the USPS (OIG and IS included) is getting sub-compact cars that no one in the general public wants. And they are all the same color. These are all left-overs from 2009. It won't be too hard to see the OIG or IS investigators coming or watching someone (imagine 4 cars-all the same make, model and color... following a suspect). But I'm sure some bureacrat in DC will pat himself on the back for making this deal. Where's the leadership on this? In the dealership?

Whose bright idea is it not to case dps up in the morning? CLerk cut off time at the station is 10:30, adn they eat, talk, read, and use the phone to draw it out to that time. Meanwhile the carriers are up and waiting for the last few letters and flats to be thrown. Noting to do because the pp clerk is in on it and dones not get done till then also. So carriers have to wait when dps could be cased and save street time. Some nut who has never carried mail thinks they know how. You want to save money ask a carrier. When there was no automation we started at 6 a.m. left about 9 back around 3. There were 2 supervisors and 1 on Sat. The place ran great, we helped each other all was fine. Now the place is going to hell in a hand basket.

I would love to see a blog chain started discussing Surface Visibility Scanning logistics (unless the powers that be think that needs to be addressed internally). I am part of the team working on it at my plant and the numbers I see from across the nation tell me that no plant is achieving consistent 100% compliance with this new system.

With the recent postal employee reductions, we are seriously short handed for implementing this time consuming process. My plant is struggling to get all the Placard Assigns done let alone scanned onto every local truck. And I have no idea how management expects us to meet the scanning "requirements" onto the trucks during morning dispatch and meet the dispatch deadlines when we are shorthanded and the bulk of the mail comes at the last minute.

Yes, I know there is internal resistance, however, we have been told it is here to stay. I would love to see a string started discussing how people are handling the challenges of this new system or sharing ideas for improvement.

I think when the system is up and running the way it is "supposed" to it will address the concerns about tracking parcels expressed above by USPSCustomer. And it would be wonderful to be able to track a parcel through USPS like I can through FEDEX. Then maybe he wouldn't feel the need to switch shippers over the holidays. However, we have a ways to go yet.

I think this blog is an excellent idea. I think a blog like this is going to do a good job at getting employees to open up and voice their opinions in their own words. The concept of VOE is a good one, but I think that it has limitations in what it can do.


Here is something that I am hoping someone would explain to me:
Why hasn't anybody in upper management notice that the gaping difference in expense between delivering to a PO box and curbside delivery is significant enough to consider offering customers a free PO box in lieu of curbside delivery? Yes, you would lose the $42 in revenue from the box rental, BUT you would be saving over $100 per delivery point a year by not delivering to the curbside address. In this case, it would be the expense side of the equation that would benefit, and if only 1 percent of delivery customers took up this option, USPS would save over $100 million in delivery expenses. In addition, if many of these PO boxes were used at level 11-13 office, there would be a significant increase in employee productivity.
Because the PO box would be free, the customer would still have a free form of delivery offered to them. If they wanted curbside delivery and the PO box, then they would pay for the PO box.


What do you think?

Especially bad timing for the reissuance of the EID Stamp, since it celebrates Ramadan, which is already over. Otherwise, it is a beautiful and righteous stamp.

This Blog is a great idea. I served 7 yrs with the USPS as a window clerk, and mail clerk, and wish we had this when I was active. Right now there is much controversy over the EID stamp and its re issue. Many Americans are outraged with its release "as a Christmas" stamp with the war continuing to claim our US Soldiers. Is there any comment the USPS has on this. I agree, it is bad timing.

Rufus,

A CBU, is a Cluster Box Unit $(1500.00 plus). They are put out on the street in lieu of a customer supplying their own box. In the past year or so, the Postal Service has at least been having the contractors that build houses to supply their own unit which is a big plus for us. On the negative side, we have to install arrow locks, (the main access lock the carrier uses and parcel locker access). Depending on the unit, this can be up to three locks, and depending on where the unit is located, can take up to two hours or more. We also maintain the parcel lock access to these units. It is a favorite action of the local kids to break the keys off in these units. Again, more maintenance. Also, by breaking into the carrier access, the I.D. thieves now have access to up to sixteen boxes. The construction of these units by Auth-Florence is less than desirable and sometimes down right dangerous. They are also a favorite target of graffiti and gang signs.

EAS are the managerial staff.

FSSP is a program instituted about three years ago that funnel a postmaster's request for maintenance through a central location and determines maintenance responsibility, either of the Post Office, or the lease owner. In that respect, it has been successful, forcing a lease owner to take responsibility for buildings that we pay a considerable amount of rent for. In other respects it has created a bottle neck and taken away much of our ability to do "while you're here" work. And lately, with cost cutting measures, we have been severely hand tied on making simple purchases to help out an office.

In reply to "Hacksaw" - thanks for the feedback. I undestand what you are saying about the sender paying for delivery. I guess the point I was trying to make is that .42 cents in now way covers the cost to deliver a letter. I say we deliver to the destinating post office for .42 cents and make the customer come and pick it up, or charge an annual fee for delivery to their home. When my customers complain about the rate increase I say, "Well if you think about it, you can't even start your car these days for .42 cents. Actually I can't think of anything else you can buy for .42 cents - not a pack a gum or a candy bar, nothing that I can think of." You should see their expression change as they leave the post office realizing they are getting a very good deal. People value home delivery and I think they would be willing to pay for it. I would be willing to pay for it.

In reply to "Concerned" - what a great idea you have about selling advertising rights on our carriers uniforms, mailbags and LLVs! I hope it flies.

One more idea I had while lying in bed last night - I guess my blood really is postal blue after all these years - I was thinking about when you go to the airport how there are so many other services besides transportation offered there, such as car rental, shoe shine, nail salon, coffee shop, etc. What if we would be willing to sublet part of our owned facilities for services that are convenient to our customers such as a local credit union, hair salon, etc. What they would pay us in rent could contribute to the cost of running our facilities. It may be a little far fetched but all great ideas start somewhere.

And kudos to the Inspector General for asking for our input and realizing that some of the greatest ideas come from those of us who work the mail.

I'll stop blogging now as I don't want to use more than my fair share of space and allow some others to jump in. See ya!

Hi, I'm replying as a USPS business customer - my annual postage purchases are approximately $80,000. I used to ship via FedEx and UPS but now ship 95% of my packages via USPS (the other 5% are requests from customers to ship via their preferred carrier)

The main reason why I switched to USPS is because of the low cost and reliability of the postal service. Some of my major annoyances are:

1. High frequency of lost packages - almost 1 in every 10 package always gets lost. Somehow my packages never make it from the local post office to the san bernardino processing center. Or maybe they make it there.. but get misplaced in that center?

2. Delayed processing of international priority mail packages - 90% of the time, international priority mail packages take about 5 days just to leave the United States.

3. The MOST important annoyance - primitive tracking system. Yes, USPS has given us business customers some benefit with the USPS Scan Form (so our impatient customers will know that the package is in the system)

There are so many times when signature confirmation/delivery confirmation does not work. For e.g. if a package is delivered to someone, the tracking will still show (even after a month) "Package is at post office on so and so date and this time" or "We attempted to deliver package but no one was available. Please pick up from post office" something like that.

When customers file a credit card dispute, I lose out when the tracking does not show that the package was delivered (even though it was)

Reliability of tracking is a major concern. Lost packages is a major loss of revenue - and I don't understand how any insurance claim would be valid. For e.g.

If I ship an international package (endicia supplies no SCAN forms for international packages) - the carrier picks it up.. and after 7-10 days the tracking shows 'USPS has received date for shipping package. This does not indicate actual receipt by usps'

Now say the package is lost. Will my insurance claim be valid? USPS might say that 'Hey, you never shipped out the package because tracking does not show anything' What am I supposed to do then? Video tape every package going out and being handed to the carrier?

There have been times when I handed over international packages to the retail clerk at the post office - those get lost, and the tracking shows nothing.

So if the USPS wants to boost it's revenues - instead of raising prices, they need to update their tracking systems and ensure that there are no lost packages (or at least a reduced incidence) 1 in 10 packages being lost is quite a high rate (during the holiday season this increases even more - i switch to fedex during nov-december)

Apart from these major concerns, I love everything about the USPS. I love the free carrier pickup service, and major props to the patient USPS employees! Thanks.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Nightline/story?id=5996279&page=1

Hmmmm.....wonder if this story will be covered on this blog?

How to increase revenue? Where do I begin?.....
I keep hearing about the number of craft employees that have been let go, yet the number of managers stays the same. Just think how much money could be saved actually reducing management numbers. Yet we read weekly how a new V.P. position has been established, even though supposedly we are losing money.

You really want to generate some revenue? Sell advertising to be placed on carriers clothing, much like Nascar drivers. Sound ridiculous? I'm sure there are companies who would love to have that kind of advertising being seen by the public on a daily basis. Or just have one company "sponsor" our uniforms or trucks, paying a one-time upfront fee. Sell the naming rights to all post offices; Such as the Anytown "Best Buy" Post Office.

Hey heidiho, who says we deliver mail for free? The sender pays us to deliver it, not the recipient. You are right about forwarding, we should charge a small fee. Keep thinking and you will hit the million dollar idea.

I would like to see Post Masters used more effectively...Some manage offices with 20 routes or less while others do 75 or a 100...Have them manage at least 50 routes each...The savings across america could be $500,000,000... Or small offices use Part time supervisors or (rotateing)Like a Part Time Flexable employee..Again the savings is in the millions...The carriers do most of the work I think its time to go after some other areas