USPS Strikes Again
We’ve recently had several experiences with the USPS that would recommend UPS or FedEx instead. The purse incident is the latest.
Several weeks after our daughter had returned to San Francisco after her Thanksgiving visit, I found the above purse in her trash can. Perfectly beautiful with a broken strap. Kids look at problems like this as recyclable. I looked at it as something that could easily be salvaged.
I found matching thread and within 10 minutes had made the purse usable once again. It was way too cute to throw away.
I put it in a mailing envelope and sent it on its way to SF the week of Christmas. That was my first mistake.
But it did have a tracking number and I breathed a sigh of relief when it showed as delivered at 11:44 AM the Thursday before Christmas.
But then my daughter never got the package. Her neighbors hadn’t accepted it. There was no note from the USPS about an attempted delivery. So we eventually assumed it had been stolen.
This never made any sense. No one in his right mind would steal a used and empty purse, especially not one where the strap had been repaired.
Guess what showed up in our mail delivery today! The package mailed 2 months ago and supposedly delivered. I had to wonder where it had been for the past 2 months. I also had to wonder who had reported it as being delivered.
The package did not appear to have been tampered with. So it’s not like the USPS delivery person had kept it, checked it out, and then decided to put it back in the system.
I’m sure we’ll never have answers to these questions. But I feel like asking USPS to return my $4.06. And I feel like telling them I will never again entrust anything I care about to them for delivery.
It’s a good thing my daughter is coming to visit next Saturday. I can personally give her the repaired purse, which happened to be a favorite of hers.
posted by Barbara at 11:22 PM
9 Comments:
USPS is a dying business and many of the folks there have given up. Or so it seems to me.
I love stories like this. Misery loves company, I guess!!!
Merle -- It's too bad. I used to have such high regard for those that carried the mail. Most of them are probably still pretty good. It's just that you want to KNOW your package/letter is going to be delivered when you mail it!
Bev -- Welcome! It is always nice to at least know what happened to something, even if 2 months later.
I would complain to the USPS! They have an interest in doing a good job and wouldn't you like to know what went wrong?
I've had equally bad and befuddling experiences with UPS, so I haven't given up on the USPS.
What I'm taking away from this post is your typical knack for seeing the potential in that discarded purse, retrieving it from the trash, and repairing it. Love you for that.
F.
Bravo for repairing that purse!
I've had some bad encounters with the post office lately, too -- namely the much-delayed delivery of my severance check. (And I just learned the company mailed me ANOTHER check. Ugh!)
This is very weird, though. It was addressed correctly and everything?? Why would the PO say it had been delivered when it hadn't? I'll never trust tracking again!
Jamy -- I would like to discuss this incident with someone at the USPS. I can't figure out how to reach a real person instead of a recorded message. I think this merits someone at a higher level than my local post office, especially since it wasn't their fault.
Anon -- I've always hated to throw good things away without trying to salvage them!
Steve -- So does that mean you now have twice as much severance pay to spend thanks to the USPS? :)
I'm not so sure UPS or FedEx are any better. I've had a lot of mix ups lately, but they all seem the same. And until someone figures out a teleport, we have to do something to get things from one place to another.
HAH!! I can match your story. My Mom sent me a Halloween greeting with a newspaper clipping in it....but it didn't arrive until a week before Christmas! And stamped on it was something like "Found in supposedly empty unused equipment." I called my brother (who is a mail man) and he said I was lucky that I got it that quickly!! Pretty sad, isn't it?
Cheers
M.
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