The U.S. Post Office and I are parting ways as much as possible (sometimes one must mail things, but I’ll use UPS or E-cards as much as possible). They drive me nuts! They keep upping their postage while their services stink and shrink daily. They blame their problems on everyone but themselves and I’m sick of it.
They had competition for online postal services so they made themselves a website, too, but you can only send via the most expensive ways from there otherwise you have to schlep your packages to their brick and mortar store to mail it at a more reasonable price.
Yesterday I had a 19 pound box of books to mail to my uncle in Fort Myers. As I do every year, I made my postage label from Stamps.com, got my box ready and called the Post Office, as I had previously been told to do, to advise them there would be a pick up at my house the next day. I got a snippy man who told me they don’t do that. Since I’ve been doing this for many years I asked why and was told it was a new rule from Homeland Security and they couldn’t pick this package up unless it weighs less than 13 ounces. This is so the carriers will not be carrying hazardous material around with them endangering their lives.
Now if I sent this through their online site via Priority Mail (or the more expensive Express mail) and paid double what Media Mail costs I could have also scheduled online a next day pick-up of the very same box. Since I became disabled I am not supposed to lift more than 10 pounds so had help here at home getting the package ready and to the door. Under 13 ounces, huh? Wonder how much all those envelopes that carried anthrax to all those government and newspaper offices a while back weighed.
No doubt those more lethal items were carried around through regular carriers and routed through more than one post office but they were OK because they weighed the proper amount. Makes no sense to me. When I first became disabled and during my over two- year fight to get approved my Mom and I sold items on Ebay. I did the computer stuff, she did the packaging and my wonderful mailman picked multiple boxes up daily. He told me just put a note in my mail box that I had packages and he’d come to door and get them.
We did this for over a year and a half then he was transferred and the next time I put this note in the box a very unhappy looking, unpleasant woman came to the door to inform me in no uncertain terms that things just were not done this way.
If I had a package I had to either go online and schedule a pick up which I could only do if I was mailing the aforementioned expensive ways or call the local office and inform them I would be having a package the next day so she would know and have room to carry it. I explained that I was only doing what her predecessor had told me to do and had been doing for quite some time.
She was adamant that I could not do this anymore. I called the Postmaster and he backed her up, naturally. About this time we had started slowing down on Ebay because it was becoming too much for Mom and me so the package issue resolved itself since I rarely had them anymore and truly didn’t wish to deal with this unpleasant woman in any case. She’s strange.
If I get a package that doesn’t fit in the box, she trucks herself all the way to my door with it but leaves the other mail in the box. If she is not on, I find the box with the other mail wrapped in a rubber band (and usually they have picked up my newspaper as well) placed on top of the box thus saving me the walk to the mailbox.
Since walking is difficult for me this is much appreciated. When I called to ask the Postmaster if Mrs. Unpleasant could do the same he backed her again and said she is doing right and it’s the carrier’s decision if they want to do what I was asking. I just dropped that whole issue.
After the brouhaha over the package yesterday, I hauled it to the post office myself, which I shouldn’t have done and am paying for it today with back pain worse than usual. I went in and asked if someone could come get the box which a worker did and that was that but I, as you can no doubt tell, am still steaming from the experience.
Also, after all that I decided I didn’t use Stamps.com very much anymore mostly used them for the box of books I send my uncle twice a year and really couldn’t afford to keep paying them $15.99 a month so I called to cancel. A very nice lady asked me why and I told her about the day’s problem with the box.
Come to find out Stamps.com is a highly rated provider for the post office and they (the post office) are obligated to pick up my package, she informed me. She inquired if I mentioned the postage was from them and I told her the snippy man didn’t ask and I wasn’t aware of that agreement between the post office and their company.
She wanted me to call my post office and tell them that but I told her I didn’t want anything more to do with that post office and she could have someone call them if she liked. They should be informed of the rules. So, from now on I will avoid the USPS unless there is just no other way.
It’s no wonder they are drowning in losses and thinking of cutting the delivery days to 5 instead of six. Apparently I am not the only one who has opted out of their services.
No matter what problems you may be having this holiday season please don't forget the less fortunate among us. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a New Year that is on the upturn for us all.