USPS 1, Signal vs. Noise 0.
Over at the wonderful blog Signal vs. Noise they have discovered the hell that is the United States Postal Service. (The company behind Signal vs. Noise is the great design firm 37Signals, whose stuff we love even if they apparently don’t like smut and won’t work with us.)
Their commentary is pretty mild and polite. Needless to say, I feel no such contraints.
The whole Priority Mail thing is a joke. The USPS pushes it as if it is a guaranteed, door-to-door second day guaranteed service. It is not. Our experience (and we ship a ton of Priority Mail) is that 3-5 days is about the best you can expect . . . if it gets there at all. The USPS provides no insurance on parcels, unless you follow a Victorian-era paperwork system that would make a mockery of our attempt to process customer shipments effectively. And when you do insure parcels, they pay incredibly slowly, if ever, when there is a loss. And there will be a loss.
Even Express Mail, the ultra-expensive premium service, has service commitments that are almost no commitment at all.
The whole thing is a disaster. Kill it, and start over.
posted 10:03I read your comments with interest. I have been a Letter Carrier for the USPS for the last 20 years. We have programs that are in place now that didn't exist before. If you can give me specific information (date mailed, dated picked up, is it delivery confirmation?, where you are located, where you shipped your priority pakage to, etc.) I'll see if we can't get your problems solved.
I, of course, won't stake my life on anything. :-) But, I do look forward to working with you to. Perhaps I can, either give you the name of a real person to talk to, or let you know if we can even begin to solve these problems.
Many of us truly care about our service. Thank you for your time, and I'm sorry we haven't lived up to your expectations yet.
Posted by: Cody Bryan III at July 25, 2004 01:27 PMI read your comments with interest. I have been a Letter Carrier for the USPS for the last 20 years. We have programs that are in place now that didn't exist before. If you can give me specific information (date mailed, dated picked up, is it delivery confirmation?, where you are located, where you shipped your priority pakage to, etc.) I'll see if we can't get your problems solved.
I, of course, won't stake my life on anything. :-) But, I do look forward to working with you to. Perhaps I can, either give you the name of a real person to talk to, or let you know if we can even begin to solve these problems.
Many of us truly care about our service. Thank you for your time, and I'm sorry we haven't lived up to your expectations yet.
Posted by Cody Bryan III at July 25, 2004 01:27 PM
Posted by: Cody Bryan III at July 25, 2004 01:29 PM