Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Post Office... Peak of Efficiency

Once again, USPS has showed how efficient they are.

This isn't life-or-death, but it just irks me.

Sunday, I ordered a product from Midway and they sent me an email stating it was ready for shipment, that afternoon. I knew it wouldn't get mailed until Monday, but that's ok. Estimated arrival Friday. Seemed like a long time for a shell holder to get here, but again ok. Gotta fudge a little to make sure it gets there 'on time'.

It arrived in Shreveport (35 miles from me) yesterday (Wednesday). Hey great, it will be in the mail today... wrong! Just got thru checking and the estimated delivery is now Saturday.

The Epitome of Efficiency!

Rant over.

have it shipped ups then.

Nice whine!

Timely subject.

I bought a gun from a member of another board and he shipped it from Fla to Minneapolis FFL.
It took 15 days, just got it today.

I am hoping perhaps by year 3 Trump gets around to privatizing the PO....maybe then they will figure out you don't send all the window tellers on lunch break together at noon, just when all the customers are lining up on their lunch hour....

To ensure it takes at least ten days, unless of course one wants to pay double. In that scenario, as inefficient as I agree the postal service is, one would then be better paying for priority mail. There's only one service worse and as, if not more, expensive as/than UPS and that is FedEx.

When they privatize the Post Office, stamps will go to a buck and a half at least and customer service won't get any better.

Shipped a rifle I sold to a fellow campfire member via usps (heavily padded!) from MD to OR on 14 April with an expected delivery 21 April and it arrived at his FFL on 19 April. 6 Days with standard ground shipping.

I guess there is just no telling.

I like the "if it fits it ships" boxes. But.. I just ordered some grips from a source in Tampa. They went from Tampa to Opa Locka, back to Tampa, and then the tracking info said "invalid tracking number".

You just can't make this stuff up.

Yep. People don't seem to realize how good the PO does 99% of the time

It seems that they don't even try to be efficient, rather the exact opposite. My pet peeve is those who show up with packages totally unprepared to ship. The clerks help these dolts pack (using P.O. supplys) while the line of those waiting stretches out the door. Why can't customers like that be required to step to the back of the line while preparing their packages?

I mail and get mail. Never a problem, guess I'm lucky, So far

If I mail a check to my bank in Deming, which is 80 miles away, three business days is about the fastest that it will get there. It has to go to El Paso, TX, first. If I mail a check to our bank in Lordsburg (35 miles away), same deal. First class mail from Douglas, Arizona, 70 miles away takes 4-5 days to get here. USPS routing sucks.

However, just about everything from Cabelas or Midway arrives a day or two before their declared delivery date--sometimes even sooner. Go figure.

In Jackson, if someone comes to the counter without the package being ready to go (minus postage that is) they are asked to step aside while they finish the packing job. I have no idea why any post office branch wouldn't do the same.

If I were to try and mail a letter from one side of Jackson to the other, it has to go to Salt Lake City first, then come back. It's all about decisions that were made when fuel was a whole lot cheaper. Inertia keeps it going.

Totally agree with the pricing of a privatized post office.

The problem with a 99% "good" rate, however, is when you understand the post office handles 154.2 billion pieces of mail per year according to 2016 data. At a 1% problem rate, that means 1.542 BILLION mishandled pieces of mail each year. Divide that number by the population of the U.S. and it is instantly clear why you hear a lot of bitchin' about USPS.

Yep. True that.

I retired from USPS as a rural mail carrier. I will be the first to admit that there are problems, which is why I was glad to get out. But, for every "bad" employee, there are thousands more who actually do a good job, without any recognition. Actually, the Post Office is "privatized" to a certain degree, as it get's no federal funding. Yet, it has to pay into the feds for employee benefits, such as retirement. It is also mandated by Congress as to how much to charge for stamps, and also barred from closing small offices that probably need to be closed. I get pretty good service here as far as the time it takes to receive packages.

To be clear, I am not knocking the USPS. The logistics of moving that many packages and letters, etc. is staggering and the prices they charge are reasonable for what you receive. I have had some issues like most I people I know, but only one instance had serious consequences.

That said, perhaps a 1% failure rate shouldn't be the goal as 1.5 billion "bads" should be improved on. I have no idea what the actual problem rate is - I was only taking the number used by a previous poster. It does show that sooner or later you will have a problem if you continue to use USPS. Simply the odds and the price of doing business. Alternative providers aren't doing any better from the post I see in this forum.

I agree. I like the USPO over them all. I've been paying my bills via the mail for 40+ years. Never had a problem with the check getting there on time.