can't fight technology

got a message popped up on my phone from amazon saying my canoe seat was delivered at 4:11PM dropped off on my front porch

ok, cool - I was in the workshop around back and go get it later on.

About 2 hours later I go out front and don't see anything so I double check my phone.

oh well - I figured they just got a little anxious about it and it will come tomorrow

Postman drops a package off at the door today and I meet to see if its my canoe seat, nope - some stupid crap my wife ordered so I asked him if he dropped off a package yesterday, told him the story and he said yesterday was my day off, another guy had his route - and he kind of rolled his eyes when he was talking about the guy. Asked me to get my tracking number and check online

So he leaves, I do, says the same thing - 4:11 dropoff on my front porch so now I'm thinking some neighborhood punk stole my stuff but because a punk broke into my sons car about a year ago I bought a surveillance system. But just to check, I call the post office and ask the guy who answers to check on my tracking number.

called them up, asked me to wait, comes back on the line and says the postman told him he dropped it off, remembered that it was a big package and he left it at the front door. Gives my address and then tells me there's been a rash of theft in my neighborhood.

OK, fine , now I'm gonna have to figure out who stole it.

Go to check the video and I see that at 3:06pm, the postman pull up in his toy jeep, drops off my mail and doesn't get out of the car, turns around in my driveway and leaves. No package, nothing. He feet don't touch the ground.

So that's where I am now.

I'm going to make a cordial phone call in the morning and let the post office know they are mistaken. I don't want get into a pissing contest with them - sumbitch will drive by and just throw my mail into the yard or something, but I want my damn canoe seat.

I would give him one chance to make it right, not disclosing I had him on tape, then file a police report.

That sounds like a pending big deal. Postal inspectors and all. Is the guy just mistaken or did he take it? Maybe the shadow knows.

Video is a wonderful thing.......Can't argue about what is in front of your eyes.

I figured he dropped it off at another house by mistake

I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt.

Not sure how I can get them serious about it without mentioning the tape though.

Guy on the phone clearly thinks its dropped off on my front porch and it was stolen.

I'm gonna be mad as hell if someone is sitting in my canoe seat right now.

I would have to call them on it with video in hand. Likely they would then say that no one ever told you it was dropped off.

Post A picture of your dinner. That's what the rest of the ladies would do on face book.
Funny😏

If he's stealing from you, he's also stealing from your neighbors.

Let the police, or postal inspectors, be the one's to show up with the video in hand.

I wouldn't give him that chance. I would go straight to the U.S. Postal Inspector's Office. If this guy has ripped you off, he's doing it to others.

Ed

well, I'm not gonna jump right to the guy being a thief.

Lol never attribute to deviance that which can be explained by total incompetance. I think that's how the saying goes.

I think I'm gonna wait and flag down my regular guy tomorrow and give him the what's what - see if he can handle it and my package suddenly appear on Saturday.

That should be an interesting conversation...."By the way KFWA has surveillance video and you're in it, but not on the porch. And he was wondering what the Inspectors' phone number is".

yea, at least it won't involve his supervisor though.

Been a mailman 31 years.lots can go wrong but a lot of new employees stealing. It's no longer difficult to get a job at PO. Hell if you apply and have a clean drivers license your in. We have had to fire several in the past couple years for stealing. Now our tracking system will tell you exactly what porch and what time it was placed on the porch plus what mailman delivered it. So no bull#^/## on where it was put.

Seems like left on the wrong porch would be the most likely answer.

But maybe I have more faith than I should in the honesty of our mail delivery guys.

Can't get hired at the post office unless youre an ignorant fat, mouthy black female. Had one a few months back wouldn't help me with a church care package I was sending to Sri Lanka.

I needed help with some sort of country code. She insisted "erry place gots a zip coe eeeben shree lunka"
What a dumb-mass, I told her she needed a geography lesson. I just got on Google looked it up my damn self.

Useless POS

My mail lady is a sweetheart but the other day She took a day off and the new replacement did not even run the route. Sent the regular lady a text about work time that She did not have gas to deliver the mail. Regular lady was out of town, so no mail. She was not happy. miles

Where I used to live they were so lazy they would leave boxes at the PO and just put a card in my mailbox saying they attempted delivery and no one was home, so have to pick up at the PO - caught 'em doing this several times, but no one cared to listen. I hate the fuggers... Yeah, not all are bad, but enough to make dealing with the PO nothing but misery for me.

As I said my mail-lady is a sweetheart. She delivered my package bees even though She is highly allergic to a bee sting. I told Her not to, but She insisted that it was Her job. I would have gladly went to the post office to ensure Her health. miles

Do as Ed toomanyletters said. Report his azz, pronto.
Lazy, incompetent, dishonest, none of those matter if you're not looking to get him in trouble. It's his screw ups.
The guy is not suitable for the job. Fugg him, let the next mail carrier do a better job by replacing him.

The mental image of that is slightly FF! Check your fridge and make sure the SOB hasn't stolen your 12 pack and bucket of worms!

We got a new postmaster a few years ago and all new carriers they are really sloppy. One day I had 4 of my neighbors mail. I thought it was a local problem. When I was younger people with a postal job made a lifetime career
out of it. Now at seems like they have a lot of turnover.

Miles, sounds like you've been leaving cookies in the mailbox.

We're lucky, where I live. Got a good lady at the post office. I have a PO Box, and some places wont ship to a PO Box. I have to put my physical address on the pkg, but she will 1. put the pkg in my box, 2. If the pkg will fit in one of the bigger PO boxes, put a tagged key in my box, so I can get to the pkg, or 3. If the pkg is too big for any box, leave a green card in my box, so I can pick up the pkg.

She also helped me get a refund on a next day letter, that had to be signed for, sent to Houston, Tx., that took 2 days. This happened twice. The third time, the letter got there overnight. They dont like having to refund $20/letter, because they screwed up.

Had several packages sent back to sender by mailman, he claimed he could not find my work address...it is a 30 year old 18 story building with huge street numbers on the sign in front.

Never, Ever, no matter what, involve a local Postmaster in settling a dispute. Go as high up the chain as you can to even initiate an inquiry.

I paid 200 bucks for this lesson and I'm giving it away free.

Last month's report of SoCal's USPS arrests.
http://ktla.com/2016/08/27/33-socal-postal-workers-charged-with-mail-theft-embezzlement/

This is a reflection on completely inept management.

Sure you can, we do it here every day.

There are thieves in every type of work force. Our new scanners have gps that pings every 30 seconds and it goes on a map of where we are. When we scan something it instantly gives the exact location. They can zoom in on the exact spot where it was left. Hell they can zoom in on us where ever we are when ever they want. So if your getting a run around by the locals go to the Distract office in charge oy your office. Believe me you will get a quick answer going to the Distract

Thanks for the advice. Dont need it right now, but it's always good to know.

Do all the postal districts? have the new scanners? Even rural areas?

As far as I know everyone has them. I work in a big city but live in a rural area and my carrier has them. My wife actually works inside a rural PO and part of her job is problem solving. We recently had a carrier deliver a package to a wrong house and gps showed it delivered to the wrong house. Home owner denied it was delivered to there and kept it. Carrier had to pay for the package.

Send me the tracking number. I will try and find out what happened for you

I've had issues with both UPS and USPS.

In one case I had a pair of Zeiss binos shipped, with tracking, but the mailman didn't leave a note. I marched in to the station, with a printout of the tracking, and the Supervisor immediately found the package and gave it to me.

The UPS guys will drive up, not ring the bell, leave a note then drive off. I now have an account so I can make them redirect it for pickup at a convenient UPS Store. The UPS depot is 20 miles away.

On one occasion I got a postal inspector involved on a $89 money order. They gave it prompt attention, and were very responsive.

I appreciate the offer - but I want to handle it with my local postman and see if he can word of mouth get it resolved.

he or she has dropped it off at the wrong address, this has happened to me more than once

We've had a lot of these incidents in the last few years due to my wife ordering so much for her business.

She had a box delivered to a wrong address about a year ago. I called and they argued about it. Say they left it a XX:XX that day and it's on the porch. If it's not then some stole it. I told them that the video system must have missed them, or they're really thin and pale because it didn't show anyone. They also flipped when they found out that it was $4,000 worth of jeans. When I got off the phone I made a loop around the block and found it. The house number was correct, but the street address was wrong. Funny thing is, our houses are about 4 apart.

I also had them leave a large box of business cards on the ground right next to a gutter downspout when a storm was about 10 minutes away. We reported it, filed the paperwork, and never heard another thing about it.

These are just 2 of the examples of the level of dumbassitutde that resides at my small town post office.

Live in an area with a small PO, maybe 15 employees total.
Got a new postmaster (old white female fat too) who never kept anyone at the windows (two of them). We as customers had to stand and wait until someone came out from the back room. I got tired of the wait after 2 years and got a old white female out front and had an little talk session with that person. Asked why they didn't have a bell out front for us to ring. She said they had cameras, I said well they don't work takes 2 to 5 mins. to get someone out here to sell stamps etc.
She said she had to keep the people busy.

So I left, looked up the USPS web site. Had a comment section. I filed a short letter. Two weeks later I get an e mail from the local PM explaining why they are never in the front.
Two years later (now) we have 17 to 18 employees at this sight and never have to wait.
I think she hates me because she shakes when I go to the window. If she is busy, she rings a bell to get someone else up there quick.
So if worse gets to bad, send a comment to DC, seems to work.

I'd call the boss but leave them an out.

i.e. there's no video of your postman leaving this on my porch so I think he left it at the wrong address. Please locate and return.




Clark

You can catch more bees with honey than vinegar.
If you start out nice you can always go to nasty. If you start at nasty, going back to nice doesn't really mean much. Talk to your regular driver. If he's motivated he might be able to help. If he can't then talk to the local Postmaster. If they won't do anything go to the regional postal inspectors. You've got video so they're going to take it pretty serious.

Yes, but sometimes it is fun to burn their wings off with a blowtorch.

My wife and I own a mailing business so I deal with the local post offices (plural) all the time. I get along with them quite well. When I have a problem I go easy on the local guys. If I can't get it done I go to the regional guys. If they give me a run around I tend to unload on them pretty hard, then I go to the national offices. I've only had to do that twice and the results were very satisfying.

problem resolved itself.

woman with same house number 3 streets down just dropped off my package

Good! Just a simple mistake. It's a shame we have to jump to the unpleasant conclusion when ever something like this happens with any of the delivery companies.

That's what the tracking number should have shown. Like I mentioned when packages are scanned a gps position instantly sent. It would have showed it was delivered to wrong house. Glad it showed up

Did she set on it?

Good news!

Yep. Dumb stuff happens. I'd follow up with your regular guy just so they know what happened.

You know she did,..now it's USED!

I trust you punched her in the face.




Dave

she didn't strike me as the kind of woman that would enjoy sitting on a canoe seat

sniff-n-see......

It is not uncommon for 17 South Race Street mail to end up at 17 North Race Street. Just sayin.

Good on you for your handling of this. As an earlier poster mentioned, if you start nice you can always turn on a--hole if needed. I hate it when people immediately assume the worst and act stupid. Deflave also had an uncharacteristically civilized plan.

Small? Rural? We got one employee at our PO... 2 if you count the rural mail carrier... 3 if you count the fellow that brings the mail to the PO. That's all folks!


Glad the pkg showed up. Kudos to the woman.

I worked for the Post Office for almost 31 years, as a Rural Mail Carrier. My wife also worked for USPS, retiring as a Postmaster. Most of the Post Office's problems can be traced back to one thing.....their hiring practices. When we were hired, her in the mid 70's, and myself in 1984, things were much different. Neither of us were on a hiring register, nor did we have to take any tests. We were hired by local people, who knew us personally, and knew we would be a responsible person. Now days, and for the past 25 years or so, USPS hires many people who simply are not qualified to do the job they're required to do. Women, minorities, and veterans are always at the front of the list. They hired a Black female veteran as my substitute once, and she wasn't worth a tinker's damn......yet, despite the fact they had every reason to fire her, they would not, being afraid she would yell racism.

The smaller city and rural post offices, are usually less of a problem than the larger ones. Most of my career was spent in a small 2 route office, in the area in which I lived. As a matter of fact, I delivered my own mail. I knew just about everybody, and that in itself is a reason not to screw up, because you're going to hear about it, and you have to live around the people if you screw up. The last few years I was working, they cut my office's hours back, and transferred the carriers to a large office. That's when I saw how bad things were at USPS. They had people working there who should never have been allowed to set foot in the place. They had a Black clerk who was caught stealing, not just from the office, but she was also treasurer of the local clerk's union, and stole from that fund. They fired her, but her friends all took up for her, and thought she should have been allowed to pay the money back and keep working. I saw a veteran hired, a Hispanic guy, who couldn't speak but only a few words of English. Fortunately, he realized he couldn't do the job and quit. As a rural carrier, we have to furnish our own vehicle, unless we are on a route that USPS gives a postal jeep to drive. I saw people hired that didn't have a vehicle, yet were allowed to stay on the job, even though it meant that the regular carrier had to work their days off. I also saw a Black substitute carrier, who had lost numerous packages, had mail blow out of her car, refused to work when asked, and had accidents......all offenses in which she could, and probably should have been fired. Yet, she was promoted and given a full time route. Crap like that is what's wrong with the post office.

My most recent negative experiences with USPS:

A couple months ago tracking on an expensive tool I had bought showed it had been delivered to the local sorting facility the week prior. Opening a case suddenly made it appear in my box the next day.

Last month another purchase disappeared at our USPS sorting facility. Opening another case resulted in a call-back from a black woman who, after me repeatedly telling her I was having difficulty hearing her (but refused to speak up or adjust her speaker phone) hung up on me. What I managed to understand is that she claimed the package had been returned to the seller, saying I had moved and left no forwarding address--a complete fabrication.

Though the seller provided a full refund I have lost much confidence in USPS.

USPS shows wife's blood pressure pills sent Priority Mail from Anchorage on the 20th. Now the 24th and it ain't here...... It's a one hour 20 minute direct flight.....

There were 2 people in the line ahead of me also with overdue priority mail.

Dollars to poop it's all in anchorage yet. Probably in the PO , but Ak Air has been known to misplace mail. Not often but it happens.

I'm filing a complaint Monday if it isn't here.

Hahaha. I just had a package show up at the dog trainers 3 weeks after I sent it. He lives 4 hours away. I had already sent a replacement MO when it arrived without a Postal mark or "cancellation stamp". I live in a rural area and the post office here is awesome, but other places not so much.

[quote=Captain]It is not uncommon for 17 South Race Street mail to end up at 17 North Race Street. Just sayin. [/quo


Ha! A friend in Hope Alaska sent me a birthday card, complete with proper zip code, when I was living in Point Hope Alaska. 99766. I still remember it 40 years later!

I got it a little late after it toured through Hope Arkansas.

The two Ak "Hope"s get each others mail quite frequently. Heck, they are only 700 miles apart straight line.....


Sent a $1200 monthly payment in mid November to a real estate agent in Fairbanks that same year (mid 70's) from PtHope. When I dropped by his office just before Xmas to make the next payment due I was informed I was a month in arrears so I cut him a double. 2 weeks later he got the November check in the mail. Seems the Pt Hope mail sack got some stuff piled over it in the Kotzebue hanger that didn't get moved for 6 weeks. Probably some sort of Federal violation there.....

Had a friend who was an engineering manager for Royal Mail here in the UK and he was saying they had won a UPS contract to sort American mail at their huge automated sorting office near Heathrow Airport.

Apparently it was cost and time effective to fly mail over from the States on night flights and run it through the sort process and then fly the sorted mail back to the States on the next flight...

i sent Leighton some hog backstrap, i packed in a small ice chest with cold pacs and sent it priority. everything i've sent like that before has got there in two days. not this one it finally showed up after two weeks, you can imagine the smell.

I hope he just threw the whole pkg away... unopened.

You'll never get the smell out of the seat.

.

Never had a problem with USPS packages inbound or outbound until approx 18 months ago. Since then, have had several. Most egregious was when I purchased 100 CEB bullets from a west coast seller. Shipped 2-3 day small FRB with tracking number. Took three months to reach here. When they finally got here, the box had obviously been opened/compromised, many bullets loose in the package, 7 of the 100 CEB's were missing.

Further frustration was that I had set myself up to receive delivery/in-transit notifications. When I received the package, without an email notification, went on line. Surprise, surprise... All of the previous 10 to 12 way point notifications had been deleted. The only remaining notification entries showed a normal 2-3 day delivery...

But hey... I received 3 nice wood boring bits in the same package as well. Neither I nor the seller have any idea where the wood boring bits came from ???
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