Dorothy found out that the USPS’s guaranteed overnight delivery doesn’t apply if you use their Express Mail boxes, because “Letters get stuck up in the top of the box all the time. Sometimes, it takes days or even a week before we find them.” Hey post office, maybe you should try to check the top of the box every day. Problem solved!
We sent a letter via guaranteed overnight shipping with USPS. On the evening of June 4, we purchased and printed the label, attached it to the envelope and mailed the envelope the following morning (June 5th). I dropped it in the Express Mail box outside our local post office.
When I checked the website, I found the letter wasn’t delivered until June 11th. I called the toll-free number and had an odd exchange with an operator.
First, I must tell you that my father has worked for the USPS for over 30 years. My brother-in-law has worked there for at least 15 years. My sister and I both worked there. We not only know how the system works, but we also know how stupid some customers can be. So while many people complain about the USPS, I understand how things work and the frustration that comes along with it.
When I spoke to the representative, she checked my letter and found the same information I did. She then insisted the delay was probably due to it being a P.O. Box. I told her that we sent another letter guaranteed overnight to the same P.O. Box a few weeks ago and it was delivered the next day.
She then gave the example, “If you mail four packages at the same time from the same place going to the same address, they might all get there on different days.”
At that point, I replied, “Not if they were all sent guaranteed next day.”
She then told me to take my receipt to the post office and request a form 3353 to see “If,” I qualified for a refund.
I did that and was told the guarantee does not extend to items left in the Express Mail box. It only applies if you bring the item to the counter. If that is the case, why would they even offer Express Mail via their website? When you purchase it online, you do so in an effort to avoid the lines at the post office. Also, nowhere on the website, while purchasing the Express Mail option did it state that items needed to be taken to the window/desk in order for the guarantee to apply.
I asked her, “Where on the box does it say that?” She then told me she had handed my form over to her supervisor.
I was given my full refund without any further discussion, but we did have to wait for half an hour while all this occurred. Although the supervisor did not want to give me the refund. She actually explained, “Letters get stuck up in the top of the box all the time. Sometimes, it takes days or even a week before we find them.”
Um…you’re not helping yourself out with that little tid bit.
As soon as it happened, I thought to myself, “I must pass this along to the Comsumerist.” So, there ya go.
Has anyone ever heard of the guarantee only applying to the window? My father has never heard of any such thing nor did I find anything on the box or online.
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I was told by our mail carrier that express is only guaranteed if you hand it to a postal worker. Just dropping it in the box doesn’t mean anything.
The guarantee is based on when the piece is entered into the system. So if you drop a piece of Express Mail into an Express collection box after the last collection time for that day, your item will not be entered into the system as accepted until the next day.
It works the same for UPS and FEDEX express boxes too. If you drop something off after their final collection it isn’t entered into their system for the guarantee until the next day when the piece is actually collected.
Here is an example of how the Express collection boxes work. You can print and pay for an Express label through USPS.com. Lets say you print it up at 6:00pm Saturday and walk over to an Express collection box and place it in the box. The collection box says the last scheduled collection for Saturday is 5:00pm. There is no time listed for Sunday and Holidays on the box. It shows Monday-Friday as a first collection time of 7:00am. So your guarantee would be based on being collected and accepted on Monday at 7:00am.
What does this mean? Even though you printed the label through USPS.com it doesn’t mean your guarantee starts then. How does the Post Office know if you ever even mail that piece, or for that matter when? What if you lost the letter at your house after you printed it for a few days? Is the Post Office supposed to give you a refund even though they never had it in their own hands?
The only fair way is to base the guarantee on when the piece is processed by a window clerk. Hence, when a carrier collects it from a collection box they then hand it to a clerk who then processes it into the system and the guarantee begins.
I am always amazed at the amount of people that do not attempt SOME control over their destiny. Once mail has been collected and postmarked, then the service standard is applied. Meaning, If you drop something in a collection box on Saturday after the Post Office is closed, the “clock” doesn’t start until someone picks up during the next normal collection time (Monday). Same with EXPRESS MAIL, Someone needs to “start the clock” by accepting it into the system. Ask questions. The 1800 number for the usps is just a call center for everyday questions like office hours, zip codes, locations. They’re not employees of the USPS. It is unfortunate that the mail piece was stuck in the drop box. IT IS the employee’s responsibility to check. If I’m paying 16 bucks, I want to make sure I hand it to someone. To keep costs down, Express Mail is flown on the same airplanes you fly. Partnered with FED EX to provide more flights for shipping.
If a flight makes two or three stops or a layover, so does your Express.
The reason it isn’t guaranteed is because anyone can print a label on the 4th and wait a week to drop it in a mailbox creating a failure automatically. The USPS offers a carrier pick up service at your home if you wish to print your labels online to avoid standing in postal lines. This service is free to anyone who received delivery at their home. You can request this service at USPS.com or call our 1-800-275-8777.
What really gets to me from the window employees at my post office is that there can be a line as long as our hopes for cheap gas;then you’ll see just one or two windows working, while the other employees are chatting about anything.
FEDEX and UPS are not any better. In 2006 I bought a china set from the Shopping Network. For I don’t understand what reason, FEDEX delivered it at another house. Thanks God those neighbors and me are good friends otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten my package. And by the way, I’m still waiting for FEDEX to tell me what happened. With UPS, I bought some books from Barnes and Noble, when I went to UPS website to track the package, it said that the delivery guy attempted delivery, but the building was closed maybe due to Thanksgiving. I understand if this was the reason at any other type of building. But for heaven sake, I work at a house of worship!!!! We’re open EVERYDAY from 8:30am to 10:30pm. The UPS guy lied!!!
@ceejeemcbeegee: sorry, i thought you were saying tenure is the reason why, so clearly you would know about UPS where tenure also exists through the Teamsters. My mistake, did not realize you were talking out your…
This is absolutely true. I worked as a USPS letter carrier and when I had to empty collection boxes at least half the time there would be a letter or two stuck against the side of the box or at the very top of the box. To combat this, the USPS has a company send out test letters to see how long it takes for them to reach their destination. They also do random checks after you leave to make sure you grabbed every single letter. People have been fired over this.
Overnight Guaranteed overnight is guaranteed overnight, for the receiver to
receive it it is up to the sender. If the receiver has to sign for it and no
one is at home guess what it is not received the next day but you will see
that it was attempted that day. If you wanted to be received without a
signature, you have to sign for it, also if you drop something in the box
make sure that you know what time the pick up will be, if you drop it in the
box Friday evening it may be Monday before it is picked up. Before you
complain, get all the facts first.
USPS customer service is contracted out to Convergys. Enough said.
When a package I had paid for guaranteed overnight didn’t show up overnight I went to the local Post Office to find out why. Reason – the guarantee is only good from certain dispatch points. If you live in a small town (this was a town of 6000) the guarantee is from the nearest guaranteed dispatch point. If you live in Buttwad, Arkansas and it take a week to get to the dispatch point in Little Rock – it is guaranteed overnight from there. Nice, huh?
@sponica:
Do you know they have a 8 hour crew that does nothing but sort mail for
the carriers going out the next day~!
Now that’s allot of mail.
Even to my standards as a veteran postal employee of over 20 + years.
Next time ‘if offered & allowed’ take a tour of the operations. it still
amazes me after all my years!
“You’ll be amazed as to how anything get anywhere”!!??
Why it does because we as employee’s (not all mind you-for all
corporations have their dud’s) care about our customers!
But with the mental giants they have promoted to stupidvisors-I’m
surpised anything moves.
For you promote a carrier to stupervise a Clerk, and Vice Versa???
This is like going to the doctor to have a tooth pulled.
But it happens all the time in the P.O. , all I can do is shake my head.
58 months and counting…….
Common sense would tell you that if you have paid for an Express Mail item,
you wouldn’t put it in the box with regular mail. Express mail is treated
differently, and treated first. If I paid extra for that service, I think
I’d make sure the clerk knew about it and could put it in with the other
express mail to be treated as such. Not mix it in with regular mail to be
discovered on accident when it wouldn’t go through a machine someplace. And
how many customers confuse the FedEx box with an Express Mail box? I’ve
never even seen an Express Mail box, just FedEX. If you put it in the FedEx
box, then FedEx picked it up, not USPS. If FedEx picked it up, how long did
they hold it before they discovered it was USPS and then turned it over to
USPS for handling? We see UPS and FedEx stuff dropped in our boxes all the
time. How long does it take to get it to the right company? The answer is
“however long it takes for that company to come get it.” And there’s a
place on the form for the clerk to complete that verifies the date and time
your Express Mail piece was accepted at the window. Without that, I doubt
I’d give a refund right away. You can’t circumvent our procedures that
ensure timely delivery and then complain when delivery is delayed. One
other thing – we don’t like long lines either. We want more jobs. You
should want that too. It’s horrendous to have to go to the bathroom and
can’t because your line is too long and there’s no one to help you with the
customers. The customer doesn’t like having to wait in line only to be met
by a clerk that’s anxious and aggravated because he needs to pee. The
customers can control that by insisting publicly that the USPS staff
properly to ensure better customer service. All your window clerk can do is
try to be friendly and help you when it’s finally your turn at the window.
And while the Post Office might be closed on Sunday to the public, the USPS
is a 24/7 operation. We do indeed have people working on Sunday, round the
clock just like every other day, to ensure timely delivery. And even on
Sundays, in most areas, someone is out there delivering Express Mail because
you needed it there now, paid extra for that service, and then took it to
the counter to ensure it got placed with other Express Mail pieces to be
treated first.
Nobody wants to stand in line at the Post Office or anywhere else for that matter. However, if I was paying a minimum of 16.50 for the service, I would make sure I handed that item to a clerk. I work for the post office, and customers come in all the time with postage affixed, but will drop off to one of us in order to get the guarantee. That’s just the way it works.
With regard to the comment that overnight doesn’t always mean next day, this is true. If the destination is some place nowhere near a major airport, it becomes 2 day or 2nd delivery day. But it’s guaranteed and if it doesn’t make it by the time promised, it’s free.
And now let me answer the actual question, which is what the guarantee entails.
The overnight guarantee applies only if you do one of three things:
* Physically hand the envelope to a clerk at a USPS Post Office, branch or station prior to that location’s final pick up time.
* Physically hand the envelope to a postal carrier on his route.
* Drop the package into an *Express Mail* mailbox prior to the final pickup time listed on that box. This is *not* the same as a standard mailbox; these boxes are clearly labeled *Express Mail* on the side. If you don’t see the Express Mail labeling, it’s a standard mailbox, and the guarantee does not apply.
[pe.usps.gov]
I wholeheartedly agree that this is not clear, and that the copy on the USPS Web site isn’t much of a help, but I’ve said this before: if it’s an absolutely time-sensitive item, always take it directly to the counter (regardless of who you use).
You can also use this Web site to determine latest drop times: [webapps.usps.com]