USPS Says Guaranteed Overnight Isn't Guaranteed. What?
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'm amazed that the USPS still exists. I'm sure the amount of junk mail I receive pays half of one employee's salary, and the other half is paid by the pocket-picking automatic machines at the post office.
There's a reason why there's a phrase, "Good enough for government work."
Have you been to the post office lately when there's a line out the door? The counter people act like there's nobody in the room but them. It takes them ten minutes (I timed it out of aggravation one day) to find a single certified package. It wouldn't take me ten whole minutes to find and buy an unfamiliar item at the SuperKroger up the street.
I'm so mailing in my my tax return overnight from the box... then I'm blaming it on the USPS.
FedEx gaurantees the 2 days and overnight envelopes for their drop boxes as long as the paperwork is correct.
Why would anything get "stuck" at the "top" of the drop box. I thought physics says when you drop things in a box, they fall down instead of rising to the top of the box.
i think the usps has some of the worst customer service around. i do everything i can to avoid visiting the post office. i'll pay extra to have something shipped fed ex or ups before i'll sit back and let it be shipped usps.
Just as an aside:
If you have printed online postage you can take it to the counter without waiting in line. Just skip the line and leave it on the counter at a window were no one is working. They'll get it and ship it.
My job involves mailing thousands of things every year. I give the USPS credit in that they lose practically 0 packages. In 5 years they have lost 2 packages I've mailed, and delayed one 2 months. In that same period I've mailed roughly 20 times more mail through the post office than FedEx, but FedEx has managed to lose or mutilated at least 15 packages in that time.
In my experience the Post Office is by far more reliable (and typically faster) than FedEx.
@Farquar: Nice it works for you. When I lived in my last apartment, the post office went 10 for 10 losing or misdelivering packages for me. Never again.
Is that what you call, "Postal Fraud" ?
What do you expect? It's a government facility and service. No one expects any kind of service from the DOT, why USPS?
I needed to get something to my daughter at college about a month ago and thought that USPS Express Mail would be the best way to do it quickly. As a bit of background I live outside of Washington DC and the package was going to southern Virginia.
I went to the post office at 3pm on Friday expecting the package to be delivered by 12 noon on Saturday. What I learned, however, is that this zip code does not offer next day Express Mail delivery, but could have it there by 12 noon on Sunday, but with an additional $5 fee. I accepted this as the package REALLY needed to be there, but learned a lesson the overnight is not necessarily overnight and was surprised that this would be true for a location less than 300 miles away.
"Hey post office, maybe you should try to check the top of the box every day. Problem solved!"
um, federal government. nuff said.
@tkozikow: noon on sunday? so that still got delivered monday then, cuz post office isn't open sunday.
Last year we used USPS's Priority Mail (2-3 day delivery) with delivery confirmation. It was delivered 2 weeks later and the post office's response was that the 2-3 days is just an estimate and is not guaranteed. I know its not guaranteed, maybe the advertised 2-3 days is based on x percent arriving in that timeframe. I'd like to know what x is.
@JennQPublic: You are not cyncial, at my call center we were given training sessions on specific ways to AVOID having to credit a customer account, even if the credit in question was perfectly justified.
I have no problem with the idea that envelopes can get stuck. Mistakes happen. However if the guarantee says next day and it's not, you get your money back. Plain and simple. There should be no discussion.
If you put peanut butter on the envelope, does it stick to the roof of the Express Mail box? Just asking.
In Brooklyn and Queens post offices, you will often see chickens and goats scurrying around the premises. It's really that bad! Otherwise, I feel like it's the post office version of the diner from "You Can't Do That on Television."
As much as I love New York, it amazes me how certain institutions are so ass-backwards in their procedures. It's as if they've worn blinders to the last 20 years of progress made in the rest of the country (not unlike cable service).
You're lucky they refunded your money. USPS is not legally bound by any statement made by a USPS employee. For this reason, USPS employees will invent all kinds of nonsensical exuses and polices. Always fund your postage with a credit card. If you don't get what you paid for, file one written complaint on line at the USPS web site. If you don't get a prompt refund, then dispute the charge with your credit card company. Let USPS resond to the chargeback with their lame excuses. Don't let these pompous jerks lead you around by the nose with their lies.
Other then the fact that postal employees usually operate in slow motion, I have never had a problem dealing with them.
But the USPS is a government agency, not a company! It's regulated! How could it not be acting in a manner beneficial to the consumer?
@speedwell: Why don't USPS postal workers care? One word: tenure. Once they are in the system, it's very hard to get fired. They'll get written up, transferred, even suspended with pay, but fired? Why should they give quality service when they don't have to. They'd have to break a law to lose their job.
Now, working for USPS is no cake walk. It's high stress and high demand. Climbing the ranks can get very political. So at my post office, I make an effort to smile and address them by name, and as a result I always get A+ service. I never have to stand in line for anything. Kindness goes a long way.
@haoshufu:
I used to work for FedEx. If you think that FedEx will deliver your packages faster and more accurately than USPS, you are sorely mistaken. Packages are routinely lost or mutilated. Almost all of the workers there are part-time.
If you want things delivered on time, your best bet is to stick with USPS.
The USPS used to offer a refund if an overnight item was not delivered by the next day. Do they still do that?
@katylostherart: While the post office is closed for normal services on Sunday, they do offer Express Mail delivery and the $5 surcharge was explained as being needed to offset the cost of having a letter carrier available to deliver the package. Sunday delivery is billed as a benefit of USPS over FedEx and other carriers since I don't think that that is an option.
The irony behind this shipment was that I was sending a new set of car keys since my wife lost hers while she was visiting my daughter. This was better than the alternative of driving eight hours round trip and 500 miles, but of course she found her keys that evening after I had sent the package.
Believe me, I can understand how envelopes get stuck....I've tried to drop things in the box near the MetroTech in Brooklyn, there are days when you can't open the slot because it's jam packed...or if you can open it, good luck closing it.
I miss my small town post office, where the service is always good and oddly enough faster than NYC. If I mail something from NH to NYC it will take less time than if I mail something within NYC...
I was using the USPS overnight service until I realized I could use my companies UPS or Fed Ex service (corporate rates) for my personal stuff. Our receptionist sends an email to me and accounting, I pay the corporate rate and I'm good to go, its also 50% less.
Nice to know they have no competition and yet they can screw up your life big time if something is not delivered on time as paid for and as guaranteed.
I'm starting to wonder why anyone even offers a guarantee of any sort when the only guarantee you get is that if they screw up they'll do their hardest to blame it on the consumer.
@katylostherart: wrong, they will deliver that on a Sunday. Happened with me.
@ceejeemcbeegee: How is that different the UPS and being in the Teamsters Union? Besides better pay and benefits at UPS?
You are just learning this????
She's complaining about leaving an envelope in a box and not have it delivered until a while later? She was practically outside of the post office and all she had to do was either hand it to a clerk or shove it down a slot. They don't really check the mailboxes that often and it takes longer for them to be processed anyway.
Doesn't the OP understand that nothing in life is guaranteed, especially shipping?
She got a refund, and quite frankly, that's better service than any private shipping company would have provided.
Ive found USPS to be quite reliable. Of 8 priority mail packages I have received, only two got delayed by a month. But they made it.
If/When UPS/FedEx loses a package, they LOSE IT.
I once tried to find out why my FedEx package -- guaranteed overnight -- was delayed. I was told by their customer service that the FedEx guarantee doesn't apply if it RAINS anywhere within FedEx's delivery areas. Since it is ALWAYS raining somewhere in the world where FedEx operates, it is an obvious way to not guarantee anything.
At least the USPS still delivers in the rain. I've never had a problem with the Postal Service here in Silicon Valley, and often find it much faster and cheaper than FedEx or UPS. That said, when I lived in Washington, DC, it was often faster to deliver things by hand than use the Post Office. I guess there are some pretty significant regional differences.
So I print my Express postage online. Wait an extra day then drop it in the box outside...BIGNO my Express has failed before it even hits the road. Money back please!!!! Sorry folks but but it would happen ALL THE FREAKIN TIME. If we are going to guarantee it you have to let us confirm it was in fact presented at a certain time.
Oops that should be BINGO!!!!!!
@Mailman: That is only valid if they tell you in advance with some kind of warning or disclaimer. If they don't point this out or have a disclaimer, then the guarantee stands. If people knew they could not use the drop box to get the guarantee they would go in and hand it to someone. Does the postal service really think people are going to be OK with paying for over night and not getting their money back when it gets there in over a week?
@katylostherart: The USPS is not the federal government. It is a quasi-governmental organization. It has not been totally federal since, oh, the middle of the 20th century or so...
@ceejeemcbeegee: So right!
Fedex, UPS and USPS guarantees all have fine print erasing any rights you think you have. The USPS handles 50% of the world's mail volume, lighten up on them.
If a package is damn important, see it off yourself, You are not sending it Parcel Post, so drop it person.
My wife used to work for the Nurses' Health Study at Harvard. She and her colleagues used to call FedEx, FedUp because of all the missed and lost packages...
Frankly the two most reliable services I have seen and dealt with is: USPS and UPS. FedEx is a distant third, DHL is practically better.
If you really want a package overnight (that does not need air transport) use a local or national courier, you'll pay a lot more for it, though.
@ceejeemcbeegee: I actually believed you up until the part where you said you never have to wait in line.
Frankly, I'm surprised you got a refund. I highly doubt that anybody you talked to told you that it was stuck in the top of the box. I am sure that they suggested that this MAY have been the reason for the delay.
Yes, you bought postage online and had the article dated that way. Who's to say that the envelope didn't sit in your car for 2 weeks, you then remembered it, and then put it in the box claiming you put it in there 2 weeks prior. There is absolutely NO way to prove either side of this argument.
I am a letter carrier and recently a lady came up to me trying to send out 2 express mails that she had purchased the same way this lady did. One was dated one month prior, the other 2 months prior. I told her I could not take them because the postage dates weren't that day. She argued that she paid for the postage so I had to take them. I explained that she could do exactly what this lady possibly did by claiming she had mailed them 1 and 2 months prior. Basically, we can't win here.
Lesson here: take the express mail and hand it to a real person. Drop it off on the counter inside, hand it to a carrier, give it to a person. We really want to see to it that your stuff gets where it belongs, not because we care about your stuff, but because we don't want to hear you complain... :)
Getting stuck? Aren't these boxes made by the USPS? If so, they should be responsible for them working properly.
This is one of those items where a complaint to your Congressperson and your Senators may be of help.
Frankly any private company would be charged with deceptive marketing/fraud for advertising "guaranteed" when the company's policy is to act otherwise.
By the way, insuring packages in my experience is pretty useless as well - the USPS mishandled a package, denting the box and damaging the contents - after a long runaround, we got nothing.
USPS is can be both amazingly efficient, and sporadically reliable at the same time. It all depends where your are. I once worked at an office in a Chicago neighborhood where at one point the REGULAR mail was delivered as late as 7pm and it that was considered lucky because sometimes we got mail maybe twice a week. After a month of that, the local alderman (along with the chamber of commerce) had a meeting with the local post office to see what was the reason for the delay. On the other hand, My postman for my home (which was a different neighborhood) always delivered my mail on time, and even let me know when he was going on vacation, so I understand if there there was a delay.
My point is, that as a whole, I can agree that USPS has a lot to work on if they were to be compared with a publicly traded company, but as the same with all local governments, some are better then others, as are post offices. It all depends where you live.
I try to use the USPS only as a last resort. They're fine for mailing bills and checks. As for parcels, forget it.
We ship some of our consumer goods via Priority Mail. You get a tracking number of dubious value. It tells you nothing until the package is actually delivered and, even then, sometimes not for weeks afterward. Most of the time the letter carriers "forget" to scan the package as they deliver it.
As for Express Mail, its a joke. When first introduced it was great. I don't recall actually having anything arrive next day via Express Mail for the last five years. At best, its a second day service.
I seem to recall that USPS was partnering with FEDEX a few years ago to handle the express mail. Kind of like the Reeses Peanut Butter Cup of delivery (two screwed up services that are more screwed up together...)
The drive-thru boxes outside of my downtown post office have their latest pickup at 5:00 PM. I usually come at around 4:45 on my way to my night job and around 65% of the time the moron is already out there emptying out the boxes. The other 35% who knows, maybe he's already emptied it. I asked him once if I could put the envelopes in the box, and he said that he had emptied it and wasn't going to be doing it again. I told him there were still 15 more minutes, and he just told me to give him the envelopes. I didn't want to argue, after all he did have my mail, but that's just ridiculous. The busiest time of the day at that post office is the half-hour leading up to 5:00. People should be able to feel confident dropping off their mail at 4:50 that it will go out that day. The employees in that post office are utterly incompetent, utterly inefficient, and often times downright rude. On the other hand, around 8 or so miles away on the other side of town there is another post office, which is the regional hub which is open until 8:00 every day of the week, and it is great. I've never had a problem there. I guess they just put all of the rejects downtown.
Service to my house is great, though, 6 days a week, every week (except for their crapload of holidays), I have my mail by noon. No complaints there.
That's my USPS rant...
The reason its not guaranteed is SIMPLE. You print out an express label get your package ready and then for some reason dont mail it until the next day or late that night after the box is emptied. Well then its late before its even mailed and the post office has no way of knowing when it actually was mailed. Also, remember if airline flights get cancelled or delayed, or their is a major accident on highways and trucks get delayed, or their is a major storm, all these things can affect how long delivery takes. Most people dont have a clue what it takes for a package to get from point A to B. Its the same for all delivery companies. Thats LIFE!!!!
The reason as I would understand that overnight is not guaranteed if dropped in a collection box would be after you print the popstage online and mail it, whos to say it doesn't sit in your car for a day or two and then you mail it. The only way it can be processed with any certainty that it was mailed the same day is by handing it to a postal employee. That might take a little thinking on the consumers part.
USPS could be more efficiant. But to send a letter from Baltimore to Honolulu for 42 cents...no one can beat that price.
Express mail should be different. You pay for the service, you should get it. I would agree with most folks here though: I would use USPS last when sending express. Ground is still pretty decent and so is media mail.
Remember this when you vote in November. Obama - Healthcare run by these people. From the people who brought you the DMV, IRS and USPS, now Healthcare! People aren't clinging to their guns and relgion b/c the government isn't doing enough, it's b/c the government is trying to do way too much.
Unfortunately, FedEx does not deliver to a PO Box, so until they do, USPS overnight is my only option for some things. I can't say I'v ever had a problem, but I don't think I've ever used the drop box.
It seems like in the last couple of years, this is what most "customer service" boils down to- try and come up with every excuse to NOT help the customer. How many people do you suppose they give this line to, and the (uninformed) customer says "Oh, I didn't know that," and just hangs up.
"Hang on to every last dollar at the customer's expense" seems to be the modern corporate motto. Am I just cynical?