Jane’s order from the Gap shipped using FedEx Smartpost. That’s a service that uses FedEx’s network to get items from the vendor to the local post office, then turns packages over to the USPS, which is stoping by your house anyway, for final delivery. This seems like a really great idea in theory, but leaves a pretty big crack for packages to slip through. Both systems say that her package has been delivered. It hasn’t. Well, it sort of had–it was delivered to the local post office, which normally isn’t what “delivered” means using SmartPost. [More]
Observant Mailman Helps Save Elderly Customer After Noticing His Mail Was Piling Up
By July 23, 2012
It pays to have a good relationship with your mailman — after all, who better to notice when your mail is piling up, or when you haven’t come outside to chat? A mailman in Norfolk, Va. potentially helped save his customer’s life, after realizing he hadn’t stepped out to talk in days and that his mail had just been collecting inside. [More]
The Postal Service Is ThisClose To Defaulting For The First Time Ever
By July 19, 2012
The United States Postal Service is again standing on the edge of disaster with a looming Aug. 1 deadline to escape defaulting. If Congress doesn’t do something soon, said a spokesman, the USPS won’t be able to make a legally required annual $5.5 billion payment into a health-benefits fund for future retirees. [More]
Make Sure That Mailbox Isn’t Sticky Before Dropping Your Mail Into It
By July 13, 2012
The United States Postal Service has a bit of a phishing scam on its hands in Fort Worth, Texas — or really, it’s almost an actual fishing scam. Scammers are apparently coating the blue standalone USPS mailboxes with adhesive, in order to catch outgoing mail and go through it to get money or personal information. [More]
Mail Carrier Puts My Package In Someone Else’s Rural Mailbox, USPS Calls It ‘Delivered’
By July 2, 2012
H. lives on a rural mail route, and her mailbox is secure, with a lock and a slot just big enough to slide letters through. When a package containing an expensive camera lens went missing recently, she learned that her mail carrier had put the package in the “parcle box.” The what? Oh, the unused but not secure mailbox on her street that some neighbor wrote “parcel box” on a long time ago. H. had no indication that her package had been placed in the box until the mailman left her a note about it. By then, the box had already been stolen. The post office, for its part, insists that the package was delivered as addressed. [More]
USPS Doesn’t Notice That My Package Is Now 32 Lbs. Lighter — And No Longer Contains My Stuff
By June 29, 2012
You place a certain amount of trust in a company when you hand over a box of your personal belongings to be shipped across the country. You also have to be aware of the risk that your package might get lost or damaged along the way. But what you can’t really prepare for is that only some of your stuff will arrive… in a different box… with someone else’s stuff mixed in. [More]
USPS Destroys Package & Freaks Out Over Subsequent Leak Of “Mysterious” Gluten-Free Flour
By June 14, 2012
The United States Postal Service should be a bit more careful about packages it handles, especially if it’s going to damage one so badly that its contents start to shake loose. Also? While Amazon probably isn’t going to be shipping any kind of dangerous substances, once Consumerist reader Jeremiah and his wife explained that it was gluten-free flour, surely there’s no need to freak out about it twice. And hey, maybe an apology is in order? [More]
Postal Worker Accused Of Stealing Meds From War Vets, Selling To Others On Her Route
By May 18, 2012
We’ve heard numerous stories about carriers for the U.S. Postal Service pilfering mail intended for others. But it seems like a lot of those stolen items just end up piling up in the carriers’ homes. Here’s a story of a mail carrier in California who robbed drugs intended for Peter to get paid by Paul. [More]
U.S. Postal Service Set To Close Or Combine 229 Mail Processing Sites
By May 17, 2012
The U.S. Postal Service has announced its next step in the belt-tightening process of trying to cut down on its costs. It will close or consolidate operations at 140 mail processing sites through February 2013, said a postal official. [More]
Postal Worker Blames Illness On Leaking Package That The USPS Says Never Existed
By May 14, 2012
A postal worker in Florida says a mysterious leaking package coming from Yemen has caused him to be super sick, but the U.S. Postal Service says that package doesn’t even exist, and never has. The man has been to numerous doctors, and none have been able to diagnose his illness. [More]
Postal Service Maybe Not Closing As Many Post Offices As Planned
By May 9, 2012
It was last July that the US Postal Service announced it was considering closing around 3,700 of its approximately 32,000 outlets around the country, many of them in rural areas. But earlier today the Postmaster General unveiled yet another plan that could keep hundreds of these offices from closing outright. [More]
Another Seller Swears Off eBay Forever
By May 2, 2012
There was a time, around approximately 2001, when eBay was a global marketplace where you could easily and efficiently unload items with any market value that you wanted to get rid of. Now, it’s more of a global flea market full of scams and villainy. eBay and its old accomplice, the U.S. Postal Service, worked together to make Keith’s old iPhone disappear into the ether. [More]
Austin Realizes Not Everyone Loves Junk Mail, Gives People Way To Opt Out
By April 20, 2012
Contrary to the opinion of Nevada Senator Harry Reid, not everyone view junk mail as an indispensable conduit between elderly Americans and the outside world. In fact, most of us would rather do without it. That’s why officials in Austin took time off from rehearsing with their ska/bluegrass fusion trios to become the latest city to give residents a way to opt out of receiving unwanted mail. [More]
Senator Bums Everyone Out, Says "Elderly People Love Junk Mail"
By April 20, 2012
There are few images more heartbreakingly depressing than an elderly person who eagerly awaits the daily delivery of mail — even junk mail — just so they’ll have something to look at that afternoon. But according to Nevada Senator Harry Reid, this is precisely why everything must be done to save the U.S. Postal Service. [More]
Mail Carriers Unveil Their Plan For Saving Postal Service
By April 17, 2012
Two months after the U.S. Postal Service’s Postmaster General announced how USPS leadership intends to resuscitate the wheezing institution by cutting jobs, raising rates and ending Saturday delivery, the union representing the nation’s mail carriers has gone public with the changes it believes are needed to keep the USPS from becoming irreversibly insolvent. [More]
USPS Turns Box Into Accordion, Hopes You Won't Notice
By April 17, 2012
When Chris received this package in the mail, he assumed that his mail carrier had crammed it in his mailbox with overwhelming force. That wasn’t the case, though. The truth is more mysterious and much weirder. [More]
American Airlines Voucher Disappears In The Mail, Airline Shrugs
By April 6, 2012
The original copy of an air travel voucher has mystical powers, and flights can only be scheduled using the original copy. At least, that’s the impression we get from Ashley’s experience. When she went to redeem her voucher, she mailed it in, as required. Only the tracking number hasn’t been scanned in the USPS system, and there’s no sign of the voucher. [More]
Worst Company In America Sweet 16: USPS Vs. Facebook
By March 21, 2012
The old world clashes with the new this afternoon as the company that used to connect people around the country tries to take down the website that everyone now uses to show off photos of their kids. [More]
