Victoria mailed some textbooks worth $275 in what seemed like secure packaging. The postal service returned the packaging to her, but the textbooks were never seen again. She opted not to insure the package, figuring that no one could do that much damage to heavy hardcover textbooks. She was overly optimistic. [More]
going postal
Postal Service Will Delay Mass Closures
By 12.14.11
The outlook is grim for the U.S. Postal Service, with plans to close thousands of post offices and cutting processing centers, but the inevitable is being postponed for now. [More]
The Styrofoam Cube In This Letter Serves A Bureaucratic Purpose
By 10.18.11
When Chris opened a letter from the Indiana Election Division, he was curious why in the world there would be a small Styrofoam cube inside the envelope. Luckily for everyone involved, there was an explanation. [More]
Postal Service May Default Without Congressional Intervention
By 9.5.11
Predictions of coming doom have been coming from the United States Post Office for months, with the service expected to suffer a $9.2 billion deficit this fiscal year and unable to make a $5.5 billion payment to cover employee health coverage due at the end of the month. Now the postmaster general has raised the stakes of the organization’s financial crisis by declaring that it will default if Congress doesn’t intervene. [More]
Postal Service May Lay Off 120,000
By 8.12.11
The U.S. Postal Service continues to deliver awful news, proposing job cuts of as many as 120,000 workers in an attempt to temper costs in the wake of massive financial losses. Projecting to lose more than $8 billion for the second straight year, the USPS also wants to set up its own health plan, pulling employees out of the federal system. [More]
USPS Puts Wrong Statue Of Liberty On Stamp, Doesn't Really Give A F*&k
By 4.15.11
You almost have to respect the USPS for screwing up this royally. First, they go and put the wrong Statue of Liberty on a postage stamp. Then, when told about it, they just shrug it off like a postal worker eating a sandwich at their closed window while a line of customers waits. [More]
USPS Shutting Down 2,000 Locations
By 1.25.11
A year from now, you may be driving a little bit farther and waiting in longer lines to do your mail-related business. The USPS set a goal to shut down 2,000 branches and stations in 2011. No post offices are on the chopping block, but the new cuts are in addition to nearly 500 closures that are all ready in the works. The locations under threat of closure are smaller satellite offices that don’t process mail and sometimes don’t have mail carriers. [More]
Why You Should Insure Trophies You Send In The Mail
By 1.24.11
Jason takes part in a long-distance fantasy football league in which past winners of the championship trophy send the prize to the next season’s victor. Well, at least that used to be the routine until the most recent mailing of the prize did to the trophy what the Packers did to Jay Cutler. [More]
Save Money On Postage By Buying Old Stamps At Discount
By 1.21.11
If you send out a lot of physical mail, you probably won’t mind stumbling upon a way to shave 10 percent off your postal expenses. One labor-intensive yet effective method to trim your stamp expenses is to hook up with a stamp and coin collector shop and buy old postage at a discount. [More]
USPS Magically Turned My Documents Into This Motorcycle Part
By 11.4.10
Martin sent some documents to his parents in Germany via USPS Priority Mail, but somehow what arrived was the pictured motorcycle kick starter inside a ripped envelope. [More]
Regulators Deny Proposed USPS Rate Hikes
By 10.1.10
Earlier this summer, we wrote about the Postal Service’s proposal to stay even partially solvent by raising rates on first-class mail and small parcels. Alas, the USPS will now have to go to Plan B (which we’re pretty sure involves selling lemonade and washing cars) to increase revenue, after regulators slammed down the hammer of denial on the rate hike. [More]
Post Office Says It's Too Cool To Abide By Credit Card Merchant Agreement
By 9.30.10
Steve got into what J.K. Rowling would describe as a “row” with a Postal Service worker who demanded he show his ID to make a MasterCard purchase. This is a violation of MasterCard policy, but that doesn’t matter, according to the employee, because the Post Office is like the Fonz in that it plays by its own rules. [More]
My Post Office Says It Won't Accept Packages From Other Zip Codes
By 8.24.10
A Postal Service worker told Chris he wasn’t allowed to send packages from that specific office because the return address was from a zip code other than the one where the office was located, and thus the location wouldn’t receive credit for the transaction. [More]
USPS Raising Rates On People Who Still Use USPS
By 7.6.10
Facing a $7 billion debt and an ever-decreasing customer base, the United States Postal Service announced today that it plans to jack up the price of first-class postage by $.02 to $.46. Facing an even bigger hit are magazine publishers and shippers of small parcels, who face hikes of 8% and 23% respectively. [More]
This Is Why No One Trusts The Postal Service
By 5.7.10
A postal worker from Brooklyn is in hot water after he was found with three full sacks of undelivered mail in the trunk of his car. [More]
POLL: Do You Really Need To Get Mail On Saturday?
By 3.24.10
The USPS got one step closer to their goal of eliminating Saturday delivery with the Postmaster General earning approval to take their proposal to the Postal Regulatory Committee next week. If they ultimately get the PRC and Congress to sign off, that would be the end to 6-day service. But will it matter to you if you don’t get your mail on Saturdays? [More]
