It’s been over five years since we first wrote about postal workers being busted for detouring Netflix DVDs into their own private stashes, and yet there are apparently still some USPS staffers out there who think they can steal more than 100 DVDs and not have it set off alarm bells. [More]
postal service
USPS Stops Delivering To Building Because Of Leaky Pipe
By 10.6.11
The famous oath inscribed above the entrance to the James A. Farley Post Office Building in Manhattan reads, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” But it appears as if that unofficial postal creed doesn’t extend to leaky pipes. [More]
USPS Looking To Close Half Its Processing Centers, Cut 35,000 Jobs
By 9.15.11
With dark financial skies looming on its horizon, the U.S. Postal Service has already talked about closing thousands of post offices. But that’s apparently not going to be enough to salvage the sinking ship, as USPS announced today it may close or combine 252 of its existing 487 mail processing centers. [More]
White House Developing Plan To Save USPS
By 9.7.11
“I’m operating right now with a week’s worth of cash,” Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe told Senators on Tuesday. After the Postmaster General went to Capitol Hill to pass the hat around, the White House announced it’s a few weeks away from developing a plan to save the USPS from bankruptcy. [More]
USPS Could Close Nearly 3,700 Post Offices You Never Use Anyway
By 7.26.11
Someday soon, you may no longer be able to drive by your local post office and show your children where all those credit card offers and unread political mailings come from, as the U.S. Postal Service looks into the viability of nearly 3,700 of its 32,000 locations around the country. [More]
USPS Attempts To Fight Off Financial Disaster By Selling Gift Cards
By 5.2.11
As the US Postal Service faces insolvency, the relic of a pre-internet world (and symbol/punch line for inefficiency and ineptitude) has come up with a really good idea for making some extra cash: Selling pre-paid AMEX, Visa, MasterCard and Discover cards. [More]
USPS Delivers Letter… 66 Years Late
By 3.2.11
If you’ve ever lost a piece of mail through the USPS, this story might give you hope that your grandchildren might eventually find out what happened to it. [More]
Where To Complain About The Postal Service
By 1.31.11 — Updated: 5.6.15
A lot of times when people complain about the postal service they can find that calling up their local post office is an exercise in futility. Assuming they get through to anyone, they can find the person on the other end of the line lackadaisical or difficult to understand. If this happens to you, you don’t have to just cry into your Beanie Baby collection. [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]
Netflix Is Fine With No Saturday Mail Delivery; Amazon, Not So Much
By 6.24.10
When we first wrote about the US Postal Service’s plan to put an end to Saturday deliveries, only 35% of the 7,000 readers polled thought it would be a hassle to their way of life. However, many commenters wanted to know what this would mean for deliveries of their precious Netflix DVDs. Yesterday, they got their answer. [More]
Why Won't USPS Let Me File This Complaint?
By 3.30.10
Usually when we reprint a customer complaint, it’s because the complaint itself deserves public attention. But the reason we’re posting Consumerist reader Sarah’s letter to the USPS isn’t because the world needs to know about her smashed up shipment, but because the USPS’ website won’t let her file the complaint. [More]
USPS Suggests Cutting Saturday Delivery And Increasing Rates
By 3.2.10
The United States Postal Service is continuing its long slide into suckage according to a new report delivered by Postmaster General John E. Potter this morning. People sent far less mail last year (“more than double any previous decline,” says the Washington Post) and labor costs continue to rise, which helped the USPS lose $3.8 billion in 2009. [More]
We Hope Your Mail Isn't On This Postal Truck
By 2.8.10
…Because that sh*t is stuck. A Gothamist reader took this photo of a postal truck stuck at a crazy angle under an overpass on 10th ave in NYC. Whoopsies! [More]
PayPal Abandons Another Scammed Seller
By 12.8.09
Todd got ripped off by a scammer on an eBay purchase. He made sure to insure the device before shipping it off via the United States Postal Service, but it turns out that an insurance claim won’t help him get PayPal to step up. [More]
U.S. Postal Service Tests Post Office Greeting Card Sales
By 10.29.09
One of the few things that people still use the U.S. Postal Service to do is send greeting cards. Americans receive an average of 20 greeting cards per year, and they have to come from somewhere. So why not save a trip and buy those cards right at your local post office?
USPS: No Stamp Price Increases In 2010
By 10.17.09
You can rest easy and stock up on booklets of Simpsons stamps instead of boring old Forever stamps. The United States Postal Service assures us that it is not planning any stamp price increases in 2010.
US Postal Service Redefines "Contiguous" United States
By 10.2.09
Steve was mailing some packages from his home in Virgina to various points in the country, and noticed something strange on his receipt. The packages destined for Pennsylvania and Washington state are leaving the contiguous United States. What?
UPDATE: USPS Agrees To Pay Insurance Claim On Lost Laptops
By 5.8.09
After our story about USPS losing a reader’s five insured computers then only valuing them at $74 generated a lot of response (and turned into a vowel-less debate on health care), a couple readers sent us the contact info for the insurance agent who denied our reader’s request.
