With Regard to the USPS - I Have Had to Switch Carriers

[MineralMan]

I'm in the middle of administering the trust for the estate of my late parents, who lived in California. I live in Minnesota. So, what I need to do involves a great deal of documentation moving between California and other places and Minnesota. Every delay compounds itself and delays something else.

I tried using the USPS for such documentation shipping. Even Express Mail is slow, and very expensive, actually. First class mail is no longer able to reliably deliver documents within two or three days, as it once was.

So, I have had to switch to FedEx and UPS Overnight delivery services. Even for documents that can be delivered in a couple or three days, I can only depend on those two services at this time.

Sadly, many of the organizations and businesses I have to deal with will not accept documents in PDF format, for IT security reasons. Instead, I must print them out and put them in envelopes for delivery. I scan and save everything in PDF format for my own convenience, but cannot send those documents in that format to many places. Everyone wants paper, which ends up being scanned and turned into PDF files when it arrives. It is a cosmic waste of time, and a terrible waste of energy and printer consumables.

There it is, though. Frustrating, to say the least, but I can no longer count on the USPS to deliver anything in a timely way. DeJoy needs to go and the USPS needs to be more competitive with commercial courier services. Unless it does so, it will cease to be a useful service, which is probably the desired outcome. That needs to change and quickly.

[Ocelot II]

1. Biden just nominated three people to the USPS Board,

which means Dems will have a majority that can sack DeJoy. I hope this happens very soon.

[MineralMan]

3. I'm afraid the damage may already have been done.

Even if DeJoy is replaced, it will take a considerable amount of time to undo his targeted destruction of postal services.

[dalton99a]

2. DeJoy did a magnificent job at destroying service for the U.S. Postal Service

[MineralMan]

4. He did Trump's bidding.

It was all aimed at disenfranchising voters. That did not succeed, but the impact will be with us for a long time.

[JHB]

13. I think Trump's bidding lined up nicely with DeJoy's wish list

DeJoy has wanted to wreck the USPS for a long time, and has spent that time thinking of ways to do it.

Once Trump saw mail-in voting as something that wouldn't work in his favor, he gave DeJoy all the freedom he needed to put his wish list into effect.

[Blue Owl]

5. I think with Joe in office, the DeJoyride is over

This tRump stooge hasn't done a thing to improve the USPS.

The next time I have a job interview, I'm going to tell them I can do the job slower and less efficiently, and I'll let you know how that all works out...

[BeyondGeography]

6. I hope the people around Biden realize how bad this is

The mail is an absolute mess. I’ve missed payment deadlines through no fault of my own, just mailing things out on the 1st or 2-3 weeks ahead of penalty dates like I always do. And lately I haven’t even received bills such as mortgage statements; I’m not talking late, like not at all. Unprecedented stuff.

It’s nerve wracking. One of the most politically valuable things Biden can do is not just fix it, but let us know in advance that he’s on it and crow like a rooster when it’s done. People who don’t necessarily vote D will reward us.

[MineralMan]

8. Fortunately, our mortgage is serviced by the same bank

we use for our accounts. Paying it is simply a matter of transferring the amount to a different account. It's instantaneous. Our car payment is paid electronically, as well, along with almost all of our bills, which are all invoiced electronically, as well.

It is only when it comes to shipping documents that I have a problem, really. Delays tend to compound themselves. In some cases, I can fax documents, but I have to use an online fax service that will transmit PDF files for me. I haven't owned a fax machine for a couple of decades now.

Bill paying is no problem for me. I don't get paper bills, and I don't send checks. I'm sending some paper checks right now, but that will all end when the estate is settled.

[BeyondGeography]

9. I do a mix, but that's not the point

For whatever purposes people use the US mail, they have experienced a huge variance downward in reliability.

[MineralMan]

14. Which is the point of my original post.

[Klaralven]

16. Fax modems in the form of USB to RJ11 dongles are about $40

[Paper Roses]

15. I sympathize with you. It took 22 days for my credit card bill to get from here(MA)

to Delaware. Since I have to live on SS, I must wait for my check to pay bills. It comes on the 3rd of the month. I pay it immediately. Why so long to get to Delaware?

Don't use mailboxes, you can't be guaranteed that they will be picked up daily.
I now go directly to the post office or drive miles to my bank branch. Never happened before this current mess.

[SpankMe]

7. Trump appointees at USPS (who are still there, by the way)

...are trying to bring about the slow death of the post office. They've introduced all sorts of obstacles to efficient mail delivery under the guise of "cost savings". Remember the early efforts at vote-by-mail disenfranchisement where they uninstalled sorting equipment at some facilities saying it was part of streamlining?

[ibegurpard]

10. It's not just Republican sabotage

It's COVID as well. It has caused a huge jump in mail volume since people haven't been physically shopping compounded with carriers being sick.
COVID has also caused big problems with supply chains for materials coming from outside the country and through ports like LA... which is currently overwhelmed.
Yes he needs to go but not all the delays are a result of their sabotage.

[Klaralven]

11. Overnight is FedEx' core business.

FedEx was founded on the idea of sending all packages to Memphis airport before midnight, sorting and dispatching, and getting them to the destination the next morning. The overnight envelope containing legal documents was always a big part of the business. They'll defend that business tooth and nail.

USPS core business is ubiquity, allowing senders to get letters, direct mail marketing, magazines, books, and small parcels to any destination.

UPS' core business was sending fairly heavy parcels at reasonable rates and delivery times, usually by truck. Their niche was between USPS parcel post and the less than truckload freight carriers.

USPS isn't any better at sending envelopes overnight than would be FedEx at delivering magazines. Nor should they be.

[msfiddlestix]

12. And that was the point, for Dejoy

eta: I use the postal service express when mailing something time sensitive, which arrives faster than I expect But that's only to the East Bay and I'm mailing express from the North Bay. 60-70 mile away. Not across country. If I had to mail that distance, I would likely be forced to mail from private carriers, or give it a week more to the expected arrival date.

[Jilly_in_VA]

17. DeJoy to DeJail

and hopefully, soon, to DeHell!

[TheBlackAdder]

18. Fuck Trump. I paid $8 to mail a small cold package 80 miles, 2-day. It left on 1/5 got there on 1/18