This is my first holiday season where things were in full swing. Is it normal
for USPS to take a week to deliver after Christmas versus
the 2-3 days it took up until the 24th?
Packages to UT, NM, CO I could maybe understand but ones to PA, NY and MI (the
same buyer that got their UPS in 1 day last week) are all showing January 6th
in the tracking data.
This is my first holiday season where things were in full swing. Is it normal
for USPS to take a week to deliver after Christmas versus
the 2-3 days it took up until the 24th?
Packages to UT, NM, CO I could maybe understand but ones to PA, NY and MI (the
same buyer that got their UPS in 1 day last week) are all showing January 6th
in the tracking data.
One thing I have had to take note of, being in a predominately rural area, is
that USPS has begun implementing the elimination end-of-day mail pick-up from
some of the smallest post offices. The old rule at every post office (for the
past 100 years?) which used to be NO MAIL LEFT at the end of the day is now gone.
This means that outgoing mail will now sit at the small post offices until the
NEXT day when they get a truck delivery of mail. So, small post offices only
get ONE truck per day instead of TWO, the second truck which used to take all
of that days' mail to the sorting plant to be processed has been discontinued.
This could mean that, right out of the gate, outgoing mail is SLOWED DOWN by
one day.
USPS is implementing this quietly and NOT telling postal customers. The only
way to find out is to ASK at each post office and to watch your tracking details
to see it happen.
Honestly, I think they should put up signs at the post offices where this the
new policy so that postal customers will KNOW that their mail won't be moving
right away. I have no idea what this means for EXPRESS Mail Service.
The odd thing is, along with this change has been the implementation at many
USPS sorting plants/hubs for letter carriers (the mail man/woman) to now do their
work at those sorting plants and NOT from the small local post office where they
used to be based. Meaning they now start and end their day at the sorting plant.
What this boils down to is that mail picked up from individual mail boxes at
businesses and residences DOES go directly to the sorting plant at the end of
the day INSTEAD of being taken to the local, small post offices in time to go
on the now non-existent end-of-day truck to the sorting plant postal facilities.
So, mail from your home mailbox MAY get into the mail system FASTER than mail
taken to a small local post office.
There are LOTS of exceptions to these new operating parameters for various reasons,
so some post offices are affected but not all. This is being rolled out slowly
on a case-by-case basis and is being done without any notice or fanfare (why
would there be for SLOWER service?) or even much press coverage.
The current Postmaster General of The United States has gone on record several
times to state that his biggest gripe/issue is running half-empty trucks and
so one of his main goals is to eliminate as many half-empty trucks as possible.
And, so far, it seems that part of the plan is working (or at least is in place).
Small post offices now only get ONE truck per day instead of TWO.
As far as USPS postal reform goes, that was likely the easiest to implement since
most mail was trucked by Independent Contractors who owned their own trucks rather
than USPS employees in USPS owned trucks. I assume those contractors were NOT
UNIONIZED, but I could be wrong. The USPS still has NINE Collective Bargaining
Agreements with SEVEN different Unions to deal with, which makes most any changes
to the post office nearly IMPOSSIBLE to Implement without violating at least
ONE of those bargaining agreements while also getting push-back from every Union
on every little attempted change. [1]
____
[1] I am NOT necessarily Anti-Union. But having to deal with NINE Collective
Bargaining Agreements and SEVEN different Unions sounds like an IMPOSSIBLE situation.
It might be a lot less trouble if there were FEWER separate unions to deal with.
Imagine trying to do anything and being constantly faced with NINE different
roadblocks all day every day. UGH.
One thing I have had to take note of, being in a predominately rural area, is
that USPS has begun implementing the elimination end-of-day mail pick-up from
some of the smallest post offices. The old rule at every post office (for the
past 100 years?) which used to be NO MAIL LEFT at the end of the day is now gone.
This means that outgoing mail will now sit at the small post offices until the
NEXT day when they get a truck delivery of mail. So, small post offices only
get ONE truck per day instead of TWO, the second truck which used to take all
of that days' mail to the sorting plant to be processed has been discontinued.
It used to be mail from our post office always arrived in the Montgomery hub
same day if dropped off by 5:30 p.m. - This has not been the case since mid-year.
If I want it to get started right away has to be there before noon.
More annoying is that my inbound packages will often travel from Montgomery to
Columbus, GA (driving by here) before returning from Columbus to here the following
day. Could they not stop and leave our mail? The PO is less than 1 mile from
the Interstate.
This is my first holiday season where things were in full swing. Is it normal
for USPS to take a week to deliver after Christmas versus
the 2-3 days it took up until the 24th?
Packages to UT, NM, CO I could maybe understand but ones to PA, NY and MI (the
same buyer that got their UPS in 1 day last week) are all showing January 6th
in the tracking data.
One thing I have had to take note of, being in a predominately rural area, is
that USPS has begun implementing the elimination end-of-day mail pick-up from
some of the smallest post offices. The old rule at every post office (for the
past 100 years?) which used to be NO MAIL LEFT at the end of the day is now gone.
This means that outgoing mail will now sit at the small post offices until the
NEXT day when they get a truck delivery of mail. So, small post offices only
get ONE truck per day instead of TWO, the second truck which used to take all
of that days' mail to the sorting plant to be processed has been discontinued.
This could mean that, right out of the gate, outgoing mail is SLOWED DOWN by
one day.
Yes, note that USPS "holiday pricing" is in effect from October 6th to
January 19th. There's an avalanche of returns being mailed.
USPS service times have noticeably degraded for me over the past year. Also noticed
less package scans along the way.
The difference in pricing between USPS ans UPS on Pirateship has shrunk considerably.
If USPS keeps raising prices at the same rate in 2 years I'll be able to
switch to UPS for most packages.
In Shipping, Ziegelmeister writes:
This is my first holiday season where things were in full swing. Is it normal
for USPS to take a week to deliver after Christmas versus
the 2-3 days it took up until the 24th?
Packages to UT, NM, CO I could maybe understand but ones to PA, NY and MI (the
same buyer that got their UPS in 1 day last week) are all showing January 6th
in the tracking data.
Yes, note that USPS "holiday pricing" is in effect from October 6th to
January 19th. There's an avalanche of returns being mailed.
This just seems so abrupt though. I wasn't aware of shortened hours today
(main branch I go to closed at 3:00), but even with them being off tomorrow the
packages yesterday would have normally said estimated delivery by the Jan 3rd
tops. Still waiting to catch neighborhood carrier and curious to see if these
will estimate the 7th or not.
The difference in pricing between USPS ans UPS on Pirateship has shrunk considerably.
If USPS keeps raising prices at the same rate in 2 years I'll be able to
switch to UPS for most packages.
I've been watching that pretty closely too but haven't done a deep dive
yet to figure out the magic cross-over point. From basic eyeballing it looks
like UPS's cheapest rate is about equal to USPS small box priority and generally
gets there 1-2 days earlier. Since I don't do have methods for anything
larger than 9x6x2 with ground advantage its been easier to transition more shipping
to UPS.
USA, Ohio
