US Postal Service

Consumers have a lot of problems with USPS, as the complaints in this section attest.  What's perhaps most unfortunate about this is the hostility displayed by too many postal employees who could care less whether their efforts to serve taxpayers are successful.

USPS • Damaged Mail • Lost Mail • No Mail Delivery • Stolen Mail • Wrong Mail --- • Address Disputes • Change of Address • Dangerous Drivers • Hostility • Prescriptions Mishandled • Privacy Violations • Restricted Substances --- • Priority Mail • Express Mail • Military Mail --- News • Postal Service May Seek Service Cut • Movie Fans Suspect Foul Play at the Post Office

By the way, many consumers routinely leave their outgoing mail in the lobbies of apartment buildings. Not a good idea, as Christopher of Seattle now knows.

Then there's the question of whether the Postal Service is meeting the letter and spirit of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Oh, and some of those postal workers don't drive too well either.

A few of the more recent complaints ...

mary of Grandville, MI February 9, 2010

The postal system like our govt suffers from foreign and criminal corruption FEEDING off the people the reson for so much complaints. I've been too sick to go out so I tried to mail 2 sermon CD and bulletins to our shutins; I put almost 1 postage on each evelope AND the PO lady said I had to DOUBLE that for delivery 10 miles away! The consumer pay INFLATED INSANE prices then has to pay to haul JUNKMAIL away. I would NOT use the "service" EVER if we weren't hostages of...no choices!! IT was much better 60 yrs ago!

jesus of chicago , IL February 9, 2010

I have a daily mail pick up. At my location there is never a problem when my regular driver is working. However when he is off or they have him delivering mail instead of just his pickups always have a problem getting my mail picked up. when I call to see if am going to be picked up when my driver does not show on time Mrs. b. has answered the phone for me and has always and always has a very bad attitude and does not care weaker my mail gets picked up or not I explained to her that on the 6th I had 3 tubs completely full of mail and several boxes and that no one picked up my mail. So all she said was your driver will be there well he never showed up.

On Monday the 8th I again spoke to her and she had nays attitude again and still did not send anyone out to collect my mail. So finally around 5:30 my regular drive shows up and said they had him doing someone else’s rout but he still showed up. I then had 5 tubs and more boxes. I also asked her if she can provide me with a fax number to where I can fax my mail box rental applications to for mail forwarding and she could not help me she then said call back Monday and speak to such and such person whom handles the mailboxes.

Well on Monday I called again and was given the same answer again by Mrs. Brown to call back Tuesday. This is aggravating I give the USPS nearly 30,000.00 dollars worth of business a year and I don't believe I should have to go through this just to get my customers mail picked up if my driver is being put to do others routs or when he is not on duty.

This is a major concern with me that she is suppose to be in charge here yet does not care or provides good services. medications and other important pieces of mail, priority mail, express mail documents both domestic and international. do not get to patients or other recipients so this is a problem.

Christy of Dunlap, TN February 9, 2010

I printed an Customs Declaration Dispatch Note from paypal. I did not use it, it never left my city. However it took 5 days from the date shipped to the date back to my porch, I have had packages sit at my post office many times due to the fact they don't come to my house everyday, this took me out of the timeframe to be able to void the label through paypal. I was told I have 60 days to receive a refund on services not rendered on a shipping label. This means not delivered from what I am explained.

Neverthe less the Postal Service will not give me a refund, Paypal will not give me a refund bc they said the post office is responsible, post office says paypal is responsible Pitney Bowes says the Post office is responsible, even click and ship says postal service is responsible. So basically I pay 84.79 for a label that didn't go anywhere.

I think this is how the post office makes money off of taxpayers, this money is probably going in some CEO's pocket, and the bad part is once they tell you no they will not tell you the next level to go. It stops with consumer affairs, no means no and it's my fault. consequence for me, I lose 84.79 for paying for postage through paypal, and evidently the post office just made a quick 84.79.

I know I am not the only one this happens to. Economic problem is I will not ship USPS anymore, so my 2000+ a year i do spend will go somewhere else. UPS maybe, it is worth the extra money to ship to make sure I am taken care of.

Jeanette of Philadelphia, PA February 9, 2010

U.S. Post Office 9th and Market Street , Philadelphia, Pa 19107 - Philadelphia's Post Office in the HOOD. The first of the month the end of the month really doesn't matter. Hours 8:30 to 5:00 [they] Just May have two windows open and always a line going out the door. No service window, no machines to puchase stamps. Our senior can't stand in line for one stamp. What happen to customer service. I've contacted Consumer Affairs numerous times. Its been a year and no change.

Fred of Crete, IL February 6, 2010

Called postmaster at local office to complain about carrier cutting across the yard in the same path every day. Following day no mail delivery to my house but to neighbors. Called postal inspectors about the holding of first class mail, got told to talk to customer service and transferred. Apparently the computer system went down and I was to be called back by supervisor.

Next day (Friday) ago no mail delivery to my house but neighbors got mail. Had message from customer service but had to go through the story again with the fact that it was now two days of no mail delivery. Was given a number (file) and told that someone would be in touch in two business days, when I ask her if that means Tuesday I was told yes.

Saturday 02/06/2010 will be three days and no telling how long they will deliver mail to houses right next door with the same box and basically the same location but skip mine because I do not want a path through my front yard. Beginning of week there should be a check delivered. Bills that should be delivered. If not delivered then not paid. Just basic attitude of we will do what we want or we will not deliver your mail.

Kathleen of Madison, WI February 4, 2010

I would like to clarify a complaint I made about a Port Wing postoffice misunderstanding. I was simply trying to determine whether I could receive mail! In my frustration this was possibly worded a bit strongly and now that I am going to be able to receive mail (hooray!), hopefully everything will be amicable from this point forward. Thank you and the Port Wing P.O. for addressing this in such a timely manner and permitting a satisfactory conclusion for all involved!

melissa of cliffside park, NJ February 4, 2010

in december of 2008 i paid for a p.o. box online. i printed the papers as instructed and went to my local post office. the employee told me that he didnt know how to issue a box that was paid for online. he instructed me to go to another location, but i didnt want another location, this post office was neartest to my house. i went online and emailed the post office to let them know what was going on. they tried to explain to me what to do but it was turning into a hassle. i wrote them back and asked to just get my money refunded. they said they would process it and it would take at least 4 weeks. i said fine. i called back in march 2009, and they told me that there were a lot of people ahead of me waiting for refunds to be processed and asked me to be patient. i said fine. my refund wasn't processed until january 28, 2010! A YEAR LATER!!!! this is very upsetting and aggravating that the post office takes a year to issue a 74.00 refund!!!! i will never purchase anything online from the post office again.

Rita of Oxon Hill, MD February 4, 2010

I had an insured package left at my apartment door on February 1, 2010, @ 2:00 in the afternoon by our area postal carrier. However, the package was stolen. If it is policy or procedure by the post office to leave packages at apartment doors, then can't the policy be change to leaving a postal slip in ones mailbox, so that would ensure a more secure way for the consumer to get their products. This procedure makes me wonder if the postal carriers are stealing alot of items that they claim to have left at a residents door. They supposedly don't have to have a signature, so how would the consumer know if they ever left it.

usps of longview, TX February 3, 2010

I know this is going to sound awkward, but please do not judge or be rude about what I am saying. I am an employee of the USPS. It really hurts to know that I love my job and my customers as much as I do and have people that feel horrible about us. Please don't assume that because your experience is bad that everyone that works here is all the same. I take pride in my job and doing what I can for my customers. I try to treat my customers as I would want them to treat me. I have made friends with alot of people on my route and try to learn everyone's thoughts on what can be done to better things on my end. I choose to do this because I love it. I have worked for the post office over 5 years and full time for over a year. I have been thanked many times for doing a great job after the other lady retired. She was someone that had a lot of complaints about.

Sometimes we do have bad days such as when we work sick, the mail truck is 2 hours late getting us our items to get to you, or something is going on in our lives that we keep running over in our minds. We have customers that have bad days also. I try to keep my chin up and put myself in their shoes. We should all do that. I just want you to know that not everyone is inconsiderate of others. I also want you to know that we are human beings and if someone just smiles and said thank you once in a while, it really makes us feel appreciated.

There are alot of things that people don't understand about our jobs, though. I work 6 days a week for 7 or more hours a day with NO BREAK! We have to sort our own mail, organize it according to delivery, count the items (letters, catalogs, parcels, etc), log information, sign a form for every move we make, keep track of miles, load it into our vehicles and try to deliver it to the right place on time . . . every time and then do it when we get back in from our routes. As a rural carrier, I have to provide my own vehicle, insurance, etc. That isn't cheap. I do agree that there are people out there that only work for the money. It isn't that great, either, when you have to pay for all the expenses just to have the job like I do. Also, I don't get paid by the hour. If my route is evaluated at 7 hours and I work 12, I get paid for the 7 hours, then I get in trouble for not getting it done in time.

Rural carriers go through a route count once a year. If our mail is low for that 2 week period of time, which it usually is, we have to deal with the pay we are given for it for the next year. Most of us work hard, but do make mistakes. We have subs that don't care as much as we do. That is difficult for the regular carriers. I do everything I can think of to make my subs job easier, but he/she tends to not care. I put names in boxes, color code things, etc, but there is no getting him to care as much as I do. There are a lot of complaints when I take a day off. I hate to take off work because of that. It frustrates me seeing the mess that was created while I was away.

Not everything is in our control though. Before it reaches my hands, I don't know what has gone on until that point. I am writing this because I, too, have bad experiences with the postal service. I recently had an express package that was damaged (out of carriers hands) and scanned falsely by a carrier or clerk. It was scanned as attempted when it WAS NOT! That is a sign of laziness. I have called the supervisor over that postal facility several times and have gotten nowhere with it. There isn't anything I can think of that would be a good reason for that package to show attempted when it was not. That is just false documentation to cover someone's butt.

No matter what, there is no excuse to treat the customers the way that you have been treated. Do not just sit back either. There is always someone to listen. and take care of it. Know that if you do not get results keep going until someone does take care of it. Sometimes when I make a mistake, having the customer catch me and tell me (nicely) personally, it gives me a better image so that it becomes more personable. Everyone makes mistakes at sometime, but know that constant mistakes should not be tolerated.

Gina of Proctor, MN February 3, 2010

For several weeks, I have had spotty delivery of my mail. I live in northern minnesota, so snow and ice are a norm here in the winter. Today I received a letter from the post office, in my mailbox mind you, that my sidewalk is too dangerous for the postal worker to use. I find this suspect as if it was so dangerous how did he deliver this notice.

And since he did deliver the notice...seems pretty childish that he wouldn't deliver my mail at the same time. Instead he holds it hostage. I am really sick of this. What is it they say about the usps. through wind, snow rain etc. the mail will be delivered? What a joke.

This mailman also scares my children and they say he is mean. So what do I do? I put a call into the postmaster. hopefully he calls me back. I am extremely angry. I have 5 feet of snow in my yard and they expect me to shovel a path for this jerk. no thanks. I'll just shove a huge mailbox in the snowbank and he can deal with that. constant worry about whether I should leave my outgoing mail in the box when I leave. he may just decide he doesn't want to pick it up. Then who is going to get a hold of my info?

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