I'm an easy-going fella, y'all. Some of you have met me, and I think you'd agree with that statement.

But tonight I feel like David Banner, right about the time he gets that accidental overdose of gamma radiation. I'm about to be unlikable, because I'm about to be angry.

"What the heck, USPS?! Do you have people on staff specifically assigned to make things difficult? Jiminy Cricket!"

There. I'm done shouting now.

I'm reluctant to join the "let's beat on USPS" crowd, but for tonight, please consider me a full-fledged, dues-paying member.

So here's my beef:

A couple of weeks ago I got the flyer in the mailbox, saying my PO box rent is due. Okay, fine. I'll grumble a little, because it seems to get more expensive every year, but it's a near-necessity so I'll pay it.

Went home, wrote the check, put it in the envelope. January 7th.
I figured, on the 8th, that I should drive over to the PO and drop the envelope in their box on my way to work, but I was in a hurry. (Second problem, right?) So I put the envelope in the mailbox at the end of the driveway, raised the flag, and headed on to work. I figured I'd get the receipt in the mailbox the next day, and didn't think a thing more about it.

Last night I found that the check had not yet cleared. DaHeck?? What's going on here? Idunno... maybe it'll clear tomorrow.

Well, tomorrow (16th) is here today and the check still hasn't cleared. And there's an email from USPS, reminding me that my box rent is due. And the rate goes up (surprise, surprise!) tomorrow. (Third problem?)

Fine. I'll get online and pay it. Whenever the check clears, it'll just extend the time before I have to pay it again. "Whatever."

Get online, log in... NOPE! DENIED! "Your account has been disabled." Say, what??

Check my notes and passwords, try again. NOPE! DENIED! "Your account has been disabled."

Fudge. Okay, let's create a new account. Enter my chosen username. "Sorry, that username is in use already." Hey, that's the one I probably chose years ago. Let's try to log in! NOPE! DENIED! "Your account has been disabled." Okay, fine. It's disabled. Any reason offered as to why? NOPE! DENIED!

Fine. Create new account. Click the "renew" link from the email. "Your account has no PO boxes linked." Ugh. Find the link button, link my box. Good to go, right? NOPE! DENIED! Gotta log in again.

Log in again, choose to renew my box, enter credit card info. Submit. NOPE! "Credit card information is invalid." Grr. Try again, maybe I fat-fingered it. NOPE! DENIED!

Choose a different card. Repeat the previous procedure; receive the previous response: NOPE! DENIED!

Finally, after five attempts using three different cards, the system decided to let me pay my darned bill.

Will tomorrow's mail bring me the original payment receipt? My guess is... NOPE! DENIED!

We'll see.

Thanks for letting me vent. I'll go back to being my normal, non-angry self now.

Have you ever heard them say 'Efficiency is are Strength!'?

At least you know they have a few billion laying around for electric vehicles and diversity.

I bought a hose a few weeks ago. It said it would be delivered by the USPS.

I watch the tracking and it seems to have went on a joint tour with the Harlem Globetrotters and the Savanah Bananas.

Any outgoing mail, whether you put it in your curbside box, a "drop box" (the big blue things), in the "outgoing slot at the Post Office, handed to the Clerk at the window, everything goes to a Processing and Distribution Center.

Mr. Drucker doesn't wear that hat anymore.

And, as an aside, that is why so many "tracking" events show mail/packages going to another state, when the damned thing just got mailed from the next town/city 45 miles away.

It's automation. And since the automation is not in each post office, but "begins" at the processing center, it becomes a dichotomy of what used to be "best" for an individual, to what is better for the entirety of mail handling.

Not all progress is desirable.

I finally got my medicine in the mail today. First it got to St Louis then shuffled around there, then to Little Rock then back to St Louis then back to Little Rock then local office and then my mailbox.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Mr. Drucker doesn't wear that hat anymore.

I miss Mr. Drucker.

Yep.

Here is the latest:

USPS in possession MONONGAHELA, PA 15063

Arrived WARRENDALE PA

Departed WARRENDALE PA

Arrived AKRON OH

Departed AKRON OH

Arrived GASTONIA, NC

Departed GASTONIA, NC

Arrived ATLANTA GA

Arrived SAINT LOUIS MO

Departed SAINT LOUIS MO

Arrived ST LOUIS MO

Departed ST LOUIS MO

Arrived ATLANTA GA

Arrived NASHVILLE TN

Departed NASHVILLE TN

Arrived ATLANTA GA

Arrived ATLANTA GA

Departed ATLANTA GA

It seems that the Palmetto, Ga (30268) distribution center is still as shitty as it ever was.

They changed 'Palmetto' and renamed it 'Atlanta' in an attempt to hide how bad it is.

Any outgoing mail, whether you put it in your curbside box, a "drop box" (the big blue things), in the "outgoing slot at the Post Office, handed to the Clerk at the window, everything goes to a Processing and Distribution Center.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
You still have big blue boxes? They all disappeared overnight two years ago. In researching I determined that theft of mail had become a huge problem and this was the solution. No more drive through at our USPS office.

I use a credit card and pay at the counter the day I get it. That works best as I have had similar issues. These days the lines at the post office are fairly short.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:...
You still have big blue boxes? ...

Yes. They are going away, but they are still in quite a few areas.

One my "box rent", I do the same if I pick up my mail, find the invoice in there and the window is open, I'll pay it right then.
Otherwise I'll make the next trip to get mail when they are open.
Once a year, so get it done and forget about it.

(email notification that I have USPS mail)

Many thanks to the United States Postal Service today for managing to fill my mailbox with unsolicited junk mail in the midst of these "winter weather conditions". Or at least that's somehow their excuse for sending my package from LTT the wrong way out of Indy to Cincinnati and then letting it languish there for a week with no updates.

The weather's not that bad. Just cold and snowy like every other winter in the Midwest. I've been to work every day. So has my mailman. I've seen him. Yet somehow the cold can be used as an excuse for people working inside of a building down south of here where it's warmer sending my stuff in the complete wrong direction and then losing it?


But hey, at least they properly sorted the junk mail !

I use the portal to pay the annual fee for the PO Box, and yes it's gotten more expensive every year, almost $400 a year now!

I keep a CC in the portal, and got an email to update it this year with new cc as the old one finally expired.

Now my BRP permit deposit has been an impossible task to do online, even the staff at the PO can't figure it out...

That's ok I get to chat with them and keep the relationship intact, which helps.

It's moving again! After a week in Cincinnati, they sent it back to Indianapolis yesterday. Who promptly sent it to Clinton, Indiana which is the wrong way in the opposite direction. I don't know what kind of idiots they're employing at the Indianapolis sorting center, but this has been pretty much the norm for them for the past year. They even got investigated by Congress it got so bad.

Still, every now and then a package will somehow circumvent the rampant incompetence and squeak through unscathed...my Midway order that I placed Sunday is supposed to be out for delivery right now, a lot earlier than expected.

I've never really had a bad experience with them until last week. We mailed a "care package" of treats and things to my grandson last Tuesday from York County to Richmond, VA. Postal clerk said it was going to arrive on Friday. Nope! It went Richmond, then to Dulles, and then back to Richmond. It was finally delivered to him this Tuesday. It took 7 days for the package to get to him in Richmond, which is 66 miles from here.

quote:

I don't know what kind of idiots they're employing at the Indianapolis sorting center, but this has been pretty much the norm for them for the past year.

Maybe they're related to that infamous postal center in Georgia.

Package finally got here yesterday. It went through the Indianapolis hub 3x before they finally got it right. A lady from our local Post office actually called me today (on Sunday!) to confirm that I'd received it. I felt kinda bad about making extra work for her...it wasn't our local PO's fault, it's those half-wits down in Indy.

The USPS is nothing of what they used to be. They are why I now pay everything online. I have had too many important bills like property taxes almost be late due to the USPS.

I renewed my driver license online back in December and never got it so last week I went and checked and it was mailed out. So either it was stolen, or delivered to the wrong address and the people were not kind enough to deliver it to me. Now I have to go for an in-person appointment next week to replace what I never got and hope it makes it to my house.

Two weeks ago my wife and my voter registration cards were delivered to the wrong address and luckily those people came and gave them to us.

I just renewed my passport and have to hope it will make it.

I’m dealing with another USPS adventure right now.

USPS received my package from the shipper on February 13th.

I still haven’t received it, and according to USPS tracking, it has not even left the state of MN.

It was being shipped from MN to Pittsburgh PA.

Tracking:

Expected Delivery by

Wednesday 18 February 2026 by
9:00pm

Your item arrived at our MANKATO MN DISTRIBUTION CENTER origin facility on February 18, 2026 at 2:40 pm.

The item is currently in transit to the destination.



In Transit from Origin Processing

Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility

MANKATO MN DISTRIBUTION CENTER

February 18, 2026, 2:40 pm

In Transit to Next Facility

February 17, 2026

Departed Post Office

MANKATO, MN 56002

February 13, 2026, 3:34 pm

USPS in possession of item

MANKATO, MN 56002

February 13, 2026, 1:15 pm

Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item

MANKATO, MN 56001

February 12, 2026, 9:21 pm