I don't own the hangar that we use at Our Little Airport; I lease it from the owner. I frequently receive "Where's the rent check?" text messages from her. I use Navy Federal Credit Union's Online Bill Pay service for this, and I always schedule the payment to arrive on the due date. Just got a text from her a few minutes ago. The January rent check showed up in her mailbox today. She looked at the check and agrees with me, that it should have been delivered a long time ago. I suggested that she bake a batch of fresh cookies for her mail carrier; that might help prompt deliveries. Maybe.

Similarly, we rent a space in a self-storage facility. Rent checks are rarely delivered to them on time. Credit Union Bill Pay checks can be couple weeks late. I tried mailing my own check, dropped it at the city Post Office branch, which is maybe a mile and a half from the self-storage place. Took ten days to travel that distance.

It's OK though, postage prices keep going up, so we're paying more and more for crappier service.

USPS has gone to hell in a handbasket since COVID, what was bad before is now unbelievably horrible service.

We receive checks from Life Carriers daily, in the past 3 years we've had more lost checks, late deliveries, checks returned to carriers than in the past 20 years of doing this.

I agree that Covid has been the universal excuse for lousy service, and the postal service been a primary offender.

One time, pre-Covid, I got a text message that a package had been delivered via USPS. I went out to the box, but there was no package. I called the Post Office and they forwarded my call to the Post Master. I told him I figured the package was mistakenly delivered to my neighbor and said I would go check. He told me not to. He had the carrier return, pull the package from my neighbor's mailbox and bring it to my door. Great service.

A year ago, my son and his family lived with us for a couple of months while waiting to close on their new house. When they moved out, they mistakenly filled out the change of address form for the household and not just their names. I didn't get any mail for 6 weeks. It took numerous calls and visits to my post office to straighten it out. Each time I called or visited, I'd get a different excuse, but no resolution. When I asked to speak to the Post Master, I was told that he did not deal with these kind of issues. I finally went in and started getting loud. That got a supervisor off her ass long enough to actually resolve the matter.

Been in the current home about 8-1/2 years. First couple of years we had a regular letter carrier on this route, always had great service.

Since then we have noticed different carriers nearly every day. Spoke to a few, all said they were relief carriers assigned to fill routes as needed on a day-to-day basis. Now we see deliveries anywhere from 10AM to 7PM, sometimes receive nothing for several days and then find the box stuffed full. Many instances of mail in our box addressed to others. We have stopped using the outgoing box, taking everything to the main postal station ourselves.

I'm usually a USPS cheerleader, having used USPS parcel delivery for 1500 to 2000 packages per year over 20 years. Probably 30,000 or so sent with only a couple lost or stolen, couple damaged in handling.

Postal rates have increased by 50% or more since, and service has declined about the same percentage.

quote:

Originally posted by LoboGunLeather:


Since then we have noticed different carriers nearly every day. Spoke to a few, all said they were relief carriers assigned to fill routes as needed on a day-to-day basis. Now we see deliveries anywhere from 10AM to 7PM

Same here. We saw a postal worker out delivering mail at like 8 pm on a Friday night recently and it's been very hit or miss too. Nothing for days then box is stuffed full.

I saw one guy who looked like an absolute "ragbag" (as we'd call them in the Army) walking around delivering mail. He literally looked like a hobo that had found an old dirty wrinkled postal uniform in the trash. Shirt all untucked and hanging out, pants a mess. Some random ball cap on his head.

USPS is a complete mess

I too use my credit unions bill paying services. They electronically pay the same day, or the next day, and I get notice from the receiver that my payment was received. Occasionally they will cut a paper check and mail it, this depends on the company/organization that it goes to.

I started using this a few years ago. I got tired of my credit cards company saying oh gee your payment is a day late (regardless of how early I mailed it), or gee we never recived your payment. And oh by the way, you now owe us a late fee. Bastages!
.

Just use Zelle. Paypal. It works.

quote:

I use Navy Federal Credit Union's Online Bill Pay service for this, and I always schedule the payment to arrive on the due date. Just got a text from her a few minutes ago. The January rent check showed up in her mailbox today. She looked

^^^^^^^
Same problem. I just moved up the delivery date several days before due date.

My monthly rent check get mailed ten days before its due date,
To travel 70 miles, it usually gets there 2-3 days in advance.

I have had a priority/certified letter bouncing between Orlando, St. Myers and Melbourne Fl for 14 days now.

Four of the tiny towns here about have had help wZnted signs up for four months.

Back in the late 80's they had four hundred people show up for 8 open mail carrier positions in Davenport.

This country is in a state of transition.

At 12:17 pm on 2/29 I mailed a small package to the UK . I checked the tracking and see that the recipient should have it today .That's not too shabby I guess .

I also rent out a space in my hangar at Bremerton.

But I use Paypal............and it has been flawless for years.

We just had our first bad experience with USPS in San Diego.
We were going to northern Cal for a month; put in a mail hold online, got emails about how it was restarting such and such a day, remember to pick up your mail at the post office.

Got home: mail box is full. And there's a note from the mailman that "your mail box is full." Went to the annex to pick up our mail, supposedly a month's worth. Had about one day's mail. How does the mailman not get the message?

Another thing: we used to use Premium Forwarding for stays of a month or so away, that way we got our mail collected and shipped in a package once a week. Tidy. Now usps.com won't let me do Premium Forwarding. Guy at the annex says the web site is hinky.

Things ain't the way they used ta be, sonny!

quote:

Originally posted by skywag:

I also rent out a space in my hangar at Bremerton.

But I use Paypal............and it has been flawless for years.

I told the hangar owner that the best way to assure her timely receipt or rent payments would be to take the Post Office out of the picture.* I suggested Zelle and a couple other possibilities, but she wants a physical check. The Credit Union's Online Bill Pay does that, but delivery is at the mercy of the Post Office.

---

*One month, the Post Office delivered my rent check to a neighbor of the hangar owner. Hangar owner kept texting me, re my alleged non-payment of rent. I sent a replacement check. The neighbor gave the original check to hangar owner three weeks later, when the neighbor returned from vacation and picked up his mail.

Landlord wants a physical check then by pass the Post Office and physically come and get the physical check in person...... drill sgt.

quote:

Originally posted by drill sgt:

Landlord wants a physical check then by pass the Post Office and physically come and get the physical check in person.

How 'bout you come over here, and tell her that. I'll watch. From a safe distance.

I just received my W-2 for a second job I have. I have the USPS Informed Delivery notification come to my email, and it was first shown as being due for delivery on February 3. I got 2 more notifications within about 10 days, but it never showed up. I reported it missing after 30 days. I actually got a call from the local postmaster and discussed it. I contacted the W-2 issuer, and it had not been returned. Yesterday March 12, it was delivered. No unusual marks or damage to the document.

**UPDATE**
It wasn't my W-2 that was delivered, it was the Medical Insurance Form 1095-C. So my W-2 has never arrived.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Glynn863,

It's a good thing the Post Office is closed because if I called now, I might say something I regret.

The wife and I are on vacation. We've been gone for 2 weeks. A friend of my wife just stopped by to water her plants. On an impulse, she checked our mailbox.

The Post Office never stopped the mail, even though I had scheduled a mail hold. Moreover, they just kept cramming the mail in every day even though no one was picking it up. You'd think it might dawn on them that no one was home, but that's obviously too much to expect from the post-Covid postal service.