After 7 days my letter is still not there.

My tiny town postmaster is telling customers to allow up to ten days for letters.

So ten days to go 200 miles.
But my sister ,
70 miles away gets my letters in three days.

She didn't offer an explanation.

Time to bring back the Pony Express

Quote:
The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company.
During its 18 months of operation, the Pony Express reduced the time for messages to travel between the east and west US coast to about 10 days. It became the west's most direct means of east–west communication before the first transcontinental telegraph was established (October 24, 1861), and was vital for tying the new U.S. state of California with the rest of the United States.
Despite a heavy subsidy, the Pony Express was not a financial success and went bankrupt in 18 months, when a faster telegraph service was established. Nevertheless, it demonstrated that a unified transcontinental system of communications could be established and operated year-round. When replaced by the telegraph, the Pony Express quickly became romanticized and became part of the lore of the American West. Its reliance on the ability and endurance of hardy riders and fast horses was seen as evidence of rugged American individualism of the frontier times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express#

It's got to be at least in part because the post office did away with all local sorting.

I know people who sent letters to a neighbor a couple miles away - the mail was picked up, sent to the sender's hub in Milwaukee to be sorted, routed to the recipient's hub in Minneapolis, sent out to the neighbor's local post office, and delivered. The letter traveled about 600 miles to accomplish a two mile delivery.

A post office local to me still sorts the local mail *if* you know to drop it off in the special box inside the building. I wonder who'd lose their job if it was found out they were not following the orders from their overlords.

quote:

Originally posted by whanson_wi:
It's got to be at least in part because the post office did away with all local sorting.

Yep. If I mail a letter to my next door neighbor, the letter makes a 300 mile round trip to sorting in Evansville, Indiana.

quote:

Originally posted by rizzle:
Time to bring back the Pony Express

Speaking of Pony Express, this summer I mailed postcards from Boy Scout summer camp in St. Joseph, MO to about 120 miles away in Iowa on the Tuesday of camp. One arrived 8 days later I think and the other one arrived 10 days later.

I sent my 1911 CMP order USPS Priority Express to Anniston this month and on top of it going up a couple dollars, they now only guarantee "Next day by 6pm" instead of next day by noon if I recall correctly. Several times they couldn't meet the "by noon" or whatever it used to be for me and I got my refund. My order got there at 3pm this time.

2 months ago the only curbside drop box in Jerkwater was damaged by an incompetent driver. Since then, to mail a letter you have to go into the Post Office.

The postmaster reported the damaged box the day it got run over. From the fact that nothing’s been done I suspect that customer satisfaction is pretty low on the list of priorities for the USPS.

quote:

Originally posted by whanson_wi:
It's got to be at least in part because the post office did away with all local sorting.

I know people who sent letters to a neighbor a couple miles away - the mail was picked up, sent to the sender's hub in Milwaukee to be sorted, routed to the recipient's hub in Minneapolis, sent out to the neighbor's local post office, and delivered. The letter traveled about 600 miles to accomplish a two mile delivery.

A post office local to me still sorts the local mail *if* you know to drop it off in the special box inside the building. I wonder who'd lose their job if it was found out they were not following the orders from their overlords .

Considering the "overlords" in this case are Congress, I'd expects everyone involved. Following the Amerithrax Attack in 2001, all first class mail is mandated to be scanned for Anthrax. That's whay your local mail goes through the sorting centers (P&DC).

Postal is starting to consolidate their processing centers from 185 down to 60, but it's only just begun in the larger merto areas. It will take a few more years to roll out Nationwide.

The biggest impact lately is 2 fold.
1. Mail is being routed via Trucking wherever possible, incuring longer transit times over the pervious Air Mail routes.
2. Rural carriers are at an all time low for staffing, and some people (myself included) are only getting mail every other day.

The Postmaster General has relaxed mail standards to a five day delivery, If you are not receiving mail within that window, you should contact your Congress critter with a complaint that they can channel to see what is causing the extra slowdown.

Slow down at the PO? Say it ain't so.

Maybe we should feel lucky we don't get home delivery in our town and have to go to the post office to pick it up.