Today’s headlines blame the economy on the fact that USPS is in the red over $2.8 billion. For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to lump the woes of DHL and Circuit City’s bankruptcy news in this today as well. After all, their challenges all have one thing in common…and it’s not the “bad economy.” It’s the inability for these entities to accept responsibility at an opportune time in which the economy can be blamed.
Now let’s get to the truth of the matter.
How about the fact that the USPS has lost a significant amount of trust with its consumers nowadays? High-count direct-mail marketers are strongly cautioned against sending out all of their mail on the same day due to historical instances in which the postal employee recipient will merely throw them away. As a result, not only do large-scale mail marketers have to separate their outgoing mail among several different post offices (which costs them more in the bulk mailing costs they pay) but they also have to be sure to plant “seed” addresses in their lists. In other words, have the items be mailed to individuals who they can trust and confirm that a mail piece was received.
What ever happened to “through rain, sleet, or snow?” Many business owners are reporting that the post office is refusing to deliver mail to any floor above the first level regardless of the presence of an elevator. Instead, regardless of what kind of sensitive documentation your business may receive, the USPS will hand over your mail to a business on the 1st floor and expect it to get to you. And thus wash their hands of any responsibility to do what they actually get paid to do…deliver mail to the addressee.
In this same situation, business owners are complaining that certified mail isn’t even being delivered to and signed for the intended recipient. It’s merely signed for by some mindless individual at the office that the post office determines will accept the mail for the entire building.
Have you ever noticed that smiling customer service is rare at a US Post office? Long lines all year round. Minimal supplies when they are available. Waiting in line only to be told that you didn’t need to wait in line or you have to do such and such and then get in line again. How does a post office run out of stamps on a regular business day? Isn’t that a big part of what they are supposed to do?
I don’t know about you, but over the last two years I’ve been receiving a significant increase in mail that’s not addressed to me. Not even close. And yet when I put it back in the mail box to be delivered to its appropriate addressee, my postal worker informs me that it will merely be returned to sender as undeliverable. Holy cow! The address is right on there only a couple blocks away!
And yet for all of these stellar benefits, we give frequent “raises” to the post office in the form of regularly increased postage costs.
Our office used DHL exclusively for some time, until we just got too fed up with packages not being delivered on time, being nickled and dimed with additional fees, and DHL not accepting any responsibility when a package was delivered incorrectly.
On the opposite side of this business, our Fed Ex delivery person once attempted to deliver a package to our office at Christmas time only to discover my husband and I had already left. So he drove over to our home and delivered it there! Fed Ex doesn’t deliver perfectly either. But when Fed Ex messes up on a delivery, an immediate credit is issued without having to wait on hold for 20 minutes to share the unpleasant tale.
Circuit City has been getting too big for it’s britches over the last two years as well. Winter shopping at this retailer proved to be confusing, frustrating, and altogether unpleasant—clearly reflective of their employee training program and management standards they have in place.
But hey. Let’s blame the demise of USPS, DHL, and Circuit City on the economy, shall we? That takes the blame and focus off of the real problems. That way no one has to accept accountability and learn from these horrendous mistakes. Too bad Enron didn’t close down in the midst of an economic crisis. No one would have gone to jail.
| Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. |
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I moved to Minnesota from Florida. We moved into a building with 4 apartments in it…we were staying with my brother-in-law in apt#4 until we could find our own place here. It just came about the lady in apt#3 was moving out, her last name was Johnson.
Well it just happen to be that is our last name too (no relation though).
Well we did end up moving from my brother-in-laws apt#4 over to apt#3. That is when the night mare started at the hands of the US Post Office here.
Our mail was being sent to the Johnson who had just moved out. Of course, she was sending it back saying it wasn’t her mail. Most of the time our mail was being sent back to the sender…undeliverable. But, one piece of our mail would somehow get to us.
Now remind you that we did put a change of address in. The mail that was being sent to the Johnson that just moved out had our names, our address on it.
My car insurance was cancelled on me, I had to provide proof of our address to our credit card companies, the school, our bank, and our health insurance company for the mail was all sent back saying that we didn’t live at that address.
When I finally found out what was going on I went to the Post Office and talked to them. All I got from them was…the machine that reads the mail..only reads the last name. I told them that was Bull, for there is 27 pages of Johnson’s in our phone book…and our name wasn’t even in it yet.
I must have went to the Post Office here 6 times or more. Called them every other day at least for months. We at this time was receiving half our mail ok. Then all at once our mail was being shipped over to an address in St. Paul…this mail was my husbands medical prescriptions from the VA. It was 3 weeks trying to find out where his medications were. They were sent back to the VA. Again they had the right name and address on it.
I had tried to call the US Postal Inspector and a few more with no help from any of them. Finally, I found out about this 11 member committee that overseas the post office. So, I typed up a letter on the computer to each and every one of those members. I sent them envelopes with our names and the right address on them …stamped by the post office undeliverable. I sent them a copy of the change of address card that I gave the post office here on April 7, 2006….this letter was dated July 18, 2006.
I made the US Postal Service pay the $12.65 it would have cost me to send those letters out to all those committee members. Well I did hear back from them and I did get some satifaction at last. I finally started getting our mail on time and every month on Aug. 10, 2006.
So, believe me….I hear your frustrations. But, our government helps oversea the Postal Service….That alone…should tell you something.
1) like…it was good once (a long time ago)
2) it was something you could count on and trust
3) it was afforable
And so wasn’t our government at one time…long ago
But now they both have the same definition:
1)The people (customer) don’t mean shit to them.
2)Neither one of them know how not to spend money like water
3)Deficits don’t mean shit to them.
4)Lousy service from both of them.
5)And they both raise prices on us when ever they want to.
Believe me…one deserves the other.