The state of mail delivery in the US?

[ScottT]

Apologies if there is already a thread on this, I tried looking but didn't find anything.

 

What is going on with the USPS?  I've seen report after report of distribution centers having trailer trucks full of mail waiting to be sorted, reports on packages taking weeks, and letter delivery taking far too long.

 

I remember mail delivery times got much longer during the pandemic, but it never really got back to full speed afterwards.  Yesterday I got a letter that had been posted in a nearby city in the same state, about 150 miles away.  It took eleven days to get here.

 

Is this the new norm?  How will this affect your letter and postcard writing? 

 

My delivery person is a third party contractor, and aside from their inability to close the damn mailbox door (wet mail is not happy mail), they tend to leave packages leaning against the mailbox post, which is next to the road and out of sight of my house.

 

What are your experiences? 

 

-Scott

[LizEF]

6 hours ago, ScottT said:

I've seen report after report of distribution centers having trailer trucks full of mail waiting to be sorted, reports on packages taking weeks, and letter delivery taking far too long.

This post is the first I've heard of this.  Perhaps it's regional?  Perhaps weather related?  Whatever else is true, USPS quality of service is very impacted by attitudes and norms in the specific location.  In other words, unlike FedEx or UPS that have a "company ethos" and which try to ensure all locations and personnel are trained to the company's service level, USPS employees seem to get trained to the supervisor's or manager's service level - there's no institutional service level enforced.  (At least, this is what I have deduced after talking with many about their experience with the USPS vs my own.)  I haven't noticed any change in service, and am quite happy with out local postal workers, FWIW.

[Ron Z]

You don't say where you are, but the very cold weather in the south where they aren't prepared for the snow and such, did make a dent in delivery times.   USPS is the way that we prefer to receive and send packages.  Granted, we mail by flat rate priority, but even packages sent to us by standard mail arrive in reasonable time.  I've had no more than a handful of instances with delayed or lost mail in the  years we've been doing repairs full time.

[Paul-in-SF]

7 hours ago, ScottT said:

I've seen report after report of distribution centers having trailer trucks full of mail waiting to be sorted, reports on packages taking weeks, and letter delivery taking far too long.

 

Where have you seen these reports? How reliable are those sources?

 

There is a thread, by the way, "USPS - some complaining here" in Chatter. The last entry was January 18, so it shouldn't be too far down the list -- currently it's 2nd from the top on page 2. I have posted extensively there, so I won't repeat it here, but my sense is that the majority in that thread report good-to-pretty good service. 

[ScottT]

Thanks to all for the replies! 

 

I live in what could best be described as 'the boonies', well outside of a city, in Kentucky.  The slowdowns here have been going on for longer than the winter, and I can remember over a year ago being surprised that a letter traveling 45 miles took seven days.  Now this could be because it has to travel to the distribution center then back again?

 

Without being too nosy, about where is everyone from?

 

I'll check the Chatter for sure, thanks for the heads up.

[ScottT]

I checked the Chatter and will post there, and I think Liz is correct with different regions behaving differently as there isn't a company ethos.

 

When I lived in MA, our post office was pretty good, and it only got a bit weird when the next town over built a bigger post office/center.  Unlike here in the South, my postwoman in MA was outstanding, incredibly helpful, and truly missed, especially with what we have down here.

 

Our Amazon deliveries went to pot during the pandemic and never came back, average Prime two-day delivery is about nine days.  I'll do some checking to see which distribution center is nearest, as the ones near Louisville and Indianapolis have been on the news, and not in a good way. 

 

Anyway, thanks again to all for the responses.

[Barkingpig]

I live in KY, a small town only 30 miles from the closest distribution center & 60 miles from Louisville, the largest center.  I have had letters & or packages take from 10-20+ days to be delivered to Northern KY, a mere 90 miles away.

 

Rather than beleaguer the point I have been relying on UPS for all package delivery, which has thus far been delivering in two days packages from my home to a town in NJ, only 25 miles from NYC.  It may cost a bit more but the delivery is always timely & I only wish I could send letters with them.

 

On January 31 I received a notice that my 2025 automobile registration was due to expire on the same date; After assembling the required documents & check I drove to my County Court Office & found an unusually large number of people there for the same reason.  Apparently all persons in January received our notifications in this small town on the same day, the last day possible to renew our registration; the Clerk said, "We don't mail those out, they are sent from Frankfort, the state Capitol, & we have no control over what they do or when they are mailed."

 

It appears the actions affecting our lives are no longer under ANY control that we can influence; a few months ago we received  our local water bill but for 2 months charges, the previous month's bills were LOST after mailing & never received before our next bill became due.  I asked the Clerk if our water bill represented a large portion of their revenue, didn't it concern them, if none was received ?  Her answer, "Nothing we can do, we just mail them, we can't influence their delivery, once mailed.

 

If you think that this is merely what happens in "small towns" in my state, I offer that a Friend in Louisville, our state's largest city, has seen similar delays; bills received past their "due dates," & packages delivered to Lexington, 100 miles away, delivered 20+ days, with USPS Priority shipping.  So it would appear it matters not what size town you live in, but problems with Postal Delivery are universal for our state.

 

But like Mr. Szanto, these are not my greatest worries, just a continued annoyance, just a realisation that I have no control over the things that influence my life.  I am happy I have lived as well as I have in my life & that there is less ahead of me than behind me.  (I will probably still purchase "green" bananas, but only because I dislike ripe ones!)

Edited February 3 by Barkingpig
spelling

[Ron Z]

Mod hat on:

Just a reminder.  Discussion of politics are not permitted on FPN, and even shaded comments can create a kerfuffle.  Don't go there. 

[ScottT]

On 2/3/2025 at 3:58 AM, Barkingpig said:

I live in KY, a small town only 30 miles from the closest distribution center & 60 miles from Louisville, the largest center.  I have had letters & or packages take from 10-20+ days to be delivered to Northern KY, a mere 90 miles away.

 

Rather than beleaguer the point I have been relying on UPS for all package delivery, which has thus far been delivering in two days packages from my home to a town in NJ, only 25 miles from NYC.  It may cost a bit more but the delivery is always timely & I only wish I could send letters with them.

 

On January 31 I received a notice that my 2025 automobile registration was due to expire on the same date; After assembling the required documents & check I drove to my County Court Office & found an unusually large number of people there for the same reason.  Apparently all persons in January received our notifications in this small town on the same day, the last day possible to renew our registration; the Clerk said, "We don't mail those out, they are sent from Frankfort, the state Capitol, & we have no control over what they do or when they are mailed."

 

It appears the actions affecting our lives are no longer under ANY control that we can influence; a few months ago we received  our local water bill but for 2 months charges, the previous month's bills were LOST after mailing & never received before our next bill became due.  I asked the Clerk if our water bill represented a large portion of their revenue, didn't it concern them, if none was received ?  Her answer, "Nothing we can do, we just mail them, we can't influence their delivery, once mailed.

 

If you think that this is merely what happens in "small towns" in my state, I offer that a Friend in Louisville, our state's largest city, has seen similar delays; bills received past their "due dates," & packages delivered to Lexington, 100 miles away, delivered 20+ days, with USPS Priority shipping.  So it would appear it matters not what size town you live in, but problems with Postal Delivery are universal for our state.

 

But like Mr. Szanto, these are not my greatest worries, just a continued annoyance, just a realisation that I have no control over the things that influence my life.  I am happy I have lived as well as I have in my life & that there is less ahead of me than behind me.  (I will probably still purchase "green" bananas, but only because I dislike ripe ones!)

 

While I am sorry you have had such experiences, thank you for letting me know it isn't just me getting this kind of service.   One can hope it will improve, but I shall use UPS for packages and keep crossing my fingers for anything in an envelope.

[Misfit]

Eep! I hope I don’t go there, even in a shaded way. But sometimes truth is the truth. The current Postmaster General comes from a competing delivery service. He has done things to harm the USPS, like closing distribution centers. I had a package go from Arkansas to West Palm Beach, Florida, then back west for delivery. A package shipping from Florida went to Puerto Rico, then headed west for delivery. My most recent package from Arkansas, or Vanness Pens, took the normal route, and traveled due north to the adjacent state I live in, or Missouri. 

[Runnin_Ute]

I have had letters from a penpal in the Kansas City area to my home in the Salt Lake City area in as many as eight days and as few as four days. I have also had letters go between penpals in the Eastern time zone - NJ, MA, CT and IN to me in fewer days than Kansas City. KC used to be 3-5 days, seems like it has stretched out a day or two on average. 

 

Many years ago (10 or so) I received two letters - one from a friend who lived down the street from me but was at the time living in Provo, Utah and my nephew who was in Taipei, Taiwan. Both took 6-8 days. Provo is about 30 miles one way. It's over 6700 miles to Taipei. That is obviously an extreme example and something could have happened to delay the letter from Provo.