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August 22, 2005
Our Wonderful United States Postal System
Ya gotta love our postal system here in the United States. A customer of mine sent me these photos of a package that I had send to him.
Not only was the package completely ripped apart and stepped on, the stuff inside was gone!
So I took these photos into the USPS to show them what had happened and guess what was the first thing they said to me....
"Sir, did you buy insurance on the package?"
INSURANCE!!!!
Why the crap should I pay insurance on something that I'm already paying them to do?!
The USPS is amazing sometimes.
When I go into their office with a bunch of pacakges I always hear a long moooaaann.
You would think they would be happy to see me and all the business I bring them. But no, they just see all the work they gotta do (It's a result of having a stale, dumbed down government job.)
Not all the postal workers are like that though. There are a couple in my local USPS office that are great. They make it worthwhile.
Posted by David Frey | Permalink
Comments
Next you'll have to buy insurance on fast food from a drive-thru.
You'll come back thru and tell them you didn't get all you asked and paid for and they'll want to know if you insured your purchase.
Just paying someone to do their job doesn't seem to be enough anymore.
Posted by: Mike Sigers | Aug 18, 2005 10:24:15 PM
Hehe, it's exactly like Australia Post... like all big institutions, you always get some bad eggs.
But delivering post all day everyday sounds pretty mundane to me. It'd be great if one day the postal system could be computerised and "robotized" reliably so humans can do more fun stuff.
Posted by: Chris | Aug 19, 2005 7:34:08 PM
I have actually had pretty good luck at our local USPS office but I can relate to what you are saying...
I understand that some of employees are just doing their job and following their company's policies but what I have a MAJOR issue with is how people respond to things that they can actually do something about. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO PERSONALLY ACCOUNTABILITY ?
I wish that ever person could read an awesome book called QBQ! or Question Behind the Question by John Miller. John's book proposes that instead of asking who is to blame for the situation, we should ask, "What can I do to improve the situation?" Only by being able to ask this "question behind the question" can we take ownership of the problem and start working toward a solution.
I kept giving my copies of this book to other people so I finally bought an Audio CD of it for myself and I think my wife let her friend borrow it... Anyway.. it is an excellent resource and I wish that everyone could read it. Just looked at amazon.com and they have a few paperback copies for only $6.30...
Posted by: Brett | Aug 19, 2005 10:39:27 PM
Hey, if the post office doesn't appreciate your business take it to a UPS Store, or a Mailboxes Etc. They will be more than happy to get your business and give better service as well. As far as the insurance thing goes, I could argue that point. Just because you're a good driver, does that mean that you don't need insurance?
Posted by: Shawn | Aug 24, 2005 1:33:12 AM
Sorry to contradict your point of view Shawn (valid all the same). But it's a whole different story buying insurance for a car/house than for a USPS package.
For once, the concept of life, car, house insurance is to have a backup plan in case something happens to you "out of the blue". Notice that screwing up doesn't count in most cases. When one buys a car one pays for the car. If something in the car manufacture or assembly fails, then you take it back and demand a repair, refund or trade. One doesn't have to buy insurance against the service or product provided, one buys it for the "post-sales" experience.
On the other hand, the USPS sells a single service: delivery. And you pay for it with stamps, priority, etc. The package should get to it's destination as it was sent because that's what we originaly paid for. No need to double charge there. Insurance on a package is actually paying more for what one is supposed to get anyway, it's a classic Upsell trick (one that works, mind you, but I'd rather see insurance as a strong guarantee than as an upsell scheme).
Having said that, I believe that all our deliveries should reach it's destination as a strong guarantee (It's the main part of mine, BTW, you can check it - if you read spanish - at www.pcazul.com
Posted by: MTenorio | Aug 26, 2005 7:44:41 PM
Nice post-- I have two comments:
One, a friend of mine mailed a large envelope (much like yours) just across town and did tracking (saved a lot of time not having to drive there.) The package ended up being sent clear across the country for a reason no one knows. Of course it was a time sensitive document! He went into the Post Office and they had no excuses, just gave him his money back. He asked them to refund the cost of the envelope, and the paper contents (photocopies) and they said there was no way for them to figure the cost of the papers. This was like $1.00-- and they said no.
The other thing is that it's clear to me that the USPS provides a service that basically blackmails you into buying tracking and insurance. Everytime I go into the Post Office I tell them NO-- no insurance. NO tracking-- they look at me like I am crazy. What American business provides a service, and then essentially tells people and admits they don't always deliver and you need to pay to make sure? If you mail a box, and the contents are damaged, did you know the post office many, many times, will not offer a refund on the contents because the sender did a bad job wrapping up the contents? They can deny it. And sometimes the sender (like an eBay seller) has no clue how to properly pack. I use UPS as often as possible.
Posted by: John Trosko | Sep 2, 2005 9:59:21 AM
In my old life (as a criminal defense attorney) I was part of a team of lawyers who defended several postal employees (actually subcontractors) who flew the Express Mail run between San Diego and Las Vegas. While in flight, they would open any Express Mail packages that looked interesting, and steal the contents if they were valuable. If the items were of little or no value, they had all the materials they needed on the plane to reseal the packages and put them back in the mail sacks. Over a couple of years, they stole a whole lot of money, drugs and jewelry. I don't know if they would consider your material valuable, David, but in my opinion it is worth far more than the stuff they DID steal. (Oh, and don't worry about getting certified mail from me...I quit that other gig a long time ago!)
Posted by: Jeff | Sep 2, 2005 10:19:55 AM
I'd like to say that in the United Kingdom with Royal Mail, it is just as someone said here, "You get what you pay for!".
However, having worked for the company for a period longer than a life sentence, I always try to let people understand that if the item is valuable or time sensitive, then they should pay for the insurance. It isn't as though the Royal Mail deliberately wants the item of mail to go missing, or there's someone waiting to see what's inside it. Things like this happen often but only to a small percentage on the scale of things.
It isn't really an upsell in the true sense of the word, but if the item is worth more than $50 - $60 then you should insure it, as the compensation for ordinary post doesn't cover it. If it's time sensitive, buy the next day delivery with "consequential loss". If it doesn't arrive on time, you get your money back. If the delay or loss leaves you out of pocket due to the time factor, you get compensated, But! Only if you ask for that particular service when sending the item. At the Post Office counter, they always ask, "Is this more valuable than X? Does it need to be there the next day?" Yeah, these are upsell questions, but if they don't ask and you say no to both who's to blame?
That's how it is here in the UK. Royal Mail isn't perfect but if you know you have to send something, surely you should make sure you will be compensated if anything goes wrong.
God Bless
Brian
Posted by: Brian | Sep 3, 2005 2:18:36 AM
Dave, almost without fail when I send packages to my clients or have them delivered it is obvious to me they've been opened at the USPS end. Between email and companies that actually want your shipping business it's amazing they are still open for business. Anyway, keep up the top shelf work and I will continue to quote your work to my clients and encourage them to sign up for your marketing newsletter.
Dan Nichols - Founder
Institute for Small Business Empowerment
Helping entrepreneurs determine which steps to take to grow their business.
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