US Post Office - how much worse can it get?

[Sparko]

Where go you get the idea that UPS and FedEx "cherry pick" customers and don't charge everybody the same price?

What would FF know about the USPS? He lives in Scotland.

[rogue06]

What would FF know about the USPS? He lives in Scotland.

we have folks living in foreign lands who often tell us what is going on in our own backyard. For instance, without such folks I never would have learned that it is illegal for a CEO in America to not make a profit, or that the Republicans control New York.

[Thoughtful Monk]

I live in a somewhat rural area. Out here, people either pick up their mail at the end of the lane, or lease P.O. boxes. In the 61 years I've lived here, my family has always chosen the P.O. box. Until it became mandated about ten years ago for 911 service, we never even had a street address. (I have one of the few extant copies of the original street layout plans for the neighborhood, and the address they assigned does not match the plan, but that's a side issue.) When I order online, I've taken to using my street address, now that I have one. There's no problem if the company uses FedEx or UPS, and Amazon usually has its own delivery vehicles. But if something ships via USPS, then even if I gave the company my street address, USPS can't handle that, and requires me to pick up at the P.O. I always get my "regular" mail at the P.O., and at least once a month, I find random other people's mail in my box, and return it at the counter; I wonder how often my mail goes to other people, and how often they don't bother to return it.

I get the same issue with home delivery. About once a month, I'll get something for the same house number on a different street. We either take it back to the post office or deliver it ourselves.

If I've even not gotten something and not noticed, it must have been junk mail. I can't recall not getting something recently. Having the USPS Informed Delivery with the daily email of what's coming helps.