Fine...I get it...

[Evil Queen]

Going Postal; Update (I'm so funny...)

My lock got changed today! Yay!!! *victory disco* I even got THREE KEYS! Which will be put in a safe place so I don't forget again! Finally! I can get my mail!

BF called and said there was a lot! Oy.... my poor tiny mailbox... When I move to New Mexico, I'm getting a BIG mailbox!

[Aethian]

Queen, yay...party time.

ArcticChicken - That would be a good idea imo. We have a couple places out where I'm at where the regular has a map in their truck because of the twists and turns to help people not familiar with the route. If you do have a newbie on the route I bet anything they would get giddy at having something that could make their job easier and make sure more mail gets to where it's supposed to be. I know one of the apartment routes out here took me twice as long as it should have because of the set up of the buildings. If you didn't know the order they went in you got to drive around and around till you found the next building on the 'curved' street.

tamezin - I already used my who allotment of vacation on a trip upcoming when I go to Sydney to watch my Aussie graduate. But yea...this holiday weekend coming up will be nice.

Geek King - DHL delivers letter sized mail and charges quite a bit for it, thats not even overnight charges on it. We do it for 42 cents a letter, and that 42 cents pays for gas and vehicle upkeep. Our wages come from the standard magazines that come through. Yes there are spots where mail is only delivered 4 days a week because of the length of the route and the wilderness the homes are located. Those that the USPS can not deliver to give the residents a free PO Box option. Some small towns only have PO Boxes but yet are listed as their addresses, again SMALL towns get that.

But yea, I'm tired and didn't get to see the icky one today. However I did get a surprise, I had the door open and reached back to grab a package. When I turned to look back to the mailbox I was looking at a duck. Apparently one of the lake ducks thought I looked interesting and when I was looking away flew over to the mailbox and watched me. Twas funny.

[Evil Queen]

I was told by someone that everytime the cost of a stamp goes up 1 cent, it costs the USPS something like 8 million dollars a year. So sad. I remember when I used to use the mail system a lot, but the the recent dumping of a so-called "friend" I have stopped using it so much.

[Cia]

I'm happy with the USPS 99% of the time. It's the one percent that drives me nuts. If I send mail to the PO Box of one of the treatment/rehab centers near here it never gets delivered - sent the same info three times and they never received any of them. But if I send it to the street address it arrives. Really don't understand that one. It isn't like the town of Custer is huge or anything.

This last one burns me up and no I didn't try to talk to one of the desk people since the lines were long. About half of the mail I send out has both the PO Box and street address listed. Okay fine. I sent an invoice to an electrical and the address had the box number listed first then the street. The PO sent it back with a sticky note on it stating that the forwarding had lapsed and to send it to the PO Box number listed on the sticky instead. The box number was on the letter - it was the first line under the electrical's name! So I put a new stamp on it with arrows pointing at the box number. Ticks me off since I had to pay postage again.

[MadonnaC]

MadonnaC - You in the UP? I know a mining town set up like that. What did you get for the %? I know in some states they very rarely look at any score less then 95.

No, I'm not in the UP - The job in the UP was for relief work (sat-sun or sun-mon) but a full time position opened up somewhere else. If it hadn't been for the 8-9 year wait to get to a full time position, I'd have probably taken it....

I think my score was 97, but it's been 5 years now, so I may be off (and test was taken in Indiana, not the state I'm in now)

[Fandangoose]

Aethian - my condolences on your SC(s).

While I'm here, what city are you in? My facility is closing in November. Management passed around a sign-up sheet to take the 473, which will be given during the next week and maybe longer, depending on how many people are taking it. And in September, things are changing, as you may know - 473 scores will be transferable anywhere in the country, and will be good for six years instead of the current miserable two (extendable to three).

I hope things get better for you. Please keep your fingers crossed for my coworkers and I.

[powerboy]

We hate the mail carrier we have at work. He almost always comes before the place opens. Yet he knows to come after 10am. It would not be a problem, if he would come back later that day, but he doesn't. And on certain days we have certified mail that has to be out that day.

[Aislin]

I get other peoples mail all the time, I do this amazing thing, I walk to one of the 4 houses (we live on a cul-de-sac) and put it their box. *rolls eyes* mail is important but almost 100% it isn't the carriers fault and if it is, it isn't on purpose.

I ordered a large package and had it shipped ups. the driver had it listed on his pad/compy thing to deliver. Guess what? The guys on the dock never put it on his truck. He came to my door, explained that it was missing, CALLED on his PERSONAL CELL and found out where it was.
Did I scream or yell at him?

nope. told him thanks and wished him a great day and called UPS and told them that they had one fantastic person and that he should get a raise.

i know it is likely nothing ever came of it but I hoped I would make up for one Sucky who makes it harder for people to do a good job and brings them down.

[SpyOne]

Dear Ms 9330,

Apparently you missed out on the media blitz on how stressful working for the Post Office is. There were numerous articles on how it is one of the highest stress jobs in the world, how sorting mail correctly on a time limit is exactly the kind of activity that produces stress. They were, if I recall, published shortly after several well publicized incidents that, unfortunately, caused a new slang term to enter our language, so that a sudden lapse of sanity leading to violent lashing out at all those around you, especially at any percieved source of stress, has come to be called "going postal".

Postal employees are not paid with your tax dollars, they are paid by your postage. If you can arrange to never use the mail (either giving or recieving), you will not be paying Post Office employees anything anymore. And they will thank you for it.

Working for the Post Office is one of the hardest jobs on earth. When was the last time you did something nice for your Letter Carrier?

Sincerely,
a fellow citizen and Post Office customer.