OT/UPS and the Postal Service

If you're expecting a package to come UPS and it doesn't show up,call the Post Office. UPS is here anywhere from 2-5 days a week. My wife was expecting a package Tuesday. When it didn't come yesterday,she tracked it online. They said it was delivered yesterday at 1:08 PM. We looked everywhere around here that we thought he could have left it. Nothing. Late this morning,she got ahold of somebody from UPS by phone. They said the package had been delivered to the Post Office,that we were in a rural area that they didn't deliver to,all kinds of excuses. Within a couple of minutes,the UPS truck drove in. Another package,but not the one she was waiting for. She told him about what she'd been told. He checked his hand held and said "yes",he had delivered it to the Post Office yesterday. Said that lately he'd had a lot of packages going to different ones around,but didn't think too much about it at first. Just thought they were going to Post Office boxes. Said about 3 weeks ago a Post Master in another little town near here told him that there was a deal between UPS and USPS for USPS to make final delivery of some of their packages. He said that they are unionized and he didn't know how the union let them get away with it. Said it was taking trucks and drivers off the road and that now he was up to anywhere from 8 to 20 stops a day that he wasn't making. He said to make matters worse,if he had 3 packages for me,and 2 had a PT in the code,he could only leave one here. The ones with that code HAVE to go to the Post Office for final delivery. Said he knows that because it's happened. Don't THAT just beat all? You can use your own imagination as to who is behind getting the union to give up jobs in order to help out the bankrupt Postal System. Just saying. We've notified UPS that anytime a shipper gives us a choice between them and Fed Ex,we'll take Fed Ex. Unless we find out they've been coerced into this scam too.

By the way,the package that should have been here Tuesday,the mailman brought it about 3:30 today.

Certain fedex shipping levels do use the USPS for final delivery...

The Post Office is union too, what's the big deal?

The Post Office is unionized also so it's a case of one union outfit scratching another union outfit's back.

I used to be an auditor for the Postal Service. Your story reminds me of two incidents.

One was a postmaster back in the woods who was in trouble for all sorts of other things that were going on. Among the things we found as we tried to sort out the mess were some UPS packages on the shelves, waiting for PO Box customers to pick them up. Maybe they have some new arrangement now, but the rule in those days was if it was in a post office for delivery it had better have postage on it.

The other, I was in a post office to do the on-site part of a postmaster's annual evaluation. About mid-way through, I hear a roll-up door and look out the window. There's two UPS delivery trucks out in the post office yard, backed up to each other and swappin' off parcels. I asked the postmaster about that. She allowed as it happened most days and that they were really nice guys. I went out and explained to them that if the yard at the UPS terminal wasn't big enough for their trucks, they needed to get with a more reputable outfit. It was an amicable discussion up the point one of 'em piped up and started giving me this line about how the post office was public property and they could do anything they wanted there. I allowed as how it wasn't public, it was government property, with a dedicated purpose that did not include providing yard and terminal workspace to private enterprises, and they had a choice -- they could find some other place do their work in or I could impound their trucks until everything in them had been weighed and the postage calculated and paid. So they went over and clogged up the parking lot at the town office.

Ah-Ha the evil Post office again. I only spent 32 yrs. as an evil rural route carrier .We used to delite in screwing with all the peoples mail. Well I got news - FedEx is doing the same and have been for years . I can hardley wate till the P O is out of Biz so that all of your letters get delivered by email ,of course when you move or change your email address who are you gonna notify .I realize what a lowlife I was for working for them but every month when the retirement check comes I get to like them better

I have had a bunch of stuff sent fedex that the usps delivered. The UPS guy sounds like he had a axe to grind.

Sounds like the reply of a thug in good standing,LOL! I would have liked to see you enforce your dictate. UPS and FEDEX can run circles around USPS, as far as costs go! As long as they weren't blocking traffic, they have as much right to use the parking lot as anyone else.

Yea my BEER is hot. What do I do.

(quoted from post at 19:22:01 11/19/09)

It was an amicable discussion up the point one of 'em piped up and started giving me this line about how the post office was public property and they could do anything they wanted there. I allowed as how it wasn't public, it was government property, with a dedicated purpose that did not include providing yard and terminal workspace to private enterprises, and they had a choice -- they could find some other place do their work in or I could impound their trucks until everything in them had been weighed and the postage calculated and paid. So they went over and clogged up the parking lot at the town office.

Click to expand...

Government property is what? Private. This is the same silliness I see on signs in the woods here "State property, No trespassing" What a crock.

With an attitude like yours it is no wonder how UPS and FedEx ran a complete monopoly (the Postal service) into the ground.

Postal Service had an office in almost every town yet UPS and FedEx came along from ground zero and within a short 30 years made a laughing stock of the 200 year old Postal Service.

No I see why. Impound a UPS truck, get real. Maybe if you actually did your job instead of harassing the UPS drivers..................

'Here' UPS has always been good, FedEx seem to be bumbling fools.

But then there is 'Speedee' or some such, had 2 deliveries to me over the years, 1st one they colled & offered to leave my package at a gas station at a town 5 miles away. Yea, as if. You contracted to deliver to me, so get off the phone & deliver. I _didn't_ go for the gas station delivery..... The 2nd time they delivered, but it was something like 5 days later than it shoulda been. I don't go with that shipper.

I hear in other regions, FedEx is good, UPS is the pokey one. It must depend on regional management.

US Post Office is pretty good around here, but I guess I'd like to use them if they are delivering, not do the inefficient 1/2 one shipper, 1/2 the other shipper deal....

--->Paul

I know. That's why this doesn't make sense. All I know is,if I'm sitting here waiting for a part to be delivered by noon by UPS,and it's been dropped off at the post office,then the mail carrier decides the next day that he's not going to deliver it and leaves a card telling me to pick it up,which I don't get til 4 o'clock,after the post office has closed,and it's the NEXT day before I get my part to get something running that I need RIGHT NOW,it's gonna look like a nuke went off when my head explodes.

"As long as they weren't blocking traffic, they have as much right to use the parking lot as anyone else."

Wrong. Not for that purpose.

Same here with Fedex- "when it absolutely, positively, has to get there...whenever we get around to it". I prefer USPS over UPS lately- good service and cheaper rates.

Dave, I use both UPS and FedEx, and am happy with the service that they provide, but I've always been puzzled about folks comparing those two parcel carriers to the USPS. I don't see a UPS or FedEx truck at my house six days a week like I do my rural mail carrier. When those two companies start showing up here six days a week, I'll consider it a fair comparison.

Paul

Next time drink it faster.

Vito

They can t bring you a letter Paul, it is illegal and if they change the law the Post Office will be out of business in a year.

I used to own a FedEx Home Delivery route. Started in rural Iowa (South Council Bluffs, Treynor, Oakland, Harlan, Manilla, Underwood areas). Then after 5 months of that, I got an in town route.
I know some strange stuff goes on, but never on my shift. One Saturday (they always deliver Tuesday thru Saturday) I had a guitar going to a fellow in CB, and it needed a signature (most of our stuff did not). It was Memorial Day weekend, and I would not be going there again until Wednesday (when a holiday was on one of our days off, we took Tuesday off as well). I left the terminals phone number on the door tag, so found out he needed to talk to me. He ended up driving to Harlan (40 miles or so), so he could pick it up without slowing me down.
In Omaha, UPS has 'the ups store' in several locations. They have 'boxes', and will sign for packages. Sure enough, several of my customers had me deliver there. You should have seen the looks and snide remarks about that one!
I finally sold my route in August of 2005, but they had just announced a nationwide purchase of a company that did just as you described-deliver to the Post Office, and they would make the final delivery. The theory was that FedEx had quicker 'lanes' than the USPS, and could move the stuff large distances quicker, but could keep the overhead down by not making the final delivery. Greg

Oh, cool down.

Would UPS tolerate FedEx drivers sorting loads in their yard?

Should the Postal Service build bigger yards to accommodate UPS's needs if they outgrow their own? That'd set up a howl -- public money spent in support of a private enterprise.

You don't wait until a problem becomes a nuisance -- you nip it in the bud.

Back in 1972, I leased a vehicle to the local post office for parcel post deliveries and dropping of "relays" for the city routes. Even though I was a bona fide US citizen, I had to pass an FBI background check in order to pick up and deliver my vehicle to the post office facility. I also wasn't allowed to enter the post office any further than the lobby, unless I was escorted by the Postmaster or the OIC.

Y'know why? Because the Post Office handles THOUSANDS of dollars every day...money orders, checks sent for bill payment, and yes, sometimes even cash sent through the mail. If any first class mail disappears, and they suspect YOU of taking it, the Postal Inspection Service doesn't have to gve you any Miranda warning...and the Taliban would probably be preferable to deal with, if they think you're guilty. My impression was, you'd be safer walking through hell in gasoline underwear than going up against the Postal Inspection Service.
Just remember, Postal Inspectors had more evidence against Lee Harvey Oswald than the FBI ever did.

local mail man told me they can deliver x number of pieces per day when that number is reached the rest has to wait until the next day.
1 st class is first to be delivered, junk mail last.
this is due to union to makes sure mail carrier isn't over worked.

"Coerced into a scam". My my, able to see government boogie men behind all kinds of trees.

This is old news. Decades old. UPS has NEVER delivered everywhere, and has always used the USPS for what the UPS considers too rural to deliver to. How and why UPS makes those determinations of when a place is too far out to deliver to has always been a mystery. As you have only just now found out.

The only delivery service that guarantees to deliver mail and packages to anyone, anywhere, in the USA is the USPS. All others reserve the right to refuse because the recipient is too far out or too difficult to get to. Keep that in mind.

fedex has been doing that for years it takes me an extra week to get it by fedex because they let the postal service finish it they cal it smart post.

For shipping tractor parts I have trouble going anywhere but FedEx. USPS is way too high for large -heavy parts and their tracking system doesn't track. I do have a special deal with FedEx. Always the cheapest. Haven't had any trouble other than one part and they paid the insurance (100 included) and refunded the shipping cost. Not bad for shipping 1 1/2 tractors worth of parts all over the US and Canada. UPS has been ok but is more $.

Years ago, I used to get packages by bus (Greyhound). Do they still do that?

The building I work in has had anywhere from 2-4 different companies in it at any one time over the years. It's not uncommon to see the UPS guy stop in 2-3 times in the span of 1-2 hours! The same guy! Wouldn't you think they could plan their trips to only make one stop?

My wife has had some stuff delivered to the post office by UPS. Kind of funny to have the mail carrier deliver a package on the same day that UPS delivers something else!

UPS won"t deliver to my house. I don"t have a junk car or a woodpile to throw the packages under. As usual regarding the USPS It"s not that people are stupid, they just know so much that isn"t true. Have a goodun.

UPS won"t deliver to my house. I don"t have a junk car or a woodpile to throw the packages under. As usual regarding the USPS It"s not that people are stupid, they just know so much that isn"t true. Have a goodun.