Posted on 11/01/2016 11:53:35 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Amazon has yet to respond to our questions about its delivery methods, and what it'll do to prevent this from happening again
Linda McSweeney spent weeks hoping to find the perfect gift for her daughter's 13th birthday.
"I was pretty excited about it," she said.
Like many teenage girls, her daughter has a new-found passion for nail care. When mom found a kit online, she knew it'd be a big hit.
"It wasn't available in stores, so I had been looking for a while and the ratings were good," McSweeney said. "So I purchased it from Amazon."
Just in time for the big day, McSweeney says she received an email indicating the package had been delivered. When she checked her mailbox, though, it was empty. "I really thought it was a theft to be honest with you," she said.
Someone had taken the package, but it wasn't anyone McSweeney would have suspected. A note left on her doorstep revealed the package was confiscated by the U.S. Postal Service.
"A corner of the box was sticking out and when the mail carrier came, he saw that and he removed the box and noticed that it had not been shipped through the postal service, but had been shipped by Amazon," she said. "So here you are thinking someone stole your package and come to find out a mailperson took it."
To make matters worse, McSweeney had to pay a postage fee to get her package back. She talked to a manager who said:
"No one is supposed to use your mailbox other than the postal service," she said the manager told her. "I said, 'But this is my mailbox, right?' He said, 'It's your mailbox, but it's our conveyance device.'"
McSweeney says she reached out to Amazon and was told the company used a delivery service called “Amazon Logistics.” Amazon apologized, but McSweeney was left with no choice but to go to the post office and buy back her package.
"I feel like this was theft and then it was held for ransom," she said.
NBC 5 Responds reached out to a U.S. Postal services spokeswoman who cited the postal services "domestic mail manual."
The representative said, in part, "In this case, the letter carrier properly followed existing guidelines governing how to handle such mail matter...Any mailable matter found in a receptacle without postage is subject to the same postage as would be paid if it were carried by mail."
That means Amazon is not allowed to leave packages in your mailbox.
We contacted Amazon to find out who delivered the package and how they will work with the U.S. Postal service moving forward to ensure its customers are no longer penalized. While they wouldn't comment on the delivery process, they say the matter is resolved.
"It's really penalizing the consumer," McSweeney said. "I don't have any control over whether another carrier puts something in my mailbox."
Amazon reimbursed the customer for the $3.40 postal fee she had to pay to get her package back, but the company has yet to respond to our questions about its delivery methods and what it'll do to prevent this from happening again.
The fact that the big guys sublet out the USPS proves it’s actually a better system. UPS and FedEx can’t handle their own volume, and people still think they should take over for USPS.
It's also a federal offense to have a private server for your government work emails...
Just had my first “uber/amazon” (that’s what I call it) delivery a couple of weeks ago. Kind of weird, strange car pulls into my driveway, rings the bell and knocks on the door, by the time I get there he’s half into his car, yells out “left a package for you” and there it was.
Cutback have made USPS do a lot more centralized processing. Which makes for some bad things sometimes. But hey, FedEx used to be 100% centralized, everything went to one place, got sorted overnight and sent back out. It CAN work, but it does cause some strange travel paths.
Yes, and I think she’s going to go down for the count on this one.
Maybe she can be president of her cell block.
“The fact that the big guys sublet out the USPS proves it’s actually a better system. “
Are you a postal worker? Because anyone who thinks the USPS is a “good system” must be an employee. The USPS has been fleecing the taxpayers year after year to stay in business. Just read that they are now going to spend huge sums of money to “build their own replacement delivery vehicles, so that they will last 60 years!” Instead of buying ones that cost a fraction that won’t last as long. That is the flawed thinking that exists in the USPS. Hope you enjoy the pension that, at 76, I will have to keep paying for you as I watch the remnants of my 401K dwindle to nothing in advance of my passing.
Not a postal worker, just a person actually paying attention and doing math. USPS will deliver more parcels this month and UPS or FedEx will all year. And they do it with an accuracy level higher than their competitors.
The only reason USPS is in the hole is because Congress are idiots and force them to pay for the pensions 25 years out. If they’d let them fund the pension live like every other part of the government (and private industries that have pension) USPS would be in the black.
Actually building their own vehicles to last 60 years is SMART thinking. We used to REWARD thinking like that in the corporate world, going long term for the health of the company. These days everybody is obsessed with the quarterly earnings report and won’t think long term. Buying things that cost MORE over the long haul because you have to replace them all the time is BAD thinking. It’s the cheap shoes vs good shoes logic. I buy Merrells, they’re expensive shoes but they last at least a year. I could buy Payless shoes for much much less, and replace them every couple of month and wind up spending much more over the course of the year.
It certainly does hold up. Most of the changes in vehicle technology really don’t matter for USPS, they still need people, so self driving doesn’t matter, they’re as stop and go as it comes so forget fuel efficiency, they have a route so navigation means nothing. Something that can go 60 years without being replaced is a brilliant if they can pull it off.
Given how abusive you are talking about them I’m not surprised your experiences are negative. Most of my experiences are positive. Postal workers, like every other customer facing person, are generally as nice to you as you are to them.
So much for YOUR safe space, if you do not call and complain to your post master. PLEASE call. Do it for YOU, for your NEIGHBORS, and for the POST OFFICE. You have a lousy carrier, and until they get yelled at, they'll not learn the error of their ways.
I have people that haven't had a door on their mailbox for YEARS. I can leave them notes asking that they fix or replace, and see that same note left in there until it rots. They'll get their letters, and leave the note. Whatever, if they're happy with it, I'm not going to make a federal case of it. I have the authority to put their mail on hold, but I am not going to do it now. It was that way before I took my current route.
I do that for customers.
BUT, the unstamped letters in the mailbox referenced was talking about letters being delivered to the box with no stamps.
Wrong. USPS makes money by selling product and services. The excess profit is SPONGED OFF by the Federal Government, and we'r required to pre-fund retirement for carriers that aren't even born yet. THAT is why it looks like the PO is losing billions per year. It is NOT. If the PO did regular books, and didn't pre-fund to 75 years out, you'd see a profit.
Yes and NO. If I find out you're allowing other people to access your mailbox, REGARDLESS what labelling you put on it, I will put your mail on hold, as your box is "insecure." So yeah, feel free. Just be ready to drive down to the PO and argue with your postmaster. And pick up your mail while you're there.
Not every thing goes perfectly. Not every carrier is a great carrier. Sorry! I cannot answer for every detail of every fail that can possibly happen. I’m not perfect either, and I make mistakes. I correct them if I catch them, but sometimes a mistake isn’t caught.
What if? That means it goes into the house? Or garage? It's safe isn't it? IF someone throws something in there, it's out of our hands. You get to deal with it. That's not the same as a mailbox out by the street.
Because the private contract between the USPS and the customer is for the space within that box. NO ONE else can use it, and if they do, this is how the USPS can send the message back to the violator. When the customer gets stuck for postage due, and complains to the original carrier, they get to eat the cost. Then that company can discipline their carrier if they choose, or put out a memo to not do it again.
I hate USPS. I wish sellers would state no USPS UPS and FedEx will deliver my packages my rule carrier doesn’t even bring them in her car she just leave a note that they fill out before they ever leave the post office.
1) To the House delivery
2) Mailbox at the street
3) Buncha boxes in a Yuger box way down at the corner somewhere.
My house was built long before I was born. The front door has a slot but the house has a screen door over the main entry door. Someone, >40 yr ago, put a mail drop box on a wall just outside of the door. The next door house still has a mail slot through a wall just next to the front door where the mail is dropped. Packages sit outside (under an entryway roof - in both cases).
Once material goes through the slot the USPS has NO WAY to retrieve it, should it not be stamped mail.
This as described situation seems to be a special case of one of the above 3 delivery situations and needs to be addressed in Law and process as times have made house deliveries more complicated.
It may be the case that all need to present two delivery receptacles; USPS and Other.
>>So much for YOUR safe space, if you do not call and complain to your post master. PLEASE call.
I have complained. I assume they put complaints up on the break room wall in the post office so they can read them and laugh.
No, the deal was originally with USPS and UPS. Both companies rightly concluded that it would be more efficient resource-wise to share airplanes instead of there being two completely separate airline services for each company. USPS contracted space on UPS airplanes in exchange for that "last mile" delivery. Saves both companies a lot of money. UPS had better airplanes anyway.
The Unites States Post Office has the same constitutional standing as the United States Army. No one bitches when the Army gets less efficient the same way they bitch when the Post Office invests millions in efficiency. Makes no sense to me.
If you privatize the USPS, you'll see FAR higher turnover. Far worse service overall. This is NOT an easy job.
I have "only" 525 names and businesses and their addresses to remember, well, not counting the thousands that have good forwards from these addresses, the extra names, maiden names, kids' names, etc. that are associated with each address. Knowing when people will get home from work so you can obtain a signature for an accountable mail piece, Knowing what customers drive so you can flag them down if necessary. And this is not a huge route. Some routes are FAR larger than mine.
Some Rural Carrier Associates (RCA's) learn multiple routes. Before I became regular, I knew every route in my office including the city routes. Several thousand addresses, names, relatives, etc. I had to run ALL the routes one summer. I was the only auxiliary help that year. Walking 17 miles per day on a city route? In a foot or more of snow? Full coverage Newspapers, advertising flyers, and an Every Door Direct Mailing on the same day. All out of that little bag they carry. RCA's are expected to answer the phone on snow days, sick days, sudden family emergency days, etc. and RCA's are not career positions. Not much in the way of any benefits, I think they can buy health insurance, but no sick leave, vacations, etc. and the possibility that they may have to work decades before going regular.
Then, when you go regular, you're faced with more and more rules and regulations every year. Mail count is how the salary is figured for each route, and the management tightens down the screws to kill the pay . For example, this year mail count finished up ( and I took a $6,000 pay cut this spring), two weeks before the new Amazon arrangement began. We're swamped with Amazon packages that were not figured in our count, thus we're working far longer per day, per week, per month than we're getting paid for.
The regular is suddenly a "trainer" if an RCA needs to be trained. The route book needs to be kept up, with no training. It gets really hairy trying to keep all the details together. I carry post-it notes and a notebook in my car to keep up with all the changes, requests, etc. so I can notify my Postmaster, RCA, etc. of changes.
Every monday is the biggest day of the week. I usually do somewhere around 9 to 10 hours every monday, and I'm the fastest carrier. This is non-stop all day. I am allowed a 30 minute lunch break and two 15 minute breaks throughout the day, But I don't take them. I'm lucky if I stop even 5 minutes all day, including bathroom time. I get home, late for dinner, and go to bed. That is my monday, every week, and we're not even in Christmas shipping season. When Christmas "overtime" period hits, we're not allowed to go overtime, so in addition to casing all the mail, we have to split up the route, split up all the parcels, and hope we judge it correctly. So we triple handle all them mail and packages.
The new scanners are great, but they also are used to track the carriers. Every time we are not moving for 5 minutes, a flag pops up on some supervisor's computer, somewhere. We're accountable for every minute of our day, every mile we drive, every time we divert, every time we stop. every breakdown, flat tire, etc. must be noted on our time sheets. Then, we're supposed to meet our 2080 hour limit, ever year. If we get too near that limit, we're forced to waste enough vacation days, or take unpaid leave, until we're safely away from that limit. All the while new time -sucking events are piled on.
Make no mistake: They have to pay well to keep people. You pay private wages, start people off for too little cash, and they WILL NOT STAY. The first day solo on the route can be an absolutely soul-sucking, make you wanna puke, shit storm. Everyone has to pass that test. Everyone has to have a good driving record to get hired. If you're a druggy, eventually you'll get caught, and fired. If you can get through all the crap, run the gauntlet of tests, both mental and physical, to be able to do it, persevere, struggle, and don't mind learning how to change brake pads in 100 degree weather, change flat tires in the rain, and can keep going, and smile through it all, you can have a good career.
Some days, it's light, and we have a nice day.
On top of all that, we have to deal with bitchy people that have no clue what we do. Good luck with privatizing that. Think about it. I wish I had one of these mythical affirmative action jobs everyone thinks I have.
You're welcome! When all is said and done, I love my job. I serve others.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.