Mail Service Canada from US, "Who Shot the Eagle"

If you think the United States Post Office is bad, try going abroad. I'm not talking about 3rd world nations mind you. Many citizens of 1st world nations are quite envious of us. To the best of my knowledge the US Post Office is the only legal monopoly in the U.S. Private firms in as much as they are necessary (the U.S. Post Office depends upon them every day), are allowed to work as a courtsey. I have never nor have any of my relatives worked for the U.S. Post Office.

I live in Canada, and in the past year I have sold various of my stereo components. I have now come to demand that buyers from the US must send me their payment by "anything other than regular, slow mail". I've been shocked at how long it can take for an envelope with a money order in it (we're not even talking about parcels) to arrive here. I've had envelopes take three weeks to arrive (and I live in a provincial capital, three hours from the US border -not some remote outpost!!). I could accept the rationale that it is customs who are responsible for the cross-border delay, except I have friends in Britain, and we can send/receive mail much quicker!

I do business with Canadian companies and we use the mail frequently. Whether sending or receiving the time required is inconsistent and can be very long. This is not the fault of the USPS or the Canadian mail. Since neither provides service in the others country a "hand off" must occur. Couple this with customs delays and you can wait some time. If your in a hurry you have to use a private carrier and hope customs doesn't tag it for "verification and inspection". So don't blame the eagle, he's doing just fine

On Wednsday I mailed two packages from Philadelphia using Priority Mail . One to California, the other one to Florida. They both arrived today (Friday). I think that is pretty good.

Well said Lugnut!

I'm employed indirectly by the USPS in that I work for a contract carrier who, by definition, has a contract with the USPS. When I applied for the job I completed both the USPS application & the contractors, so in essence I do work for the post office. I have a different perspective regarding the USPS & can honestly say most of the people I've met are concerned about the quality of their work which of course affects how your mail is delivered. Let's just say one person can screw up something & unfortunately when it's your letter it makes the whole USPS look bad.

Sean, yes, in most cases media mail (bookrate) is much less expensive but it also depends on proximity. I just mailed a 25 lb. package 100 miles from here & it was $4.00 cheaper to send it parcel post compared to bookrate. Hard to believe but true. I have the receipt in my hand & the total was $5.64. Additionally, if bookrate is used the insurance rates are higher, if that service is desired.

Oh yeah, back to the original question for Stealth93. I've used Global Express only one time sending a 40 lb. box to Hong Kong from VA. It only took 3 days to get there. I sent a similar package to Canada via Express Mail & it took over 2 months to arrive. Customs had it & there's a thread that's not very old about that topic.

Recently had two packages ( used LP's ) sent to me via "media rate". For those that don't know, this is the cheapest way to ship books, records, tapes, etc... This works fine so long as you aren't in a hurry for them. The USPS website basically states that this can take 7 - 14 days for delivery as it is a "non-priority" way to ship.

One package left MD on April 18th and arrived here in Chicago on April 30th. The other package left NY on April 23rd and arrived here in Chicago on April 25th !!! Talk about a difference in service !!!

I also sent some schematics back to a gentleman that was kind enough to lend them to me. We live about an hours drive apart from each other but decided to take care of the "hand off" via mail. He sent them to me, I copied them and then mailed them back out to him. Needless to say, they never showed up, even after several weeks. We can't even count on getting mail within our own State !!! I just sent out a copy of my copies yesterday, this time via priority mail and with a tracking number. Needless to say, i could have driven them there and come back for less money. Then again, it saved me time and time is money. Sean
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It's really interesting how the U.S. Postal Service varies in performance across this country. In 52 years I have never had anything lost or delivered/received late but the real horror stories are true. These problems seem to occur mainly in the large metropolitan areas where the volume of mail and the huge number of employees make things like this more likely to happen.

Remember though, that the Postal Service has a directive to provide "uniform" service whereas private companys do not. Stated another way, your first class stamp will deliver a letter next door or across country for the same amount. Would UPS do that? This may not seem like a meaningful statement but changes for the worse are yet to come.
The GAO recently did an audit of the Postal Service and determined that their business plan of being quasi-governmental is not working and Congress directed the Postmaster General to come up with a fix for the Postal Service to become profitable. The "plan" is to privatize to the extent that stock will be issued, charge for services based on cost analysis, take employees out of the government sector and give the unions the right to strike.

If you ever think that Congress and the Postal bureaucrats can come up with a "private sector" business plan that would work, I would like to sell you some ocean front property here in Idaho.

Since the September 11 terrorist attack and the anthrax mess, mail volumes have decreased significantly making the Postal Service borrow money to pay the bills. Cost cutting measures have been implemented...read: cutting hours, cutting the number of hourly employees, closing post offices, etc. It's funny though that the number of bureaucrats stays the same. The automated equipment is often times not designed to acomodate the real world items that goes through them.

One of the first orders of business when this country was founded was to establish the Postal Service. Those old geezers saw how important it was for reliable and timely mail delivery. UPS, FEDEX and similar services wouldn't exist if Congress hadn't given that part of the Postal Services business away through legislation. Just think about what was left for the Postal Service. "Uniform" delivery six days a week at rates that no private sector business would consider.

I'm a "smaller is better" type of guy when it comes to government in general, but I wouldn't want to privatize our military, police, fire or MAIL! My suggestion for anyone that really cares is to use the USPS more rather than less. This is the only way we can avert the horrible consequences that will be inflicted upon us by those that are supposed to serve us.

The people in this great country want convenient access to their local Post Office. They want six days per week delivery. They want their items delivered in a timely fashion. They don't want to pay more for postage. So, the only honest solution is to solve this problem the way Congress solves so many other problems; subsidize the Postal Service by burying the cost overuns in the general budget.

No, I don't work for the Postal Service. If the changes that are planned are allowed to be implemented this country may be dealing itself the final blow. The collective stupidity of those in the beltway can only be overcome by the citizens collective intelligence. Fat chance.

It is not just you. On Monday I sent a small US domestic priority mail package to someone 40 miles away. They have not gotten it yet (Friday).

A couple months ago someone sent me two identical packages by mail at the same time from the same post office. One took two days, the other three weeks.