Anyone Receiving Mail Lately?
BurtKimmelman said:
My neighbor first brought this to my attention: neither my neighbor or I have gotten a mail delivery in a while. Now we're wondering about our outgoing mail too. Is there something wrong in Maplewood and/or in Union at the USPS sorting facility?
Your outgoing mail won't be picked up from your mailbox/mail slot on days when you do not receive incoming mail.
joan_crystal said:
BurtKimmelman said:
My neighbor first brought this to my attention: neither my neighbor or I have gotten a mail delivery in a while. Now we're wondering about our outgoing mail too. Is there something wrong in Maplewood and/or in Union at the USPS sorting facility?
Your outgoing mail won't be picked up from your mailbox/mail slot on days when you do not receive incoming mail.
When I worked there I was told that if we saw a red flag up, or if we saw outgoing mail clipped to a mail box, we were to go up and get it regardless of whether we had something to deliver to that address or not
Our asshat shop steward decided to take advantage of that for a practical joke one day. He was covering a regular’s day off and at EVERY mailbox with a flag he put it up, so the next day the regular had to go to almost every box on his route to check for outgoing mail. The regular was not amused. The shop steward didn’t understand why no one likes his stupid ***.
Few mailboxes in Maplewood have a flag and many houses have a slot rather than a box. Letter carrier would literally have to check every box and slot to see if there was outgoing mail in it.
joan_crystal said:
Few mailboxes in Maplewood have a flag and many houses have a slot rather than a box. Letter carrier would literally have to check every box and slot to see if there was outgoing mail in it.
They don’t look inside the box, they look to see if a piece of mail is sticking out. Easy to see from a distance
If the mail carrier has to look inside your mailbox to see if you have outgoing mail then your mail isn’t going to be picked up.
If there is no carrier walking the route on a given day, then outgoing mail will not be picked up because there will be no one to see it.
The problem is not lack of incoming mail, it's lack of mail carriers
The mail service has declined dramatically in my neighborhood. We get mail maybe two or three days a week. Just a month ago it was coming every day.
I heard that the new Postmaster General appointed by Trump has made significant changes and has reduced service. I know that USPS is in a difficult place financially but it's clear that Trump is also trying to undermine the USPS as we approach the November election.
max_weisenfeld said:
If there is no carrier walking the route on a given day, then outgoing mail will not be picked up because there will be no one to see it.
The problem is not lack of incoming mail, it's lack of mail carriers
Carriers might skip parts of a route (loops) but I doubt they are skipping an entire route. Even skipping a loop they risk their jobs as they have scan points (msp? I forgot the name but I think they was it) and if they miss those they get in trouble. Some carriers do take pictures of the barcodes and scan them at the correct times to give the illusion that they’re working. In Jersey City a carrier’s scanner dinged at the mall for two hours straight, yet they didn’t miss any scans. When they looked at the gps they realized they were nowhere near the scanned addresses when scanning the barcodes and had been doing that for awhile.
Union is probably a lot like Dover, people working there hate life and everything about it. Good for new hires because they can become full time career hires in less than a year due to high turnover, but horrible for the customers. Management isn’t going to do a thing, they’re burned out as much as the workers dealing with the clusterfuck of consolidated routes. Find out who the district manager (POOM) is for Maplewood and start complaining there.
spontaneous said:
max_weisenfeld said:
If there is no carrier walking the route on a given day, then outgoing mail will not be picked up because there will be no one to see it.
The problem is not lack of incoming mail, it's lack of mail carriers
Carriers might skip parts of a route (loops) but I doubt they are skipping an entire route. Even skipping a loop they risk their jobs as they have scan points (msp? I forgot the name but I think they was it) and if they miss those they get in trouble. Some carriers do take pictures of the barcodes and scan them at the correct times to give the illusion that they’re working. In Jersey City a carrier’s scanner dinged at the mall for two hours straight, yet they didn’t miss any scans. When they looked at the gps they realized they were nowhere near the scanned addresses when scanning the barcodes and had been doing that for awhile.
Union is probably a lot like Dover, people working there hate life and everything about it. Good for new hires because they can become full time career hires in less than a year due to high turnover, but horrible for the customers. Management isn’t going to do a thing, they’re burned out as much as the workers dealing with the clusterfuck of consolidated routes. Find out who the district manager (POOM) is for Maplewood and start complaining there.
There is an almost 2/1 carrier shortage -- they are not walking every route every day. I have this from both carriers and from the Union PO. Also, I have regularly had visible mail not picked up. I am not on the same route as Joan; our route is pretty regularly every two days, whether I have mail out or not.
My husband spoke with our (substitute) carrier yesterday and they said the same. There are a lot of people out, others aren't allowed overtime, so they're doing what they can. They were also clear that we can expect mail on Monday & Tuesday but the rest of the week is a big maybe. I got this second hand so it isn't clear if MT is just for our route - it might be different depending on where you are.
I don't blame the carriers at all but this is pretty shocking in this day & age.
When I called the customer service this morning, the interactive voice system began by saying that there is a severe shortage of letter carriers for our route, which I already know. I asked to speak to a representative since my issue goes way beyond that. 75 minutes later I was told I had called the wrong number. The number I was given went straight to voice mail. They are clearly overwhelmed.
We got mail here on Maplewood Ave on Saturday, nothing as yet this week.
My mom remembers when mail was delivered twice a day.
ETA: we did get mail today.
I was at the Maplewood Post Office today. Not only is the organization underfunded, like every other business they do not have enough change. If you can bring some spare change (nickels & dimes preferred) they will exchange it for bills.
And the underfunding is an attempt to undermine vote by mail
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/15/politics/postal-service-new-director/index.html
I live nearby, in Summit, and concerns about our post office, and often specifically about mail delivery, have been building (and getting much louder) in the last two years. As I write this, it is after 8 PM, and the mail is being delivered in my neighborhood. Kind of crazy.
Story how Trump's appointee, the new Postmaster General, "money saving" drive is causing massive backlogs. Severely hindering mail delivery.
"Coincidentally", this program is occurring when we will be relying largely on vote by mail.
I can add that it’s happening here out in NW Morris county. There are at least 2 days we don’t get any mail, though the truck does come by. I have several things that have not been delivered- surprisingly from the government
Floyd said:
Story how Trump's appointee, the new Postmaster General, "money saving" drive is causing massive backlogs. Severely hindering mail delivery.
"Coincidentally", this program is occurring when we will be relying largely on vote by mail.
This is very coordinated and intentional plan by the Trump administration.
Over in East Orange, I've received no mail since last Saturday.
While mail delivery has been a popular topic here in these neighborhoods and on this board for many years.......
This is most definitely (IMHO) part of Trump's strategic plan to dismantle the integrity of the November election. It's not entirely on the backs of the carriers. They are being told by the new Postmaster General (a Trump buddy and supporter) to SLOW the sorting and delivery of mail.
PLEASE vote by "mail in" ballot, but don't leave it in the hands of our national Post Office.
Even better, don't risk your health waiting in long lines that may or may not be socially-distanced.
Just Google this question:"Where can I download and print an application for a mail-in ballot for the Presidential election?" It will direct you to the site where you can download and print out the appropriate ballot for your location.
After you've filled out your ballot, ideally, YOU SHOULD TAKE IT IN PERSON TO YOUR LOCAL VOTING BOARD LOCATION, AND DEPOSIT IT THERE. This will help us not overload the Post Office, or allow Trump to find ways to hold the Post Office responsible for ballots arriving late, or whatever trick he may come up with to not count votes that are "late" or "mis-directed" in some way..He'll try ANYTHING.
Download your application for a mail in ballot, fill it out, and drop it off in person at your local election board . Do the same with you actual ballot when you receive it.
Juniemoon said:
Download your application for a mail in ballot, fill it out, and drop it off in person at your local election board . Do the same with you actual ballot when you receive it.
Besides election boards, NJ should mandate local drop boxes at county offices, municipal offices and libraries.
BurtKimmelman said:
My neighbor first brought this to my attention: neither my neighbor or I have gotten a mail delivery in a while. Now we're wondering about our outgoing mail too. Is there something wrong in Maplewood and/or in Union at the USPS sorting facility?
" Treasury Agrees to Lend Postal Svc $10B" (2 days ago in Wash Post) but isn't there a Constitutional requirement to support the Postal Svc--why isn't money being ALLOCATED outright? https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/29/postal-service-treasury-loan/
BurtKimmelman said:
" Treasury Agrees to Lend Postal Svc $10B" (2 days ago in Wash Post) but isn't there a Constitutional requirement to support the Postal Svc--why isn't money being ALLOCATED outright? https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/29/postal-service-treasury-loan/
Mail delivery has slowed nationally, it seems. New Postmaster General (a political appointee) has much to do with this, it may be. Also, as is being attested on network TV, there's a movement to privatize the Postal Service. Somehow, setting aside Constitutional concerns, this leaves me with a queasy feeling.
BurtKimmelman said:
" Treasury Agrees to Lend Postal Svc $10B" (2 days ago in Wash Post) but isn't there a Constitutional requirement to support the Postal Svc--why isn't money being ALLOCATED outright? https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/29/postal-service-treasury-loan/
Just saw this (in Wash Post yesterday): "
Postal Service backlog sparks worries that ballot delivery could be delayed in November" see: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/postal-service-backlog-sparks-worries-that-ballot-delivery-could-be-delayed-in-november/2020/07/30/cb19f1f4-d1d0-11ea-8d32-1ebf4e9d8e0d_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most
You have to be really stupid to believe that this Republican mega donor has an interest in public service by serving as postmaster general. He's given over 1.5 million to Trump's campaigns.
Have we ever seen one of Trump's super rich administration officials, like Wilbur Ross, Betsy Devos, or Steve Mnuchin give a damn about serving the general public?
Its cronyism, serving the very rich and retaining power. Now its up to the new postmaster general to corrupt and destroy our postal service.
EBennett said:
I was at the Maplewood Post Office today. Not only is the organization underfunded, like every other business they do not have enough change. If you can bring some spare change (nickels & dimes preferred) they will exchange it for bills.
And the underfunding is an attempt to undermine vote by mail
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/15/politics/postal-service-new-director/index.html
There is also a national coin shortage that's explained here that affects all types of operations, not just the post office. I've seen signs on some stores requesting that people pay with exact change or use a card.
EBennett said:
I was at the Maplewood Post Office today. Not only is the organization underfunded, like every other business they do not have enough change. If you can bring some spare change (nickels & dimes preferred) they will exchange it for bills.
And the underfunding is an attempt to undermine vote by mail
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/15/politics/postal-service-new-director/index.html
Thank you for posting this. I stopped by the post office with two rolls of nickels and two rolls of dimes. The staff was thrilled. They tell me they are also short of $1 bills.
I mailed cards to my three children: son outside of San Francisco, daughter in Seattle, and daughter in Brooklyn on July 22nd. My daughter in Brooklyn still hasn't received hers. :-(
spontaneous said:
They don’t look inside the box, they look to see if a piece of mail is sticking out. Easy to see from a distance
If the mail carrier has to look inside your mailbox to see if you have outgoing mail then your mail isn’t going to be picked up.
Not in my case. I leave mail sticking out and the letter carrier, who is not delivering my mail, won't pick it up - because she claims she can't bend to use the slot. Who is receiving mail lately? Not me.
joan_crystal said:
spontaneous said:
They don’t look inside the box, they look to see if a piece of mail is sticking out. Easy to see from a distance
If the mail carrier has to look inside your mailbox to see if you have outgoing mail then your mail isn’t going to be picked up.
Not in my case. I leave mail sticking out and the letter carrier, who is not delivering my mail, won't pick it up - because she claims she can't bend to use the slot. Who is receiving mail lately? Not me.
That is just laziness, not a legitimate excuse. I’m assuming that you have a door slot. If she can’t bend to pull out outgoing mail then she can’t bend to deliver the mail.
Document her excuse and go up the management chain. Not having enough allotted hours to finish a route is something they can’t control at the moment, but a carrier who claims they can’t physically do the job need to find work they are able to do. If you can’t do the job then you can’t do the job, period.
ETA: And believe me, as much as the job sucks physically, there are plenty of people who are looking for work and willing to lift up to 70 lbs, walk 10-15 miles a day, and bend when required to to deliver the mail, have a regular paycheck, and get benefits.
My neighbor first brought this to my attention: neither my neighbor or I have gotten a mail delivery in a while. Now we're wondering about our outgoing mail too. Is there something wrong in Maplewood and/or in Union at the USPS sorting facility?