What Is Wrong with the Post Office!!

Another tip to add to those below: Mail only from the nearest sorting facility rather than a local post office. We are also in N.Va. like you, and if we have something important to send (tax papers, packages) we go to the Merrifield P.O. because it's not only a post office with counter service, it's the main sorting facility for the whole region so what goes out of there goes almost immediately. There must be a sorting office closer to you in Chantilly. If you send at a local P.O., that local P.O. has to send it to a sorting office as the next step, so if you mail directly at a sorting office you cut out one step in their process. That might help. We have always had excellent service with things mailed at Merrifield getting where they need to go, and quickly. And yes, DO complain to the postmaster at the office you're now using. Make a written list of every problem with dates if you have them. Keep all receipts if you do anything that produces a receipt and show them to the postmaster if you go in to say, "This never arrived." They can't make lost mail reappear but if you don't complain they'll never know if there's a problem.

I order items from ebay all the time, always shipped via USPS, and have never had a single issue. I live in a big, metro area, too.

You can send items with trackability, or a return receipt, or insurance. You might want to do that, just to be safe.

They are under worked and overpaid.

I don't think it is fair to paint all of them with this brush but I used to bowl with three postal workers. They said it is common practice to slow down and be inefficient so that it gives the appearance they are needed. Apparently the powers that be do not actually walk a route to see if it really takes that long. :(

One of my coworkers has a bad post office. She complained to the main post office here in St Louis. The end result, they damage and lose her mail even more. I mailed her an invite to my wedding more than six weeks before the wedding, she got it a couple days before the wedding. :(

I would look into UPS. They are starting to do mailings like what you need. It is a little, and I mean a little, more than the post office but a lot more secure and efficient.

Reading this does it make anyone wonder why the post office keeps losing business?

Insure the package. It's cheap. It should cost less than 6 dollars to mail a pic cd priority mail with insurance. If you go with a bubble mailer, and ship it first class, it should be less than $4. If you want to spend a little more, do signature confirmation. You can also print your own shipping labels and pay via Paypal. If the item gets lost, Paypal offers delivery confirmation for only 16 cents and insurance is cheap too.

I have an online business selling my handmade jewelry and have shipped 1000's of packages over the past few years, international even, most of them I just send first class in a small bubble mailer. I have only had maybe 8 or 9 get lost in the mail. So, yes, this is extremely excessive, you absolutely need to report this every time.

Ha ha ha - sorry to laugh at your expense but your title tickled me "what is wrong with the post office!!?" I can't stand going to the post office and watching them "work." My 3 year old could do better - so I laugh but really, I'm sorry you lost your pictures.

Yes, you can complain... you can call your post office and let them know about the discrepancies....our post offices around here are really good. I've been here for 16 years and had some problems but we think it was with our carrier - not the actual post office.

You know what? I don't think they are getting lost in the mail...I think the people are most likely saying they didn't get it so they can get extra copies of the disc...I know - not everyone is like this - unfortunately - there are enough bad apples to ruin it for the rest of us...

If the envelopes for the party are small - they can get jammed in the sorter machine at the post office...you can go to your post office and ask if they have cleared the sorter....

As to the discs for clients? I would pay the extra money to have it certified - that way - each time that disc/package changes hands - it is signed for. So you know it is being received....

You are not wasting money if you send it certified mail in my opinion.

As to party invites? Send out a save the date and let them know you are mailing invites...it's a good back up system...

GOOD LUCK!!

Where are you mailing them from? What I mean is, do you drop them in a curbside box, put them in your own mailbox with the flag up, stick them in a community box (the kind that has keys for everyone), or take them inside an actual post office....

Unless you are taking them inside the actual post office, then I would find out from the post office who services the particular box you are using and complain. And I would try taking them into an actual post office instead. If you ARE taking the stuff into a post office itself, then I would ask/complain directly to the postmaster or a "main" post office. Some of the smaller post offices are VERY small and there are maybe 3 or 4 people that work out of them.... In some areas carriers drive their own vehicles and I sometimes wonder how they keep from losing pieces of mail. I actually have seen one with loose mail on their dash board!

we recently returned 2 phones (in separate boxes) to At&t.

It's been 10 days & they're still not located. aaargh.

you should def send it certified. then dont they have to go to the post office and pick it up and sign for it or something? but...i dont know. just recently i had a mail order prescription lost in the mail and an american express giftcard. i got both replaced....and then a month later some neighbors a couple streets away dropped by with my mail.....it had been delivered to them by mistake! pretty important stuff to put in the wrong mail box if you ask me!

I'd tell the Post Office about it, work from a different PO, and send the CDs with tracking. It usually doesn't cost that much to have a tracking number on the package.

Friend of DH's called to ask why he hadn't RSVPd to her wedding...a week and a half away...half a country away. Turns out after some sleuthing most of her friends back home did not receive the invites at all and many missed the wedding. DH could not attend. (This is why 1) people need to RSVP and 2) you need to follow up well before the event.)

Call your local post ofice and ask to speak to the Superintendent of Mails or the Postmaster. Explain to them what has been happening and ask them to please resolve the issue. As you are winding up your conversation ask them for the contact info for the Postal Inspecter in Washington DC and explain that if any other problems occur you will be contacting the Inspector's office. Chances are they won't lose your stuff again. They really don't want the Inspector's there.

I did this a number of years ago and never had a problem with the post office again. I had 2 uncles who were Postmasters in different cities.

now that you mention it i agree i am 35 weeks pregnant and had about 5-6 people ask why they were not invited to my baby shower and i was like you was and we mailed the invitations and they said they didnt get them some said got them days after the shower even though we mailed in plenty of time...

I'd do the registered or certified from now on ..... sounds pretty bad. I think postal workers dont give a damn anymore because they've been downsized since the internet is taking over. Might be best to upload the pictures to clients instead.