BRING BACK THE PONY EXPRESS
Written: Oct 02 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: not many
Cons: too many AND THIS IS A MONOPOLY
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| Donnie013's Full Review: US Postal Service Standard Mail |
YES, WE CAN NOW BUY STAMPS AT CONVENIENCE STORES, SUPERMARKETS AND DISCOUNT STORES, BUT WHO DELIVERS THE MAIL? THE MONOPOLIZED POST OFFICE.
Did you know that it is a Federal offense to put anything in your neighbors mailbox? Mail Boxes are considered Federal Property even though we are responsible for their positioning on the roadside or house and their upkeep.
In order to use this Federal box, we must first put adequate postage on our item, get it to the post office for the "official Post Mark" and then have it delivered by the uniformed mail carrier.
(and they said Microsoft was a monopoly!)
At least with the Pony Express, if your mail was delayed or missing, there was a good excuse, a logical reason: a lame horse, an Indian attack or an ambush by outlaws.
In today's day and age, we don't have to worry about lame horses, an Indian attack or....okay, maybe we do have to worry about "outlaws", but not the ones on horseback.
So, why then, can we not have a regular delivery of our mail? The question has yet to be answered - satisfactorily.
The Postal Service will tell you that they are under-staffed, over-worked and under-paid.
Here's the way I see it:
There are FOUR people whom I know personally who are mail carriers: one is in New York, one in Virginia, one in North East Florida and the other in South East Florida.
I asked them the procedure in delivering mail. Procedure? There's a procedure? Mmm. Yes, there is.
The mail for any one section is dumped in a large bin. The mail carried for that section must sort it and prepare it for delivery. (Yes, he sorts his own route's mail!) Considering the many employees in the post offices, these carriers get no help in sorting the thousands upon thousands of envelopes and small packages. Why? I'm still trying to find that out.
In the year that I have lived in my house, I've seen at least one new face in the post office PER WEEK. That's at least 12 per year and they say they're under-staffed? With all the hiring and transfers, we had ONLY ONE RETIREE in that time frame. So, where are all the others and what are they doing? I'm not even sure they know.
Another thing my friends told me is that a mail carriers route is pre-determined and pre-organized by the Post Office. This is: let's say one mail carrier has a route of streets, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The Post Office sets this route for the quickest possible delivery and IN AN ORDER DETERMINED BY THE POST OFFICE. If the Post Office decided the mail must be delivered to streets A, B, C, D, E, F, and G in that order, the mail carrier has no authority to change it. He (or she) cannot deliver to G, F, E, D, C, B, and A - or any other version thereof. The reasoning is simple: This is a moveable, outside job and in case of emergency, the Post Office must be able to locate the carrier within seconds and within a few houses of the location he (she) should be in for that particular time of day. Makes sense to me.
Well, if this is done correctly, then if I receive my mail on Monday at 2:30 in the afternoon, it stands to reason that between 2:15 and 2:45, I should find my mail in my mailbox for the rest of the week. Right? Okay, let's give them a bit more time. Let's say, if I get my mail at 2:30 on Monday, MAYBE for the rest of the week, I'd get delivery between 2:00 and 3:00.
Why then, do I get deliver, sometimes as late as 5:30 in the afternoon? No, it's not because we might have a substitute on that day. The substitutes manage to deliver the mail A HALF HOUR EARLIER than the regular carrier.
It boggles my mind to try and figure out what is wrong. It's not that I live in area that has changeable climate. I live in Florida. We have no show to shovel, no ice on which to slide. We do have our rain storms, but they are no hindrance to anyone. And what is the slogan of the Post Office: "Neither rain, nor snow......" The second word is RAIN. so obviously rain is no hindrance to them either.
So, I wonder again!!!
Why, if the rates keep increasing (I hear it's going to 34 cents come January 2001), can we not get a regulated delivery service?
At least with the Pony Express, when the horse got lame, they shot him!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Donnie013
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Member: Margaret Brennan
Location: Punta Gorda Isles, FL
Reviews written: 449
Trusted by: 285 members
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