07-20-2018, 01:25 PM
I used to work for the USPS for a short period of time. Career appointment, not a contractor.
USPS mail is moved using whatever contractors are cheapest and they will dump one contractor over another to save a single penny (literally).
Years ago I knew a woman who worked for one of these contractors. She admitted that many employees hated their jobs so much they made a game out of how hard they could throw the parcels into the bin and maybe get "bonus points" if they hear what sounds like something breaking. I understand that things have actually become worse since then.
There isn't much you can do to protect your mailed belongings when people make a game of destroying them, but you can complain to the ends of the USPS Earth to try and affect change. Making insurance claims help, but if you don't have a receipt showing purchase price for whatever you're shipping you usually won't get paid if you're using USPS insurance. Read their list of disclaimers: It disclaims almost everything to the point that buying the insurance is pointless unless they just simply lose the package. And that almost never happens.
The individual employees working the USPS counters can't help you, they will just refer you to a 1-800 number to call.
I sent a computer in for warranty service and it arrived so completely smashed that even the "damaged goods" person at Gateway called me and said only a vehicle collision could completely destroy a steel computer case like that. They helped me through the USPS insurance process but it was only with their submitted invoices that I got paid. I got a check from the USPS insurance people and decided to cash it at the USPS counter. The counter person looked really surprised and commented that she had never seen an instance where somebody actually got paid for a USPS insurance claim.
During about half of this last year almost all my packages received at the Hilo post office had a RECEIVED DAMAGED stamp on them, and not surprisingly, all such packages were damaged. I had to wait in line about 10 minutes to get one of these, and it was so mangled that it took the clerk almost 5 minutes to find a way to read and enter the scan code. Imagine how pissed off I was when he slid the box over to me and it was EMPTY. I waited 15 minutes to get a box that somebody had crapped up so much that the contents were missing. Fortunately it was an amazon shipment and they took care of me, but no insurance gives you 15 minutes of your life back. In the last few months, all my packages have been in better condition. I'm guessing they changed contractors.
USPS mail is moved using whatever contractors are cheapest and they will dump one contractor over another to save a single penny (literally).
Years ago I knew a woman who worked for one of these contractors. She admitted that many employees hated their jobs so much they made a game out of how hard they could throw the parcels into the bin and maybe get "bonus points" if they hear what sounds like something breaking. I understand that things have actually become worse since then.
There isn't much you can do to protect your mailed belongings when people make a game of destroying them, but you can complain to the ends of the USPS Earth to try and affect change. Making insurance claims help, but if you don't have a receipt showing purchase price for whatever you're shipping you usually won't get paid if you're using USPS insurance. Read their list of disclaimers: It disclaims almost everything to the point that buying the insurance is pointless unless they just simply lose the package. And that almost never happens.
The individual employees working the USPS counters can't help you, they will just refer you to a 1-800 number to call.
I sent a computer in for warranty service and it arrived so completely smashed that even the "damaged goods" person at Gateway called me and said only a vehicle collision could completely destroy a steel computer case like that. They helped me through the USPS insurance process but it was only with their submitted invoices that I got paid. I got a check from the USPS insurance people and decided to cash it at the USPS counter. The counter person looked really surprised and commented that she had never seen an instance where somebody actually got paid for a USPS insurance claim.
During about half of this last year almost all my packages received at the Hilo post office had a RECEIVED DAMAGED stamp on them, and not surprisingly, all such packages were damaged. I had to wait in line about 10 minutes to get one of these, and it was so mangled that it took the clerk almost 5 minutes to find a way to read and enter the scan code. Imagine how pissed off I was when he slid the box over to me and it was EMPTY. I waited 15 minutes to get a box that somebody had crapped up so much that the contents were missing. Fortunately it was an amazon shipment and they took care of me, but no insurance gives you 15 minutes of your life back. In the last few months, all my packages have been in better condition. I'm guessing they changed contractors.