I do feel a sense of concern. I'm old and I like to handle things by mail. A written letter doesn't get accidentally deleted by a computer. Your backlog does not vanish if your computer freezes up. Now, as a result of work experience, I am used to doing a lot of e-mail. I'm just careful.
The USPS enables one to communicate and have a paper trail of return receipts, etc. (Doesn't always work, unfortunately. One of my sendings was en route...apparently to Mars, since it never got delivered.) What I find annoying is the USPS's direction toward making all interactions internet-mediated with no possibility of human interaction. I would like to talk to someone about trying to find my missing certified mail, but there is no one to talk to, and the clerks at the Post Office have no levers of power to do anything about it.
My clerks have been there for years, a small group of Korean ladies with an accent, but very clear-speaking, affable, and competent. They are unflappable, and do their best to expedite a long line of customers.
The delivery scheme needs to be scrutinized (as some have mentioned already). I keep getting mail addressed to my former ex-spouse. ("Former ex-spouse"? Yes, she walked out on me, making her an "ex-", and then she passed away, making her even more of an "ex-." Sometimes, I refer to her as my "ex-ex.") I have twice gone to the postmaster to complain that (1) the person no longer lives at my address, and (2) is dead. I have to fill out a form specifying who is allowed to receive mail at my address. And, after a few years, the form apparently gets lost, and I am now compiling a stack of stuff to dump on their desk and demand not to be delivered to my mailbox. I am not a crabby person. If it is addressed to me or my wife, that's good, or to someone "care of" me, that's legit, or even "resident" is okay. But I truly draw the line on named people who do not reside at my address.
Also, establishing and maintaining a postal service is one of the few stipulations of the Constitution, the object being that no one in the United States should be without means of written communication to others. One may huff and say that is "old-fashioned" but I would not be so quick to disdain it. The cost of pen, paper, envelope, and a postage stamp is far less than a telephone line, internet service, and a computer. Postage is still about what it was. When I was a child (about 1956) a first-class stamp was about 5 cents (big news when it increased to 6 cents). Now it is about 73 cents. Seems like an increase factor of 14.6, doesn't it? But the change in Consumer Price Index between 1956 and 2024 is 11.53, which would make the 5-cent stamp a 58-cent stamp. So bad management has increased the real price by about 26%. The point being, that a 5-cent stamp in 1956 was regarded as a trivial cost, and a 73-cent stamp today is a similarly trivial cost. Unfortunately, we are now being paid with toilet paper instead of silver certificates, and the rate of taxation has become devouring.
I understand what you are saying. My postal lady is so sweet we give her cookies and gift cards during holidays. Those who are truly working just like my friend who worked in the VA. She is a nurse and she said, "I am not worried. I am working."
The ones who need to worry are those who sit around playing games or watching porns or whatever they do.
I do feel a sense of concern. I'm old and I like to handle things by mail. A written letter doesn't get accidentally deleted by a computer. Your backlog does not vanish if your computer freezes up. Now, as a result of work experience, I am used to doing a lot of e-mail. I'm just careful.
The USPS enables one to communicate and have a paper trail of return receipts, etc. (Doesn't always work, unfortunately. One of my sendings was en route...apparently to Mars, since it never got delivered.) What I find annoying is the USPS's direction toward making all interactions internet-mediated with no possibility of human interaction. I would like to talk to someone about trying to find my missing certified mail, but there is no one to talk to, and the clerks at the Post Office have no levers of power to do anything about it.
My clerks have been there for years, a small group of Korean ladies with an accent, but very clear-speaking, affable, and competent. They are unflappable, and do their best to expedite a long line of customers.
The delivery scheme needs to be scrutinized (as some have mentioned already). I keep getting mail addressed to my former ex-spouse. ("Former ex-spouse"? Yes, she walked out on me, making her an "ex-", and then she passed away, making her even more of an "ex-." Sometimes, I refer to her as my "ex-ex.") I have twice gone to the postmaster to complain that (1) the person no longer lives at my address, and (2) is dead. I have to fill out a form specifying who is allowed to receive mail at my address. And, after a few years, the form apparently gets lost, and I am now compiling a stack of stuff to dump on their desk and demand not to be delivered to my mailbox. I am not a crabby person. If it is addressed to me or my wife, that's good, or to someone "care of" me, that's legit, or even "resident" is okay. But I truly draw the line on named people who do not reside at my address.
Also, establishing and maintaining a postal service is one of the few stipulations of the Constitution, the object being that no one in the United States should be without means of written communication to others. One may huff and say that is "old-fashioned" but I would not be so quick to disdain it. The cost of pen, paper, envelope, and a postage stamp is far less than a telephone line, internet service, and a computer. Postage is still about what it was. When I was a child (about 1956) a first-class stamp was about 5 cents (big news when it increased to 6 cents). Now it is about 73 cents. Seems like an increase factor of 14.6, doesn't it? But the change in Consumer Price Index between 1956 and 2024 is 11.53, which would make the 5-cent stamp a 58-cent stamp. So bad management has increased the real price by about 26%. The point being, that a 5-cent stamp in 1956 was regarded as a trivial cost, and a 73-cent stamp today is a similarly trivial cost. Unfortunately, we are now being paid with toilet paper instead of silver certificates, and the rate of taxation has become devouring.
I understand what you are saying. My postal lady is so sweet we give her cookies and gift cards during holidays. Those who are truly working just like my friend who worked in the VA. She is a nurse and she said, "I am not worried. I am working."
The ones who need to worry are those who sit around playing games or watching porns or whatever they do.
It's an exercise in frustration...🤬