Archive for June, 2009

USPS, Yet Again. Am I Paying Taxes For This?

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

Well, I ordered contacts because I was running low, and well… I need to see. My glasses are scratched and I’m getting sick of them anyways. So, I ordered some Acuvue Oasys for Astimagtism contacts, which, if I had to review them would get 5 stars! I look at my VisionDirect.com account and see that my contacts were delivered! Exciting! Except…dun dun DUN!

Sure enough, the USPS was the carrier. I’ve been checking my door every day because they were late in arriving, and when I checked today, June 16th, the DELIVERY CONFIRMATION number was available and it stated that my contacts had been delivered yesterday…except dun dun DUN! They had not.

So, like any disgruntled “customer” of USPS, I looked on their website for a phone number to call. I had to call my local branch, who didn’t even understand that when I gave him a “DELIVERY CONFIRMATION” number, it meant my packaged was supposed to have been “delivered.”

I told him I had not received my package, that the USPS website said it was delivered, and he replied with “Are you sure it was delivered?” Oh goodness. “No, that’s the problem, it WASN’T delivered. I SAYS it was delivered (I was speaking slowly this time) but I did not receive my package.”  The gentleman sounded almost exactly like Cleveland Brown from Family Guy, that it was hard to take him seriously.

In any case, once the guy figured out that what I wanted was my package, He told me that I should call back tomorrow at 8 AM… as if I have nothing better to do than track down my own mail.  So frustrating.  My package was coming from less than 2 hours away!

I wish there was a way you could choose not to have USPS deliver a package when ordering online.  United States Postal Service is so unreliable!

Thanks United States Postal Service, yet again.

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"Hello, this is the USPS calling…" In regard to your complaint.

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Woke up a few days ago. A blocked caller.  I hate blocked callers. To be honest, I usually don’t pick up. This time I did, and boy was that a mistake.

It was kinda like this:

Ok, so maybe it didn’t happen just like that but basically what they told me was this:

Well Ma’am, they pay us to deliver the bulk mail to you, so we can’t simply stop delivering it.  What you can do, however, is contact each of the distributors personally and pay to be removed from their mailing list.

Well, let me give you an idea of how long this would take.  In 2 days of not checking my mail, I received the following pieces of junk: (Keep in mind that most of these have multiple pages…as I’m sure you well know!)

  • Organize your home, ClosetWorld- Sent to Postal Customer
  • PennySaverUSA- Sent to Postal Customer
  • A Local community center pamphlet- I receive this bi-monthly at LEAST
  • Walt Disney Concert Hall
  • Faith Baptist Schools pamphlet
  • Henry’s Farmers Market – Sent to Postal Customer
  • Misc Furniture on Sale- Sent to Postal Customer
  • IKEA pamphlet (I do not shop here and have not given them my address)
  • Doit Center Sale junk- Sent to Postal Customer
  • Longs Drugs/ CVS coupons- Sent to Postal Customer
  • MoneySaver
  • Rite Aid pamphlets/Coupons
  • Molly Maid
  • 40-page LocalValues coupons
  • REDPlum coupons – Sent to Postal Customer
  • Vons- Sent to Postal Customer
  • Albertsons- Sent to Postal Customer
  • Ralphs – Sent to Postal Customer
  • Pavilions– Sent to Postal Customer
  • Smart& Final- Sent to Postal Customer
  • LA Private Trainers – Sent to Postal Customer
  • World Wide Windows
  • Hometown buffet- Sent to Postal Customer

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, two days.

Case and Point.  I will be switching to a private post office box.

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Sifting Through Junk- Thanks USPS.

Monday, June 1st, 2009

USPS Mail boxes should all come equipped with a headlamp and shovel for all the digging we endure just to get out bills and holiday cards. I’m serious, the junk mail problem is a big problem.  It’s a problem for a number of reasons, reasons I’m sure you’ll agree with. USPS Junk Mail

Ever sit in your kitchen shaking all the grocery coupons and pamphlets erratically just to make sure you didn’t lose a piece of mail in the abyss of junk mail?  It’s a regularity for me. Maybe I’m getting more junk and bulk mail than most, but that’s unlikely. I’m sure I’ve accidentally tossed an important letter here and there, and for this reason I’ve decided to become a P.O. Box user. Why has getting our mail from the mailbox regressed to the days of sifting through email inbox spam folders of the 90’s ? And better yet, Why can we not opt out of receiving all the junk?

I stopped by my local USPS store to see if I could fill out a form which would (hopefully) put me on a list of others annoyed with CouponMania, MoneySaver and all the other bulk mail, but to no avail. “You mean I have no option in the matter,” I said to the postman.  He looked at me and simply said…”Um…no ma’am.”  Fan-tastic. Cool. Great. Thanks USPS

Yesterday,  when I picked up my mail (and the endless junk mail that accumulated over just 2 days) I noted that it was time for a blog post. Not only irritating, the junk mail problem has become more and more wasteful over time.  Aren’t we trying to go “green?”

Like I said. It’s a big problem. Make the switch- get a P.O. Box near your home or work.

Visit http://donotmail.org/ to sign the petition against junk mail!

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