Quote:
Well, off the top of my head, other than the USPS . . .


This is twice you've mentioned the Postal Service as being a good Government Agency. I disagree :) It only appears to be good, because in 99.99% of the cases an address is an address, and things are routine. When they aren't, they are just as inept as any other Government Agency. One example is going into the Post Office. I find that the more people in line directly corresponds with how many windows they have open. I also wonder if there is some regulation that requires them to hire people that do not speak English as their primary language.

Now, never, ever ever ever ever ever (was that enough evers?) have your address changed. I know, you think, who changes their address?? Well our address was changed. Basically everything around my house was annexed by the City of Rolling Meadows. We are still considered Palatine, but due to numbering issues (both sides of the street were odd) Palatine decided to renumber us to make it easier for Emergency vehicles. Hah! All it did was screw things up royally.

We moved in and mail delivery ceased. We got one delivery of our Christmas packages on Christmas Eve at about 9pm. Our mail man assured us that the new address was the one recognized, and everything was being sent to the right place. Explain this to everyone who got their Christmas cards returned as "no such address." Anyhow, I tried to practice patience, but on January 10th I finally called the USPS and asked why I had no mail. They assured me I had the right address, and they'd verify that the carrier was delivering. On the 17th I called again. The supervisor said she even came out to the house, the mail box was correctly placed and numbered and she talked to the carrier and he said everything was fine.

Now about the 31st of January I was wondering if I was ever going to see even a piece of junk mail. I called the Supervisor of the USPS in Palatine (which is a major hub BTW) and once again spoke to her. I explained I had not even received a single advertisement since December 24th. She said she talked to the carrier who assured me I was getting mail delivery. She put me on hold and about 30 minutes later she came back with a sheepish voice. She asked me if we were having road construction. I told her yes, and her response went something like this,"Well Post Office vehicles are not allowed to back up. (what?) So due to the road construction, we made you temporary mail boxes around the corner on XYZ Street. Your mail is there." All I could think of was WTF??

Basically they gave me a new mail box, on a street I never have any reason to drive on. They kind of forgot to tell us of this fact and it took three times to call and speak to a Supervisor to find out this wonderful information. You have no idea how much mail I had piled up there!!!

The way to debunk the wonderful USPS is to change the status quo :) Then it's just like every other agency. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, and the supervisors know nothing.

Add to that, did you know that overnight delivery is not overnight if you are going to a rural address? It's then two day delivery. Now if you then say, well if it's going to take 2 days anyhow, I'll pay 2 day rate, then they let you know 2 day delivery could be up to 4? Etc. Etc.

Blah, I'll stick with email!!!

Kelli