$14.50 to pick up my mail ??!!? bogus, or not?

 

   Today I got this letter from the local postmaster:
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/3690/postald.jpg

   I grew up on a rural route in NW Ohio.  I remember being able to
easily put a package in the mailbox and get it picked up with no
problems or hassles. (this through mid 90's anyway, when I moved away)

  Then I moved to the city.  Things went ok there until some fool sent
bombs, white powder or something through the mail, and then they always
wanted you to DRIVE to the post office to mail just about anything a
pound or more.

   Later, when Paypal added the ability to log in and print a mailing
label with delivery confirmation, I was overjoyed.  Finally people
couldn't bug me about the 1 pound rule any more, because there were no
stamps on the package - just digital postage.  It had all the origin
info and everything stamped right on there with a barcode, so no need
for me to walk in to a post office.

   Now, I can sort of understand why they don't want the city carriers
to have to pick up larger packages - they park their cars, and then walk
2 or 3 blocks picking things up and doing deliveries.  They aren't
equipped for picking up a lot of packages and carrying them long
distance.  However, the rural carriers are right in their truck.  They
have plenty of space, and just throw any packages in the back.  They
don't have to walk all over the place for blocks carrying it.

   The letter claims that after buying the digital postage online, I
also need to:

A) call their 800 #
or

B) get on their website and inform them that a package will be ready for
pickup
or

C) pay them a $14.50 fee

   This letter bothers me on SO MANY levels:

1) I grew up on 'Rural Route 2', WAY out in the boonies, and nobody ever
mentioned anything like this.  In fact, I can't find anything about a
$14.50 fee for rural pickup anywhere when doing a search online.  It is
like they made it up out of thin air.

2) The letter assumes that I have a telephone or Internet access.  Last
time I checked, I thought that the postal service relied on sending
physical packages, and not on someone having e-mail, telephone or
Internet.  As such, it certainly seems that there should not be an extra
fee for anyone who doesn't happen to have those conveniences.  Sure, I
do happen to have them in this case, but there are those who do not, and
they should not be penalized.

3) From what they are implying, they seem to be saying that I'm supposed
to inform them a day ahead of time that a package will be put in the
mailbox THE NEXT DAY for pickup.  Sorry, but doing that would add a full
day to the delivery of most packages that I send out.  That is a
ridiculous delay for packages when I'm paying extra to get them places
in 2 or 3 days - adding as much as 50% to the delivery time.

4) I should not have to inform ANYONE other than the person I'm sending
a package to that I'm mailing their package.  Having to call someone
else up and tell them seems like an invasion of privacy to me, and an
unnecessary layer of red tape.  A mail carrier is already sticking their
hand in my mailbox with letters and ads - it doesn't seem like too much
trouble to grab a package on the way out as well.

5) When I purchase the digital postage online, doesn't the USPS system
already get "informed" that I have purchased the postage, that the
package is being mailed, and the info on the delivery confirmation #?
It would seem to me to be a very, very easy thing to do to have the
system forward this info on to whatever carrier handles the route that
would be picking up said package.  Why should it be MY job to give them
this info a second time, when they should already have it?  Update your
damn software!

   Imagine if gas stations were run this way.  'Oh, sorry, you should
have planned ahead and called us *YESTERDAY* to let us know you needed
gas.  Since you didn't, there will be an extra $15 surcharge to fill up
your tank today, on the spur of the moment.'

   I needed to blow off some steam over this, obviously.  I mail things
out maybe 2 or 3 times a month.  I'm on dialup, and I'm definitely not
going to spend an extra 15 minutes logging on and informing their system
about a package every time.  I'm not going to call an 800# and wait on
hold or navigate a voice prompt.  I'm certainly not going to pay some
$14.50 fee, either.

   I really think what they are asking is unnecessary, and I'm still
wondering if this $14.50 fee is bogus.  Have any of you ever encountered
such a thing?


 
      Thanks!

 



Bah, hah. I just had to laugh. You see, things have changed. You can't
just expect the postal service to pick up your mail or packages for
free! I'm sure!

At least in my case, the postal service refuses to deliver my mail
more than twice a week, and I live in the city. I think my drugged-out
incompetent postal woman stores tons and tons of people's mail in her
basement. She is the laziest postal employee I've ever seen and that's
saying something since the Post office is the laziest pseudo
government agency out there.

Sorry I have no answer for you. It seems we are required to do
everyone else's jobs nowadays. Hence, all the self-checkouts (which I
refuse to use). Remember when people pumped your gas, checked out and
BAGGED your groceries, and delivered and picked up your mail? Oh it
was so long ago. Welcome to America.

 




Oddly enuf they got rid of self checkouts at the walmart near my work.  It's
a 190 000 square foot building.  They had 10 self checkouts and all of them
are now gone.  Theft, inability of customers to work the machines and the
cost of maintence on the machines.

 

On 07/01/10 18:27, The Henchman wrote:


I don't have a problem with that.  I haven't had anybody pump my gas for
a LONG time, but checkers and mailpersons are still around.  Not that
that's a big advantage, of course.  Bills, junk mail and the occasional
mail-order package.  I generally perfer NOT to pay other people to do
something I'm perfectly capable of doing.


I like the self-checkouts providing everything has the proper barcode.
There's rarely a line when the human-checked lines are four deep.   The
surveys I fill out frequently have a question of the form "Does
<something> make you feel like a smart shopper?"  Mostly the answer is
"not especially, I'm ALWAYS a smart shopper" but they never give that as
an option.  I DO feel like a smart shopper when I sail through the
self-checkout and sneer at the people still waiting in the checkout
lines, though :-)

--
Cheers, Bev
===================================================
"I love deadlines... especially the whooshing sound
  they make as they go by."           -Douglas Adams

 

The Real Bev wrote:

Yeah, me too.


You cant cheat with the stuff that doesnt, like fresh fruit and
veg etc, by say selecting much cheaper lemons instead of
limes and pleading ignorance/accident if you get caught.

Even easier with stuff like potatoes to select the cheapest
variety when you have bought the most expensive.


I hardly ever have to wait at all with the self checkouts.


<something> make you feel like a smart shopper?"

never give that as an option.

They dont want to give you a big head, if they
did, the horned helmet wouldnt fit anymore and
you'd be sure to molotov their operation again.


at the people still waiting in the

Yeah, me too. Tho they are surprisingly popular.