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Another Screw Up At Post Office--Non gun

drsck
I know that it's not gun related, but I thought that some of you might like to hear about the ways those wonderful folks at the US Post Office screw up the lives of other people. I have a couple of young friends who are getting married. They plan on only doing this once so they decided to go all out and do it right, meaning they are spending a fortune. The invitations, for example, they had custom designed by a graphic artist. These weren't just your run of the mill invitations; the envelops and even the stamps were designed to match. Well, they knew that because of the size and weight, these invitations were going to cost more than the standard .41 cents, so they took one of their custom designed invitations to the post office and had the folks there weigh it so they knew how much postage to put on the custom designed stamps. The good folks at the Post Office told my friends that postage would be .58 cents. They told the designer who incorporated that into the design and then had the post office print up these special stamps. The stamps arrived; they were put on the envelopes; and they were dropped at the Post Office. Then we waited. and waited. and waited. Many of us knew we were supposed to be receiving these things that we'd heard so much about, but they just weren't arriving. Then they started to trickle in. Unfortunately, they didn't all trickle to where they were supposed to go. After four weeks, a handful of them began arriving at the address to which they had been sent. However, a slightly larger handful began arriving at the return address on the back of the envelope. These were all repeatedly and savagely stamped with a big red "INSUFFICIENT POSTAGE" stamp. Not just once or twice with this stamp; some of them were stamped twenty or thirty times. It was clear that someone at the Post Office had anger issues and was taking them out here. Naturally my friends rushed down to their Post Office to ask for an explanation. Well, you see, they were told, the proper postage for this size and weight was >85 cents, not .58 cents. It seems that there is a dyslexic employee and all the employees knew this so they all have things checked twice. Unfortunately, the public isn't so well informed. But on top of that the next question was, well, where are all the missing invitations? One thousand were sent. From what we could tell based on a quick telephone survey, less than 100 were delivered. Slightly more than a hundred were returned. That leaves more than 700 missing. When asked where they were, the great folks at the Post Office were wonderfully creative. The first answer was "well, you see there's no return address." When it was pointed out that the return address was on the back flap, the jerk said "Oh, well, that's not acceptable, we don't accept mail with the return address back there," whereupon my friends produced the section of the official US Post Office rules and regulations stating that a return address on the back was acceptable. The next excuse was "Oh, well, since these weren't stamped as `first class' the post office wasn't required to return them to the sender and was doing so just as a courtesy." At this my friends turned again to the official US Post Office rules and regulations and pointed out the paragraph that stated all mail was treated as first class unless marked otherwise. The third excuse was, "Oh, well, you see, these were so fancy with a design all over the front of the envelop that the automatic machines couldn't handle them so they all had to be handled by hand." When they asked how those that were delivered managed to get through the machines, the person to whom they were talking got up and left as if to go find another excuse, but he never returned. After waiting for an hour and half for this jerk to have the guts to face them, my friends simply left. They've filed a formal complaint and have written to their congressman and senators, but I don't expect that they'll hear anything. The result of all this? Well, my friends have postponed the wedding and rescheduled everything for next spring. With deposits, airfairs, etc. my guess is that this debacle has cost them between 15K and 20K. And the US Post Office goes on as if there is no problem.
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Comments

26 comments

Date Votes
  • p3skyking
    Just wait until the PO is privatized. Without a government retirement to protect, the clerk can tell you where to put your invitations.[:0]
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  • matwor
    Shoulda just gone to the Justice O' the Peace!![;)]
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  • M.Opaliski
    Have you considered using the competition ...
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  • buschmaster
    they're a bunch of monkeys. I've had vindictive employees do what they can to screw me too. your friends got jacked royally.

    there's something major going on if they're giving them the snub like that. at this point they should know better than to expect any wrongs to be righted by the post office. they need a lawyer to force the issue asap because time is wasting.
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  • Colt Super
    While I can sympathize with their plight, I think God might view the enormous cost of the wedding related stuff as being better used to help the unfortunate.

    Doug
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  • dongizmo
    I try to never mail anything outside side of a "normal" size envelope. The machines can't handle oversize / overweight items.
    Perhaps your friends should consider consulting with a graphic artist with experience in mailable cards?
    Don
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  • bobski
    well, look at it on the bright side, they wanted to be different with the invitations......i guess they achieved it. they and their guests will never forget this.[:o)]

    thats not so bad....my #1 wedding, my x-wife only mailed her friends invitations and hid mine. i found them and asked why, and she basically said she didnt like my family and friends. i should have known it wouldnt work, we divorced 3 years later.[8]
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  • select-fire
    Tell your almost newlyweds to buy a cheapy postal scale next time. Ordinary letter will hold 4 -5 sheets of paper for the cost of standard base mail of .41. Just how big of an invitation was this at .85 ?
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  • bobski
    written on plywood![:p]
    you know they say that a engagement is meant to be a test for the future. its the couples first test working together to achieve a goal. failed!
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  • rogue_rob
    Holy Cow!!! 1000 invitations??? Just the postage was $580.00 on what they sent out, and if they had put the .85 cents on them, it would have been $850.00!!!!! I couldn't IMAGINE paying THAT Much for some friggin invitations!!!!!

    If they were heavy enough to require additional postage, then you can probably figure that the invitations were maybe 5 bucks a piece? FIVE GRAND ON INVITATIONS????????? WOW

    I'm stunned at the sheer cost of invitations. Different strokes for different folks I guess......
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  • Locust Fork
    I don't understand this type of priority mindset. If I have something important that I am mailing I take it to the post office and have it weighed and pay the postage or I stamp the dog mess out of it. Most people who plan those extra complicated weddings are just asking for things to go wrong. Everyone I have ever known that had a wedding like that got divorced.....not one exclusion in all the people I know. Why on earth would anyone want to spend all that money and effort on inviting people to a wedding? That is more than some have spent on the entire wedding. When we got married we rented a cabin at a local park, spent maybe $100 on flowers, called everyone and mailed a few pre-ready invitations and the whole thing cost us less than $300. We couldn't have been happier...we could have done the whole crazy out of control mess...but WHY?
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  • slipgate
    The USPS is one of the few shining stars - or perhaps "glimmering" stars of government run enterprises.

    But still, it is gov't run, so problems will arise. They did ruin your day that is the worst part. My guess is some pissed off employee that had to hand stamp them realized (after 100 or so) that there was not enough postage, smiled, and just threw them out.
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  • alledan
    Most post Office worker are good hard working people. Most Blonders and screw ups can be linked to the management.
    This problem sounds like a scale that hasn't been recaliberated in a long time.
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  • dongizmo
    quote:Originally posted by Locust Fork
    I don't understand this type of priority mindset. If I have something important that I am mailing I take it to the post office and have it weighed and pay the postage or I stamp the dog mess out of it. Most people who plan those extra complicated weddings are just asking for things to go wrong. Everyone I have ever known that had a wedding like that got divorced.....not one exclusion in all the people I know. Why on earth would anyone want to spend all that money and effort on inviting people to a wedding? That is more than some have spent on the entire wedding. When we got married we rented a cabin at a local park, spent maybe $100 on flowers, called everyone and mailed a few pre-ready invitations and the whole thing cost us less than $300. We couldn't have been happier...we could have done the whole crazy out of control mess...but WHY?

    + 1
    I think it should be about the sharing your vows with family & friends, not how big of a "event" you can make of it.
    Don
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  • Marc1301
    No way,......when my time comes next spring, it is going to be close friends, and family only, and even with that, not anything extravagant.
    To each their own, but I love seeing stuff like this.
    My best friends daughter got married 2 years ago, he was going to give them 10K to start a life, hoping they would have a small, sensible wedding, and would use the money towards a downpayment on a starter home. What did she do?
    She used every penny, plus more of their own, to throw a "social event", and then had the guts to ask him for money again, when they started searching for a house.
    To his credit, he told her, "Sorry, but your mom and I can't afford to give you anymore money", they didn't speak for about 6 months![}:)]
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  • Colt Super
    Mark -

    Are you going to throw a party for your upcoming divorce(s), also??

    I did.

    They were better.

    Doug
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  • Marc1301
    [:D][:D] Certainly,.....if that was to happen!
    Heck, with the way I am able to keep putting the actual ceremony off, I may be too old to get a divorce![8D]
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  • 41 nut
    Reading the original post one question comes to mind. When your friends went to the post office to see what the problem was why did they talk to another clerk rather than the post master? After being given a postage rate and then getting some invitations back for insufficent postage they should have gone directly to the postmaster of that post office.
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  • Azhunter
    Not to hijack the thread too badly, but last year my friend was drawn for elk, but did'nt get his tag in the mail. He finally checked with F.&G. only to find that it had been stamped return to sender. Evidently there is a p.e.t.a. freak in the local post office that does this to all the hunt tags they get.
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  • brier-49
    Having read and reread this post, and being a postal employee, I have to say BULL SH:t. If this really is true please email me the location of the PO. I have been working in the PO for a number of years and have never seen a person bring a copy of the postal regs with them to file a complaint.Now if the clerk was dyslexic he never would have been allowed on the window with a drawer(that is the cash drawer),if fact just the fact that he could not sort mail correctly would have ended his job as a clerk before it started. He would not have passed the test. In response to azhunter a clerk would only get away with that one time and he would be fired on the spot.More BS
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  • Azhunter
    quote:Originally posted by brier-49
    Having read and reread this post, and being a postal employee, I have to say BULL SH:t. If this really is true please email me the location of the PO. I have been working in the PO for a number of years and have never seen a person bring a copy of the postal regs with them to file a complaint.Now if the clerk was dyslexic he never would have been allowed on the window with a drawer(that is the cash drawer),if fact just the fact that he could not sort mail correctly would have ended his job as a clerk before it started. He would not have passed the test. In response to azhunter a clerk would only get away with that one time and he would be fired on the spot.More BS


    Well, my friend has been in the same location for over ten years, never failed to get his tags before last year,nothing wrong with the address, but stamped return to sender. The explanation he was given is what I posted above. Whether F. & G. complained to the post office is unknown. Sorry that I can't give you more specific info but thats all I have.
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  • rhythm_guy
    quote:Originally posted by brier-49
    Having read and reread this post, and being a postal employee, I have to say BULL SH:t. If this really is true please email me the location of the PO. I have been working in the PO for a number of years and have never seen a person bring a copy of the postal regs with them to file a complaint.Now if the clerk was dyslexic he never would have been allowed on the window with a drawer(that is the cash drawer),if fact just the fact that he could not sort mail correctly would have ended his job as a clerk before it started. He would not have passed the test. In response to azhunter a clerk would only get away with that one time and he would be fired on the spot.More BS


    If you're one of them of course you know that these folks are all union employees, and it is very difficult to fire one "on the spot."
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  • brier-49
    az, if your friend complained to the PO the clerk would have been fired,you can't do that and get away with it more than once if a complaint is filed.
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  • Azhunter
    He went to F. & G. main office to pick up his tag, I don't know if he knew that he could file a complaint with the P.O.. If it happens again I'll let him know.
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  • brier-49
    I have seen 2 people fired on the spot in my time in the PO, 1 person filled his time sheet out endind his time at5:30 pm,he was at the PO until 7:00pm, what he didn't put in was the fact that he stopped at home to fix a plumbing problem then went and finished is route. Another employee made note of it and told the postmaster,falsefying time sheet. Other one was a postmaster,got a money order one day planned on paying the next day,auditors walked in unannounced, both gone on the spot. Carrier fought it thru the union, didn't work.
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  • rhythm_guy
    The Postmaster is not union, and stealing time is hard to defend, even if you're union. Both are very different from telling somebody the wrong postage.
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