On November 1, I ordered a tripod and wireless remote control for my new Canon Digital Rebel XTi. I ordered them from Amazon and selected standard shipping as I wanted to get the items before our upcoming trip to Vegas.
Oddly, the two items shipped separately and via two different carriers. The tripod came via UPS, while the remote came via the US Post Office.
What was even more odd was that the very next day (November 2), the tripod was delivered to our house! Yes, a “standard” shipped item from Amazon, which is supposed to take 3-5 days, managed to be delivered overnight.
But that’s where my joy with this order ended.
On Thursday, November 1, the day I ordered my items, I received a notice from Amazon and the US Post Office that “Shipping Info Received” was the current status of my remote. It wasn’t until Tuesday, November 6 that the package was finally picked up by the US Post Office. Not only is that 5 days after the order, which was supposed to have a 3-5 day delivery, but it was also a full 4 days after UPS had managed to deliver a larger and more expensive item!
But wait, the “fun” doesn’t end there.
On Wednesday, November 7, the US Post Office put my remote out for delivery. Once again, the item was overnight delivery from the time of pick-up, but since it took the US Post Office 5 days to pick up my item, I was now at 6 days of delivery time.
Later that afternoon, I received a notice from the US Post Office that they “attempted to deliver my item at 12:59 PM on November 7, 2007 [...] and a notice was left.” At this point, I was thoroughly confused and frustrated. UPS had managed to deliver a much more expensive tripod and left it on our front porch, as I expected. It’s not TERRIBLY expensive and it’s already paid for, so what else do they need? Why couldn’t the US Post Office do the same with a smaller, less expensive package?
When we got home, there was a orange delivery notice in our mailbox. It had “Parcel” and “Delivery Confirmation” checked and options on the reverse side. Since there were options available, I selected “Leave item at my address” and specified “Mailbox or Porch” as the location. I even read the small print that stated, “This option is not available if box is checked on the front requiring your signature at time of delivery.” It wasn’t, so I thought I was fine. I even added my signature, printed name, and delivery address to the “Delivery Section” for extra good measure figuring that since they had my signature, they’d have the confirmation they needed.
Then we got home yesterday, Thursday, November 8, and the orange notice was in our mailbox again. Scribbled across the front was, “The postmaster requires us to only leave packages when someone is home. Sorry, but we cannot leave on porch.”
At this point, I was livid. Heck, I was probably beyond livid. I called the number for the post office and seemed to get an answering machine (there was no actual voice, just a beep), so I left a message that pretty much described things as above, with a good deal of anger evident in my voice.
I then called Amazon to find out if there was anything they could do (there wasn’t) and if I could request that the US Post Office never be used for delivery of my packages again in the future (I couldn’t). I resigned myself to calling the post office again in the morning.
And that’s what I did about 15 minutes ago. A nice woman answered the phone and I explained that I had received a delivery notice and that since I worked in Charlottesville from 8 am to 5 pm, I couldn’t possibly get to Stuarts Draft in time to pick up my package. The woman asked for my address, then said, “Okay, I’ll have her scan it here and go ahead and deliver it.”
WHAT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
Seriously, all of this just so that I could anonymously call up this morning and request that the package be delivered (which I had already asked and signed for) and have a nice woman say, “Okay.”
I love the people at our post office, but hate the US Post Office system. This isn’t the first time I’ve had issues with the Post Office, but if I can help it, it’ll be the last.
