No agency – particularly no government agency – is perfect, and if the Postal Service has, over the years, seriously flubbed some of their said services, it’s not super surprising.
Why is USPS so bad at times? Do they really suck that much or are these just anecdotal stories that have become fodder?
I’m going to give you some of the reasons people have been complaining and whether or not I think it’s really indicative of the Postal Service overall.
Why Is USPS So Bad? & Do They Really Suck?
USPS Has Been Raising Rates
While UPS and FedEx remain the more expensive shipping companies, you aren’t imagining higher prices at the Post Office.
Recently, the United States Postal Service announced they were raising prices on First-Class letters, First-Class flats and large envelopes, postcards, Certified Mail, and add-on services.
While in most cases this constitutes only a few cents more, for medium and large shippers those extra pennies add up quickly.
For medical or legal businesses who use Certified Mail regularly, that 15-cent rate hike could certainly be noticeable after six months or a year.
At the same time, USPS announced the increase in First-Class postage, they also announced a temporary holiday shipping increase.
Starting October 3 and ending December 26, 2021, the rates for Priority Express, Priority Mail, First-Class Package, Parcel Select, and Retail Ground were raised.
Temporary rate increases don’t seem so bad since they’ll eventually end, but the Postal Service might find the price hikes favorable and opt to keep them in the future.
Unfortunately, the Postal Service’s fee increases genuinely do suck. While their services aren’t that expensive to begin with, it really shows how deep in the hole the USPS is.
I would not be surprised at all if we saw more rate increases as the years go on.
USPS Delivery Times Are Slowing Down
In conjunction with the USPS rate increase, they also announced they were slowing down delivery times.
An example of how that might affect the everyday person is that a birthday card that used to take just one day to arrive could end up taking two instead.
When you’ve been used to mailing something with a one-day delivery rate, having it suddenly take two days is a bit of a shock.
Part of slowing down delivery times involves fewer trucks doing after-hour or late deliveries and less air transport for mail.
It’s all in an effort to save money, but it is also alienating and annoying customers of the Postal Service.
Worst of all, it could put some rural communities in jeopardy, especially the sick or elderly who rely on the Postal Service for medicine deliveries
Some USPS Postal Employees Have Been Known To Be Lazy
On message boards all over the Internet, you can find people complaining about USPS mail carriers being lazy or rude.
One member of Reddit, r/drowninginidiots, really went off, railing against the treatment of their packages by mail carriers.
But plenty of people came to the carriers’ defense, citing long hours, harsh working conditions, and more.
In 2020, a man’s video, taken secretly from a window and via their video doorbell, of their postal carrier “flipping, tossing and kicking” a package went viral.
It is not a great look for USPS, and the male employee does look incredibly lazy, rude, and thoughtless.
However, in my personal experience, the USPS mail carriers have been the most thoughtful out there.
Rather than leaving packages right in front of my front door, they leave them tucked just inside the porch, so they aren’t visible from the sidewalk or street.
I think this is a case-by-case basis; it just depends on who delivers your mail.
But I would guess that there are more good postal carriers, who take pride in their work, than “lazy” ones.
Rare Theft Does Happen At USPS
A quick Google reveals Postal employee theft in Louisiana, Chicago, and Pennsylvania, and that’s just on the first results page.
It does happen. Employees find the temptation too great and steal money, gifts, and even credit cards, right out of the mail.
The case in Chicago involved 11 employees (five of whom were charged) and 18 months of ongoing theft.
But I think we hear about these cases because they are so rare. You don’t read news stories every day about how nothing was stolen from your local Post Office.
Are all USPS employees thieves? Absolutely not.
Do some – a very small percentage – give in to temptation and commit theft of mail, a federal crime? Unfortunately, yes.
To learn more about USPS, you can also see our posts on how fast is USPS media mail, why is USPS so expensive, and USPS priority mail vs. first class.
