$15 for First Class Mail

[kaBLOOnie Boonster]

My mail forwarding service might have explained why it took the Postal Service 9 days to forward a small envelope of first class mail to a place 400 miles away.

She said it is SUPPOSED to take 7-10 days when first class mail is forwarded to a post office box. (A street address is supposed to be faster. She didn't say anything about General Delivery.)

It used to take 3 business days to have first class mail forwarded!

So I chose the alternative of paying $15 (!) for Priority Mail in order to get it in 3 days.

Does anyone know if it is still 3 days to get first class mail forwarded to General Delivery?

 

[Weight]

Was it an envelope or a package?

 

[shadowmoss]

The post office is required to make it almost necessary to use Priority Mail. Many years ago I did mystery shopping at post offices. I felt really bad when the agents would try to save me money by suggesting the cheaper methods and I had to report them. This was when Priority Mail first came out. I did t do that job very long. I have noticed regular 1st class service degrade continuously ever since.

 

[cyndi]

Forwarding mail is different than sending mail, first class or otherwise.

In theory it should take no more than 3 days for a 1st class letter to reach its destination. It may take longer for very rural areas. If a forwarding order is current the letter then goes back to the regional distribution plant (1 to 3 days) where it is *marked up* by computer and then sent on to the forwarding address, taking another 1 to 3 days.

There are a number of caveats. Human error is, of course, one of them. The automated machinery missorts letters, occasionally.

If you think the USPS is bad compare it to any other postal system in the world. The USPS comes out miles ahead in both customer service and cost. They manage to do this despite the dead weight in the ivory tower.

And, in case you didn't know, your tax dollars do not in any way support the USPS

Signed, me.
Retired USPS Letter Carrier and former clerk

 

[maki2]

I currently have a warning on the shipping notices that go out when I ship orders letting people know that their packages are unlikely to arrive within the standard time the post office says it will. Much of the mail delivery time is slow right now as there have been lots of winter storms all over the place. That started back in December and it has not yet abated. So just remember it is not always the post office that is making things slow. Those Monday postal holidays also impact delivery times creating backups and we just had a couple of them fairly close to each other. There is also a lot of mail volume going on with income tax returns. It is just the way it is in the winter time. Not too worry, it will speed up late in the spring and be pretty good until mid November will the next winter cycle slams the postal system.

As far as priority mail goes. You know those airport situations with passengers getting bumped and put on standby? That is what happens to 1st class and parcel post mail when priority mail fills up the trucks and airplanes. Other times when the system is not as busy a 1st class package might get through just about as fast as a priority mail package.