The U.S. Postal Service latest marketing gimmick, “We deliver for you.” Riiiight—but wait a moment, they may be correct but they just need to tweak their ads a little to instead say, “We’ll deliver to you at our personal convenience” now that would be much more closer to the truth.
On Monday a Letter Carrier delivered a pink notice in my mail advising me of a package they attempted to deliver while I was away. I subsequently returned that notice to the Post Office and requested that they redeliver that item. Yesterday I seen the Regular Letter Carrier that delivers mail to my address and the Carrier promised to redeliver that parcel to me today.
Waited for Carrier to arrive and inquired about the redelivery of that parcel today—Letter Carrier said, “They didn’t give it to me.” Carrier has learned well from this mismanaged bureaucracy, blame someone else, forget that the word “Service” is in their name.
I have sent an e-mail to the Postal Service using their website, while my e-mail was delivered instantaneously, according to their website it will be 1 to 2 days before I should anticipate a reply.
I haven’t always been so cynical about the Postal Service, my father was a Postmaster for many years and I seen first hand the care his Carriers took in delivery of mail, witnessed the many hours that my father was away from home working and remember him going to the Post Office on Christmas Day, calling customers on the telephone offering them an opportunity to pick up parcels at the Post Office on that special day.
That was then—fast forward a few years, a friend of my Father, was appointed Postmaster in Cleveland, Ohio some years ago now. Before he took that new assignment, this individual came to our family home and I remember him saying how he was going to “whip those union workers into shape” and service was soon going to return to that NE Ohio city.
Nine months later, that newly installed Cleveland Postmaster informed my Father, “…it’s hopeless…” and retired from the Postal Service.
A few decades later has not helped to streamline the Postal Service into some premier operation, practice does not always make perfect. Benjamin Franklin, the nations First Postmaster General would surely be very disappointed to see what the Post Office has become.
Today Postmaster General John Potter appeared before the Senate Subcommittee on Mismanagement and Federal Services and said, “…we must foster growth by increasing value of postal products and services to our entire spectrum of customers. These achievements are possible only by enhancing our performance based culture. Our ultimate success will require an extra ordinary level of commitment…”
Now in his 8th year as Postmaster General, under Potter’s watch the Postal Service is expecting a net operating loss this fiscal year of $7 Billion Dollars and it has only dawned on Potter now to “enhance performance” why has he not demanded this “extra ordinary level of commitment up until now?
Because its unattainable and Potter surely must know it?
How is it that Potter deserves a salary of $265,000 and a “performance based bonus” of $135,000 the only thing it would seem that he really knows what to do well is to operate in the red and make lots of promises, while failing miserably in the operations of the U.S. Postal Service.
Congress has lost control, mismanaging its oversight responsibility of the U.S. Postal Service and now wants to takeover health care—God help us.
Don’t Blame the Web for Postal Service Woes
Postal Officials Feel Your Pain by Mary Stachyra