Republicans who hate the Post Office should experience what I did with "the private sector".

[RandySF]

My son came home with a great report card, so I rewarded him with a toy that you pretty much have to order to acquire. So, I went to trusty ol' Amazon and did so expecting the relative hassle-free delivery one can expect from the USPS (and UPS, for the most part). Well, that didn't happen. Amazon assigned the delivery to Ontrac. Ontario, for those of you who haven't had the pleasure, is the kind of companies Republicans LOVE: Low overhead, low wages and terrible customer service.

When you go to their website, you see professional-looking drivers in clean, well-marked vehicles. But what you really get is some kid driving a beat-up van with a hard-to-read sticker on the side. That's if you are lucky enough to see them at all. They arrive and they drive off, claiming that no one was home if if you were. They leave no sticker, make no attempt to knock or call your apartment on the front box. And before you realize what's happened, the package is being returned to sender. I was a lucky one in that regard. I did not find my item thrown over a fence, or onto a balcony. But it took time and threats to Amazon to finally get it. And from now on, I will only do buy thing from business that use the USPS or UPS.

Welcome to the Republicans' dream of America.

[geomon666]

1. Reminds me of Fedex.

They are fucking horrible. Here's how their last delivery to me arrived:

[BuddhaGirl]

2. I've had the opposite experience

with OnTrac deliveries when I order from Amazon...my OnTrac delivery driver puts the package in front of my door and rings the bell (I work from home so I hear the deliveries).

OTOH, usually when the USPS deliveries come, the package gets tossed and frequently bangs against my front door Usually the same with UPS.

[philosslayer]

3. Thats not mirrored my experience.

The only time I've ever had problems with items I bought online were items that were delivered by the USPS. For instance, I had some items shipped to a hotel I was staying in. The ones that were shipped via UPS and Fedex arrived just fine. The one item delivered by the USPS never arrived. After a week of phone calls, I found it had been returned to sender.

Last summer I ordered a pair of sunglasses online. I paid extra to have them delivered in two days. Two days later... no sunglasses. I called the USPS, and they said that there is no guarantee that items that you pay to have delivered in two days will arrive in two days. So, 5 days later, they arrived.

The USPS is valuable, and needs to remain in business, but they simply do not have the level of customer service that UPS and Fedex do based on my experiences.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

5. Yep

The USPS is valuable, and needs to remain in business, but they simply do not have the level of customer service that UPS and Fedex do based on my experiences.

My thoughts exactly. When I'm sending something that needs to be there by a no-shit date certain, I use FedEx or UPS. The USPS is too unreliable, in my experience. I use them for greeting cards, and that's about it.

[onethatcares]

4. I heard that UPS and FedEx were going to merge

and be called "FedUps"

not to worry folks, I'll be here all week., don't forget to tip your waitstaff