News & Columns > Dave Henderson > Going Postal

Going Postal

By Dave Henderson
Friday, September 18, 2009

Benjamin Franklin was the first Postmaster General of the United States. I find it incredible that the Pony Express could deliver mail to the un-established western frontier, yet, in 2009, we can't have a simple package delivered to our home.

For years, we mountain residents have been playing the address game. You know, that game you play every time you order something? You put on your psychic visor and try to guess how your item will be shipped. Hmmm, will it be UPS, FedEx, USPS, or one of those other carriers? You know, one address for UPS, FedEx and another for the USPS. Many of us have even resorted to including both addresses (physical and PO Box) in hopes that someone will actually take the time to read the order. We have been told, "If you just put the last four numbers in the zip code it will reach you"; yeah right! At best, I think you have better odds on the craps table in Vegas.

For example, I recently ordered two items from Amazon. The order entry system would not accept the combined address because they will not ship to a PO Box, so the shipping address was changed to the street address. Amazon's suppliers then split the order, shipping one item FedEx and the second via US Mail. The second item reached the post office and, even though the plus four digits were added to the address, the order was returned as undeliverable.

I guess it's just a roll of the dice to get a postal employee that actually cares if you get you mail or not. Please don't go postal on me because I have met a few that do care and are good at what they do. It's the system, not so much the people.

Then, we have address verification! Now, because of fraud, many companies verify your address before they will ship you an item. Here's a case in point; reportedly an order was being placed for a new cell phone from Verizon. Even though there is a long established account with said company, they would not ship the new phone because they could not verify the shipping address with the US Postal system. The item was being shipped via UPS, mind you, yet they apparently use the USPS to verify that the address exists. Well, to the USPS, there is no such address because their system ships to PO Boxes.

This is not an isolated case. Many companies, such as Home Depot and AT&T, use the same means to verify that you are a real human and not a chimpanzee gone wild on the keyboard. Even more frustrating to those of us who retrieve our own mail at the PO Box and deal with this non person status — we pay the same fees that those who have their mail delivered reliably to their home do. The USPS will even come to your place of business with free shipping containers and pick up your mail, if you are of the privileged classes.

When this author inquired about the inequity of service, I was told that budget constraints and the weather prevents mail delivery in the mountains. The interesting thing is, Buffalo New York, which receives at least twice the average snow fall of our mountain communities, has curb-side mail delivery. So does even rural areas of Minnesota and Alaska — so I find that rationale lacking, to say the least. With that having been said, I really don't have an issue with retrieving my own mail. I even get to say hello to my neighbor who has curlers in her hair and is in her pajamas. However, I must ask, why should I pay more for less service?

Now let's look at UPS, a private company. For some reason they don't seem to have any trouble shipping a package to the other side of the world and deliver it to a small town in China with a fraction of the population and infrastructure of our mountain communities. The NEXT DAY. Not only can they deliver it, they can give you real-time updates as to where the shipment is in transit and when it will be delivered and it really does arrive on that day!

In the 21st Century, 220 years after Ben Franklin, the US Post Office can't develop a standardized address system, so that you can receive your mail?

Has the USPS ever heard of this technology called a bar code? It's used all over the world in tens of thousands of businesses.

You mean to tell me we can put a man on the moon, a robot on Mars and Jupiter, yet we can't deliver the mail?

And they wonder why people question government-run health care?

This article was first published on Friday, September 18, 2009 at 2:58 pm. This article has been viewed 894 times.

Dave Henderson is the Vice-President of Operations for RIMOFTHEWORLD.net and it's parent company Vicinitas, LLC. Dave is the commercial and operational manager for the site.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of RIMOFTHEWORLD.net. This column is copyrighted by Dave Henderson.