“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” That’s supposed to be the creed of the United States Postal Service. Poppycock!
Unfortunately, in this age of sometimes impersonal service, my wife and I found the Postal Service is still failing miserably to deliver a priority mail package to our daughter. To phrase it another way; The postal service can’t deliver on its promise because it still can’t deliver a package.
Normally, I don’t get grumpy about stuff like this, but when your daughter’s involved it’s personal. Especially when the USPS states: “Our Priority Is, Was & Always Will Be You.”
Two weeks and two days ago, my wife Joanne Lohr McCoy sent a USPS Two-Day Priority mail care package of fresh baked cookies to our daughter Marian McCoy for her finals exams at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. It was meant to be a loving token of parental support for our daughter as she wrapped up a busy school year and faced that last deluge of studies and tests for her final class grades of the year.
The priority mail package never arrived. You can see the latest tracking information for the package on the left. The package continues to circle in some U.S. Postal Service black hole to which there seems no escape.
The latest update from USPS on its tracking website is the following:
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Processing Exception |
OMAHA, NE 68108 | |||||
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Marian McCoy gratefully displays the package of fresh chocolate chip cookies Susan Hall of Lawrence, Kansas baked when she heard of our daughter’s USPS package delivery mix-up.
The USPS touts priority mail with this claim: “Get more for your money with fast domestic service in 1, 2, or 3 business days1based on where your package starts and where it’s being sent. ” A quick Google search of the term “USPS 2 day priority late” reveals many customer complaints about problems associated with the service.
We brought Marian home from college yesterday. Her finals are done and her KU address is now vacant.
What’s most frustrating about his ordeal is that, despite a half dozen phone calls to USPS employees, many of them kind and sincere, no one from the USPS has been able to tell us why this has happened. Nor has anyone from the U.S. Postal Service been able to intervene and redirect the package back to us here in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The USPS tracking website is not very helpful either with up to five-day gaps in providing any information about our daughter’s package.
Not that it would make much difference at this point. The cookies in the priority mail package may now be fossilized. Our well-intentioned thoughts in sending the cookies to our daughter is about all that’s left to smile about.
Actually, there is something else good and kind that’s come from this- One person who did intervene on Marian’s behalf was Susan Hall of Lawrence, Kansas. When Susan heard about Marian’s USPS package plight, she kindly baked into the night and delivered freshly baked chocolate chip cookies to Marian’s place at KU to get her through finals.
Thanks Susan! We can’t tell you how much your kind act meant to us all. If only the U.S. Postal Service were as kind as you.
JournalCetera 
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The USPS has really turned into a joke. Many times a 2 or 3 day priority mail package will end up taking as long as regular snail mail. The USPS web site is outdated and almost useless. In this day and age of the computer you would think it would be more stream lined, nope. On a seperate note, the PO should close at least 50%, if not more, of the PO across the country. Every little bitty town don’t need a PO. And, then cut back to 3 or 4 day work week, sorry, not paid. Many people pay bills on line, or auto deduct. People don’t need junk mail delivered 6 days a week.
Takes forever just to get around to tracking a package