My USPS Blues

Generally, I think the US Postal Service does a pretty good job. We still rely on it for some things, especially for checks to arrive. But lately I have had a series of P.O. failures.

It began when a couple of checks that clients said they had mailed never arrived. After going back and forth with them and arranging alternate payment, I thought to look in the empty suite next to ours. Sure enough there where the checks, along with several other days mailbagworth of mail. Now granted, we used to occupy that suite, it was connected to our current office through an inner door. But we hadn’t been in that room for over a year. It had its own suite number and all the mail had clearly been addressed to Suite 8.

Most recently, in the process of moving out of the building altogether, I tried unsuccessfully to submit a change of address at http://usps.com which is what they tell you to do now even if you physically go in to the post office. At the end of the form process they  ask for a credit card that is associated with the address we are leaving. Each time I tried to use our company credit card it failed. The website claimed it couldn’t verify the card was associated with the address.

So, I went to the next step: Printing the information from the web page and mailing to the main local post office on Clark St. This was over 2 weeks ago. As of yesterday, they hadn’t started forwarding mail. I went in to the Clark St. office and discovered they had never received the form! So, I filled out yet another form. They assured me that mail would start to get forwarded today. But while we were in the office cleaning up and moving things out, there was the letter carrier with another check to be delivered.

Is it any wonder that electronic payments are taking over and the USPS is losing money? It’s not just email that’s killing snail mail. It’s the whole antiquated, almost quaint use of paper in its many forms. We can’t seem to give away our fax/copier/scanner. Watch out Dunder Mifflin. Your days are numbered.

Personally I can’t wait for payments by smartphone.